5 Minute Facts - Why Weight Train

This is episode 199, the empowered team podcast.

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Welcome to the Empowered Team podcast where we explore how to optimize your performance in career, sport and life. And now your host, executive coach and life strategist, Kari Schneider.

Amazing. Amazing. Okay, welcome to Performance Power.

And here we get to dive into.

All things health, wellness, performance, injury. You name it, we do it. And today we have our five minute facts on weight training. We now before we go into it, in case you don't know, we dive into a lot of executive coaching. We coach businesses, we coach individuals. And at the same time, many people don't know that my background is in high performance sport. So I come from a background of strength and conditioning at the highest level. Exercise physiology, athletic therapy, you name it. With Olympic level athletes and high performing clients and all of those great things. So I am an expert in all things physical performance and vitality. So today's topic in weight training, we will do these five minute facts. Number one is strength training. This seems like the most obvious one. It makes you stronger. Duh. You want to go Duh, everybody. No, but here's the thing about it. People think that they have to grow a bunch of muscle mass in order to get some stronger. But that's not how it works. You get stronger faster than you think. So what happens is that your nervous system actually adapts very quickly. And you can get stronger in as little as a week to two weeks. And this is because your nervous system is so efficient. So you introduce something that's too hard, and your nervous system says, what the heck did you just do? And I better adapt. So it changes the signals that it's sending to your musculature, your neuromuscular system. And that's how you adapt faster. And some people will even notice this from set to set. And what I mean by that is they might have done a first set of something, and by the second set, they notice that their coordination is changing. Their coordination is smoother. Maybe the first set they were shaking, and the second set they're smoother. And that's an adaptation of the nervous system. It's got nothing to do with building muscle mass. Build muscle mass that fast has everything to do with the nervous system. But this will help you, even if you are only focused on building muscle mass, it will help you simply because that nervous system coordination supports greater movement patterns, greater growth, greater efficiency. So very, very powerful that way. So it makes you stronger and faster than you think. You don't need to wait for the mass to be developed. The strength will come very fast. That's fact number one. Fact number two is it improves bone density. We've all heard this before. However, there is real solid research behind this. Now, I'm going to have everybody look down at their hands right now. And if you look at your hands, if you can see calluses there, then chances are you are doing some weight that will support bone density. Because if what you were lifting is hard enough to support creating some calluses, then that means the muscles pull on the bone will create almost like a callus on the bone in your body. And that's how you create greater bone density right there. So there was a study done in 2017 about awesome calluses. I see them out there, everyone. There was this 2017 study done in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. What they did is they took a group of women, over 100 women, and they put them into two sessions of 30 minutes of what's called high intensity resistance and impact training on that high intensity and resistance impact training with what they did was things like some jumps or some landing. They did Some heavy multi movement, so multi jointed weight training. So something like a deadlift or a squat. So they did these exercises and what was shown at the end of the study, and this was over the course of eight weeks, they increased function, they increased bone density, they increased structure and strength. And this is all in postmenopausal women with low and these. All this whole group of women had low bone mass. So much so that they were in the low category or the very low category in their bone density and bone mass. So it's a very, very powerful effect with no negative effects. It also increases your cardiovascular health and function, which is super powerful because we don't consider that weight training can increase your cardiovascular health. But I'm going to tell it to you this way. Your heart is a dumb muscle. So what I mean by that when I say your heart is a dumb muscle, it means that your heart can't tell the difference between you running or you doing a weight circuit. So your heart is going to beat faster for both of them. And that is how you can get cardiovascular benefits from strength training. So I wanted to throw that in there too. All right, so that is improving bone density. Fact number two. Fact number three, weight training boosts your metabolism. Hallelujah, everyone, weight training boosts your metabolism. That is something we all need to hear and embrace because so many people will default to running or default to only cardiovascular work or only aerobic level work and not do the strength work, whereas the strength work is so powerful for increasing your metabolism. Now I'm going to throw a fancy scientific term at you. It's called epoch. It's exercise post oxygen consumption. And what that means with exercise post oxygen consumption is that when you do intense things, especially intense weight training, your body has this after effect of still having to utilize or consume oxygen to make up for the work that was done. So this oxygen is being used after the fact. And that's why your engine will run hot after you've done some strength training for the rest of the day. Not only that, the muscle you eventually build is a very hungry tissue. So it also supports greater metabolic activity. So it increase or boost your metabolism. Now remember that this is influenced by intensity, not duration. So remember that to really increase this metabolism boost, you want something that's intense, that would be an intense lift. You're trying to lift things that are really tough for you and you're progressing into that safely. All right, so that's fact number three. Fact number four. Four is weight training promotes greater fat loss. Now you might have assumed that with the metabolism. But sometimes people are losing muscle mass and losing fat mass. Most people want to lose fat mass and maintain muscle mass. So here's the beautiful thing. This was a study done in a journal of obesity. And what they did is they took three groups. A group that only did diet, a group that only did diet and aerobic exercise, and a third group that did diet and weight training. Guess which group lost the most fat mass? The weight training group. So this is where the strength training increases metabolism but also has you burn more fat. And you're more likely to have great greater fat loss with resistance training. And that is fact number four. Fact number five, rolling in at the five minute facts. Better function and mechanics. Now when I say better function and mechanics, what I mean is in what we would call activities of daily living, this could be bending down and picking up a child. This could be putting something up on a high shelf. Those are functional activities of daily living. And what happens with weight training? We have better function and mechanics in those move as long as the weight training is done with functional movements. So if you only do weight training and you only do a bicep curl, then guess what? That's the only thing you're going to be functional at in your activities of daily life is picking something up just with your elbows or your hands, but moving your elbows. So remember that you can get amazing function and amazing mechanics via doing some functional strength training movements. Now I got a bonus fact here for you because I want to make sure you're getting tons of information on weight training because it is such an important thing for your function and your overall health. And it is this. The bonus is, and this is from a meta analysis of over 33 research studies, a meta analysis that weight training not only boosts your energy, we know that about your metabolism, but it also boosts your mood, it also increases your endorphins. And what happens is it quells depression symptoms, also can increase sleep. So when it comes to weight training, it is not just that thing to build a bunch of muscles. It is not just for the muscle heads who go into the gym. It is the kind of thing that really, really promotes the things you truly want for your greatest energy, your greatest wellbeing and what really serves the things you're up to in your life. Okay, so that is your five minute facts specifically on weight training. We want to welcome in some questions on this topic. So what do you have on this topic where anything on weight training related and then we will open it up to all questions. Injury, health, Weight loss, energy, whatever you want, whatever you've got going on. So what are the questions? Pop it in the chat here or unmute yourself. What do you got?

