Optimize Workouts and Nutrition for Health

Cori 0:04

Hey guys , it's Cori from Redefining Strength . Welcome to the Fitness Hacks podcast . Today , I want to talk about optimizing your workouts and your nutrition for better health . We can have things pop up in our life whether it's injuries or health concerns , that can stop us in our tracks , that can make us feel like , oh my goodness , what can I do ? I've now been set back . I'm now having this thing I have to deal with . I can't reach my goals , but no matter what , there is always a way to move forward . I want to talk about ways to adjust your lifestyle to constantly match your needs and goals , because it's always about meeting ourselves where we're at . Whether you've just gotten a new label for a health concern or you have an injury pop up . While it's good to know what you're dealing with , the thing you can only do is control what you can control and move forward . In this episode , michelle is going to talk about adrenal fatigue , which is a very common health concern popping up a label a lot of people are getting . We're going to talk about how you can manage that , as well as fatigue in general . I will also go over macro tips and workout tips to constantly meet yourself where you're at . The focus of this podcast is always controlling what you can control to move forward towards better health . I do want to say a big thank you to everyone who's left a review . This helps me keep the episode sponsorship free . If you haven't yet , whatever platform you're listening on , I would really appreciate it . If you'd like to see the video version , make sure to check it out on YouTube . The more we can learn about our body and truly understand what is going on , the better off we're going to be .

Cori 1:27

Getting blood work done . Getting a health diagnosis is very essential and very helpful . However , too often when we do get that diagnosis , we let it change how we're approaching our health and wellness , instead of saying , okay , yes , this should change it , but this doesn't mean I can't accomplish my goals . We'll have thyroid issues come up , or adrenal fatigue or something like that , or we'll get an injury and all of a sudden now it's like well , just can't do anything . This is why I now can't achieve my goals . We'll blame the label and let the label become our identity instead of saying , hey , this is now a part of what we have to deal with . Great , we now know exactly what it is to direct our focus and attention and not waste time guessing at what it is , but now we just have to meet ourselves where we're at to move forward . That's really always what I want that mindset shift to be . Yeah , it stinks , guys . It sucks when you're injured . It stinks when you get a health diagnosis that is going to make things harder or make you have to change from what you've always done .

Cori 2:16

The simple fact of the matter is , often we can't change that , and the only way to potentially change it or improve our health , improve the injury , is by taking steps to move forward . What it all comes down to is controlling what we can control , instead of thinking why is this happening to me ? Why couldn't I do the things I wanted to do ? What is the reason behind this ? Instead of putting even all the responsibility on outside things , focus on what can I do ? What can I do in this moment to move forward , no matter what , even if it's not my ideal , even if it's not exactly how I'd like , even if now my goal might not happen in the exact way I wanted , what steps can I take to move forward ?

Cori 2:53

And think of this label . You've now gotten this diagnosis . You've now gotten this injury assessment . You've now gotten instead of as a negative , as a great Now I know where I'm at so I can meet myself or a map , because that is what always moving forward is all about , whether it's going through menopause even , whether or not it's the fact that now your lifestyle has changed because you have kids , or maybe you , you know , you're newly single and going out on your own . Whatever your lifestyle evolution has , whatever lifestyle evolution has happened , you want to think about meeting yourself where you're at , because nothing will work forever . What worked even when you were a single person versus now having a family might not work because you might not have the time for it and owning that is only going to help you move forward . So , whatever the label and now you're putting on things , it can't define you and stop you . It's got to incentivize you to meet yourself where you're at and make the changes you need , instead of being so married to a technique or way of training or macaration or whatever our style of eating that you can't now embrace that something new might have to occur , and one of the things I like to do to help myself personally help my clients focus on moving forward is .

Cori 3:57

As negative as it sounds , thinking about someone in a worse situation . Okay , and what I mean by this is sometimes reminding yourself that there's somebody in a worse situation doing more than you can really help . You kick your butt into action and , along with that , thinking , okay , I have this thing , how can I become an inspiration to somebody else ? Because there is that line you never know who you're inspiring . And it's really the case and I can see it all the time in our coaching community where someone posts something and they don't even realize they've inspired somebody else just by being vulnerable , being courageous in that way , because it takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there . So just think about it this way too .

