7:00
Many of us try to apply all these tips we hear on social media, the internet, and everywhere else, but we don't see any changes in our bodies. Yes. And you've spent years helping people achieve exactly this. So, the first thing I want to do with you is start by debunking some myths. I want to get straight to the point. OK. Because I feel we should get straight to the point. The first is that you will only lose weight if you do a lot of cardio.
This is very widespread. And I think the reason it's so harmful is because, A, it doesn't really work, and I'll explain why in a moment. And B makes us believe that our training has to destroy us to be effective. And what people do is add endless amounts of exercise and they don't see results. So, either they give up and burn out, becoming less active overall, which we know is not good. Or they redouble their efforts and work even harder. And this exhausts them even more. As a physiotherapist, I saw this all the time. Then they end up in my office with joint pain, altered hormones, and feeling terrible. You have a terrible mindset regarding exercise. That's why I believe that when you learn science, it really helps you
focus on what's right. And more than that, it helps you redefine what effective training looks like and improves your mindset about exercise. So, with that said, here's why exercise isn't a very efficient tool for losing fat. Studies consistently find that adding cardio without nutritional changes results in disappointing weight loss, perhaps only a few pounds in a year. And that's a long time to be training so hard and only have a difference of a few pounds. And the reason for this is because our body compensates. Our bodies don't like large energy deficits. Therefore, when you add more exercise, your body adapts to burn fewer calories in other areas, keeping you within a narrow range of calorie expenditure. In general, we burn far fewer
calories than we think when we add exercise. And at the same time, people often readily eat to replace those calories, or sometimes even overeat by overestimating what they have burned. This can cause them to not see great results or even gain weight while exercising, feeling like they are working very hard without seeing results. That's why I like to recommend separating exercise from fat loss. If your goal is to lose fat, you're much better off focusing on nutrition and strength training, which I hope we can explore in much more detail. But strength training is essential so that you at least maintain or perhaps even increase your muscle mass, so that any weight loss comes from fat and not muscle.
The next thing is "no pain, no reward," which I think relates to what you just said, this idea of simply destroying yourself in the gym. But what is your opinion on "no pain, no reward"? I think this stems from decades of marketing and messaging, especially in American culture, that we need to push ourselves and work harder. And so, if it doesn't hurt and it's not brutal, it's not going to change your body. And as I just mentioned, we see that this type of training doesn't necessarily result in significant weight loss or changes in body composition, which is typically why people do these exercises. So, you feel like you 're training really
hard, but you're not actually seeing results. That's why I like to teach people, well, what is the stimulus that actually changes your body composition? And you'll discover that when you apply the right things, you no longer feel like you have to destroy yourself. You no longer feel that "no pain, no reward" is the only way. And when you start doing this, not only will you see better results, but you'll feel more consistent with your exercise because it won't exhaust you as much physically or mentally. It's easier to comply with that. It's what we call kind consistency. So, yes, I don't believe in that "no pain, no reward" thing, okay.
Okay, very, very clear again. Uh, um, you should exercise every day n't think you should exercise every day. At least not intense exercise every day. Your body needs recovery. If we analyze. I like to think of exercise as this cycle of stimulus, recovery, and adaptation. And you need those three things. So, the stimulus is the training, and what you do in your training matters. There are high-quality and low-quality stimuli; we can delve deeper into all of this. But you need a high-quality stimulus. And then you need to give your body time to adapt and repair itself. And that repair process is the magic, and it's what people want to skip to go straight to adapting the results, because they are impatient and just want to see results faster. But your body
doesn't adapt when it's too stressed. It adapts when it receives the right amount of stress, it has time to recover, and that's when you build muscle, improve your endurance, or achieve any goal you've set for yourself. So recovery is an important part of this, and I strongly believe in taking days off, active recovery days; it doesn't mean you just sit on the couch all day. We still want to stay active overall, but taking days off from structured exercise is very important. Yes, thank you for allowing me to take my usual two days off. You take two, which is exactly what I would recommend. Take advantage of those days; you still want to do things, but without destroying your body because it needs time to repair itself.
Yes. Otherwise, you'll just be stuck in low-grade chronic inflammation. So, yes, it's perfect, you know, you're doing exactly the right thing. Okay, uh, a couple more of these. Uh, women shouldn't lift heavy weights. Because that will make them bulky. This is not true. If we look at that bulky appearance, it generally implies a lot of muscle mass, and it takes at least three months to build substantial amounts of muscle mass. And beyond that, it takes years to develop those physiques that most women would consider bulky. Therefore, lifting heavy does not inherently create that bulky appearance. What creates that
appearance is generally years of training, usually high-volume training, and possibly also having body fat to gain more mass overall. Um, so yes, it's a myth that lifting heavy weights makes you bulky immediately. Yes, absolutely. I think that one has lasted too long. If someone listened to all your advice today and put it into practice, followed your program, what would change in their life? The first thing is simply to see better physical results. I think that's important for people, not just aesthetically, but for their health.
