Women’s Fitness Expert: What You NEED To Know About Dieting & Exercise | Dr. Stephanie Estima

I want women to stop being losers. And. so, I'm on a mission to really undo the. genuinely terrible advice that most. women have been given as it concerns. their health and their fitness. So, we're going to talk through some. actionable strategies on how to build a. body that has curves, more of [music] an. hourglass figure. But, Stephen, if I can. be very honest with you, I am pissed off. because we've been sold a lie that our. worth is the number on the scale. And. I've seen tens of thousands of patients. over my 20-year tenure. And right now, a.

lot of online dialogue is I want to be. toned. I want to have the Pilates body. Be as small as possible. So, this is. where I get a little fired up because I. also have personal experience struggling. with my own weight and my own worth. I. was trying to become what I thought was. the right thing. And I had massive. problems afterwards. So, I am going to. be very transparent and honest with you. The pursuit of skinny is a bad thing. with devastating consequences. Like, you're going to end up with bone disease. like osteoporosis. >> So, there's lots of things on the desk.

here in front of us that I'd love to go. through. We've got these five fitness. myths. >> Yes, so one of them, for example, is a. lot of women are scared to consume more. carbohydrates because they think [music]. it's going to make them fat. But, we. need carbohydrates for our mood, our. sleep, even performance at the gym. And. then there's also women are scared that. if they're lifting heavy weights, that. they're going to start looking like a. bodybuilder. But, that's almost. impossible. 97%. of women don't have the hormonal. environment to bulk.

>> And then we've also got these archetypes. here. >> So, there's four [music] archetypes that. women identify themselves in their. fitness journey. And the most common. woman that I see is skinny fat Sophie. And we'll talk about what this means. >> So, let's talk about what the women. listening should understand about. hormones. How do you think about fasting. and your menstrual cycle? What are the. specific issues that mothers face as it. relates to fitness? I mean, there's lots. of things that I'd love to talk about. >> 100%. That makes me so excited. >> This is super interesting to me. My team. gave me this report to show me how many. of you that watch this show subscribe.

And some of you have told us, according. to this, that you are unsubscribed from. the channel randomly. So, favor to ask. all of you, please could you check right. now if you've hit the subscribe button. If you are a regular viewer of this show. and you like what we do here. We're. approaching quite a significant landmark. on this show in terms of a subscriber. number. So, if there was one simple, free thing that you could do to help us, my team, everyone here, to keep this. show free, to keep it improving year. over year and week over week, it is just. to hit that subscribe button and to. double-check if you've hit it. Only. thing I'll ever ask of you. Do we have a deal?

If you do it, I'll tell you what I'll. do. I'll make sure. every single week, every single month, we fight harder and harder and harder. and harder to bring you the guests and. conversations that you want to hear. I. stay true to that promise since the very. beginning of The Diary of a CEO, and I. will not let you down. Please help us. Really appreciate it. Let's get on with. the show. Dr. Stephanie Estima. Why is it you do what you do? Like, ultimately, what is it you're trying to. change in the world? What impact are you. trying to have? And who are you trying.

to have [clears throat] it for? >> Well, I am on a mission to really undo. the. genuinely terrible advice that most. women have been given as it concerns. their health and their fitness. And what. I mean by that is. for the vast majority of health and. fitness goals for women, it's all about. becoming smaller. It's about becoming. skinnier. It's about losing weight. It's. about dropping a dress size. Stephen, if. I can be very honest with you, I want. women to stop being losers. I want them.

to stop trying to lose all the time. And instead, what I would love for them. to do is to shift their focus from. losing. and. focusing more on what they have to gain. So, how much muscle can they gain? How. much bone density can they gain? How. much connective tissue capacity from. their joints, their tendons, their. ligaments can they gain? Can they work towards building a body. that they love and trust and enjoy.

living in? >> Why do you want that for women? Specifically this losing gaining thing. >> We've been sold a lie that our worth is. the number on the scale, which is by the. way, you know, when you when you're. weighing yourself, this is really just a. reflection of your relationship with. gravity, no more, no less, right? But we. are told that when we fit into a certain. dress size, that we are now worthy, that. we will. somehow have arrived. That is not the. full experience of being women. Women.

can be strong, women can be capable, women can be competent, and you can't do. that when you're starving yourself, when. you're over exercising and you're not. prioritizing your recovery or treating. recovery like it is something that you. have to earn. >> So, are you saying being skinny is a bad. thing or. >> I'm saying that the pursuit of skinny at. all costs is a bad thing. So, right now. a lot of online dialogue is, you know, strong is the new skinny. I don't want.

to pit those two things against each. other, but I do want to like if you are. obese, you are much better not being. obese, right? >> Mhm. >> But it is the. pursuit of skinny at the sacrificial. altar of everything else. So, if you are. somebody who values being slim, the. likelihood that you are going to pick up. heavy weights or weights that challenge. you with enough effort and intensity is. going to be lower. The likelihood that your bone density is.

going to be sufficient over the arc of. your life is going to be lower. You are. going to likely under consume calories. If you are someone who thinks that. they've won because they can fit into, you know, you're 40 and you can fit into. a size whatever dress. But when you're. 65, you have osteoporosis, you haven't. won. You've been you've been tricked. >> Tricked by who? >> A society that tells us that our worth. is solely based on how small we are.

>> Hm. And who are you? Like in terms of why. this matters so much to you as Dr. Stephanie? >> Yeah. >> What do I what context do I need to know. there? Cuz I can see you're a little bit pissed. off. >> I'm so. >> [laughter]. >> Yeah, I am pissed off in a loving way. So we'll say it that way. I have. professional experience in this and I. also have personal experience in it as. well. I have an undergrad in. neuroscience and psychology from the. University of Toronto. When I was. pursuing that, I became a fitness. instructor,

uh a personal trainer. So this is, you. know, very young. I started having uh my. first exposure to seeing firsthand how. people were setting goals for themselves. and having a difficult time achieving. it. Went on to the Canadian Memorial. Chiropractic College in Toronto, Canada. And then I was in I've been in practice. for 20 years. So I've seen. tens of thousands of of patients over my. 20-year tenure and the same pattern kept.

showing up over and over and over. And. then personally, I also, you know, just. being a woman living in this society, grew up also struggling with my weight, trying to control my what I ate, trying. to do lots and lots of cardio to keep my. weight down into what I thought was the. ideal body type. I competed in a figure. competition, which was really the first. moment for me where I really felt like. the science failed me because I had.

followed everything to a T. Do lots of. cardio, restrict your calories, you have to earn your recovery. The day. that I got up on stage, I was 11% body. fat. So just just for context, you know, women have. about 10 to call it. 13% essential body fat. And if you go. beneath that, then you start to get into. a lot of trouble. So, I was right at the. bottom range of that. Most women, a healthy body fat. percentage is something like. call it 18 to 25%.

I had lost my period for 2 months before. I think it was two or three months. before I stepped on stage. I ended up um. with hormonal issues. My period had I. had It took a long time for that to. regulate again. I gained all the weight. back that I had lost. And I felt like a total failure. And I. felt like the science had failed me. >> And it caused you a lot of pain. >> I hated myself. Like, full stop. I looked in the mirror. I hated what I saw.

I would pinch I would pick I was like, I. wish this, I wish that, I wish I wish. The other thing I'll say is the weeks. before I stepped up on that stage, people were coming up to me and. showering me with compliments. People. were like, "Oh my god, you look you look. amazing. What are you doing? What's your. program?" And so, it's I think it's so. confusing for women. Maybe we lose the. weight or we we go on this health. journey, which is often just code word. for getting smaller.

And we we get showered with these. external compliments. And at the time, I. was starving because I was not eating. I. was completely overworked. I wasn't. sleeping. And I didn't have my period. Like, I was not the picture of health, but everybody was telling me. how amazing I was, how amazing I looked. So, I think that's where we get it we we. we hitch our worth to what the outside. world tells us, rather than thinking. about who we need to be and how we need. to show up for ourselves first in order.

to be able to give to everybody else, but also just unhitch ourselves from. other people's expectations of us. >> And for the women and for all the people. I guess that have clicked to listen to. this conversation right now, what are. they going to leave this conversation. with specifically? And how is that going. to impact their life? >> Yeah. So, this is for women and the men. who love them. So, this is for everyone. >> Okay. >> Um. I think for women, maybe you have been. doing like the good girl thing like I.

was doing, you're doing the things that. you thought you should have been doing, but you still don't have the dream body. or the body composition that you want. We're going to talk through some. actionable strategies on how to do that. I think if you're in midlife, so you're. in your 40s, your 50s, and maybe you're. finding that you used to do those. strategies and now they're not working. for you as well or as much as they once. did, we're going to maybe break a little. bit of your paradigm in the way that you. think you're thinking about health.

>> And how old are you? >> I'm 48. >> Hm. >> Mhm. >> I think it's important context. >> Yeah. >> But you're also a mother? >> I'm a mother of two, yeah. >> Of two. >> Mother of two and then I have a I'm have. a stepson as well. >> Okay. >> Mhm. >> [clears throat]. >> So, um there's lots of things on the. desk here in front of us that I'd love. to go through. They're all things that. really really interest me. We've also. got these five fitness myths in this. envelope here that we'll reveal at some. point and these archetypes here. Where do you believe the best place to. start this conversation is? >> I think that maybe we can talk about the.

archetypes because I think that it sets. the stage for allowing women. to identify themselves in their fitness. journey, however that is. Okay, my first Overwhelmed Olivia, this. woman wants to do the right thing. Okay, so she is on social media and within a. couple of minutes of going on social. media, she sees someone saying, "Plants. are trying to kill you. Olivia, you.

should never have plants. They're. terrible for you. And she keeps. scrolling and then she comes upon. someone else who says, "Actually, plants. are great for you. They have lots of. fiber. They have lots of phytonutrients, etc.". So, she's like, "Oh, okay, that's weird. Let me look up some fitness stuff." And. then same thing with the fitness. Some. people say, "You don't want to get bulky, Olivia. So, you need to do light weights, high. reps." And then there's other people. that are like, "That's not true. You can. As long as you're bringing the muscle. close to failure, you will build.

muscle." So, she's getting the I like to. call it infobesity. It's like so much. information. It's too much information. that she ends up getting like you know, it's like analysis paralysis. And this. woman, I have a soft spot for her. because she just is so scared to start. something else and fail at it because. she doesn't want. that to reinforce her own schema, her. own perception of her being a failure. All right, so she doesn't do anything. When we think about uh overwhelmed.