Cori 4:32

If you're having a hard time motivating yourself to meet yourself where you're at , because you are discouraged with your current you know , injury , health , concern , whatever else it is , think about who can I inspire by my ability to find a way to move forward .

Cori 4:44

And then , even there , who can I look to now ? Who's an inspiration ? Who has moved forward from this , knowing that there are people in worse situations doing more than I'm doing ? But just focus on controlling what you can control and making the improvements from where you're at , because no matter what life throws at us . All we can ever do is say , hey , where am I at , how can I meet myself here and what can I do to move forward ? We always like to focus on controlling what we can control , and I'm super excited for Michelle to talk about a very unfortunately now common health concern we're seeing come in , which is adrenal fatigue , and I loved how , michelle , you said unmasking the drama queen within your glands . But let's talk about adrenal fatigue , what it really is and what we can do about it , because , ultimately , to move forward , we always have to focus on controlling what we can control .

Michelle 5:33

Yeah , absolutely , and I think that's where sometimes labeling things can make us feel like we don't have control anymore .

Debunking Adrenal Fatigue

Michelle 5:42

So adrenal fatigue is a term that has gained a lot of popularity in the recent years and I've been meeting lots of people that are like I have adrenal fatigue . This is what's working against me , and it's really used to explain a wide range of symptoms such as fatigue , sleep disturbances and mood swings . So the idea is that it suggests that adrenal glands which produce hormones like cortisol are so exhausted due to chronic stress and a lot of people I always say if you don't have stress in your life , it's most likely because you're dead . So a lot of people think that they are just so stressed that it's putting this unnecessary or causing their adrenal glands to work unnecessarily .

Michelle 6:31

But the truth of the matter is is that adrenal fatigue is a term that's lacking scientific evidence and scientific backing . It's not recognized at all as a medical condition by mainstream endocrinology . That's a tongue question there . Yes , it is Sorry . So while it's true that chronic stress can definitely affect our hormones and overall well-being , the adrenal fatigue theory suggests that our glands are completely depleted and unable to function correctly . So again we're coming back to this is a very oversimplification that just doesn't actually align with the complexity of what our hormonal regulation in our bodies do .

Cori 7:19

And I think if you have this diagnosis , it can be very helpful because you can start to assess OK , so what's going on with my body and how can I address these underlying things ? Because if you have these things going on , there's always something you can change , like sure , maybe your hormone levels will never be the exact same as somebody else's but we're all not the same , right but there's something that you can do . And so what might actually be the cause of the symptoms someone's seeing , if they've gotten this recent diagnosis of adrenal fatigue ?

Michelle 7:46

Yeah , and I'm going to be really frank too , because I see a lot of menopausal women coming in and asking questions and saying that they have adrenal fatigue , and it is very common for women of menopausal age to have or to be given this diagnosis . So a lot of what I see is one they're fatigued because a lot of times menopause has hit , they're trying to lose that belly fat that we often face . The menopause that's coming and they start to slash calories rather drastically and so oftentimes they're like I don't have energy , I'm not able to get my workout done , I don't have this energy and it comes back to well , you're not eating . So when you're not eating , you can't expect to all this said and be the energizer bunny and being able to hit your workout super hard when you aren't giving your body the proper fuel and calories it needs to just run . And then the other part that I see that's a little bit more delicate as far as the causes .

Michelle 8:52

But one of the big things that does come with menopause as well is that we do deal with some sleep disruptions . That occurs when our estrogen declines . But we also face something that I don't think gets enough attention , but we do face a little bit of depression . Not everyone deals with this , but it is very common for women that are going through this stage to deal with some type of depression or facing it more than they have in the past . So just feeling kind of off , not like yourself and kind of getting stuck , and feeling like you're in a rut with things and not finding joy in things that you once used to have . And a lot of this comes back to just like we are literally when we go through menopause . Your neuro-transmitters for some of us are going to actually decline and we're not going to get as big of hits in serotonin that we once did .