Having more muscle and a fitter body is important for our health. Um, but beyond that, it's about putting less strain on your body and having a better relationship with it and with exercise, and not feeling guilty about taking days off, not feeling guilty about taking a week off, knowing that not everything will fall apart if you slow down a bit or if you get sick. Um, so helping people understand the science of how our bodies adapt and change is really this holistic approach. You see better results, you have a better mindset about your body and exercise, and your body feels better physically. You don't feel so worn out, exhausted, or drained because you're not destroying yourself every day.
Yes, it seems there's a mindset component there as well. Yes. Because what you're saying is that we're trying to accelerate those results. We want to see them as soon as possible, and that's why we're pushing ourselves to the limit. These limitations make us quit sooner; we ca n't keep to a schedule and suddenly, in two months, if we're lucky, we give up; If not, in two weeks, because you're too exhausted and worn out. Yes. And I see that cycle over and over again. And that's one of the reasons why people don't see results, because we have the rest of our lives to train. Which means we need to be smart about
how we treat our bodies. We cannot subject our bodies to so much pressure and expect it to be sustainable. So the sooner you learn the stimulus that changes your body, the better, because I'm not saying your training should be easy. I'm not saying that. But I will say this: applying the right effort and subjecting the body to the right load in the right amounts, adding cardio, having rest days and adopting this balanced approach will take you much further than this start-stop, yo-yo mentality that so many of us end up having. And I have experience with this myself, because I've been in the fitness industry for about 15 years. So I've obtained all the certifications and done everything. And 5 or 10 years ago, I was
destroying my body with exercise. She did all the things women are taught to do to stay in shape. Light weights, many repetitions, no recovery days, trying to burn as many calories as possible, trying to sweat a lot. And all this did for my body was leave me with mediocre fitness results. It brought me a little closer to the goal, but I was thinking, "Oh, I'm just not trying hard enough." "I need to try harder." And my body had chronic pain all over. So at 24, I felt like I was 90. My body was completely falling apart. My wrists always hurt. I had chronic back and hip pain. But this is what many of us are taught. And as a physiotherapist, when I was practicing, I saw many of my patients
dealing with the same thing. They thought they weren't seeing results because they simply weren't trying hard enough. But their bodies ached all over due to their training. So I believe that when you can switch to what works, because when I switched, I achieved the best physical shape of my life. I built 8 pounds of muscle and lost 5 pounds of fat in 1 year. And during that time, I trained much less than I ever had before. I used to train for about 60 minutes and then I started training for about 35 minutes. I rarely burned many calories or sweated. My body didn't hurt. I had a better mindset regarding exercise. And yes, I also saw the best physical results I had
ever seen. So yes, it all comes down to first understanding and learning the science, and then applying it over and over again, giving your body enough time. What is something that science has taught you about our bodies that you think we ignore or are unaware of? I think one of the biggest mistakes I see, as we mentioned, is using exercise as a tool to burn or lose fat, or using it as your primary tool. Um, but then what people do is say, " Okay, I'm going to use my workouts to build muscle." Brilliant. I love that. But they still end up doing the wrong exercises that don't build muscle. And a very useful change of perspective that helped me was
differentiating between muscle fatigue and muscle failure. So, science shows that to build muscle, you need to train close to failure on every exercise and every set. You don't have to train to the point of absolute failure. You can do it. Or you can stop between one and three repetitions earlier. So, failure means you are physically unable to do another repetition. So, let's say you 're doing bicep curls. Physically, you cannot do another repetition despite your best efforts. You can do anywhere from about four repetitions up to 30, or any amount in between. You can simply choose whatever you prefer. But your last repetition should be really challenging. But I think what people often do is confuse fatigue with failure. I
used to do this all the time. I was going to a group exercise class and would hold a lunge position for about three to five minutes at a time. And that feels very difficult and very tiring, with a lot of burning and a lot of trembling. But it isn't. Fatigue does not reliably build muscle. The ruling, yes. So, one very useful tool that I like to give to people, which changed things for me, for our members, and for many people I talk to, is called the rest test. This will help you differentiate between fatigue and muscle failure. Keep that in mind. Yes. So you'll have to try this in your next workout too.
What you should do is perform your last repetition and, if you think you are at or close to failure, put the weight down, rest for about 5 seconds, shake it off, take a short break, just a few seconds, pick up the weights and try to do more repetitions. If you were able to do three or more repetitions, you were just fatigued, not close to true muscle failure. That simply means you should increase the weight next time or do more repetitions to get closer to that actual point of muscle failure, because that will be the powerful stimulus that will change your body much more than fatigue. That's huge. In other words, I feel that it's very important and it's something that my body naturally makes me want to do.