Olivia, we don't want to get her A to Z. We don't want to get her all the way to. her goal. We just want to give her a. couple of quick wins to start. Right? Get her just A to B. We're just going to. get her walking. She's just going to. have a goal of racking up 5 to 7,000. steps in a day so she feels like she's a. winner in some vertical of her life. And. then you start to layer in more things. with her as she goes along. The second one is probably my favorite, the the most common woman that I see, skinny fat Sophia. So, the technical.

term for skinny fat is TOFI, thin on the. outside, fat on the inside. This is a. woman who doesn't present as obese, but. her body composition, she's starting to. see a loss of maybe bone loss, a loss of. muscle because she is not she's very. afraid of heavy weights. So, maybe I'll. do some Pilates, some yoga, maybe I'll. walk, right? She also calorically. restricts as well, right? So this woman. is my is like personally she's my.

favorite woman because when we start. giving her a little bit more food. >> Mhm. >> [clears throat]. >> and we start giving her just a little. bit heavier weights than the 2-lb. weights that she's been lifting, you. know, in her Pilates class. And by the. way, I don't want Pilates people to come. for me. I love Pilates, but it's just. not the main strategy for muscle. building. So it's just. >> Pilates. >> I love Pilates. I do it twice a week. It's fantastic. But this woman, when she starts eating a. little bit, I all This is what she. always says to me. I can't believe I'm losing fat. I can't.

believe I'm losing weight by eating. more. What is this trickery? What is. this magic? So I love this woman because. when we get her to see the light, it's. actually just it's just a beautiful. thing to have all her schema sort of. rearrange in terms of what she thought. was possible for her. >> Mhm. >> Okay? >> This subject to fat. >> Yes. >> If someone comes to you and they say, "Stephanie, I would love to lose some. some belly fat. >> Mhm. >> because I'm skinny fat. Or maybe I'm. just, you know, I just have a bit too. much weight on me. What is it you say to. them?". >> You can't actually spot reduce.

>> What does spot reduce mean? >> So someone wants to reduce their belly. fat, you can't just target belly fat. So. the way that you're going to reduce. overall adiposity in the body is you're. going to be strength training, which. we've talked about, but you will. probably also need some kind of caloric. deficit. So when we think about that. very famous, somewhat oversimplified. calories in, calories out, so you want. me thinking about. how am I going to create a deficit? So.

I'm consu- either consuming less. calories on the calories inside or I'm. eating the same, but I have more output. So I'm doing more cardio or I'm doing. more weight lifting or I'm doing more. walking or I'm doing something where my. calories out surpass my calories in. >> Is there an easiest way to do that? Cuz. we hear hearing that, you know, just eat. less is is quite. >> I hate it. >> It's it's, yeah, know, not great. >> Yeah, and it doesn't it doesn't work in. the long term, either. You can. temporarily reduce your food, but at.

some point, your hunger hormones and. your body is just going to drive you to. consume more calories. I often find when. women are like, "Hey, I just want to I. want to build muscle and lose fat." Or. if it's just, "Hey, I want to lose fat.". I personally find it easier for women, specifically, to do more on the calories. out side. So, not to. >> Exercise. >> Yeah, so doing more exercise, more daily. movement. I think that the calories in. is totally doable. People do it all the. time. I just find it's hard for most. women to stick to long term. Cuz then.

they have to, you know, they got to. measure, they got to do all the things. So, if you can figure out what your. maintenance calories are, and then you. can surpass that with maybe more walking. or something that's not going to ratchet. up your hunger hormones or your cortisol. levels, let's say, I think that that's. often I think it's a healthier option, personally, um because you're also. making sure that you're getting in. sufficient substrate, sufficient. calories, so that you can actually build. you know, you can build muscle, bone. density, collagen, etc. So, that's our skinny fat Sophia. Up.

next, I was this woman I sometimes still. am this woman, exercist Emily. So, this. is a just a funny word, um. to really describe. the intensity that this woman puts out. at the gym, right? So, this woman, you. have no problem getting her to the gym. She is the woman at the squat rack. There's no problem getting her to the. gym and getting her to work very diffi-. like very hard. What her issue is, and. this was me for years, is that she still.

has some of the skinny fat Sophia. attitude towards food. So, there's a. mismatch with her between how much. effort she's putting out with her uh. exercise program and how much energy is. coming in with her food. She's still. under eating because she's scared of. gaining weight. >> Mhm. I was exorcist Emily. I was, you. know, had the hoodie on, wearing the ear. like I nobody talked to me with my big. earphones on. Uh this was for me after I was going. through a divorce with my I had very.

young children at the time. They were. five and three. So I was I was grieving. that and I was still adhering to this. idea that I had to punish myself. That I. was going to go to the gym and crush it. and then follow that with insufficient. calories afterwards because I still had. that well I can't eat a lot I'm going to. gain weight kind of mentality. So exorcist Emily, we love her. Um and then the pinnacle if you will is. the dialed in Diana. So this is the.

woman who has. maybe made peace with some of her. demons, um enjoys movement, knows that it's a. way for her to tend to herself. You. know, food is not a punishment. It's not. she doesn't restrict calories because. she ate too much. She fuels to nourish. her lifts, to nourish her recovery, and. for pleasure. Cuz I think a lot of us a. lot of women have forgotten that food is. is pleasure. It gives us joy and. happiness. My sourdough bread in the. morning gives me lots and lots of.

pleasure and I will not give it up for. anything. So this is sort of the. this is where we want every woman to be. able to get to. We want her to dial in. both her exercise program, her nutrition. program, and to give herself some effing. grace with her recovery. >> You can swear. >> Yeah, her her So give. herself some grace with her with. her recovery. >> got demonetized. >> [laughter]. >> Okay, but I get it. So we're trying. We're trying to get everybody to become. dialed in Diana. >> Yeah.

And also just know so if you've been. listening to these descriptions like oh. I got a little bit of the exorcist Emily. I got a little bit of that rage or grief. or something but then I also sometimes. have analysis paralysis like you will. also oscillate through them and that's. completely normal as well. Yeah. >> When you were talking about excess. stamina, that was not a wasn't a light. season of your life, was it? >> No, it was very dark. And it was the. There was the lifting that got me. through it, truthfully. Yeah. It's, you know, sometimes when we. think about resistance training, it's. literally training your resistance. It's.

not a question for, you know, if something bad is going to happen, it's just a it's a matter of when. So, I think something, you know, voluntarily putting yourself. in a situation where you are making. yourself uncomfortable, you know, going. to the gym and moving your muscles to. failure is not, you know, it's not fun. Uh it can be quite. intense, but it does train your. resistance, your grit, your mental. capacity to withstand, you know, terrible things.

>> So, by the end of this conversation, everybody listening is going to be a. dialed-in Diana. >> I That is my dream. >> Okay, let's do it. >> dream. Yeah. >> First, we should start with debunking. some of the myths. What's the six myths. in this. little envelope here? >> Okay. So, the first one is carbs. >> Mhm. >> And so, the So, all the ladies who are. listening, we have to heal our. relationship with carbohydrates. You can restrict carbs temporarily and. for certain populations, that's a. wonderful idea.

Uh if you're a woman that has a type 2. diabetes or PMOS, something like that, a. temporary clawback of carbohydrates is. fantastic for improving insulin. insensitivity, glucose disposal, um. but diets like a low-carb diet or a. ketogenic diet, which I am a big fan of. for certain populations and even for a. temporary amount of time, I think what a. lot of women did with the carbs is once. they started losing weight on a keto.

diet or a low-carb diet, they said, "Oh, you know what the. problem is? It's the carbs. I'm never going to go. back. And the problem with that is that if you. were sick, you had a bacterial. infection, you went to your doctor, they. did a swab, came back positive, and. they're like, "You know what? You have a. bacterial infection. I'm going to give. you a script for antibiotics." Right? You're going to take it for the next 10. days, and then, you know, you'll come. back for a checkup and we'll see how. you're doing. You do that, you follow the protocol,

you take the medication. I don't think anybody listening, or at. least I hope, anybody who's listening is. not going to come to the conclusion at. the end of those 10 days, "Do you know. what I need to do to never get sick. again? I need to continue taking antibiotics. for the rest of my life." No one is. going to do that. But somehow, for. carbohydrates, people made the. illogical conclusion that you should. never have carbohydrates ever again. And for women, what I noticed, so I'm. sure we'll talk about my first book, The.

Betty Body, I advocate for a low low. carbohydrate, a higher protein diet in. there, but for a transient amount of. time, right? Until you achieve the goal. of, you know, reversing metabolic issues. or losing some weight, etc., improving. your period, that's another thing that. we actually see is menstrual cycle. regulation. But if you stay here too. long, your thyroid, like so many women. >> What's the symptom of the consequence if. your thyroid being malfunctioning?

>> Yeah, I would say you're always cold. So your hands are cold, you're always. cold. You might have very, very heavy. bleeding, so your menstrual cycle during. your bleed week, so that first three to. seven days, let's say, when you're on. your period. Hair shedding, so hair. starts to actually fall out. Hair is not. necessary at all for survival. So when. you don't have sufficient calories or. sufficient balance of macros, your body. is going to sacrifice the things that. don't matter at all to your survival. And a lot of women will start to say.

hair uh shedding comes out. The classic. sign is the lateral third of the. eyebrow. We start to see the lateral. third of the eyebrow start to fall out. as well. >> mean the lateral third? >> The outside the outside third of the. eyebrow. So, the tail for most people of. their eyebrow starts to get really. sparse and thin as well. So, there's lots of common signs and. symptoms, but we need carbohydrates if. not for the thyroid, but for our. mood, our sleep, even performance. performance at the gym. In the vein of.

transparency and honesty, I don't always. get to eat before I train, but on the. weekends when I do and I have some. bread and I have some omelets or I have. what it my breakfast and I go and train, fantastic performance enhancer. A lot of. women are scared to consume more. carbohydrates because they think it's. going to make them fat. And this is really comes down to this C. I M or carbohydrate insulin model of. obesity, which has kind of largely been. like disbanded. There's not a lot of. evidence to support it anymore, but.

there's a lot of people online that will. scare you and think, well, if you have. carbs, your glucose levels might spike. And that, you know, the way that it's. often presented is that is the worst. thing that ever could happen to you. >> But there's such a thing as too many. carbs. >> Correct. Yes. I think that the problem. is not that the carbs were the problem, it's the overconsumption of carbs, the. overconsumption of fat, the. overconsumption of of total calories. >> So, it's defined by calories here. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah.