Cori 9:48

So slightly backtracking , because for someone who might have gotten this recent diagnosis , or for someone who's even like , oh , I'm feeling symptoms , so that they can understand even the benefits of all the different things we're going to talk about shortly , what would be some symptoms that might lead to this diagnosis , or just even that someone might have that these tips that you're going to share would be helpful for .

Michelle 10:09

So low energy , feeling like they can't do the activities that they used to enjoy or used to do fairly regularly . High levels of stress , constantly stressing about not failing to do their workout . It's a cycle . I'll see people stressed out that they feel like they don't have the energy to complete their workout . Stressed when they don't complete their workout . Stressed because they are trying to lose the weight and they're on a very low calorie diet . And then stressed when they're not seeing the results . And then again dealing with a lot of sleep disorders , either not being able to sleep through the night or sleeping very little , waking up early , kind of just basically not being able to turn off their brain . And then there's the depression side of things , so just not finding joy in things that they once did find joy in . Those are going to be kind of the major symptoms that could lead to people being diagnosed or labeled with adrenal fatigue .

Cori 11:14

So if you're feeling burnt out with your workouts , really stressed , not sleeping well , potentially feeling more anxiety or having a little bit more hormonal mood changes , you want to pay attention to all these tips , whether you have this diagnosis or not . Correct . Yes absolutely Awesome , and so , in terms of what we can do to support our Adrenal Glam functioning , can you share some tips with ?

Michelle 11:37

us , yeah . So it's going to come back to actually sometimes just sucking it up and embracing the hard . You're going to have a lot of days where you don't feel like working out , you don't feel like you have the energy to work out . But most of the time when you go in , and even if you just start , most of the time when people just get to the point where they're like I'm going to put on my workout clothes , I'm going to give it 10 minutes . I'm going whatever , whatever my workout is today , I'm going to at least do 10 minutes of it .

Michelle 12:06

A lot of times , just getting into the act of actually doing it . You're you're going to find that you're going to one increase your , but you're going to make it . It's going to make it easier each and every day to actually get into that gym , get into the habit of exercising . And that actually is something that's going to help is actually getting in your workout when you feel like you don't want to . And it's the same with the diet . It's making sure that one you are consuming adequate calories and we are focusing on kind of an appropriate macro ratio that's going to be providing that good quality of food . So , again , we're making sure that we're eating more whole foods , lean proteins , lots of fruits and vegetables . That's going to be what's going to help your overall hormones and your energy levels improve .

Cori 12:56

So , off of that , I think you hit on so many key things , even to the fact of like the mindset shifts that happen .

Cori 13:04

Not only the physical shifts , right , we know working out is good for us physically , we know eating well for us is good physically , but the mindset shifts , like , if you have this checklist of these are the things I'm going to do and make it simple , even to start , maybe it is just five minutes of mobility works , sort of meeting your body where it's at , use it as a D low period , whatever you need . But if you make that list and you can check it off maybe this is because I'm a checklist person or give yourself that gold star and you can stand like proud , you're going to be feeling better about yourself and you're going to build that momentum and you're going to see your mood shift and then you're going to see how much you want to do this and then you're going to see other bodily changes . So it's remembering the mindset component to doing the things that you can make yourself proud of as well , even if it's setting it to a minimum to start , just to get that momentum and that mindset shift going .

Michelle 13:46

Yeah , and so many times like I see people that get this diagnosis , get this label , and they're like they present it to me in a way that's like this is why this route is hard for me , this is why I can't do the workouts , this is why I'm not able to follow the diet well and sometimes it again . I'm going to give that tough love , because it really is sometimes just be like okay , this has , this is becoming something that you have to work with and , if anything , you're now understanding something more about your body . But once you get that label , you can't just take that label , that diagnosis , and be like , well , I can't do anything with this now . This , this is me that once you get that label , it's that's not the end of the work . That's when the work begins and we can either decide to use these as make these a stem stumbling block or use it as a stepping stone , because now , all of a sudden , you know what . You know what your heart is , you know what your body is kind of working against and what you have to do , and I hate to tell people this , but you're not an anomaly .