Yes. I've kind of noticed that. For example, if I've done 10 repetitions of something and we're trying to get to 15, at 10 my body says: okay, I need to take a short 3- second break. I need to put the weights down, shake it off, yes. Lift them again and then I think: oh, now I could do another 10. And you say I have to. That's what you're saying, that I should do another 10 if I can instead of just getting to 15. Well, what I'm saying is that when it starts to get difficult around those 10 reps, those are the most stimulating reps. So the repetitions where you are closest to failure are the most important. Let's say you're trying to reach 15, and at 10 you
start to push yourself. Yes. That's the time to push and keep trying to reach 15. Even if you don't reach 15, it's not about the number, it's about how close you came to failure. So on that tenth repetition, when it's really hard, try to do a couple more, try not to rest because that means you 're reaching a large percentage of the overall muscle. You are reaching what are called your type two muscle fibers. These are the ones that are activated when you have a powerful stimulus, when there is a lot of mechanical tension. That's why those last repetitions are the most important. Understood. So you really shouldn't take a break at 10. You should n't.
I should push myself to maybe 12 or whatever is realistic, then shake it off, and what should I do after that? Then shake it off. If you find that you can lift your weights and do three or more repetitions, it means the weight wasn't enough. So, that means you should use more weight and reach the rep range you can; I don't like counting repetitions, and this is a bit controversial. Okay, go on. Because I think when you set a goal of 15, you pick a weight that you feel you can do 15 with, but in reality you could probably do 20 or 30. On the other hand, if you simply pick a weight that feels challenging and say, "I don't
know how many reps I'll be able to do." "Perhaps between 8 and 15." Any number there is fine, because all of that will contribute to muscle growth. And you simply make as many as possible. You are often surprised at how strong you are and how many repetitions you can do. And as I said, getting close to the point of muscle failure is the most important part, but it's the element that many people are missing because they stop when they 're tired. What is the cost of stopping at 10 and just doing another set? So, what's the cost of not following your advice? Muscle growth. We see that if you want to build muscle, those are the most important repetitions. This does not mean that doing 10
repetitions when you could do 15 means that those 10 repetitions are useless. You continue to gain strength, develop neuromuscular connection, and improve your stability. These are all important adaptations that come with strength training. But when it comes to building muscle, yes, those last few repetitions are irreplaceable. I think structure is very important. In other words, which muscle groups do you work each day? Yes. We talked about the importance of recovery. I recommend working each muscle group about twice on non-consecutive days during the week.
You can split your strength training sessions into three to five workouts, taking those two days off, making sure you have about 48 hours of recovery between muscle groups. So, let's say you work your glutes on Monday, you probably won't want to work them again until Wednesday at the earliest. Your body needs that recovery time. It is fundamental. But I think what a lot of people do is want to change their glutes, their abs, or their arms. And that's why they work that muscle group every day. But the problem is that when you do that, you don't give your body enough recovery time. And recovery is when you repair and adapt. So that 's really crucial. That's a mistake I think people make.
It looks like you already do this in your workout routine, which is great. Yes, so that's good. To build muscle, we must know the difference between failure and fatigue. Yes. It's huge. And the second thing is to make sure that the repair time is at least 48 hours before working that muscle group again. Yes. Because simply overloading the muscle won't make you win. I think I'm doing well. I think that for a long time I also discovered that I was underworking one muscle group. So, as you just said, if I have five workouts and I do,
say, back and biceps or chest and triceps, I need to do two days of each Can. Ideally within a week. Because I think that for a long time I did one of each and I didn't see any benefits either because I was working the muscle group very little. Yes. And we see that there was a recent meta-analysis on this topic that found that twice a week is the ideal point for muscle growth. And, uh, that frequency matters. Work that muscle group again. And this is another reason why you can't overdo it in your training, because you know you have to come back and work that muscle group again in a few days to keep building results.
How sore should you feel if I work a muscle group? So, as you gave the example, you worked your glutes on a Monday and you're going to work them again on a Wednesday. How sore do you want to feel on Monday and Tuesday before returning on Wednesday 's a very good question. I think this is something that holds many people back. Mild or no muscle pain is ideal. And I think we give too much importance to pain because it's proof that we're working that muscle. It feels satisfying. It feels good. But studies consistently show that it is a poor indicator of muscle growth. Pain usually occurs when you perform a new movement pattern or if you add a significant load or challenge to a muscle that you are not used to. And pain usually
occurs when there is damage to the muscle or connective tissue such as the fascia. And that triggers a cycle of inflammation that makes the tissues sensitive. So that's what pain is. But we constantly see that it's not a very good way to measure whether your training worked. And then again, because we want to work those muscle groups again in a few days, we want little to no muscle soreness so you can get to your next workout and give those muscles a very high quality stimulus. And that's what keeps accumulating those results. In fact, I arrive at my morning workout feeling quite refreshed And I'm really excited to train because I feel like my body can handle more, instead of going in thinking, "Oh my God, I'm still really hurting from
yesterday." The only time I feel that is after leg day. Yes. There's something about the legs that makes them feel worse after 24 and 48 hours. Is that normal? Oh yes, definitely. I mean, they're larger muscle groups, and the quadriceps specifically, I don't know if you notice the quadriceps. Mhm. Anecdotally, and again, I've researched this and I'm not sure what the reason is, but the quadriceps and glutes tend to hurt more.