>> There should be a button just down below. here. And if it says subscribe, you're. already subscribed. If it says subscribe. bar, that means you're not yet. And if. you're not subscribed, please could you. do us a favor and hit that button. It. helps to show more than you know. And. according to the algorithm, you're. someone that watches our show, but you. haven't yet hit that button. Thank you. so much. What's the next one? What's the next. myth in your folder? >> Oh, this one. I love this one. Uh this one is. women. getting bulky. Women are still scared that if they.

engage in a program of. progressive overload, which is to say. that you are maybe you are lifting heavy. weights, maybe you are doing more. volume, meaning you're doing more sets. or more repetitions, that somehow you. are going to bulk up. As if. to say that they're going to start. looking like a you know, some a physique. competitor, a bodybuilder.

It [snorts] is the equivalent of saying, well, if you drive to the store to get. some groceries that you are going to be. on par with Lewis Hamilton and you're. going to be a Formula 1 driver, right? It's just. almost. impossible for I'm going to say 97 to. 98% of women don't have the hormonal. environment to bulk. There are a few. genetically gifted outliers that. absolutely can, but for the most part, women cannot bulk. We do not have as. much I don't have as much testosterone.

than as you do. You have like 10 to 20 x. more than I do. So, even if we train the. same way, I'm never going to be able to. put on as much muscle mass as you. But a gal can continue to dream, right? I can continue to hope. >> [laughter]. >> So, bulking up it's not a thing. Um what I what I will say though, actually what I will say is some people. when they do start lifting weights. initially, they will start to feel a. little thicker, right? Cuz the muscle is. a little bit more swollen. There's also. a layer of fat that usually sits on top.

of the muscle. So, as you begin to lose. body fat, your muscles will begin to uh. poke through, let's say. Um but. sometimes that's why people will feel. bulk they'll say, oh, I'm I'm getting. bulk I started and I stopped because I. was getting bulky. It's just a sort of a. a swelling or an inflammation, let's. say, of the muscle underneath. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Ooh. Long fasts. So, I will call myself out here as well. I used to believe that this was the key. And this is when I was in my skinny fat.

Sophia era, when I was in my Exorcist. Emily era, where I thought that the more. you could fast, the less calories you. could take in, and you could lose weight. You want to. make sure that you have total sufficient. calories. You don't want to over consume. calories, but you also don't want to. under consume them either. But fasting doesn't actually teach you. how to eat when you are not fasting, right? So, I think that a lot of people. overly rely on long fast. So, when I say.

long, I would say 20 hours, 24 hours, 36, 72, like these really multi-day. fasts. If I start eating a lot less. calories than let's say you do, I'm going to have, over the long term, more detrimental effects than you might. >> Why? >> The female body is just more sensitive. to whether nutrients are coming in or. not, so that we can figure out whether. or not we want to direct our energy to, you know, being able to get pregnant.

that month. Our ovaries, when we sort of. look at the density of the mitochondria. in them, it's something like 100,000. mitochondria per oocyte, like per cell. So, they're constantly scanning the. environment to see whether it's safe for. uh a woman to get pregnant. And so, if. you are fasting all the time, you run. the risk of sending a signal that it's. not safe, that these are famine. conditions, and that you should not be. producing an egg because that would be. terrible because if you got pregnant,

there's not enough food to feed you or. the baby. >> So, it shuts off. the your your menstrual cycle as a way. to stop you having a baby. >> Yes. So, you can still fast, but the way. that I like to fast is sort of pull the. food, you know, call it 2 to 3 hours. before you go to sleep. That's when you cut off the food, you. sleep for 8 or 9 hours, that's like a. 10-hour, 11-ish hour fast, and then you wake up. in the morning and you eat. What often happens is women try to push. that they'll have a cup of coffee in the. morning and then they try to push their.

eating window, let's say, to 11:00 or. noon. And that ends up Oh, it becomes more. difficult, I'll say it that way. It. becomes more difficult for you to get in. sufficient calories, sufficient protein, sufficient carbohydrates, and fats in a. restricted eating window. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. Okay. So, this is related to the. bulky myth. I think a lot of women are scared of. lifting heavy partially because they've. never done it, so it's foreign. And I think that the other. reason that women are scared of lifting.

heavy is they're scared of getting. injured, which to be fair is a valid. concern. I think that in the era of, you know, again, social media can be a blessing. and can be the greatest thing ever and. sometimes it can be a um a vehicle for. misinformation. And I think now we hear muscle mommies. and lifting heavy and I think that for. women, at least in my cohort, you know, 40s and 50s who grew up in the, you. know, the 90s, the Kate Mosses and the.

asking a woman who is very comfortable. with a cardio machine as her vehicle for. exercise to now move into the, you know, the free weight section of the gym, the. deadlifting platforms, even the. machines, can feel really intimidating. So, there are lots of different ways that. you can build muscle. It doesn't have to. just be heavy. There are other ways that. you can progressively overload the. muscle, which is to say that you are. applying sufficient intensity and effort. every single time, whether it's heavy. weight or it's more volume, or you're.

increasing the density of your workout, meaning you take less rest, so you're a. little bit more tired. Like, you can. There's a lot of different ways that you. can make a workout harder. It doesn't. always have to be heavy. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Heavy. >> Oh, this one This one's good. This is. post-workout fueling. We used to think. that you only had 15 minutes to like. knock back a protein shake, right? >> After you've done a workout. >> After you've done a workout because you. need to replenish the glycogen and you. have to start muscle protein synthesis, and I would say that this is largely. false. Your muscle protein synthesis is.

not just limited to the 15 or 30 minutes. that are immediately after the workout, right? Your muscles are building little. protein factories over the next, you. know, depending on how trained you are, 10 to 72 hours in some cases. As long as. you are getting sufficient, again, total. protein over the course of the day, total calories over a 24-hour period, totally fine. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Oh, pre-workout fueling. Okay. I would say in an ideal world, everyone would have some food before.

they train. So, a little bit of protein, little bit of carbs, just to start. raising some blood sugar to have some. available substrate um for the workout. I don't do this. um most of the week. So, when I work out. during the week, I'm typically at the. gym around 6:00-ish in the morning, and I don't I don't like the way that it. feels when I eat that early in the. morning, and it sort of feels like I. have a brick in my stomach. So, what I.

typically do is I will. fuel with ketones. I have ketones uh for. my workout, and then when I get home, that's when I have my big uh meal. >> So, you have ketones before you do a. workout. >> Yeah. >> Why? >> In the absence of food, I would say that. ketones are fuel that your body already. you your body produces ketones, right? It's a fuel that your body already knows. what to do with, especially when it's a. big muscle group, so if you're doing a. leg day, let's say, or a back day, it. provides. you with the neural drive to continue.

going. So, you get into that sort of. sympathetic state. >> Mhm. >> [clears throat]. >> That's my favorite um flavor, too, is. the green apple. My kids have the green. apple before their soccer, too. >> I am a co-owner of this company, hashtag. ad. >> Yes. >> So, [laughter] I have to I have to. disclaim that. Otherwise, someone's. going to come for me. >> Yeah. So, in an ideal world, we would. fuel before we work out, but my the. constraints that I have in my life is. that I just can't. In the weekend, different story. I can wake up later. I. can have a long coffee with my boys, you.

know, have breakfast, head to the gym, and then, you know, I always know that. when I do have food, my performance is. >> better in the gym. >> Better. Always, 100% of the time. >> So, let's talk about what you do in the. gym. And why you do it. Cuz you clearly. got a big focus on muscle being. important. >> Yeah. >> I train with lots of women. I actually. trained with a colleague of mine this. morning called, uh, George. She often goes off into like the. cardio section. >> Mhm. >> And she does muscles as well, some some. resistance training as well. And I go. off in the other direction to like the,

you know, >> The platforms, yeah. >> Like the men stuff that men typically. gravitate towards. >> Yeah. >> And I'm wondering what you think all. women should be doing in the gym. Like, is there If you think about a 7-day. workout regime, >> Mhm. >> what do you think is optimal in those 7. days? >> Yeah, there is I do want to I do want to. call out something you just said, and. then I'll answer your question. Um, you. just said, I go to the area that. typically men go to, and I do the. exercises that men typically do. So, just because squats and deadlifts and. presses and pull-ups are typically done. by men, doesn't mean that those are male. exercises. Those are fundamental human,

you know, motor patterns that both men. and women can benefit from. Um, but to. your point, there is typically more men. doing those things that are more. comfortable doing those things versus. someone who's like, "Hey, I can figure. out how a stairmaster works. I'll just. get on this thing, and I'll be on here. for the next 35 or 40 minutes, right?". >> I love the stairmaster. >> I love the stairmaster, too. It's, uh, a. special kind of torture. It's great. Okay, so, in terms of what I think people should. be doing, if she can aim something like. three or four days a week of strength.

training, >> Yeah. >> it would be alternating upper body and. lower body, and then we would be. thinking about what muscle groups are we. going to be working together. Is it a. pull or push? Yeah. So, this is um I. think. >> What is this? >> This is from um my book, uh my upcoming. book uh called Nothing to Lose actually, because we shouldn't be losing, we. should be trying to try to be gaining. And these are the these are the muscle. groups that I want women to be thinking. about if their goal is body composition. and they are trying to build a body that.

has curves. You can't spot reduce, but. you can definitely spot build. Like, you. can put curves where. uh you know, they weren't before. So, what I've done in the book is I've. outlined muscle groups that I think. women should be focusing on in order to. help develop in more of an hourglass. figure. So, we have uh starting at the. top, we have the deltoid muscle group, which you're these are your shoulder. I. like to call these your bread buns. So, they're sitting on the side of your. shoulder, the lateral delts. Below that, we'll have the back muscles.

and the lats in particular. I like to. call the lats our angel wings because we. have, you know, it helps it sort of. create that V as the back widens, you. have a the appearance of a slender or. slimmer waist. Moving posteriorly, we. have glutes. So, there's three uh. muscles that make up the glutes. It's. max, med, and min. Glute maximus, gluteus gluteus and then we have the. adductor group. >> Which is the insides of the legs. >> inner thigh muscles, yeah. And then the last the last one is the.

pelvic floor or may more broadly, we'll. say the the core muscles. >> So, what do I need to know? For a woman. and I I'm thinking about building this. uh these five muscles that you've. highlighted here. Are there as it. relates to how I should be training and. the big misconceptions about how to. train to build this? >> Yeah. >> What do I need to know? >> For these muscle groups, you probably. should be hitting something like 10 sets. of um exercises per week per muscle. group. >> Okay, so if I do four hip thrusts,