Michelle 14:50

Most people that are on that weight loss journey are on it because they have something that's there that's working against them in some way . So it's it's one of those things that , yeah , your fatigue may make it hard to lose losing weight and it may be a little bit of an uphill battle , but you have to make sure that you are kind of breaking through and making things easier for you . If you do have low energy or if you do find that you're dealing with more an increase in anxiety , what are those steps that you're going to do and take that's going to make things easier for you ? How are you going to make it so ? Mill prepping is easier and cooking is easier , and if sometimes that's buying the pre-chopped vegetables or pre-cooked mills that you have to do because that's going to improve your overall diet and improve and make it easier for you to hit your goals , then that's the route that needs to be taken .

Cori 15:46

And I know we can't always take the perspective of like , oh , someone out there has it worse , but the reality is someone out there has it worse and they're doing more than you're doing and the more you can recognize .

Cori 15:56

Hey , I do have this diagnosis , or I do have this situation and , yeah , maybe it does really suck , but all I can do is control what I can control and improve from here . Your journey might not look like the journey you ideally wanted , but ultimately you can either move forward or you can stay stuck , and usually when we stay stuck we end up backtracking a ton and we see other health concerns snowball , and then it's just like we have a bigger hole to dig ourselves out of . So if you have that diagnosis , take it and say , okay , now what can I do to potentially address these things ? So maybe I can even reverse something , which sometimes we can do . Obviously , there's not always that case , but make my life the healthiest version of it is now knowing what I have to do , and I know you mentioned the nutrition , I know you mentioned the exercise , but even the de-stressing , as you mentioned , was so key if you really want to address your fatigue , your mindset and everything .

Michelle 16:48

Yeah , it's really focusing on what we can do to support our body and improve and your mental state , like you said , not just your body but your overall health , and that's going to improve your quality of life . So we can take these proactive steps towards improvement even in the presence of medical diagnosis .

Cori 17:11

So I know you've seen more people coming in with this diagnosis and it's been attributed to a lot of different things that might not necessarily be just straight adrenal fatigue but because of something else , so to speak . Any other tips or suggestions you would give to clients saying I'm struggling with this how do I move forward , like how do I even better understand what I've now been told ? Because I think that's also the scary thing is , you're told this thing adrenal fatigue by your doctor and you're also like oh no , and it can be a little disheartening . So how would you help them work through that in those initial stages ?

Michelle 17:46

So , of course , the first thing that I'm gonna say is , most of the time , I just want people to question things a little bit when they are given something like this and then told like , oh , here's a package of all these adrenal fatigue supplements . So if you're given a label like that and all of a sudden you're being pushed tons of supplements that are going to fix it , that's when I first wanna question that a little bit and focus on the diet first , because we are going to help improve .

Diet and Stress for Adrenal Health

Michelle 18:16

Improving the diet and improving and managing those stress are going to have the biggest results and improvement when it comes to that . So if you do have that diagnosis , what I'm going to talk to you first and foremost about is going to be balancing that nutrition , a nutrient rich diet that's going to actually support adrenal function , because , while there's not any specific remedies or treatments that's recognized in the medical community to boost the adrenal glands , we know that we can do things that are going to support it . So balanced nutrition is going to be one of those . So making sure we're staying adequately hydrated , limiting those processed foods , focusing on lean proteins , fruits and vegetables , exercising regularly and this one is where I think it gets hard is when you feel like you don't have the energy , and I'm asking you to actually go and expend what you feel like you don't have , and but it really is that engaging in regular physical activity , weight training that's going to not only support your overall health , but that includes your adrenal function . So it's really making sure that we are doing something Like you got to come back to something's better than nothing kind of approach when it comes to exercise and really just making sure that you're getting in the routine for it . Another big thing is making sure that you are prioritizing your relaxation and downtime and recovery .

Michelle 19:45

I do think that what I see a lot in menopausal women is we have pushed ourselves a lot of women once they hit menopause , all the kids are out of the house .

Michelle 19:59

They have finished that part as far as raising children goes and now they're getting ready for the next chapter , and a lot of times I see that they actually are having increased level of stress because they're trying to keep going . They are still super stressed about making sure that their kids are making good life choices now that they're out of the house , and it's really making sure that you are taking time for yourself and actually being a little bit more selfish than what you've become accustomed to as you were raising children . So making sure that you are doing something that's going to de-stress you throughout the day and all these things are not only just going to help your adrenal function , but it's also going to help improve your mood and mental health , and that tends to be where I see the biggest area of improvement is actually making sure that we are focusing a little bit more on the mental health side and the stress . Making sure that people have good coping skills for their stress .