TRUE. And that could be because, and again, this is up for debate, but there is an interesting theory that the pain is actually due to more damage to the fascia, fascial damage rather than damage to the muscle tissue. Um, the fascia is richly innervated, which means it 's very sensitive. So when you work larger muscles that simply have more fascia surrounding them, there is a higher limit for more damage to the fascia, so that's what creates more pain. So, I just like to say don't worry too much about the pain. If you're constantly sore, it probably means you're doing too much or you could afford to take an extra day off to recover or something, but um, I don't recommend seeking out pain because it's just not a very reliable indicator.
Yes, don't seek pain. Okay, understood. And in terms of continuing to focus on gaining muscle, the way we're currently talking about it is by splitting the groups. Yes. So, I was saying back and biceps, triceps, you were talking about chest and triceps, you were talking about. Is that how you think about gaining muscle, or is there another way to think about it? And am I wrong? Yes, absolutely. There are so many different ways you could divide your muscle work. I will say that the selection of exercises is very important. So, you want to focus on one muscle group at a time. Don't choose an exercise that works your
upper and lower body at the same time because, as we discussed, training to failure is really important. And when you work both your upper and lower body in the same exercise, it's hard to know if my arms are a limiting factor. Are my legs a limiting factor? Or am I just stopping because I did 10 reps and that's what the trainer told me? So, separating, doing arm exercises separately from leg exercises, core exercises separately from leg exercises, and keeping each muscle group separate is usually more effective and productive. Is there anything I can do to build muscle faster? Yes. You can build muscle faster when you increase what's called volume. That is, series carried close to failure. Studies
show, and I like to support this by talking about the minimum effective dose, because I think it's very important for people to understand: what is the minimum I need to do to see results? And then we can play with that, work on it and build from there, and also talk about the maximum. Therefore, the minimum effective dose for muscle growth is about four sets per muscle group per week. That is, four sets of glutes, four of quadriceps, four of chest, four of shoulders distributed throughout your week. That's roughly the minimum amount we see that reliably builds muscle Mhm. Some studies find that even one intense set per muscle group per week works, but I recommend four. From there, you can keep increasing. At Evloden we do
moderate volume simply because it's very easy to recover from it. It's effective and your workouts don't take up much time. That's why they are very easy to comply with, but they are very effective. Our volume is usually around six to eight sets per muscle group per week, but you can do more than that and still see gains. You will simply see diminishing returns as you add more than 10 sets per muscle group per week. But yes, you can do higher volume work and see faster muscle growth. Just make sure you're recovering, because if you're not recovering, then you 're not growing. Yes. Is there anything I might have missed regarding muscle development?
We're not talking about protein, are we? Yes. Protein is important, and since I don't have formal training in nutrition, I like to keep this at a general level and leave it to registered dietitians like your wife. But protein is essential, and the way you nourish yourself to rebuild your muscle tissue is fundamental. That's why the dietitians we work with typically recommend 0.75 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day. From my own experience, I've noticed that when I stay in the higher range, I get better results. Oh. Yes. Before, I wasn't tracking what I ate and wasn't building muscle. When I started tracking it, I noticed that I was eating almost half of what was needed to build muscle and I thought, "
No wonder I'm not seeing any muscle growth." So I increased my protein intake and that really helped me. I guess that's another way to make sure you build muscle faster. When I did that, I discovered that I was simply getting bigger overall. I was definitely developing more muscle, but my body was simply getting bigger. Literally, it was like at the end of last year.no, it was at the end of the year before, sorry. About two years ago I really started to follow that protein goal. If I showed you a picture of me now compared to one from back then, my suits wouldn't fit me. I could n't, my pants kept getting bigger. And that's even though I wasn't. it wasn't like I was protein. It wasn't sugars, fats, or carbohydrates, you know?