>> Mhm. >> um that is one set of four. >> Correct. >> And that's going to help my glutes. >> Correct. >> So you're saying that I should be doing. 10 sets a week. >> Per muscle group per week. Yeah. >> But that's not actually that much. >> It's not that much. No. And this is why. I was saying before the two times a week. that the ladies that are like I just. have I just have two. That's all I. That's all I can give you. You can still. have incredible results. As long as you. are taking the muscle close to muscle. failure, which is to say that you can no.

longer perform the repetition anymore. You don't have to take it to failure, but as long as it's one to three. repetitions from failure. That's all you need to do. And now, I. you know, it's simple to say that's all. you need to do. It's going to be very. difficult for you to do that because you. are going to start noticing your. uh range of motion, like your ability to. do your range of motion is going to be. limited. You're going to start noticing. the velocity of the repetition is. starting to slow down, so your ability. to sort of move the.

the weight through space is going to. start slowing down. You're going to. subjectively, even though you can see. that you're holding like a 15-lb or. 10-lb, you know, weight, it's going to. start feeling like 20 or 25. Like your. subjective perception of the weight is. going to be um increasing. You know, if. you were to rate it out of 10, you would. rate your effort like eight or nine out. of 10. >> And men and women, because they have. different anatomies, should be doing. slightly different exercises? >> I think that that's more a matter of.

preference and goals. >> But is my anatomy and your anatomy the. same? >> Our anatomy is not the same. No. So, when we think about the way that we move. through, let's say if you and I were to. squat together or you were and I were to. lunge together, there's going to be some. differences in terms of how we look. And. so, we'll pull up some props here if we. can. So, this is a female pelvis. and this is this little guy who doesn't. want to stand up today is a is a male. pelvis. So, when we sort of look at the.

difference between them, the female. pelvis is wider and it's more shallow. The male pelvis is more narrow and the. reason that we have more of the sort of. if you sort of look at the two this. looks like a little bit more like a. heart shape. And this looks a little bit more like an. oval shape. And the reason for that is. to allow a baby to pass through. Why this is so important is this is. going to shape the stressors that happen. in our knees and our ankles. So, in.

particular we have something called the. Q angle which I believe I believe I have. a. Yeah, I have something Yeah, yeah. So, here is the Q angle. So, what a Q angle. is is basically you take a measurement. from the hip and you draw it all the way. down to the kneecap or the patella and. then you take like another little line. from the tibial tubercle and and draw it. upward. So, that's just for all the. nerds that are listening. if you want to measure this it's the. anterior superior iliac spine all the. way down to the uh to the patella and.

then the tibial tubercle. And what. you'll see for women here in pink. because the pelvis is wider, the femur. has to more aggressively come in. medially. It has to come more to the. center. So, this makes women when we. compare women and men, um it makes us. more knock-kneed. Which just means that. the knees are coming more together. So, this is going to impact literally. every. how we move. So, it's going to affect. how we walk, how we jump, how we squat, how we lunge, how we run. And so, it's.

important to for women to understand how. we're different because often the. queuing and the instruction that women. get are sort of very they're based off. of a male pelvis, let's say. And so, we. can run into. feeling like squats are not comfortable, that lunges are not comfortable, or we. start to even shy away from some of. these motions because we don't think. that they're meant for us. You just need. to know how to adapt your training so.

that you can support some of those sheer. motions as you as you're moving. Because. what ends up happening for women is as. we are let's say lunging or squatting, as the knee comes down, we will start to. see more sheer forces being placed. through the medial or through the inside. part of the knee. Right? So, that puts. us at a greater risk for uh ligamentous. injuries. So, in the knee, the big one. is the ACL that we often worry about. So, as you're getting tired, you need to. be aware that you're going to have a.

tendency for that knee to come in. And. there's nothing wrong with the knee. coming in as long as you have muscles. that can kind of support it. If I were. to grab this back here so we can sort of. think about superimposing it. If we were. to look at the the leg here, the muscles that are going to be helping. to control the way that the hip moves it. are the glutes. So, you have the glute. max, but in particular the gluteus. medius, which is often called like the. upper shelf. uh muscle, that's actually going to help.

the femur or counteract the femur being. pulled inwardly. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. [clears throat]. >> Yeah. >> So, we do have different anatomical. differences that women need to be aware. of so that we can bias training that. will provide mobility and stability for. us. So, that's another reason why. I mean, yes, glutes look amazing in. jeans, but it's also because they are. providing such a driving force of. stability for the spine, for the knees, for the ankles, literally for the entire. body.

>> And so, with squatting, men and women. should squat differently? >> Yeah, not all women and men should squat. differently. There are women that can. squat in these sort of traditional. queuing. >> Can you show me this? >> I can. Yeah, I'll have to take my heels. off, but I'm happy to. Yes. Do you want to do it now? >> Sure. >> Yeah, okay. Let's do it. >> So, tell me how the anatomy of a woman. and a man determines how we should be. squatting. >> So, I'll say first that you have to play. and see what feels good for you. So, there's going to be some women that are. going to be able to squat just like the. traditional cues that I'm about to give.

you. Most women prefer a little bit of a. wider squat and I'll show that. So, the. typical squat that were the way [snorts]. that we're often cued is feet are. hip-width apart, toes facing forward, and then we're going to come down, and. then I'm just like I can't actually get. I'm trying I'm collapsing my chest at. this point. So, for women, what a lot of. women find is more comfortable can. actually get the range of motion that. you just demonstrated is taking your. feet a little bit wider, and then you're. going to turn the feet out. So, because.

the female femur tends to sit a little. bit more spun inwards or in internally. rotated, now with this external. rotation, we can actually just get by. all of that, and we can come all the way. down into a squat. So, and we can hang out here like I can. we can probably do the rest of the. podcast like this if you'd like. >> I'd rather not. I'd rather [laughter]. not. >> Yeah. >> So, so that's the squat. Is there. anything else I need to know about the. squat, the the variance between men men. and women with squatting? >> The other thing that you can think about.

whether it's a squat with two feet or a. lunge or a split squat with one is with. a woman when she's coming down when. she's decelerating like she's coming. down into the into the lunge or into the. split squat, everything and your this is. true for you as well. Everything is. going to be internally rotating. So, the. femur, the leg bone is coming in, the. tibia is coming in, the foot on the. inside you're actually rolling onto the. you're flattening of the arch. It's. called pronation, which everybody says. is a bad thing by the way, but it's you.

need it to be able to load the spring. And then for women like if you and I. were to squat with the same leg forward, you'll probably be able to see that as. I'm coming down, like my knee come my. knee tracks a little bit inward. versus your stays a little bit more. straight. There's nothing wrong with. that. It's just a matter of whether or. not I have sufficient control with my. hip stabilizer muscles to in order to. make sure that I'm not putting excess. sharing forces on the on the knee. >> So, you need to strengthen your hip. stabilizer. >> Yep.

>> Okay. >> The peach. >> Cuz I I read something about I think it. was about the World Cup, the women's. World Cup, where they said that if. something like 12 women had got ACL. injury injuries in the lead up to the. World Cup. >> Yeah. So, when we're thinking about why. that happens, it usually happens when. the athlete is tired. So, if it's. leading up to the World Cup, they've. probably over trained, they're not. recovering, uh and then it can be just. that they're training one day and she. takes a weird step, the sharing forces. happen just before her ligaments and her. tendons are able to stabilize it.

And and you and you damage it. >> And is there is there true that there's. a connection between like your brain and. your mechanics that often result in. injury? Like so, I can't remember what. it was, but I think someone it was a. sleep doctor telling me that when you're. underslept, one of the reasons why you. get so many injuries is because when you. do like jump, your brain and your. >> time is slow. Yeah. >> And you see a lot of athletes doing. doing this before games because they're. almost like practicing landing. >> actually a little bit of deceleration. So, what that is is basically a stick and.

land, right? So, they're jumping and. they're holding it so that the forces. are not dumped into the joints, but. rather absorbed into the connective. tissue, so the the ligaments and the. tendons. >> And why is deceleration why is it. important even for everybody even. non-athletes to do that? >> Well, if you are not an athlete and. you're just somebody who doesn't want to. fall and break a hip, you know, I think that that's really. important. You know, if you're thinking. about falling, what you need to be able. to do is get the hip flexor up in front. of you, right? And then stop the fall.

So, there's a couple muscles. So, we. have the hip flexor muscle that has to. come up quickly in order to get ahead of. the fall. We have the tibialis anterior, which is just this muscle in the front. of the tibia that is involved in what's. called uh dorsiflexion, which is just. nerd speak for toes come up, right? So, you need to be able to clear the floor, and then you need to have glutes to sort. of absorb and brake, right? And then we. were talking a little bit about the. hourglass figure before when we were.

talking about the adductors or the inner. thigh muscles. One of the things that. the inner thigh muscles will do is. they'll actually pull the leg back. underneath you, right? So, they'll also. help to stabilize that fall. And the. adductors or the outside muscle group. like the side of the glutes, they're. also going to help brake. So, there's a. couple like when you're falling, it's. like you got to get the leg up, you got. to have the toe clear the floor, and. then if you're falling off to the side, you need the adductors and the abductors. to be able to um.

to stabilize so that you don't trip over. it. >> One of the smartest things a business. can do is build like a bigger company. without actually hiring like one. But, the problem we all face is that most. companies don't have every skill in. house. So, when I look at the businesses. seeing real success today, the. consistent path with all of them is how. quickly they move. They bring in. specialists with skills in emerging. areas to keep themselves ahead. Even in. our company, we spent the last year. pulling in talent across areas like AI. native strategy, no code builds, and. product workflows. And we find this.

talent through our long-time partner. Fiverr Pro. Their premium service only. shows you vetted talent, so you've. always got the safeguard that anyone you. pull in to help you with a complex. project has the skills that you're after. and will deliver to the same high. standards as your internal team. And. most importantly, they'll keep up with. the pace. It's a simple strategy, but it. lets us stay agile without compromising. on quality. So, if you need these kind. of skills in your business, head to. pro.fiverr.com to find pioneering talent. to fill your businesses gaps. That's. pro.fiverr.com.

You guys know that I only drink one type. of coffee these days and it's called. Cometeer. If you don't know the brand, they flash freeze coffee at the perfect. moment to lock in all of the amazing. flavor. They've done something. incredible. They've gone all the round. the world and they found the most. delicious coffees from all of these. places and they've created a world mug. competition box that you can buy. So, if. you want to try coffee from Honduras or. Panama or England or the USA or Italy or. France, you can then order that. particular coffee on subscription to.

come to your house. No machines. necessary. Not only are they our sponsor. and a company I have invested in, it is. the only coffee I drink now. Actually, this morning when I came to work, I put. Cometeer, one of these wet balls, which. is another one of my favorites from. France. So, if you want to try your own. Cometeer, they reserved a certain amount for Diary. of a CEO listeners. Just go to. cometeer.com/doac. and you can get $20 off if you use the. code doac at checkout.