Hey Carrie, do you, in terms of following a specific, like to take advantage of the weight training, like, to the most of, like you can take advantage of. Is there. I don't want to say diet because we know diets like, but like, is there a.

Yeah.

A meal plan or a type of like keto or like that to maximize results during the weight training period?

You are pointing to something that's so fantastic. What's the goal? Is the goal to build muscle? Is the goal to burn body fat?

Burn fat.

Okay, so I'm guessing that you want to shift body composition, maybe a little more muscle mass and a little less fat mass. So that would be the goal. And you're pointing that out because it's not just weight loss that you want. Most people say they want weight loss, but they don't really want weight loss. They want lower fat mass and they want an increase or maintain a muscle mass. Is that correct?

Correct.

Okay.

Yes.

So on that line, if you're looking to increase muscle mass, you do need to have a little more protein. Now that protein is so easy to get from animal sources. It's also easy to get from vegetable sources, but most people default to animal sources. Right. Right off the hop. Now we personally, we try and eat more, more vegetable sources, but we do still eat some meat. So here's the thing. There's a couple things that I would suggest is that you're defaulting to lots of vegetables with every single meal. That's going to be number one, you have really high quality protein, whether that's from animals or vegetables, with every meal as well. Now, if you do those two things, that right there is going to do a few things. It is going to give your body the micronutrients that it needs just for optimal energy and function, but also for the repair that is required to build muscle mass and burn fat mass. So you are going to have the nutrients, the vitamins, minerals, but then the protein is also really helpful for making sure. It is imperative actually to making sure that your muscles, your body has the protein required not only just for organ function, because we need protein just for organ function, but also to do the repair that comes from some of the breakdown that happens with weight training. So I know I gave you a really general answer.

No, no, that makes sense.

Yeah. But it's because if I were to say keto or I were to say Mediterranean, Or I were to say any of those. I don't know if that's right. For your body chemistry, what really happens is that you figure it out as you're trying this on. Like, I know, for instance, that I don't eat before I work out. I work out every morning, and I don't eat before I work out. Now, that's not because I'm trying to go into keto. That's simply because I know my body really well. But years ago, when I was competing, that would not be a best decision because I needed more power for my training and for my competition. So I needed to eat before I worked out. Now, I am almost 50, and that is not what I am going to do. I am going to eat right after I work out. Now, that timing, when you eat right after you work out, that's a fantastic opportunity because your body is going to uptake that right away. It wants it. Especially if you did an intense workout, meaning it was really tough, then your body's going to suck that up right away. Does that make sense?

Yes, absolutely.

Now, for a lot of people, do you eat before you work out right now, or are you working out right now?

So here's one of my challenges. I love working out once I get in the group, but I went. I'm from Mexico originally. I live in New Jersey. I went to Mexico for, like, two months, and I got fell off the wagon. And takes me a long time to, like, okay, I'm gonna go back. I'm gonna go back. You know, it's. It's one of my struggles, and so I want to get back as soon as possible, and I want to do it in the most efficient way.

