How To Create Female Client Buy-In on Muscle Building

What's up coach? In today's video I'm talking with Candice Smith all about how to create client buy in for females to build muscle. So stay tuned. What's up coach? I'm Beverly Simpson, I'm the owner of B. Simpson Fitness and the founder of the PT Profit formula and PT Profit podcast. Today's video, I am sitting down with my friend Candice Smith and we're talking all about how to create client buy in on building muscle specifically for female clients. So if you like this video, go ahead, hit like hit subscribe and let me know in the comments below what specific questions you have. Alright, without further ado, let's go ahead and roll this that interview. Hi Candice, thanks so much for joining me on this show today. How are you doing?

I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me. How are you today?

I'm great. I'm really pumped for this podcast episode today. This is going to be so great. People are going to love it. Yeah, let's just go ahead and dive right in. Can you share a little bit about who you are, who you serve, who you help? You got there.

All right, all right. Hey y'. All. So I'm Candice Smith and I'm an online strength coach. I've been in the online space virtually training people, training women specifically. A lot of women come to me to of course drop body fat and get strong, but we move more, I try to get them moved more towards not always chasing fat loss and to spend some time in eating more food or even if we're approaching fat loss, we don't have to drastically cut the calories to poverty macros like a lot of women tend to do. So a lot of women coming to me underfed and over exercised and doing the most and I'm like, it does not take that much, you know, take that much to get to where you're doing too much. So my background a little bit, it comes from extremism as well. So I can speak to my clients. Actually my journey started with being turned into veganism. Not veganism, vegetarian. Vegetarian, Sorry. I just wrote a blog post, talk or email, talking about both. So kind of almost go interchangeably but vegetarian and running. And I thought that was the way, of course most women think running is the way to go. Nothing wrong with running, but I was not good at it. Even after doing it for a long time. I didn't really enjoy it, but I thought that's what, that's what I needed to do to, you know, get healthy, get fit or whatnot and not eat meat. And I love meat. So, you know, so from there I finally hung that up and I dabbled a little bit in weights in college. I think Beverly read that at Western Michigan. I started dabbling a little bit when I got into college, but I didn't take it serious. It wasn't until like early 2000s and I probably date myself but whatever. I got serious about lifting and eating properly, not underfeeding myself but eating more whole foods and incorporating meat back in and training with weights and boom. So I was doing great in that area once I got used to and teach myself how to weight train and reading and educating myself. But then I got into physique competitions and that was a whole nother extremism. And between that doing various diets and getting a little bit of body dysphoria and you know, having. I don't know if I say it's a piss poor relationship with food disorder. A little bit of disordered eating for several years and then I had to hang up the competing because it just wasn't serving me anymore. And I actually eventually got with a coach that done it right and. But it was time to hang up the clear heels as they, you know, those clear looking. Stripper. Yeah, stripper heels. That's what a lot of people know. I'm of.

Two quick questions for you.

One. Yeah, yeah.

What caused you to go into competing and were you training people at the time?

I wasn't training people yet. This was pre. Or was I? No, I started my personal training business in 2009. Yes, I was still competing. So yes, I was competing but just lifestyle clients, not competition clients. And I went into it because like I love the art, I love muscle and I love the dedication and I'm disciplined in that way. So to be in the gym, to build muscle, to be eating, you know, eating the food and I like admired the discipline of it. The showism of was fun to camaraderie with my girlfriends and different things. So that's what kind of led me to it.

I think what a lot of people miss when they're thinking about body competitions is that they get into this idea that oh, that's a for looks that you need. You know, people are doing that because they want to look a certain way, not recognizing that it's actually a sport and it's. And it requires a sport like training and eating. Intense. Yeah, it is, it's based and it's not just about, you know, I think maybe some people get pulled into it because of the Esthetics. But it is a performance based competition or performance.

Yes, it is. Yeah, it certainly is.

So you're training or you started training some. You started training people while you were in this world?

Yes, yep, yep, absolutely, yeah.