So, let's talk about um let's talk about. supplementation. Do you take. supplements? >> I do. I'll pre-frame this by saying that. I am a special category of nerd. So, I. take a lot of the foundational. supplements and then there are other. ones that I take because I'm just very, very interested in the research and the. research excites me. But for I would say. for the general population, for women. that are listening, if they're thinking. like I got to supplement, there's a. couple of sort of tier one, we'll say, supplements that we want to be thinking. about. So,

I will find my magnesium first. This is our. tried and true bestie, okay? So, I love. a magnesium uh glycinate. There's lots. of different kinds, uh but glycinate's. just the easiest to absorb for most. people. It tends to help with. relaxation, helps with sleep, helps with. muscle recovery. So, this is something. that I love. I'll usually take one like. 250 megs at lunchtime, and then another. one in the evening. So, magnesium for. everyone. >> How do you remember to take them? >> I tend to habit stack them. So, I always.

know that when I'm preparing my lunch, I. actually keep my magnesium right beside. my salt and my pepper. So, as I'm like. salting my food, I'm like, oh yeah, there's the magnesium, I'm going to take. it. And I have another bottle upstairs. in my bathroom. So, as I'm getting ready. for bed, I'm putting up my hair, I'm. doing my skin, whatever, I will I'll. take one there, too. >> So, you put it in the way. >> Yeah. >> of of other habits. >> Cuz otherwise, if I put it in a really. beautiful supplement closet, it's just. going to. >> Yeah, same. >> stay there. >> I have to put it on my desk. And also,

when I travel, it's on the hotel desk. >> Yeah. You're already doing something. else, so just put the thing next to the. thing you're already doing, and your. compliance and your adherence is going. to go up, right? >> [snorts]. >> Um what else we got in here? Ooh, omega-3s. Okay. These are so well. established in the literature. They. reduce inflammation, they help with. cognition. Something like 2 to 4 g a. day. >> I didn't know you needed to keep it in. the fridge. I've been keeping it in a. hot cupboard for the longest time. >> Yeah. I mean. >> Probably spoils. >> It just yeah, it just helps with with. spoilage. So, you can pop them in the.

fridge, and then same kind of thing, like habit stacking. So, as you're. opening up the fridge, put it in front. of, you know, the thing that the thing. that you would most commonly reach for. So, you go for fruits in the morning, you put them right beside your fruits. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Uh what other goodies do we have in. here? Vitamin D, for sure. Uh D3 with a. K2. Uh 4,000 IUs minimum uh per day, I. would say. Most people should be taking. that. They call it a vitamin, it's not. really a vitamin. It's more of like a. prohormone or prehormone. So, this is. really important for sex hormone,

reproductive hormone uh production, uh. again, inflammation, cognition. >> Every day? >> Every day. Every day. >> I went to the doctor, and he said I was. deficient in vitamin D and omega-3. So, there's. >> know how many Even if you live in a. sunny I can't tell you I've had patients. who live in, you know, Florida, let's. say, where it's you think that you're. getting a lot of sun exposure because. the temperature is. uh inimical to that, and you run their. vitamin D, and. >> It's crazy. >> Yeah. >> Crazy. >> Ooh, I'm so happy you have this one.

here, creatine. Uh I know you just had. Dr. Darren Candow on the show. He was. actually on my podcast as well. For. women, you know, I think creatine used to be. this um. like bro supplement, you know, it's like. these the bodybuilders with the scary, you know, noises and the, you know, weird t-shirts and stuff. But the. creatine is really, really important for. women. The way that Dr. Candow uh. described it to me was he said, you. know, lifting weights builds the cake, and this is like the icing on top of it, right? So, you're not going to, you.

know, enhance performance, you're not. going to build strength if you're just. doing the creatine. You have to be. pairing it with the mechanical signal of. resistance training, but I think every. woman can be taking 5 g, 3 to 5 g of. this every single day. >> How much are you taking? >> I take five. >> Sometimes you take a bit more than five. >> Sometimes I take a little bit more than. five. So, when you have been, and this. is this is the little perimenopausal. hack because I am in fully in the throes. of it right now, there are nights where I don't sleep.

well. So, [snorts]. taking a higher dose of creatine that. day will help with your cognition, your. awareness, and your alertness. So, something like a 10-g dose because it's. a little bit harder to get if my. understanding of it is it's harder to. get across the blood-brain barrier, so. you need a higher dose in order to. facilitate that. But yeah, 10 g. >> And what impact has it had on you? Have. you noticed an impact? >> When I haven't slept well, yeah, definitely if I take it in the morning, it definitely wakes me up. I would say. that when I am not taking regular like.

I'm not taking the 3 to 5 g or, you. know, for some reason I start. forgetting, um muscles look a little less swole, you. know, they look a little less full. Um don't have as much energy in the tank. when I'm doing like a really intense. workout. >> Mhm. >> There's a performance degradation when I. am when I'm not on it. And then collagen. I love this one. because it gets so much hate online, so. we're going to go against the grain and. talk about how great collagen is.

A lot of the criticism for collagen. often comes from this idea that, well, it's terrible. It doesn't have any. leucine or has less than 3% of leucine, which is an amino acid that. stimulates protein synthesis. And yes, that's true. It is a terrible driver for. muscle protein, but this that's not like. the whole goal for women is not just. muscle, right? We have other tissues. that go to the gym alongside our muscle. that train, like our tendons, our. ligaments, our joints. And so collagen is just like muscle is a.

very expensive process, so it's very. expensive, you know, I mean, from a. mechanistic point of view to create. collagen. So taking collagen is great. for what I like to call the JTL, your. joints, your tendons, and your. ligaments. So I will typically take something like. 10 to 15 g of this a day. People will. probably come at me. I put this in my. coffee sometimes, which I know the heat, I get it, but. if I don't, I won't take it. >> There's so many collagen products out.

there at the moment, isn't there? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Collagen drinks, collagen collagen's in. everything. >> Mhm. >> Someone's going to figure out how to. like put it in the air or something. >> Yeah, right. Yeah. >> Is that all a fad? They're saying it's. good for skin, it's good for nails, it's. good for hair, it's good for everything. >> It's good for fascia, it's good for I. mean, collagen is the primary compound. in joints, tendons, ligaments, fascia, skin, hair, and nails. >> type of collagen? >> Hydrolyzed. Hydrolyzed type 1, 2, and 3. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Fine. What else? >> Electrolytes. I take electrolytes not as consistently,

again, in the vein of transparency and. honesty, I typically will take this on a. very heavy cardio day. So, I have. recently taken up tennis. I'm terrible. at it, but being outside tennis, you're. in the heat, you're running left and. right, and you're doing it for hours on. end, you know, you can when you're. sweating a lot, electrolytes are really. great. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, like electrolytes, don't take. them all the time. And with our last puppy here. Oh, vitamin C. Vitamin C I actually like to take with.

the um the collagen because it can. enhance its absorption. And then this is. just a general antioxidant that I think, you know, there's no harm in taking. vitamin C, right? It's water soluble, you take too much, you pee it out. Um. but good as an antioxidant, good as an. anti-inflammatory, helps with the absorption um of collagen. as well. >> What about protein? How do you think about protein? Do you. do you take protein shakes or anything? >> I do when I'm traveling. So, I typically. in my day-to-day um. diet, I typically don't. I will if I'm.

falling a bit short, but for me, my most. of my protein is coming from whole. foods. >> What about cardio? Because we have we've. talked a lot about doing resistance. training and the importance of building. muscle. Um what where does cardiovascular. exercises, running, sprinting, stair. master fit into all of this? >> It's life. It's everything. Cardio is is. fantastic as well. Um I think that again, you know, when I. think about my Overwhelmed Ophelia, you. you know, she's online and she has. people that are saying things like, you.

should only lift weights and walk. And. then there's other people that are. doing, you know, the chronic cardio and. the people who are kind of overdoing it. that and not doing enough weights. I. sort of think about her as we start this. discussion. So, we want to be thinking. about cardio not as a punishment for. what you ate and not because you're. trying to get skinny, but because we. want to have other. goals around our health span and our. life span. So, living a longer life and. spending more of those years healthy. >> A lot of women have PCOS, including my. partner. >> Yeah. >> Um and I was looking at the the comments.

on your one of your interviews you did. and one of the top comments from a woman. was for women with PCOS or insulin. resistance spring training hit. often back backfires because it spikes. [clears throat] cortisol and insulin. Many of us do better with strength. training plus zone two until hormone. stabilize. I would love to hear more. tailored guidance for PCOS. >> Yeah. So the first thing I want to. dismantle in that comment is that. cortisol spikes are bad. >> [snorts]. >> It really context really matters. So. without so I'll just say this way.

Without cortisol you won't wake up in. the morning. You know like we need. cortisol. There's something called the. cortisol awakening response where it. tends to peak, you know, somewhere you. know, right right around the time that. you wake up and then it sort of looks. like a ski slope and it, you know, gradually. exits the chat, right? So cortisol is a. normal process. A cortisol spike is a. normal process. Just like when you. train, so when she was saying like I. train when I do resistance training, if. she were to be monitoring her hormones,

she would see both a glucose spike and a. cortisol spike when she's training. because though it to to be able to train. with enough intensity and effort, you. need to be you need to get into. something called sympathetic drive. You. need to be in like stress physiology. So. her cortisol spiking when she's training. as well. So I want to really caution. women away from being scared of normal. and predicted, you know, uh spikes, right? Like glucose spikes, cortisol spikes. So that that's what I. would say just to start off that.

conversation. Women with P-M-O-S, it used to be known. as PCOS, now it's polyendocrine. metabolic ovarian syndrome. Her body typically behaves more like. someone. who is diabetic, like a type two. diabetic, where she has. issues with glucose disposal, she has. issues with insulin sensitivity. So specific recommendations for someone. who has PCOS is absolutely she should be.

training cuz every time she's. contracting her muscles, she's actually. helping whether insulin is present is. present or not for her to pull that. glucose into the muscle cell and to be. able to make energy. So, that's really. fantastic. I also think that whether you have PCOS. or you're, you know, type 2 diabetic, I. think that zone 2 cardio is fantastic. again. for endurance, but you can also benefit. from the very high intensity cardio. that, you know, might be categorized as.

high intensity interval training or hit. or sprint interval training sometimes. called sit. This is like sit is. basically like 10 to 20 seconds. all out ovaries to the wall 100% effort. uh and then you recover and then you do. that, you know, four five six times if. you're feeling, you know, particularly, you [laughter] know, energetic. Uh and that can also that stress, that. cortisol spike and all the, you know, the physiological cascade that happens. from that.

is going to make you stronger and. [snorts] a better glucose disposal. agent, right? Which is what she wants if. she has PCOS over the long term. >> Are there any particular exercises that. women and people generally tend to stop. doing as they age because it's kind of. like it becomes harder as you age, but. they should definitely not stop doing? >> Oh my gosh. >> Like what are the ones where we all kind. of stop doing it, but it's it leads to a. downward spiral. >> Sprinting 100%. I think that everybody. should be sprinting.