TRUE. I was eating a lot.I was consuming that dose of protein. I didn't like what was happening. And I don't know if it's because I wasn't doing enough cardio. I never really understood it. I just realized that I did n't like so much volume. So I reduced my protein intake, but that also slowed my muscle development. Yes. Tell me about what was happening two years ago, when I was eating the recommended dose of protein, but I looked, felt, and was bigger. Yes. Like I said, the clothes didn't fit me. Everything fit me tighter I definitely felt like I was gaining weight more than building muscle. I'm so glad you mentioned this, because I think it's a very common goal for people. They want what is
called body recomposition. They want more muscle, but they don't want more fat, or they want less fat. Mhm. This is a process that involves proper nutrition. As we said, enough protein, but also potentially a slight calorie deficit or even maintaining your calorie intake. And then, proper strength training. In addition, cardio is necessary. Cardio is important to keep your total energy expenditure high, but you don't need to overdo it or rely on cardio to lose fat because then you'll simply be overexerting yourself. So, when you have those principles clear, you eat in a slight calorie deficit or at your maintenance level. And that could involve follow-up. And I know that logging meals isn't for everyone, but if you have that goal, it could
be eye-opening to take a week and simply log what you eat to see where your total calories stand. And see where you stand with your total protein, because I suspect maybe you were trying to get more protein without realizing it and were eating in a calorie surplus. So maybe. I had n't realized that 100%. Yes, it's possible you've been gaining fat and muscle at the same time. And that usually brings us back to that conversation about gaining a lot of volume. This can happen to women when they gain lean or muscle mass, but they also gain fat mass at the same time because they are involuntarily eating in a caloric surplus. The reason I like body recomposition is because it gives that "toned" look, in quotes, that many people are looking for. But the main reason I
like it is because it makes you focus on your muscle mass, which is crucial for women as we age, and for everyone in general. As a society, we lack strength. So when we focus on our muscles, everything else falls into place. You can't eat too little or you won't gain muscle. You can't overtrain or you won't gain muscle. So applying everything related to nutrition and strength training at the same time may be a slower process, but much more sustainable and you will end up much happier with the aesthetic result. We've been taught that we have to do squats, military presses, and deadlifts, but what we see in the literature is that there is a wide variety of effective exercises for building muscle. So
just choose the ones that feel good in your body, the ones you enjoy, and that you can take close to actual muscle failure. I think a lot of people can relate to this. For example, let's say you do an exercise you hate. I used to hate Bulgarian split squats. Oh, I still hate Bulgarian split squats. Something changed in me and now I love them. I don't know what happened, but now we can't be friends anymore. TRUE? I know. I know a lot of people hate them. A lot, and it's understandable. They are very difficult. But if you hate Bulgarian split squats, you're more likely to quit the exercise due to general discomfort, boredom, or simply because you want it to end.
Yes. Instead of taking that exercise close to actual muscle failure. So instead of doing the Bulgarian split squat, which you know you don't like, let's choose a different exercise that works the same muscle group. Maybe you're working your glutes. You might love hip thrusts and find that you can reliably reach failure every time you do them. I don't feel distracted. I feel focused. In other words, it feels very satisfying. Do hip thrusts and you're more likely to see better results because you're training closer to actual muscle failure. You don't stop because of discomfort, boredom, or any of those things. If you know that your routine will be full of exercises that feel great for your body. And this doesn't mean that just anything goes. I'm not saying
that. I'm not saying your training should be easy either. But, when choosing exercises that really work with your body, because exercise is physics, a big part of the reason we do n't like an exercise could be the physical length of our bones. For example, in squats, you may have longer legs, longer femurs, so you have to lean further forward just to avoid falling. So squats can feel really hard on your lower back. And therefore, you might feel that you are not comfortable doing a squat. I feel like it's going to hurt my back. I don't like them. I do n't feel like I can push myself close to failure. So, the barbell squat might not be the best exercise for you, but that's because of your body proportions. There's nothing
wrong with you. You can simply choose another exercise and move on. If you're reaching failure, is there a difference between heavy weight with few repetitions or light weight with many repetitions? You can see the same strength and muscle growth whether you lift four repetitions or up to 30, as long as your last repetition is to failure or close to muscle failure. You can use any number in between. That could change depending on your training status, the day, or the exercise. In some exercises I love to use a lot of weight and do about four to six repetitions. And in others I prefer to use
a little less weight and do eight to twelve repetitions. You can do up to 30. 30 is something.it's something brutal. That's your maximum. You can do up to 30 repetitions. Does science prove it all at once? All at once. If you train close to failure, the problem with doing so many repetitions is that people often stop due to fatigue, as we mentioned before. They don't stop due to actual muscle failure. But knowing that you have the option of "I can do four, I can do 30, or any number in between," you can choose a weight that is comfortable for you, because I think that is a barrier for many women
especially; They say, "I don't want to lift heavy things." "Building muscle is n't for me because I don't want to lift heavy things." Well, you can lift something relatively light and do 20 repetitions and get the same muscle growth as if you lifted a heavy bar for four repetitions, as long as you train close to failure. If someone says, "I don't have a gym, I don't have a membership, I can't afford it, I don't have access to one, I have very little time to work out right now." " Maybe I only have 20 minutes." "I only have space to do bodyweight exercises on the floor of my bedroom or in the living room." What's the difference between body weight and barbell weights, or, you know, any other kind of weight?