What was that experience like?

Well, I used to. Well, first, before I went full time into the gym, I was doing like a 9 to 5. So I would train some clients in the evening. Very demanding to say because once you in prep for a show, it can be, you know, it's long days, you're training. Well, I was in training the optimal way back then. There's a good side and a bad side to competing. And at the time I was with the extreme coach and so I was in the gym a lot trying to do my clients and work and all that stuff. But towards the end of my competing years, I did four years, three to four years. It's been a while now, like two years ago, but towards the end of it I got more balanced. A coach that fed me well. So that matters, you know, when you're busy on your feet all day and whatnot. And then by that time, towards the end of my competing career, if you want to call it that, I was in the gym. So I didn't have, you know, doing office work and going to the gym. So it was better, better managed overall. So memories.

I'm one. I know. Memories. I'm really pulling you down memory lane. I'm curious, you know, what was the experience like of training clients who are working on lifestyle goals? Right. And here you are in this extreme world and you're trying to get people to like, you know, just maybe cut out your soda intake, right? And you're this extreme world trying to coach a more lifestyle approach. What was that experience like? Was it challenging? Is that what pulled you out of was. Is that what helped you recognize that, oh, I'm living in extreme world?

Yes. Yeah, yeah, it definitely is extreme. And getting to like my relationship because if I'm teaching, you know, to do it. Although, you know, I had a point where I was teaching a little bit of the extremism. You know, we all evolve and you know, sometimes it's hard to, you know, hard to say. Like I used to say the whole don't eat fruit too, because that's what I learned from bodybuilding style stuff. I think a lot of the dieting myths and things and dieting history come from the old school bodybuilding or, you know, any of the diets back from the 90s to cut this, cut that and so forth. So yeah, Definitely with my relationship changing and towards the end I was feeling like, why this is extreme. I need to improve my relationship and I wanted to feel better. I was like, I shouldn't feel like this. You know, it was time for a change. You kind of just like, no, kind of like what? Our clients or with clients, they come with dieting, been dieting for years and years and years. You know, they have all these rules and these hang ups that they learned and they starting to feel this like I can't live like this. I can't. I have no energy and I can't go. I neurotic around food. I can't go out to eat without. You know, it comes with change and it's hard for a lot of women to get out of that dieting mindset. So I do a lot of that work still. Even with a client that's ready to move into, you know, eating more food and training, it's like, you know, you still get questions like but is it, but is it really okay to eat carbs after a certain time or things of that nature? So yeah. Great.

Okay, cool. So how I'm really excited because we're going to be talking about one of the things that I really love about your work and I've been following your work now for a while. I mean I can't believe it's been so long since we first met. It's like, I know I really love about your work and honestly it was you that really helped me kind of get okay with talking about fat loss because I feel like, and I've talked about this in podcasts, huge pull in the industry right now to kind of associate working on fat loss with self esteem loss and that if you're teaching fat loss and it means that you are trying to fit this diet culture which is actually the opposite of what we actually pursue fat loss but not, you know, but still maintain and increase your self esteem. In fact you need it in order to work out fat loss. So I'm really curious about how you've been able to help your clients go from this diet mentality of like constantly chasing fat loss, chasing diet. And how are you, how your. What's your approach on getting them in on board with this is how you really do fat loss.

Mm. Well one you express and iterate the fact that one with my clients that it does not have to be so low your calories. You've been, I know you've been there. Fat loss, the way we approach it, the way you used to approach it, the way a Lot of people approach it is again in the extremism. It doesn't have to be that extreme. And then just educating my clients on, you know, you've done so many diets, sometimes you don't even know what a carb from a fat is and a protein. I think a lot of time with the knowledge and awareness I take a habit based, habit based approach and a macro based approach. More flexible nutrition. Flexible people know as flexible diet and flexible eating because flexible into macros as a necessarily a diet. We're eating macros whether we're tracking them or not. And if you understand what you're eating, not even. You don't even have to be if you have, if you have issues. A lot of women, you know have done macro coaching, macro dieting and they have done it extremism in an extreme way. Right. But I like to get them and show them that no, you can, this is the way, this is how you eat food. It doesn't have to get on these low numbers. What is your protein sources? Where is your protein on your plate? Where's your carbohydrates, where's your veggies? And also that mindset is huge switching from, you know, I got a fibrous. This long list of. Or this, this meal plan or I gotta follow this low carb thing. Are you following all this stuff when you feel like crap? So it's like just getting to the client and approaching the fat loss in a more sustaining way. A more way where it can fit into their lifestyle and not the other way around.