>> Why? >> You are going to be increasing something. called your VO2 max, which is. uh just again nerd speak for how much. oxygen can you take into the lungs and. distribute to the cells, right? That. along with we've all heard the stat. muscle declines 1% per year if you're. not doing anything, VO2 max is the same. So, you will decline your VO2 max. capacity 10% per decade if you're not. actively working on it. >> I'll put some graphs on the screen that. show that decline over time. >> Yeah, great. I can think of family.

members, you know, going up the stairs. or down the stairs or trying to get. groceries and bringing them into the. house that are huffed and puffed, right? That they're they've lost their breath. from going up a flight or two of stairs. >> think, you know, they say that that's. just getting older. >> Absolutely not. It's absolutely not a function of aging. It's just a loss of capacity. There was um. >> Can you sprint? >> I sprint all the time. Yeah, but there's. So I wanted what I wanted to say was. there's a couple of different ways that. we can sprint. So you can sprint in a on. a track. So I used to be a track.

sprinter, so that's like my love. But you can also sprint on a cardio. machine in the gym. So in the. wintertime, so I live on the East Coast. where I can't always sprint on the. track, so I will take my sprinting. indoors. and I will do something called the. Norwegian 4x4 on a bike. Have you ever heard of a Norwegian 4x4? >> heard of it, but please do explain. >> Yeah, it's a special it's a special kind. of torture. I hate it up until the. moment I get on the bike and then when. I'm doing it, I'm like, okay, I'm going. to do this. And then when I'm finished,

I'm like, I'm so proud of myself. So a. Norwegian 4x4 is basically 4 minutes. your your In my case, I do it on the. bike, but it can be done on a treadmill. or any cardio machine. 85%. to 95% of your heart rate max. So you. need to know what your maximum like the. maximum heart rate that you have ever. achieved. 85% of that for 4 minutes. It's a long 4 minutes. And then you take a you take a 3-minute. break. And then you do that again four times, hence the name four minutes four times.

>> [clears throat]. >> Lots of really cool studies on looking. at. VO2 max capacity. There's one that I'm thinking of where. they looked at women. The average age of the women were 58. So. they were a lot of them were in like. postmenopausal, let's say. And they put them on a sprinting. protocol. What they found was that in a period of. 8 weeks, they were able to increase.

their VO2 max by 10% in 2 months. Which is wild when you think about how. quickly you can lose it, and you can get. 10% back in 2 months, which is which is. phenomenal. And the other really cool. thing about that study was they actually. took that cohort. So, that was the. we'll call them like the the well-lived. or the older cohort, let's say, and they. compared it to 18 to 30-year-olds, and. they found that the gains that happened. in the older cohort were they had.

mitochondrial efficiency improvements of. 69%. >> Mhm. >> Whereas [clears throat] the younger. cohort, their mitochondrial gains were. 49%. So, all that to say, a lot of. people will frame aging as it's like, "Well, now you're getting wrinkles, now. you're getting old, and now you're just. past you're over the hill, it's past. your prime." These women had maybe the. gap was bigger for them, but they had so. much more upside to gain, right? Which. is so that I mean that makes me so. excited because it's never ever ever too. late. Like you can like the best time to.

start was 10 years ago, fine, but the. second best time is today. Like you're. not behind. You can totally do it now. >> One of the top comments in your recent. video as well was one saying jumping or. hopping is a good way to strengthen your. bones and knees, and you should not stop. doing that as we age. >> True. >> Cuz a lot of people start thinking, "Oh, I I can't run anymore because it's not. good for my hips and my knees, and I've. you know, I've had injuries and stuff. like that." So, running is one of those. things that people stop doing cuz. they're scared of joint issues. >> Yeah, I think the old adage of use it or. lose it is really, really key here. Like.

if you stop doing it, you're going to. definitely stop your ability to like. you're not going to be able to do it, right? Your body is going to prioritize. the things that it does. So, So, you. want to be able to jump, you want to be. able to sprint, you want to be able to. squat, age is is absolutely inconsequential to. that. So, in that in that particular comment, if. somebody wanted to improve their bone. density, yeah, for sure, you can strap. on a weighted vest, do some plyometrics, add some weight to your jump. Like, that's going to, you know, increase that.

strain magnitude and strain rate on the. bone, which is going to drive that. positive bone reformation. That's. awesome. But, yeah, it's if you don't. jump, you're going to lose your ability. to jump. >> Do you jump? >> I do it all the time. Well, sprinting is. jumping, right? >> Do you like is there such a thing as. jump training? >> Like plyos? Plyometrics? >> Oh, is that what plyo is? >> 100%. >> do that? >> Yes. Even if it's just isometric holds, let's say. Like, maybe somebody can't jump, but. they can stand with their with their. heels elevated, so that the Achilles. tendon and the calf, like the.

gastrocnemius, is contracting. Just to. give you a little bit of a a visual. here, so what I'm talking about. Maybe. one of the most famous tendons in the. body is the Achilles. It is the. extension of the calf muscles here, and. then it sort of wraps around the heel. and attaches into the um into the uh. inferior part of the calcaneus, which is. just uh your heel bone. So, maybe you. can't quite jump yet, but you can. actually this. uh mannequin is doing a really good job. They're just coming up on their toes, contracting the gastrocnemius, and this.

is called an isometric hold. So, that. tension. in the muscles and in the tendon, we. have these little mechanoreceptors that. sort of detect stretch. So, they will. detect that whether something's being. contracted or. whether something's stretching, and they. will say, "Oh, we need to remodel in. order to meet the demand of this this. activity." And then you can progress to. doing little hops, you can progress to. doing jumps, etc. >> Very easy to do. You don't need to You. don't need a gym or anything like that. >> Not at all. >> I've heard you say that um deceleration.

is important for mobility. >> Yeah. Deceleration is the opposite of. acceleration. So, we think of acceleration, it's speeding. up and getting fast. Deceleration is. coming to a stop. So, in order to come to a stop without. dumping all of the forces in your. joints, again, the tendons and the. ligaments need to be able to absorb that. kinetic energy. And from a sport perspective, your. ability to decelerate, so coming to a. complete stop and then changing. direction, so change of direction.

training, is actually more predictive of. whether you'll go pro than your vertical. jump, your acceleration speed, or if. you're doing things like beep tests or. whatever. Um it's also really important. for us as we age. You might trip on, you. know, something on the floor or, you. know, the corner of a rug, or you might. lose your footing on the stairs. You. need to be able to get your foot in. front of you and then. be able to stop the motion before you. fall. >> Are there any Are there exercises that. are like really, really simple and.

underrated that one can do without. equipment? >> I have so many to show you. Yes. >> Okay. >> [laughter]. >> So, the one that I love, this is almost. like a diagnosis, but then it, you know, the diagnosis almost becomes the plan, like the the care plan. Uh something that um I just call the X. plank. It's very difficult to do, but it. is a test for stability and mobility of. the hip. So, we were talking about the Q. angle before. This is directly. challenging the muscles on the side of. the hip and whether or not you can stay.

stable. So, uh this is a great exercise. Yeah, I can show it to you. So, this is, again, like I was saying, it's the prescrip It's the test, but. then it also becomes the care plan. So, um. maybe what we'll do So, I'll show it to. you and then maybe we'll have you try. >> I'll I'm going to be over here. >> Yeah, okay. [laughter]. So, you're basically going to come into. a side plank. So, where your wrist and. your shoulders are all aligned. Toes are. facing forward. Hand comes up and then. you're going to lift the arm up and.

you're going to try and see if you can. hold this for 30 seconds. It is not. easy, and so this is really testing the. stability and the mobility of your hips. It's also testing the integrity of your. ability to stay ab-ducted, which is what. my leg is doing right now. So, if. someone has a timer, hopefully I'm close. to 30 seconds, but we'll call it. maybe. now. >> [laughter]. >> Probably about 30 seconds there. >> Yeah. >> Uh so, that's a that's a really great. test for anybody to do. And it's also.

there's core work, there's shoulder. work, it's a really whole body workout. >> Okay. Yeah, my my turn. >> Why don't you try? Yeah, see. >> Okay. >> So, on your side, toes stacked on top of. each other, wrist is kind of tucked. under the shoulder. Yeah, hands waving. hello. And now try to lift to your top. leg. >> Oh gosh, okay. Let me just. call somebody. >> [laughter]. >> I need one of my friends. Okay, I'm going to stand on my. It my my feet hurt. >> So, in this case, if you're not able to.

do it, this becomes the thing that you. train. >> I mean, the the pressure of putting my. foot on my other foot and putting all. the weight on this foot here. >> Okay. >> Or maybe I'll put my foot on the mat. >> Yeah, yeah, like maybe you need a little. bit of grip. Yeah. >> That's no better. >> [laughter]. >> I think it's actually just me being. weak. Okay. So, like this? >> Yeah. >> And then lifting this leg up. >> Lifting the leg up, there you go. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay, I get it. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, now you're just going to.

work your yourself up to 10 seconds, 15. seconds, 20 seconds, and over time. you'll just be doing this at the. airport. >> Where does this arm go? >> Just Just on top. Yeah, just on top. Yeah. >> I think I've got more of a balancing. issue, is it? >> Yeah, it's also it's a really strong. balance test, yeah. This is a This is. one of those exercises that literally. tests almost every system in the body. So, I love it as a diagnostic. >> Okay. Is there like a an entry to this. exercise that's a little bit more. amateur? >> For For Yeah, well Oh, if there's me you can maybe. instead of doing it on both feet, you. can maybe do it on your knees. So,

um I'll demo that real quick. So, if you. want to just come here, so you're. stacking the knees on top of each other, and then you can do it this way. >> Okay. >> So, there's still you're still having to. recruit the glute medius. um here, but it's just less less stress. >> Okay. >> You want to try that? See how that one. feels. >> Okay. I got it. >> Yeah, you got it. Okay. Take your. >> Is there anything else that you can show. me that you think's pertinent to the. conversation we just had? >> You know what? Well, yeah, this one. actually relates to um mobility a little. bit, which we did talk about. So,

in cultures where people sit on the. floor, they eat on the floor, um. you know, they toilet on the floor, they. their fall risk is literally almost. zero. So, I think as North Americans or. Western, we can do more sitting on the. floor. So, one of the big tests. um I'll you I'll usually won't start on. the floor, but I'll have if it's an. elderly person, maybe they're sitting on. a chair. Can they stand up unassisted, like without using their hands? And this. is the hardest part of the test. So, what you'll do is your feet crossed, and.