If you train close to failure, it doesn't matter. You can do.I like to use push-ups as an example. Many people cannot physically do more than 30 push-ups. In other words, they would reach failure before 30 push-ups, so that's an effective stimulus for muscle development. If you can do more than 30 push-ups, then your body weight isn't a challenge enough. Mhm. Pull- ups, the same. You might only be able to do a few pull-ups before you get close to failure, and that's a bodyweight exercise. However , there are some bodyweight exercises that are difficult to perform with sufficient weight. For example, a thrust; You might feel like you can do 100 lunges or more just because they are stronger muscles. These require an external load, whether it's a
machine, a pulley, a bar, a kettlebell, or whatever you have. But that's why I say yes, some bodyweight exercises can be absolutely effective. But it simply comes back to the question: can I do more than 30 repetitions? And if I can, it's not heavy enough. And maybe that means including, or investing in, a set of dumbbells or a kettlebell or two, or whatever you need to add that external load. If someone wanted to start tomorrow and has hardly thought about their physical health for a long time, where should they begin? The great thing about beginners is that they will see results with much less stimulation than those who are already trained. So, if you've already been exercising, the level of demand is higher. You need to
apply some of these things we talked about if you already have a consistent exercise routine. If not, you can do much less than that and see results pretty quickly. This is what is known as beginner's gains. So this is really exciting for someone who is new. It's very motivating to keep going because you think, "Oh, I don't have to destroy my body." How many squats should an average person be able to do? I do n't think any number matters. I think what matters is muscle growth and overall strength. And there are a variety of exercises you can do to develop muscle growth and strength. I'll say that I haven't.again, this is controversial, but I haven't done squats in over 5 years. I
simply don't do them. Squats have never felt good for my back. I'm one of those people who have to bend forward a lot and I don't enjoy it, so I don't do it I wanted to change the subject to weight loss. Yes. Because I assume that's another one of the main reasons why everyone comes to you. "Should I want to gain muscle or lose weight?" Yes. What are we doing wrong about losing weight right now? We are over-glorifying exercise as a tool for losing fat. It simply doesn't make as big a difference as we think. When you do that, when you focus on cardio to lose fat, not only do
we see in many studies that it produces disappointing fat loss, but there is an opportunity cost. Maybe you do cardio or go to those really intense exercise classes or whatever to lose fat, but you 're not intentionally strength training. And the opportunity cost is that, when you lose weight overall, let's say you're in a calorie deficit and losing weight, that weight can come from both fat and muscle, unless you intentionally strength train. Therefore, we see that 25% of weight loss can come from muscle if you are not strength training properly. So, there is an opportunity cost. So, I think that's what people do wrong: they overprioritize. cardio.
Cardio. And make strength training the cornerstone of your routine, so any weight loss will come from fat, not muscle Mhm. So, that's one change we can make. I think so Yes, I think that was a very important one for me too. I think he played a lot of sports. Yes. And I simply wasn't losing the fat I had left to lose. I mean, I just wasn't there. And since you 're not building muscle, totally. It was, it was.Yes, it really didn't make any difference. And you're very active, which is great. Yes. In fact, a recent article came out that I found very enlightening. They studied more than 5,000 women, I think over 60 years old, like from 60 to 99 or something like that, and followed them for 8 years. And they discovered that the
people who lived the longest were the strongest. And this was even compared to other women who were very active. So being active is not enough. Having more muscle and strength gives you that extra layer of protection. And I know people think, "Oh, I'll worry about that when I'm older." It's like, no, what you're doing now is so important because all of this is adding up. You can't wait until you're older to build muscle because it takes years. And as you and I are talking, even if you 're doing everything right, you still need to adjust. You still need to figure out how this can work with your lifestyle, your goals, your diet, and the activities you want to do, like cardio. So there is a learning period. It's a skill you have to develop.