Cori 21:02

I love this and I think when we get a diagnosis like this , we have to bring it back to assessing where we're at currently . And I call this sometimes the Beast at Origin story , because it's taking it back to better understanding your current points of pain , your hero origin story , to move forward from it . Because the more we assess those lifestyle factors like what does my actual diet look like ? Am I now under fueling , trying to lose the weight because I'm stressed about menopause ? Are am I seeing hormonal fluctuations ? Am I not sleeping as well ? Has my life changed ?

Cori 21:30

And I equate this to like you've had like a big project , or you've had these big stressors , like you've had raising kids , right , and all of a sudden that stress is taken away . But you almost feel more stressed because now you're like , well , you have that anxiety from the activities , almost like you know it's like the big project and the big project is complete . And you're like , well , now what ? Am I missing something Right ?

Cori 21:49

So it's taking that step back to assess our lifestyle right now and then making those changes before we jump to supplements , before we jump to where broken , because a lot of times there are little changes we can make , because nothing works forever .

Cori 22:01

And if we go to a trying a quick fix like supplements which supplements are supplemental , I think they can be that boost we aren't giving ourselves the opportunity to really control what we can control and create our healthiest , happiest lifestyle with sustainable results . And if you do take a supplement , and you take all these supplements , you also don't even know what works with them , so creates other factors . But it does sound like if we can just take that step back , assess our current lifestyle , we can really see the changes that will lead to the best results snowballing and find a better balance to meet ourselves where we're at currently , because we are at a different phase potentially of life , whether or not it's because of this diagnosis , because of a change at work , because of lifestyle factors , because of menopause , whatever else it is . This is a chance to recognize there's potentially a new phase and we can change how we move forward .

Michelle 22:45

Yeah , and I think it

Navigating Nutrition and Lifestyle Changes

Michelle 22:47

is . It's being accepting of that too , because I think so often we get in that routine . We get in like this is my life , this is where I'm at , but life doesn't stand still . You're constantly involving , and that's gonna be . One of the things is , you are going to have factors that are going to be changing that you don't have control over , and when that happens , it's really just sometimes you just need to take a moment and be like I need to go back to the basics and be honest with yourself .

Michelle 23:17

Are you actually using your labels as excuses ? Are you using those as your barricades or are you using those as your stepping stones ? Because , truthfully , the people that are successful in weight loss or in body recomposition or whatever it is , it's because they know themselves and it's because they know what's going to work with them . Because I'll have you know , like I've had , I've had clients that are like , oh , everything's from scratch , I do everything from scratch . Well , guess what ? Those people that cook couple hours in the kitchen every day because they have time and that's what they prioritize and they think that feel like it's the best thing for their health they can have the exact same results as someone who's using all the kitchen hacks in the world and spends about 15 to 20 minutes in a kitchen at a time . So it's really making sure that you're being truthful to yourself and making sure that you are getting past those barriers .