we'll do it with both feet to see. Without using your hands, you can use a. little bit of momentum if you want. Um. but you're going to see if you can get. up without using your hands. There you go. >> Ooh, that was. >> Well done. Nicely done. All right, let's. get back down. Let's try to cross our. feet the other way. The wrong way. >> The other way. >> Yeah. >> [laughter]. >> Cuz you always typically cross your feet. one way, right? So, [clears throat] I. don't do this one as well as I do the. other one, so I'm working on it as well. So, again, no um hands. You can use a.

little bit of momentum if you want, and. you're going to come all the way up. That one was not as pretty. Yeah. [clears throat]. There you go. >> Okay. >> It was really well. >> What is that I do you know what is what. what muscles am I using there? >> You're using every you're you are. recruiting mobility in your ankles, you. are recruiting your quads to be able to. extend your knee, your glutes to extend. your hip, like it's the whole leg. >> Mhm, great. Thank you so much. We don't. >> awesome. >> Any others that you love? >> Oh, goodness. >> can do without equipment at home? >> Push-ups,

body weight squats, which I think you. should eventually progress to weights, but so many people have terrible. technique, so you can actually have a. fantastic workout with just your body. weight. Um, glute bridges I think are. fantastic. So many. You can pick up like. a big um. bag of cat food or dog food. and, you know, do walking lunges down. your, you know, wherever. >> If you know me, and if you've listened. to this podcast before, you'll know how. obsessed I am with sleep. I've been on a. bit of a journey with sleep. I see it as.

the single most important thing that I. am have the privilege of having control. over. And that's exactly what our. sponsor Eight Sleep are. It's a very, very intelligent piece of material to. sleep on. Here's what the Eight Sleep. Pod does. It monitors your body while. you're sleeping, and with their AI, it. adjusts the temperature for you using. billions and billions and billions of. hours of sleep data, and members have. reported up to a 34%. deeper sleep and falling asleep up to. 44% faster. Me and my fiance, Melanie,

sleep on different parts of the bed, and. it adjusts my part of the bed to my body. and her part of the bed to her body. So. if you want to learn more about this. pod, go to eightsleep.com/steven. That's code Steven for $500 off from now. until July 12th. Big opportunity. I'm not kidding. Give. it a try. For every founder, there comes a point. in building a company where your job. shifts. From being the person inside. your business actioning everything to.

the person responsible for absolutely. everything. The only way I've been able. to make this shift across the different. companies and teams I'm responsible for. is by knowing that the right systems are. in place to manage everything. Systems. that don't need me in order for them to. work. Our sponsor Pipedrive is one of. those systems. An easy-to-use. intelligent CRM tool for growing sales. teams. My team use it and have for the. last decade because it's genuinely the. most effective way to run a sales. operation. Through one dashboard, you. get every deal visible and every stage. of the sales process is clear and what.

needs to happen next is all there in. real time. When a system like this. works, you don't need to be in every. conversation to know exactly if your. business is moving forward, where and. what the blockers are. Over 100,000. companies are already running their. sales on it. So, if you'd like to join. them, sign up at pipedrive.com/ceo, where you'll get an exclusive 30-day. free trial instead of the usual 14 days. No credit card is needed. That's. pipedrive.com/ceo.

One of the I mean, I looked at lots of. the comments and a lot of them also. talked about the specific issues mothers. face after they have a child. >> Mhm. >> Um I saw comments about prolapse and. pelvic floors, etc. >> Yeah. >> You've had two children. >> Mhm. >> What are and you speak to many, many. mothers. >> Yeah. >> Um what are the specific issues that. mothers face as it relates to fitness, their workout regimes, their goals, >> Mhm. >> um resistance training, etc., that I. wouldn't be aware of? >> Yeah. >> As someone that's not given birth to a. child.

>> So, you know, we talked about how the. um. the hips are different for men and. women. The pelvic floor is also very. different for men and women as well. So, just from a. >> What is the pelvic floor? >> The pelvic floor is like a hammock of. muscles that goes from the pubic bone. So, um. if we were to think about So, here is. the uh female pelvis. We have the pubic. bone here. >> Mhm. >> And then it's it's like a sling of. muscles that come around and then attach. to the coccyx or what's known as the.

tailbone. And these are called the. pubococcygeal. So, pubic, coccyx, pubococcygeal muscles or PC muscles. And. they're different than, let's say, your. quadriceps or your glutes, because they. are literally working all the time. They are working to keep your organs in. the pelvis, so that they don't just fall. out. And for women, this is another area. where we are different, because we have. more I mean, first of all, we have more. openings, right? So, if you think about. the sling of muscles for a woman, you're.

going to have a hole at the urethra, at. the opening of the vulva into the. vagina, and then also the anus. So, there's three holes, and so already you. have less surface area for that for. those muscles to be able to contract and. support, right? Versus a male, uh those. PC muscles just have to deal with one. So, it's mechanically much simple. simpler for a man. And then you layer on hormonal. fluctuations over the course of a, you. know, woman as she's menstruating, if. she becomes pregnant, under the.

influence of different hormones like. relaxin, uh the weight of the baby, you. know, constantly pushing down, um. and then birth, as I've mentioned. before, uh these can. significantly alter the strength and the. ability for the for the PC muscles to um. absorb load appropriately. So, for women. who've had babies, first you have to obviously be working. with your OBGYN or your midwife or. whoever is managing your care plan to be. able to clear you for exercise. And once.

they do, you don't want to necessarily. go back to extremely heavy loads with. lots of intensity. >> right away, because you haven't. you haven't necessarily yet completely. healed, right? So, >> this is where we get into thinking. about, okay, so what are some ways that. we can connect with um. with the pelvic floor. So, the famous. exercise that everybody's probably heard. of is Kegels. You probably heard of. Kegels. So, those are wonderful if.

you're someone who has a weak uh pelvic. floor, not so much if you have the. >> Wouldn't just sit and contract and and. you say. >> Yeah, it's it's literally like you are. for men the way that I've often um sort. of queued men is like imagine you're. like zipping up a zipper. Like you're. just kind of coming up and you're sort. of holding it and then you're relaxing. You don't necessarily have to move and. jump, but you're literally just sort of. connecting as much as you can. It's hard. because our uh neuromuscular connection. to the pelvic floor sometimes is not. really strong, but often just closing.

your eyes and just think like just. coming up, holding, and then coming. down. And you can do all you can do. these all day long free, you know, no. one's going to know that you're doing. it. Um so that that if you have a weak. pelvic floor, that would be something. that you might explore. So pelvic floor. physiotherapist would be someone who'd. be able to diagnose that and give you. a bit more counsel there. But weak. pelvic floors, Kegels are great. They. can actually if you have if you have a. tight pelvic floor where you actually. have trouble relaxing, Kegels can. actually make things a little bit worse. for you.

>> Um on your book the Betty Body, the last. word on the subtitle is the word sex. A. geeky goddess guide to intuitive eating, balanced hormones, and transformative. sex. >> Yeah. >> Why did you include transformative sex? >> I included it because I think just like. all of the myths that we've been talking. about today about bulky and carbs, I. think that the other thing that has been. really uh taboo for women is women who. enjoy their sex life.

And so I was hoping in that first book. to give women permission to. to want to desire it, to figure out if. there wasn't if there was low desire or. low libido, what maybe some of those. causes were, and what are some of the. ways that we can we can learn more about. ourselves. I'm thinking of this one. patient that I had um. and she actually was part of the reason. why I included it in this first book. She'd come in to my clinic she'd come in. for low back pain. It was like the most.

typical like I'm have you know, mechanical low back pain, right? And so. we were giving her adjustments, we were. giving her strengthening exercises, we. were doing the rehab, all the things. Nothing out of the ordinary. At her. reevaluation appointment, >> [snorts]. >> she said, I want like, Dr. Stef, I want. to I want to talk to you privately. I. was like, okay, fine. Let's go into this. room, close the door, all the things. And she said, um. do you know the real reason why I came. in to see you? And I said, yes, it was. mechanical low back pain. And she said, no.

Uh it's because when I was with my. husband, you know, getting on top of him. while we were being intimate, was really hurting me. My back was. killing me, my pelvis was killing me, my. joints felt like they were rubbing on. top of each other. I mean, I was lucky. enough that this patient trusted me. enough and we had enough rapport for her. to basically say, yeah, I um I want to. ride my husband and I can't. I couldn't. before and now I can. And so I think. that there is a quiet, um taboo, we'll.

say, around women not enjoying sex and I. want to give women permission to. So. whether you have low back pain and that. needs to be corrected, if there's a. hormonal input to that, >> Okay. Stephanie, what's the most um what's the. most important thing we haven't talked. about that we should have talked about? >> Oh my goodness. >> Well, we didn't talk about GLP-1s. That's all the new rage at the moment, isn't it? >> The Yeah, GLP-1s are Yeah, they're. interesting, for sure. I do think. with all medications, and I am including.

hormone therapy in here as well, um at the risk of getting shot down by. some people, is I think that we often marry ourselves. to what we feel the benefits might be. and we will divorce ourselves from the. possible side effects, right? Hormones. are going to help with your for sure, your sleep, your mood. Uh if you're. experiencing some of the. thermoregulatory problems, like the. night sweats and the hot flashes and all. the things, but it's not going to go to the gym and. lift weights with you. It's not going to.

build a healthy plate. It's not going to. set boundaries with your boss, you know, like those things you have to do those. things, right? So there's this beautiful. opportunity where we see more women. taking MHT to or hormone replacement. therapy, menopause hormone therapy. to blend that with lifestyle medicine. You can't It's not There's no easy. button here. You know, you have to also. put in the work. >> And lifestyle medicine meeting? >> Training, br- managing your stress, recovering, doing the cardio that we've.

been talking about. >> On that recovery point you just said, what are the recovery protocols that you. think all women should be doing? >> The best one that I can tell you is. sleep, which can be a challenge in. perimenopause, I understand, but that is. where you have things like uh growth. hormone and IGF-1 tend to surge, muscles. grow when you're sleeping, brain cleans itself out. Sleep is Sleep. is the number one thing that everybody. should be prioritizing. That's. wonderful. That's like sort of tier one. Like if there's like an S tier, sleep is.