So I don't think we should wait until we reach that age to develop our muscle and strength. What is the limit beyond which you can no longer build muscle so quickly? There is no limit. You can build muscle at any age. I'll say that as you get older, and I don't know the age limit at which it becomes more difficult, Mhm. But as you get older, the demand for recovery is greater. So, you do n't usually recover as well when you're older. And that's why it's harder to add a lot of exercise volume because you simply don't recover from it. Well, using your 20s and 30s to build up a reserve of muscle is something you'll be very grateful for when you reach your 40s, 50s and beyond; But if you're listening and you
're already 40, 50 or older, it's never too late. What should we be doing to lose weight that we're not doing now? Well, I'll say it again: I don't have any formal training in nutrition, but nutrition really is the key to weight and fat loss. What I do, and I've already done body recomposition three times. I did it once before my first baby, then between my pregnancies, and now I 'm doing it for the third time after my second. Explain to me how you define body recomposition. Body recomposition is about losing fat while gaining muscle. And I like to think of those two processes as something individual, but they can happen at the same time. They can happen, whether
you're a beginner in training or already have experience. Someone like me can still do body recomposition. Someone like you who already trains can also do body recomposition with the right ingredients. But I like to think of nutrition as your primary tool for fat loss. And where I've found the most success is by being in a very slight calorie deficit. Not with a huge calorie deficit, because it's very difficult to maintain and you end up with a rebound effect. So, a very slight deficit. Yes. Oh my God, yes. The same. I used to barely eat during the week and then I would just binge on the weekends. And it's like, why? What I did just now. I'm just compensating; I like how binge eating undoes the deficit of the previous 5 or 6 days Yes. I heard a
metabolic scientist say that hunger always wins. It's like he's always going to win. So you have to work with your physiology. Our body doesn't like aggressive energy deficits because it's always trying to keep us safe. And if it detects an energy deficit, hunger increases, cravings increase. And then, it's as if our body is working against itself. But if the calorie deficit is slight enough that your body doesn't feel a lack of energy, you can maintain it and see better results. But it's not going to happen overnight. But it's something you can maintain, and once again, the results accumulate. Do you have any different recommendations for people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s regarding how their workouts should be
No, the truth is no. I think the fitness industry loves to overcomplicate things. And I think the group that is specifically told they need to do something different is people in perimenopause. But we see that these women can train in a similar way. Again, training close to failure, from four repetitions up to 30 repetitions. Working the muscles once or twice a week, twice if possible. Giving your body enough recovery time. We see that even in perimenopausal women, this works very well. You can do it whether you're 20, 30, 40 or older and it will still be effective, which is very empowering because I think when we complicate things, we're simply not consistent.
Yes. And everything else you've said too, like leaning towards activities you enjoy and that work for you, finding a schedule that suits you. I know you've answered this in different ways. I wanted to find a single place to get the answer. If you could help design someone's ideal training week, what would it look like? If you follow these four things, I can almost guarantee you'll see muscle growth. So, "reps", R-E-P-S, each letter represents a different principle for building muscle. You can forget everything else you know about fitness and just focus on these four things. The R stands for repetitions, as we said, train until failure or stay one to three repetitions away from failure in each set of each exercise. The
repetition ranges can be from four to 30 repetitions or any point in between. You can vary it according to your preference, the exercise, or the day. Exercise selection is number two, that's E. Two important things with exercise selection: think about choosing one muscle group at a time, without trying to combine upper and lower body as we talked about. Number two, choose exercises that feel good in your body and that you enjoy so that you can consistently take that muscle group close to failure. There is no mandatory exercise that everyone must do. The P stands for protein; eat 0.75 to 1 gram of protein per pound
of body weight per day. And the 's' stands for structure, working each muscle group two or three times a week on non-consecutive days, dividing those workouts into three to five sessions per week. So, if you follow those things, you can play around a bit within those guidelines to find what allows you to be more consistent, but I can say with pretty certainty that you will see results. I must say it takes time. People think that if they have been exercising for a month, they should miraculously see their body change. Muscle growth takes between 8 and 12 weeks. So make sure you don't give up before you see results.
Therefore, make sure you are consistent for at least 12 weeks before changing things. Yes, I think that part about patience is very important, and the clarity of simply knowing, because I think you see everyone on social media saying, "This is what I did in 30 days," and you wonder, wait, why can't I do that in 30 days? I know. And it's a shame because yes, you can lose fat in a short time, but will you be able to maintain it? Many people take on these fitness challenges and then burn out , and end up back where they started. And they may have even lost muscle in the process, if they were on an aggressive calorie deficit or doing a lot of cardio. And not only are they back where they started, but they're worse off than when they began. So
yes, we need to think long-term; we have the rest of our lives to exercise. What's the biggest myth about exercise you've seen on social media? One would think this would have disappeared by now because we have a lot of information that it's not true, but it 's the treatment for localized fat. In other words, trying to do abdominal exercises or a workout with the intention of toning you up or making you, in quotes, "spectacular". That's the term the internet loves right now. In a specific area. Like saying: for your bat wings, this exercise will help you get rid of them. This exercise will help flatten the fat on your
lower belly. These are all things I see, and we've simply discovered that exercise can't treat fat in a localized way. You can't preferentially choose where you lose fat. Fat loss occurs systemically throughout your body, and your body chooses where to mobilize fat first. Unfortunately, you can't really control that. Well, I think this causes people to overload certain muscle groups in their body and become frustrated when they don't see the results they were promised. Yes, that's good to know. I.I think that's it.everyone knows it, but you expect someone to.