Cori 24:13

It's controlling what you can control and , as you said , not using those labels as excuses . Thank you so much , michelle . I think , whether or not someone's gotten a recent health diagnosis , specifically adrenal fatigue , or is just seeing a lot of changes that they're not sure how to work around , this will help them go back to basics and really focus on controlling what they can control Absolutely . I wanted to share some nutrition tips to help you meet yourself where you're at , because , as much as I believe in macros and tracking , I believe that they are just the foundation . One macro ratio , one way of tracking won't work necessarily for you forever , and we can't be so married to a technique that we see things in binary terms . This is good , this is bad . Our lifestyle and our lifestyle balance will constantly be evolving , and the more we can embrace that , the better off we're going to be . So I wanted to talk about some nutritional strategies to help you always meet yourself where you're at , and the first is always to start with tracking . I know it's tedious , I know it's boring , I know it's a hard change . Okay , but tracking gives you that accurate picture and , as I mentioned , you might not track in the same way forever . I know clients will track macros precisely , dialing in carbs , protein , fat , hitting specific numbers for a period of time to really learn their portions . And then in learning their portions they start to really focus on the visual element . So eventually they can use a visual form of tracking . Or maybe they go to only tracking protein , only tracking calories , or maybe they take pictures in terms of accountability over actually logging in a food tracker . But by starting with tracking we get that accurate picture of where we're starting from . It's really easy to say , well , I sort of eat these foods during the day , but there's a lot more mindless snacking , a lot more bites , licks and nibbles that go unlogged than we even realize if we don't really precisely track it . To start , even on that cheat day or that day off we feel like , oh , it wasn't that bad , but we don't recognize how many calories are loaded into some of those foods we eat when we're out . So the more we can start by tracking , the more we can better understand where we're at to make small changes . And I know it can be tempting when you have this health concern to be like I'm eliminating all these things , but that can lead to us cutting so much out we actually can't sustain it and cutting out a lot that could be beneficial to us , and it can also lead to us not cutting out the things we need . So by tracking you can make small swaps that add up , especially with health health concerns where we might have to eliminate or eliminate specific foods or reduce the specific macro . It's really helpful to track to make sure you're making accurate adjustments and not doing too much or too little to really assess what you need . But starting with tracking is the best way to meet yourself where you're at .

Cori 26:38

Number two , you have to realize that healthy foods aren't always good for us personally . So we'll say processed foods are bad . We know candy is bad for us , diet soda isn't the best . All these things aren't the best for us , and that's a whole other discussion about how those fit into a healthy lifestyle balance . But often we just say fruits and vegetables are good for us and we don't go any further than that .

Cori 26:59

Processed foods are bad , fruits and vegetables are good , but the simple fact is is not every fruit and vegetable is good for us and everything has a downside . There is an upside and a downside to almost everything in life , not just even the foods we're eating , but , as an example , cruciferous vegetables like broccoli , brussels sprouts , kale , cabbage . They've been linked to many health benefits and you're probably , like nodding , saying , yes , I know this , you know they can reduce risk of cancer and heart disease . But these things that we tout as amazing vegetables that everybody should be including can actually also hurt . If you have thyroid issues , okay , they have compounds that can interfere with the body's ability to absorb , absorb iodine , and so if you have a low thyroid functioning , you might not want to load up on these vegetables . You might want to seek out different ones . Just like if you have FODMAT issues , you might want to start to do elimination diet to see which FODMAPs really impact you , and you might find you have to cut out specific foods that are quote unquote healthy .

Cori 27:58

So we can't be so binary in our thinking and we have to assess what actually makes us feel better or worse . Carbs aren't all evil or all good . Fats aren't all evil or all good . Proteins aren't all evil or all good . We have to find the ones that really match our needs and our goals and even realize that it might change over time . Hormonal changes can shift that , whether it's your period or menopause , you know . Activity level can shift , what macro breakdowns even work for us , what foods we include and feel best for us because of . You know how much energy we really need , readily available .

Cori 28:28

But don't become so binary in your perspective of what is healthy that you a don't allow yourself to strike a balance with foods you just enjoy and b also keep forcing down foods . That might be the heart of the issue , and you to see it . If you tracked and assess how each food impacted you that's why tracking is so key you might find after specific meals like oh , my lunch , I'm , you know , feeling bloated . Well , I increased my protein , but you might have also changed the vegetable type you're eating or how much fiber you're eating and you blame it on the protein , when it's actually the vegetable or the fiber type , right . So we want to track to be able to eliminate things and find the true cause of what we're experiencing .

Cori 29:03

Number three is don't demonize the macro . I know it's very easy these days to be like keto all the way , or low fat all the way , or low protein Don't do a low protein . But we want to demonize the macro and cut it out because we think it works well for one goal and it might work well for one goal . You might find that you are very successful losing the weight on a lower carb diet , but now you're trying to lose the weight again . So what are you going to turn to a lower carb diet ? However , you've also got to think about did that diet really work ? Because you weren't able to sustain the results , so it wasn't part of a true lifestyle balance . Okay , so maybe that's the case . Maybe it works really well for one goal but not for another . Or maybe it really doesn't even work that well for the goal and that's why you rebound . That's a whole other discussion as well , but the key is realizing that what might work even for one goal might not work for another . Or what worked for weight loss because you were less active doesn't work now that you're more active . Or if you're more active and you've gotten injured , you might need to shift your macros , and if you're constantly demonizing a specific macro , you won't allow yourself to do that . No one ratio will work forever for us . It's going to evolve based on everything . So not demonizing a macro allows us to embrace the evolution in macros that we really need to see over saying carbs are bad , fat is bad and eliminating those completely because everybody thinks proteins fabulous . Of course , just kidding . I see a lot of hate on protein recently .