Yeah, well, the most efficient way is just to start. That's all it is, just to start. And I'm going to tell you a secret. I'm going to tell you a secret. You know, I've coached some of the best athletes in the world for a lot of years, and I've coached some of the best minds in the world. And in doing so, people assume that my husband and I, we work out almost every day. They assume that my husband and I want to work out every day. Now, I love to work out, but when I asked him, I said, hey, honey, do you. Do you. How many days of the week do you feel like you really want to work out? And he looked up at me, his face really flat, and he is like, zero. We work out first thing in the morning. It means we get up earlier. It means that we are out in the gym, when it is still dark out, it means that, you know, we're not staying in the warm bed when it's really cold. And, you know, there's all kinds of things that that means that we make it mean. So. And I was like, okay, because I'm in the same boat. We still get up, we still do it. But I would say maybe one day of the week, every other week is when I really feel like working out. I really want to work out. And the reason I share this is because so many people think that, oh, well, you're different, you have more discipline, you love doing it. It's easier for you. That's what people like to think. And it's so not true. It's really not true. We just don't allow the struggle about it anymore. We don't entertain the drama about it. So, you know, that conversation. My clients will have this conversation. I have a client who runs a construction company, and he, you know, used to be in sport, in high performance sport. And when he gets up in the morning, he tries to work out, typically at around 5 or 5:30 in the morning, but he'll have this conversation with himself in bed. That sounds like, oh, you know, you've been working really hard. I think you might need a morning off. Maybe you should just rest today. That'll be really good for you. And this dialogue back and forth in his head is actually him trying to stay comfortable. And so he's learned not to entertain that conversation and simply keep committing to what he said he'd do. And that makes it so worth it. Makes him really, really get the results that he wants. Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you. That's. Yeah. I need to stop entertaining that conversation with myself.

Isn't it funny, though? But we all do it. We all do it. You know what?

I just had a little breakthrough because I was telling the other day to someone, if I had someone that I'm meeting at the gym, I'm not gonna let that person hanging. Like, I'm gonna show up. But, like, right now, I was just like, why can I have that appointment with myself? Like, right.

Yes.

Oh, my God. Thank you.