Totally. You know, it's like. Totally. Yes, it's like a painful truth. I love it. Shannon, is there anything I haven't asked you today that you wish I had? I do n't believe it. My hope is that I don't want anyone to hear this and feel like they're doing something wrong or get defensive. I just hope people listen to this episode and understand that there is a way to get stronger and fitter. Yes, achieve the aesthetic goals you seek, but also be kinder to yourself in the process. I've been there. I know what it feels like to destroy your body, and my hope is that this will simply give people the empowerment and education to do it. So I hope it helps people.
What was the most difficult point you have experienced in your personal health journey? Thinking that my body was the problem when in reality my exercise routine was the problem. It was that I did at least an hour of exercise every day, intense exercise, without taking recovery days, feeling guilty for taking rest days. Like my Saturdays and Sundays, if I didn't exercise, I would think, "Oh, I should have." I feel very bad. Being glued to my training watch. I remember that if I didn't burn enough calories during my exercise, I would literally do jumping jacks in my apartment at the end of the day to try and reach that calorie goal. And now I don't even register any of that. And I'm seeing much
better results, and I just want to shout it from the rooftops because it's truly a mental and physical transformation, but you just have to give it enough time and give your body the right stimulus. Shannon, we end each episode of On Purpose with the five finales. These questions should be answered in a maximum of one sentence. Oh my God. That's going to be hard for me to do. I'll do my best. Yes, I often break the rules because I'm too intrigued, but.
Yes, yes, I'll do my best. OK. So, Dr. Shannon Ritchie, these are your five endings. The first question is: what is the best advice you have ever heard or received? Take personal responsibility for any changes you want to see in your life. That's a great answer. We hadn't heard that before. I love it. Great response. I couldn't agree with you more. I believe that personal responsibility and agency strengthen confidence and self-esteem, as does all the self-love and self-belief we've been talking about. It only comes when you take responsibility for the change you want to see in your life. Yes, that's a great answer. No one else is coming to save you. It
depends on you. It's so empowering. Yes, great answer. Second question, what is the worst advice you have ever heard or received? No pain, no gain. , I think it has to do with exercise. I mean, that whole "no pain, no gain" thing wasn't effective for me in many ways. Question number three, what exercise or training habit do you wish you had started earlier? I wish I had developed muscle mass at 19 or 20 years old. Because it would have been easier to keep it, is that it? Yes, it accumulates. Yes, it gets easier the more you do it. And the good thing about muscle is that, if you ever
lose it, it comes back faster the second time you build it up. So, investing in it the first time is the hardest part, but it will give you results time and time again. Wow, incredible. Question number four, something you used to value but no longer do when it comes to your health. My fitness watch. I used to be obsessed with burning calories, but I do n't do that anymore because I know it's not very effective or reliable. So I no longer use it as a way to measure my workouts. Do you think it's important for a certain period of time? Is it valuable for people to do it? And how should they use it if they're using data? What
should we really be counting? It's probably a broader question that you can't answer in a single sentence: what should people be counting? What should people be measuring in terms of weight loss, fat loss, and muscle gain? What should we be tracking? I believe that nutrition and strength training are, obviously, the most important things. We also want to stay active in general. The data shows that around 7,500 steps a day are associated with positive health outcomes. So, I have an Oura Ring and sometimes I just like to record different stages of my life. I've had it for like 3 years, and I like to look back and see, "Oh,
when I was going through a super stressful time in my life, I wasn't very active. Um, how could I change something in my day-to-day life to uh stay more active? Or what lifestyle habits can I uh adjust during a stressful period in my life?" So , I like to use trackers to give you a general idea of your activity, rather than obsessing over hitting a certain number. Because what we see is, you know, if you're generally active, doing a ton more won't necessarily give you a ton more benefits, if that makes sense. Yeah, and that's how we think about everything. I know. You see diminishing returns with exercise, and this is n't to say I'm saying don't be as active as you can be. I'm not saying
that. I'm just saying a lot of people think it has to be all or nothing, and so they end up doing nothing. Amazing. Uh, the fifth and final question we ask every guest who's been on the show, if you could create one law that everyone would have to follow, What would it be? Maybe it's just my optimism, but giving people the benefit of the doubt, unrelated to exercise. I just think we're all trying our best. Hmm. And you don't know what someone is going through, so if you have a negative interaction, trying to give people the benefit of the doubt, even if they had bad intentions, it feels better for you to give them the benefit of the doubt. Oh, maybe they're
going through. Maybe they had a death in the family, or maybe they're going through something I can't see or know about. Um, so that's what I really try to do, and it's hard. It's not that I'm perfect at it, but um, I wish more people would do that too. Yes, I couldn't agree more. If this clip provided you with value and you'd like to see more, this next video has been specially chosen for you based on your viewing habits. I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, please subscribe to the channel so we can continue to bring you fantastic conversations.