Cori 30:19

Number four don't be married to a meal timing , and this goes back to intermittent fasting , which has risen in popularity . I love intermittent fasting , have no problem with clients doing it . However , it is not right for everybody . If you train first thing in the morning , I would not recommend that you fast till the evening . Now , if you're training the evening and you like to break your fast around it , maybe that works for you . With the way you like to meal prep , the way your schedule is , you know , the way you feel fueled until then , the way you like to eat one big meal because that's more satisfying to you . Whatever it is , there is a lifestyle balance with it . But recognizing that your schedule might change , which might impact how you time your meals , but also your needs and goals will change . What worked for you to potentially lose weight won't work for you to necessarily gain muscle . What worked for you at one stage of life might not work as you see hormonal changes .

Cori 31:04

So not being so married to a meal timing and saying this meal timing has all these health benefits this is the only way to achieve this is really key . So the common theme with all this is not being so loyal , so having our identity wrapped up in a one way of doing things , that we can't see the options and opportunities and other perspectives , because , again , even what was fabulous for us at one point might not match as health concerns pop up , as injuries occur , as our lifestyle evolves . So being open to tracking , to meet yourself where you're at , to not just seeing foods as healthy or not healthy , but seeing the nuance in it to find what makes us feel best , not being so loyal to a macro breakdown or demonizing a macro that we can't indulge in it or even include it as our goals change . And not being so mere married to a meal timing that we can't see other ways to get the same benefits and really match our needs , our goals , to our schedule , to make something sustainable is super key . It's all about meeting ourselves where we're at with our nutrition .

Strategic Use of Recovery Weeks

Cori 32:00

So I want to talk about recovery weeks and the reason I want to bring this up is partly because often , with you know , optimizing our workouts , optimizing our nutrition for our health , we will need to include one . But I also don't think that saying hey , this has to be my recovery week is the way to go . I also think not allowing yourself to ever take that recovery week is the way to go as well . So I wanted to talk about how you can better use recovery strategically to move and feel your boss and be yourself where you're at . So if you find guys , mentally even , that you are stressed out , busy at work , not feeling like pushing in your workouts and therefore slacking in your push to progress in your workouts , it might be time to take a date , a reload week , a recovery week , and that has nothing to do with how your body even actually feels .

Cori 32:44

Sometimes , mentally , we purely need this . Sometimes , on the other hand , physically , we need this . You know , maybe it is that we've , you know , gone on a new macro breakdown and aren't feeling the energy level , so we throw one in just because we know we need to meet ourselves where we're at . Maybe we do have a new health concern pop up where we have a little bit of fatigue going on , so we need to meet ourselves where we're at to get back in that consistent groove . So it's partly , you know , our body might need the rest . Maybe we see our mind body connection , you know , sort of not working the way it should , with really pushing in our workouts . So we have to take things back to basics to fix those weak links .

Cori 33:14

But we can use that recovery week , both mentally and physically , to meet ourselves where we're at and help ourselves stay consistent . That's really the key with the recovery week . It's not even just the mental or physical benefits , it's the routine benefits . Sometimes we need one just to be able to match our lifestyle at that time and keep moving , because one of the worst things we can do when we are , you know , suffering from chronic fatigue is not trained at all as hard as it is to train . So doing something that feels manageable , that gets us back in that groove , will allow us to build .