So you do have them like track calories or track macros sometimes.

Yeah, it depends on the client. Mm. Or habit based approach. My background also is in precision with precision nutrition. Yeah. I could say even if we don't track them, we still need to know what a portion is for ourselves. What do I need for protein? How many, you know, portions should I have a day if we're going that. Right. Or also, you know, take the approach. Let's look at. Is that plate balanced? You know, a lot of women are still shy of carbohydrates. And you training and you're doing all these, these classes or you going to do your own workout, you running and you're not fueled and you wonder why you feel like poo from day to day in the gym and in your life when you, you know, when you're just doing things, you know, your regular daily activities and it all ties back and stems back to always still, even if you're not consciously or intentionally chasing fat Loss or weight loss. Sometimes you're actually doing it, you don't even know it because of your habits from past. Still eating like I always say, probably in my literature, I always say eating like a bird. A lot of women are doing that consciously and not consciously.

Yeah. I also think too it's an important thing to note that I think a lot of trainers miss is that we're in this world 100% of the time.

Time.

And that it's so easy for us to just assume that everyone knows what a carbohydrate is or that everyone knows what a pro, that you know what a protein is and a fat and that they all, they automatically, you know, just know it. And that's because we are, we're immersed in it all the time. Not recognizing that people still are very conflicted and confused about what a carbohydrate is. And I think they're also, they're also, you know, confused and conflicted about the nutritional benefits of, you know, fruit because they're just so, you know, things like fruit, things like potatoes.

Yes.

Inundated with diet culture. Telling them that this is going to do something to them that they don't want.

Yep, yep. That's exactly what it is. Myself, for a while I didn't eat fruit or potatoes. I love white potatoes and white taters is the most satiating carbohydrate. I didn't eat them for years. Years. You know, I'm like, where's he's been all my life? You know, I used to survive just on a grapefruit training in the morning, at 5 o' clock in the morning. Like how healthy is that and women are? You know, we're up like you said, we're up against that where we have to. It's come down to like I think yesterday I was talking to my stories about exposure, learning, pulling these foods back in. That's one way in which I help clients, my clients, my strong sisters. Let's reintroduce these foods that you have put on this band list. Assure you that it is not that particular that item causing you to gain all this weight or whatever or change your fitness or whatnot. I don't know if I answered. It was a lot in there. You did, you did.

You know, I also. Can we talk a little bit about, you know, we talked a lot about food and I'm curious how, how have you got your clients to lift like your women clients specifically because run into women who feel are scared about getting bulky. What have you done to help clients start to see that bulk A, is subjective and B, that it's a very, you know, like we were talking about with body comp. Competition is an athletic pursuit in terms of its, you know, discipline and training requirements.