Very powerful. And get that person at the gym. Hire someone. Meet a friend, you know, because right now, my husband and I were apart for two months, but I knew he was working out and he knew I was working out. So even though we weren't together and meeting somebody at the gym, we still knew we were still accountable because we were doing the same training. I was making his programming and I was following his Same programming. So it's like, oh, I did the same workout. Oh, did you finish the workout today? Or did you have to cut it short? Or what happened? So it really makes a difference when we typically want to serve others more than we want to serve ourselves. So it will be so powerful in having you show up. How many, how many here agree with that? That's so powerful for your. Yes, absolutely. Okay, so what do we have? No problem. Marta, thank you. For those who want to reduce body fat percentage, what ratio is diet to exercise? And with exercise, what ratio is cardio to weight training? Okay, that's an awesome question. So unfortunately, there's not the perfect, perfect answer. But here's what the research shows and what a lot of experience says as well, is that the people who go into circuit training or high intensity work, so sometimes this might look like a CrossFit workout. It might look like some of you might have heard of orange theory or F45. These are some chains that of gyms that operate, one of the major reasons why they have success is because they keep the intensity high. Okay, everybody follow that. They keep the intensity high. That's the ticket to greater fat burning. Now, the problem with education and media has been that everyone believes that aerobic work burns fat. Everybody follow. So hold on. This is a tough one because it's true. Aerobic work is primarily burning fat on your body. When you do it. However, it's not going to make your body the hungriest to burn fat all the time. It's not intense enough to do that. So what happens is that if you go for a walk, I'm burning fat in that walk, right? If I went for an interval run or a hard lifting circuit that is way more intense and I am burning carbohydrates. So you are going, what the heck? I am trying to burn fat. Why am I burning carbohydrates when I am doing this interval run or I am doing this circuit work? Well, the key is not the during the workout. The key is all those hours after the workout. So even though you burned carbohydrates during that intense interval run or during that intense lifting circuit, you burned carbohydrates. Then what that does is that boosts the metabolism for all those other hours of the day. And guess when you're burning fat the most when you sleep. You're burning fat the most when you sleep. So one of the biggest gifts you can give yourself is having some sort of metabolic boosting activity. So exercise. And then when it comes to this diet, part Making sure that you've given yourself at least a couple hours before you go to sleep of not eating. Because it gives your body to still digest while you're awake and moving around. And then when you go to bed, you're burning fat all night long. Fat, fat, fat, fat, fat. Dining in your body is dining in on your own fat. Follow everybody get that. So when it comes to a ratio, here's the thing. Some people are naturally, they're a little more metabolic. Some people will eat a meal and they burn it up right away. Some people will be still burping from that same meal three hours later. So they're not digesting it very quickly. That would tell me that what they chose to eat is probably not the greatest for them. So when it comes to diet and exercise, diet is going to be the biggest thing. And when I say diet, I'm not saying a diet, I'm saying what you choose to eat with your day to day food that is going to make the biggest difference on your overall health and your overall body composition. So what you eat will make the biggest difference. If you don't work out at all, then you can still maintain a pretty lean body composition. But you're not going to have the bone density, you're not going to have the energy, you're not going to have the strength, you're not going to have the, the tone or the body aesthetics. Without the exercise. You're also not going to have the cardiovascular fitness, the disease prevention, the depression prevention, the increased sleep and all the things that come with exercise. So I do not recommend just trying to diet your way to your goals. But when you add exercise, that is when exponentially your results are better. Exponentially. So what I would suggest, I am going to tell you what I do personally because this is so powerful for years and years of the things that I've figured out. Personally, I don't have a lot of time, so I work out first thing in the morning. Because if I don't work out first thing in the morning, it's going to be pretty challenging for me to fit it in at another time. Because most of my day is booked from morning till bed. So I work out first thing. I don't eat before I work out, I eat my breakfast after I work out. I make sure that I've gone for a bit of time before I go to bed without eating so that when I go to bed my body gets a break from digestion and cellularly it can recover. On a Monday, I lift. And when I lift, I'll usually do some sort of split that is not bodybuilding based but is very functional. So I might. Today for instance, I did whole body, I did squats. Give you an idea of what I did today. I did squats, I did push press, I did a plank, I did a dumbbell clean and jerk, I did box blast. So plyometrics I did. What else did I do? I'm missing something in there. I did chest press, I did dumbbell row, I did glute ham raise, I did ball curls, I did another ab exercise and stretching and before that I walked for 10 minutes to warm up. Now that something like that would be every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for me. Monday, Wednesday, Friday. On Tuesday I interval run. On Thursday I used to run as well, but because I've got two crushed discs in my back and I've got nerve damage that I've been rehabbing for four years from having drop foot. Then on Thursdays I'll either walk or bike. I'll do something that's non impact and I'll even hang upside down on my aversion table. I'll do anything that's really making sure I'm taking care of that. And on Saturday I typically run hills and if you notice there's intensity in all of those. Now I train like a high performance athlete. Not everybody wants to do that. So you've got to find what works for you and what that might look like is two intense ones per week and three not as intense ones per week. You with high intensity work, you can't do it every day. Does that make sense? So then it's great for your mind to understand that oh, I am going to work really hard on this day and I get a day that is not as hard but I will do it a little easier work. But I am still working out on this day and then the next day maybe I will work really hard. So it really helps your mind and it really helps the recovery with your body to not have high, high, high intensity all the time or low, low, low intensity all the time. So we want variability and that that's the key to keep your body adapting. If we give the body the same thing all the time, guess what it does. It gives you a big one of these which is a big fu because it goes, oh, I get you. I am so efficient that I'm only going to adapt to what you give me and you've given me this and I get it now. So I'm not going to change anymore. That's what your body does because your Body is so efficient. It's so good at reading what you give it that it's going to say, hey, oh, I adapted to that already. And you're doing that same thing again. And you didn't increase your weight and you didn't change your intensity and you didn't change the workout. So I'm just going to stay the same because I know this one already. So if you ask my clients, I'm changing their exercises, I'm changing the intensity, I'm changing the frequency, I'm changing the combinations of what they work out with. Now, this isn't what I do as much as I used to because I'm mostly coaching people's minds. But when I make people their custom online programs, it is to adapt to what they need. And it's always creating change along the way so that not too much change because they need to. If they're still adapting to it, there's no point in changing it. As in if they're still getting a little bit sore. That's a clue, everybody. Follow that one. If you're not sore at all and you're doing the same workout, then you know that, oh, wait, I guess I didn't increase the weight when I needed to or I guess I didn't make it hard enough. Does that make sense? Ok, any other questions? I think we are out of time here, but does that answer, does that give you some really solid information that is going to help you choose what to do and what not to do for you and not waste your time with just dabbling? There's no point in dabbling. This is for your best life. This is for your best energy. This is for your best performance and longevity as well. So very, very cool. So don't neglect the weight training. It will serve you exponentially, very powerfully. Great work, everyone and great questions because I think those will really serve the audience that listens. We are going to post this on our podcast. Have a beautiful rest of your day everyone and thank you for coming on and we will see you next month when we do this performance power again with a brand new topic.

Thank you so much.

No problem. Have a great day everyone.

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