Cori 33:43

If we're out with injury , doing that recovery week to get us back in the groove of training , to even work around or even do the mobility work that we need , can be really key If we're mentally feeling fatigue , stressed out , not feeling like pushing . That can allow us to find that motivation again a lot more quickly and be consistent , versus a lot of times we just push through mentally and then we hit this point of diminishing returns , where then we can't get ourselves back in a groove at all , and it's better to take one or two weeks where we mentally allow ourselves to find that motivation again , then to completely demotivate ourselves so that we don't want to get back into a groove and then we are not consistent when we get back and then we get injured because we're not consistent in all that jazz . So use the recovery week strategically . Now it's very popular to be like you do four weeks on one week off , three weeks on one week off , six weeks on one week off . There's a set parameters for it .

Cori 34:28

I like to avoid those as much as possible and listen to the person's body , listen to my own body , because there are times where I know I'm going to be traveling . So , even strategically , I might push one extra week in a progression that I feel kind of max out on , to take that next week as a recovery week and I find that you know I found the balance , I can do that . Or I might find , hey , I want to push through this progression , I'm feeling like I can really push more with it , I don't need it . Or maybe even just switching up the progression itself can keep you training at a higher intensity if you're feeling motivated , instead of taking that D load week , because I think a lot of times we think , oh well , I've been pushing hard , I just need to take it when we actually have that momentum going , and that's the time we don't want to scale back at all , we want to keep pushing and sometimes just changing the progression . So if you do like three weeks , four weeks and then you go to different workouts , that can help you keep the ego out of it so that you don't push a little too much , but at the same time you're still training with the intensity you need to really see results from your training . So it's not just even that you have to go all the way back to basics , right , recovery can even be doing something different that challenges your body in a new way . So you're not keeping sort of pushing that progression , pushing against the wall that you can't bust through just yet . So be creative with your recovery and realize it means so many different things .

Cori 35:34

Now the last point I want to touch on is for all of you and I include myself in this I appreciate recovery weeks a lot more , and now , because I do them only when I feel like I mentally or physically need I also don't feel like I'm forcing them as much as when I was trying to do them at specific intervals where I'm like , but I feel good . Right , that made it so much harder to implement . When I use it now , based on those things , it makes it a lot more Okay . I'm using this for this purpose , to push forward more in the next week . But if you have trouble backing off whether or not it's because you're like , oh , I'm not going to be burning as many calories or I need to be training this intensely , or I feel guilty , whatever else it is don't feel guilty . Remember the purpose . The purpose is to strategically even sometimes proactively take that break so you can keep pushing really hard .

Cori 36:15

And recovery doesn't have to be easy . It can just mean doing things that you wouldn't normally do during your training sessions doing some of those isometrics , so you want to skip . Doing extra activation that you want to skip , and a little more foam rolling , while doing more body weight movements to work through a bigger range of motion right , so you can do that strategically to help you improve your mobility and even the strength of the full range of motion . So when you go back to the lifting you can do it better . Or you could say , hey , I usually squat heavy but I'm seeing myself have that asymmetrical weight shift . So I'm going to do hip thrusters for a little bit with a double band because I want to work on that glute activation or maybe even a unilateral variation of that to correct and balance . But you can still push hard and have a training intensity there , even when you're doing that recovery week . That might address things in a different way and not make you necessarily a sore , might have a little bit of that extra mobility

Recovery Weeks for Optimal Health

Cori 36:58

work .

Cori 36:58

So I wanted to cover recovery weeks because I think they're so key when we're trying to optimize for health , address health concerns , address injuries , and they're so often not done because we don't appreciate or go back to the basics enough , realizing that they can help propel us forward faster .

Cori 37:14

I can't tell you how many times I've been pushing in a progression , hit sort of that stick point , can see ego trying to get in the way where I'm lifting more than I really should because I'm starting to cheat and I go back to basics and then I can jump in with even a heavier weight because I took it back and corrected a few of the weak links , whether it was doing a little good activation , bad activation , whatever else it is . So please do not ignore the importance of a recovery week , a deload week , but also realize that you don't have to do them at set intervals . It can be listening to your body and even looking at your schedule to match yourself , both physically and mentally , where you're at . Well , that's a wrap for this episode of the fitness hacks podcast . Hope these tips help to really help you optimize your workouts and your nutrition to see better health results . Remember your label . A health concern and injury doesn't have to define what you can accomplish . Just on controlling what you can control and meeting yourself where you're at to move forward .