Well, one, one way is that I have been getting women that are, what I have to fight is cardio circuits with strength. They're using some weight, but they are not training in a way to elicit like gain strength or maintain their muscle or even build it. So again, it's just the education around it. And sometimes I'll even get and teach and show them and even get down, you know, show them different women, this is what happens. You're genetically going to only gain as much muscle as your body, your genetics so high. And the pursuit of if you want more muscle, you want to have to eat more food and that still you won't get bulky. I mean, that's subjective. I see nothing wrong with bulk. I love muscle and I think the power behind it and the education around why we as women, even if you don't want, you know, muscle to show or whatever, the power of lifting goes beyond that. Our bones, our hormones, our skeletal system, you know, everything, our tendons, our ligaments, injury prevention, you know, it's like investing in our, in our, in our future. And I always say, what's to say to my clients if you were to get too much muscle, you can back off the training, the volume you're doing, you know, you saying one thing, this is how you want to look, but cardio is not making that happen. Weight training is going to make that athletic look, the tone, look cringy word. But that's what our people say, toned. But you have to have muscle to be toned, you know, yeah, you get bulky, we can back off the train, we can cut your volume back, but, you know, it takes years and years and years. I think women don't. They picture body, women like bodybuilding and they think that is. And then the media, the marketing, all that around it has created this thing that makes it hard for us to get our clients to invest in it. But once they do and they see how strong they are and they can do push ups, it was like, why haven't I been doing this all my life? You know, But I think we got to come from somewhere. We have to learn and grow. And then when you hit that aha moment, when you get consistent, consistent with training, sprinkling the cardio, not saying you're not to do the cardio, but if you run that tight, you know, fit, athletic look, it Falls with weight training.

And okay, so you brought up this point, and I definitely want to expand upon it, which is that so many of our clients, and I think some of us too, like, we could get some clarity around, you know, these cardio sequences, circuits where these clients think that they're weight training because they're using weight. So how the difference between, you know, where does that go in a program? Like if someone, a client was coming to you and was saying, hey, I want to work on, I want to work on losing fat and building muscle. Right. A, can that possibly happen at the same time? And B, where do those cardio circuits live? How do you know that that's happening?

Well, one would be, we'll start with, can you do both if you're a newbie or if you come off of a long hiatus, Most of the time you can do both. But most of the time, when you're doing fat loss, achieving fat loss, you should be strength training because you want to keep as much muscle as possible in your. When you're in a deficit and you want to be eating as much calories as you can while in a deficit, while still losing, if that makes sense. So you don't want that whole cutting your food so low. You know, I see women do it all the time. They've been eating, you know, 2,3000 calories and they cut it all the way down to 1200. Yeah.

I don't know where that somehow became this magical number, but everyone thinks 1200 is like, yeah.

And so I don't. Yeah, it's crazy, right? So instead of doing that sometimes, you know, it can. I always also try to get clients to, let's eat at maintenance for a while. Let's find. See where your maintenance falls at and weight train and watch what happens. You start to get stronger, you start to see muscle definition. So we're having a little bit of body recompense where you are, like you said, dropping a little fat and building the muscle or at least maintaining it. And then when you. With the circuits, I'll enjoy them. They have a time and a place. But I like to structure your programming as well. Put your big lifts first, then we'll get you a little circuit at the end or finisher, you know, or you short on time in the gym and he's like, I need a quicker workout. Then we can apply a circuit. I think a lot of women, once they see, oh, dang, I could do my goblet squats with a 40 pound kettlebell or a dumbbell for eight reps. But if I'm doing that in a circuit, I'm not going to be able to do 40 pounds in my circuit. I have to do like 15 reps. High reps don't always. And little weight don't always give you your best bang for your buck. Yes, you're hitting weights and you're hitting. Getting a cardio piece, but you're breathless and sweaty and haven't gave the body time to recover to lift the heavier weights. Challenging weights. So sprinkling in that. Go ahead.

No, I was going to say that I think that's a good approach in the sense that you can give them your client. You know, it's kind of like to, to me, I compare it to my kids, which is that like my kids gave them the option they would probably eat candy for dinner all the time, you know, and then stop asking for it when they, when they feel bad. Right. I mean, I. All the time with my children, I will give them dessert with dinner sometimes and they can decide what they want. And oftentimes they'll pick the food that makes them feel isn't candy. Right. But the point is that you have to give them a little bit of what they want and a little bit.

Of what they need. Yep, absolutely.

They're gonna feel bad all the time. And so I think trainer, and I know this was true for me that it was sometimes hard to create buy in for my client to get them to want to do the eight reps and want the same thing over and over again because they get bored.

Yeah, yeah.