an S tier. Um under that, I would say if you have. access to something like a sauna, that. might be something that you can think of. for recovery, whether that's an infrared. sauna or it's a traditional Finnish. sauna. I often call it lazy cardio. So. if you don't feel like doing a really. intense cardio session, get yourself. into a sauna if you have access to one. Not necessary, but really really like. there's a lot of really cool uh studies. that have come out of Finland, which by.

the way, sauna is the only word in. English that we've borrowed from Fin-. from Finnish. Just a little little fun. little tidbit there, but um electrolytes. we've talked about. I think that if you. are really pushing uh yourself and. you're sweating a lot, helping to. recover and replenish those. As we lose. estrogen in in midlife, our ability to. regulate salt also starts to decline as. well. >> So, what is what should we have talked. about that we didn't talk about as it. relates to the most pressing questions. you get asked by the people that consume.

the content you make? >> The only other thing I would say that we. didn't really go on a nerd safari on is. the joints, tendons, and ligaments. So, like the connective tissue capacity. We've talked a lot about muscle. I love. muscle. I train muscle. Um, muscle's. like the popular girl at the party. She. gets a lot of attention. You know, if. you think about a a superstar like, I. don't know, like Beyoncé or something, right? She's beautiful to look at. The. pump is great. All of that. But, if you. put Beyoncé on a rotting stage or you. put her on a stage that can't handle.

her, she's just going to fall right. through it. And then you have no. concert, right? So, I think that the. forgotten tendons and ligaments and. joints, we have to be thinking about. those as we age because you you can't. squat if you don't have good knees. >> How do I get great ligaments and. tendons? >> So, the way that you encourage them to. become stronger over time is how you. train in the gym. So, there's a couple. of different ways that you can bias for. more tendon strength and more ligament. strength. One of them is when you are. lifting, you can bias what's called the.

eccentric portion of the lift. So, concentric, muscle gets shorter, bones. come together. Eccentric is stretch. When you start stretching the tendon, the tendon's like, I'm being stretched. Okay, we have to now create more tensile. strength to be able to meet that demand. >> Okay, so stretching. >> So, stretching under load. >> Okay. >> Not just stretching. >> Pilates. >> Not Pilates. No. So, Pilates, again, love Pilates, do it twice a week. >> got a bee in your bonnet about Pilates.

You really don't like Pilates. >> what it Do you know what it is? No, no, no. It's not that. It's people confuse. muscle endurance. So, in Pilates you. often have like very high reps. The. muscle burns. Um, it's fantastic for the. pelvic floor that we were talking about. before. Phenomenal for women's health, for. pelvic floor health, that posture. >> But you're saying it Pilates isn't. enough to build sufficient muscle mass. >> That's the main point and that's where I. think that people are like, "How dare. you talk about this? Like I love. Pilates. I do Pilates. I'm probably in. your Pilates class." However, I also am.

training four or five times a week. I'm. also sprinting one, you know, sometimes. two, but mostly one time a week. I'm I'm. doing tennis. Like I'm doing all of. these other things and Pilates brings me. a lot of joy, right? But I feel so I. always say I feel so happy after. Pilates. I don't know why. It makes me. really happy. >> But some people are doing just Pilates, isn't it? >> Yes, so if you are just doing the. Pilates, that's where I fear that your. like look at me, I'm slim, you know, if. you if you're I'm able to fit in this. dress now, but then what you're not. doing is you're not loading your bones.

appropriately, you're not building. sufficient muscle, your tendons and your. ligaments are weak, and you're going to. end up with bone disease or a loss of. load load capacity when you're older. >> What's the most popular question that. women message you with on Instagram? >> Usually it's. tell me about your skin care. >> [laughter]. >> Okay. >> Tell me tell me about what you do with. your hair, um or, you know, what your workout. outfit is. All those little questions. But it's how do I gain muscle and lose. fat? That's the big one. >> So tell me about your skin care routine.

then. >> Yeah. >> [laughter]. >> Uh it's pretty basic. Uh I learned this. from my dermatology friends. So some. vitamin C uh in the morning, some uh. SPF, um and in the evening uh there's. some kind of vitamin A. Uh I actually. really like NAD. I use a another company. I have has something called urolithin A. in it, which is supposed to help get rid. of senescent cells in the body. >> Which are like dead cells, right? >> Which are yeah, they're like the zombie. cells that um. uh they sort of hang around and just.

create inflammation everywhere. >> You're almost 50? >> I'm almost 50, yeah. >> Feeling good? >> I feel great. I feel like I I inhabit my. body now in a way I wish I did in my. 20s. Like I was so punitive and I was so. terrible to myself. Like things I would. say to myself and call myself um when I. was 20, 30, um. I would never say that out loud to. anybody else. And so now I I feel really. proud of myself. You know, I got into. weight training just like a lot of women.

who are watching. They want to look. better, build muscle, lose fat. That's. why I got into it as well. But I stayed. with it because of um. you know, it it provided me a way back. home. Like it provided me a like it. taught me how to love myself. It taught. me how to be patient with myself, right? It taught me how to um forgive myself. when I felt like I had failed, right? Like it re-imagines. uh your relationship with failure, which. I think is like a really big effort for. women.

>> Dr. Stefani, we have a closing tradition. on this podcast where the last guest. leaves a question for the next not. knowing who they're leaving it for. And. the question left for you is. >> What's your skin care routine? No, I'm. kidding. >> [laughter]. >> Do you believe in God? And why or why not? >> Oh, mm. I do believe in God. I believe that there is. a force greater than us, greater than we. will. uh ever be able to explain, um that protects us, that gives us the.

lessons that we need to learn, and it. will continue to present the same. lessons to us over and over and over. again until we're win you know, until we. are willing to. surrender to um. to learning the lesson. >> When you're on your um when you're on. your last day and you look back at your. life and you go, "You know what? I did. it.". >> Mm. >> What would warrant you being able to say. that? >> That my family is around. I see my I've. met my grandchildren, maybe even my. great-grandchildren.

That they are all around my bed telling. me Oh, you're going to make me cry, Steven. That that they're telling me, um. all the ways, all the things that they. have learned from me and that they're. going to take on to future generations. in my in my lineage. >> Why is that so important for you? >> I think all all the reasons why I do. what I do, um. is it's. it's it's for my kids. Like, I want my. kids to have.

a better life. I want to shortcut some. of the learnings for them that I had to. learn the hard way. And that's not to. say I want to deny them of their own. learning opportunity, but I want to be. able to pass on what I feel is important. values that I think make the world a. better place. Like, I just want to leave. the world better than how I found it. And the way that I want to do that is. through my family and the work that I do. here. >> Thank you. Thank you for doing all that.

you do. Um. I think it's incredibly important for so. many reasons. I mean, there's been I think a three I mean, it's kind of says on the back of your. book here, The Betty Body. Through time, people have thought that women were. little men. >> Mhm. >> [clears throat]. >> Um and that's what you wrote on the back. of your book. It says, "Women are not. little men, but that's how we treat our. bodies.". >> Yeah. >> And it's great to have voices like you. that are so backed by science, so. eloquent, that are out there. demystifying what is a incredibly, um. complicated world of uh health. information and conflicting information.

And you know, I know it better than. anybody because my audience will often. say to me that. I relate to all of the personas that you. highlighted there, where you've got. uh. What was it? It was Anxious Which was. the one that was. This one. >> Exercist Emily. >> No, it's this uh. I get a lot of this one. >> Overwhelmed Olivia. >> Overwhelmed Olivia. >> Where do I start? >> Yeah. >> Where do I start cuz I don't want to. fail again. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> So many overwhelmed Olivias. In part. because one of the upsides of there. being so much information out there now.

is that people are getting, you know, they're not having to go to. some expensive doctor and they can go on. an AI, they can go on a podcast, whatever. >> Right. Right. >> But with science evolving over time and. with lots of different voices, people. are feeling often I think feeling more. overwhelmed than ever with what they. consider to be conflicting information. and I think you do a wonderful job of. demystifying that. >> Thank you so much. >> Um because it's nuanced, it's very. human, it comes from lived experience. and it comes from as you said, you've. you've you've sat with tens of thousands. of patients through the the your career.

in practice. And things aren't always so simple. They're not always as simple as. they are easy as to sell and I think. things that sell are often simple and. reductive. >> Yeah. >> But um the truth is often complicated, personal. >> Yeah, and it doesn't exist always in a. lab. Yeah, I think you can't always. replicate it in a lab. >> And one of the things I learned from. your work as well is that it changes. through time. >> Yeah. >> I eat for me what's true for me now at. 33 years old as a man, this stage of my. life with the hormone complexion I have. and the goals that I have, one thing can.

be true. But maybe when I'm 55, a. different set of things are going to be. true. And I think that nuance is super. super important. If people want more of. your work, I know you've got a book. coming out the top of the year next year. called. >> [snorts]. >> Nothing to Lose, Build the Dream Body. You Want Today, Gain the Strength and. Mobility You'll Need Tomorrow. And. you've got this current book here called. The Betty Body which I'll link below. subtitled A Geeky Goddess. You use the. word geeky a lot and nerd. A nerd's safari, [laughter] that's. interesting. >> Used to be used to be sort of a you. know, a terrible word to use. I'm like, no, I'm a total nerd. Yeah, special.

category of nerd. >> A Geeky Goddess Guide to Intuitive. Eating, Balanced Hormones, and. Transformative Sex. >> Yeah. >> Where else do people find you if they. want to learn more or message you or get. in touch or come see you? What What do. they Where do they go? >> My podcast, not quite the reach that. Doac has, uh but we are I have a podcast called. Better with Dr. Stephanie. So I do solo. episodes there where I go on my little. tangents about tendons and ligaments and. all the things and then I also interview.

what I would qualify as the world's. thought leaders in science and. health and we try to distill what it. means for what it means to have a. well-lived life. So, podcasts free. probably where you're listening to this. YouTube and all the places and then you. can head over to my website dr. stephanieestema.com. >> Anything else you wanted to say? >> I would say. for the woman listening my overwhelmed. Olivia's who are feeling that they don't. know where to start or my skinny fat.

Sophia's who are scared of lifting. weights and eating like a bird. or my exercises Emily's who are still. exercising their demons. um. you're not behind. You are absolutely enough. and don't be so hard on yourself. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> YouTube have this new crazy algorithm. where they know exactly what video you. would like to watch next based on AI and. all of your viewing behavior and the. algorithm says that this video is the.

perfect video for you. It's different. for everybody looking right now. Check. this video out and I bet you you might. love it.