Ep. 195: Strength Training for Healthy Hormones, with Nate Johnson

Is there a difference between strength training and general exercise? And does it matter for your reproductive health and balancing hormones? Professional Strength Trainer, Nate Johnson, says YES. In this episode, we discuss the benefits of strength training for women and explore the differences in training and outcomes for women vs men. We explore what makes strength training impactful and, spoiler alert, it's NOT bodybuilding or extreme body manipulation. (Phew!) I hope you enjoy the episode!

NOTE: This episode is appropriate for all audiences.

GUEST BIO:  When Nate isn't hanging out with his wife and kids, he's on a mission to change lives with strength training. Across his 3 Birmingham locations they've helped over over 1,000 everyday men and women get lean, strong, and healthy so they can do the things they love with the people they love! 

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Ep. 170: Estrogen's major impact on physical strength and long-term health, with Laura Ducote

Transcript

Caitlin Estes (00:24)
Welcome back to the Woven Well podcast. We talk about all things natural fertility around here and we've been learning more and more about how our overall health impacts our reproductive health specifically. Well today we're gonna talk about how our strength can have a positive impact as well. And I'm definitely not an expert here so I've invited a local strength trainer, Nate Johnson to join us.

Nate owns Steel Strength Training and he's also witnessed what it takes to bring five babies into the world with his wife Shelby. He's passionate about sharing strength training education with others and I know he'll have a lot of helpful things to share with us today. Nate, welcome to the show.

Nate Johnson (01:02)
Thank you, it's good to be here.

Caitlin Estes (01:05)
All right, I think the first place we need to start is what is strength training versus exercise versus working out? I think we hear all those terms and we kind of just think they're the same thing interchangeably, but I feel like strength training has a specific goal. But again, I'm not an expert, so I want to hear from you.

Nate Johnson (01:26)
This is one of my favorite topics. It's a topic that I've talked about endlessly over the last 10 years of having my business. And there's a big difference between, I would say, strength training and then exercise, working out, using the weights, anything along those lines. The point of strength training is to get stronger. Now people have all kinds of associations with that, I think, ridiculously heavy weights they think and then when they think of heavy weights they think of sloppy training, grunting and screaming and just a bit of out of control. That's not the case. But what strength training is is you're walking into the gym with the purpose of getting stronger. We measure that with progressive overload, meaning can you lift more weight and or reps over time.

You know, there's all kinds of different training you can do. You train for a race, train for a 5K, a marathon, train for some kind of sport. If you're an athlete, training is not about an individual day. It's about each workout seen as a building block, one brick laid on top of the next to, you know, progress you to your goal. So most people, most people when they're working out, even if they think they're strength training, they're doing what I would call using weights or working out or exercising, which is far better than doing nothing. There's so many benefits to it. But the thing is they're not thinking long term. Maybe they don't even know how to think long term about strength training. And so they're focused on today's workout. And so the way they gauge that is, I sweaty, sore, tired? And if they're really crazy, do I feel like vomiting? And those, maybe the feeling like throwing up aside, everything else, being sweaty, sore and tired will happen as part of the workout, but that's not how we measure how effective the workout is. It's are you getting stronger over time? if their goal is to get stronger, most people work too hard in the gym on too many things and they could actually get better results if they would do less with better focus.

Caitlin Estes (03:17)
Wow, that is very interesting because I've never, I don't know if I have, I'm not sure if I've ever thought about how to measure success in the gym and maybe success is a challenging word there, but how to measure growth in the gym. I think a lot of times people think about losing weight or just some nondescript getting healthier because we know that it's good to move our bodies and that is true. Like you're saying it's better than nothing.

With strength training it sounds very specific like there is a goal and you are working usually with someone to help you reach that goal. Now how do you know the difference between what the goal should be for women versus men because I think you were talking about we have all these preconceived ideas of what it would mean to go in and train in this way and maybe what women would look like or what the process is like and I would imagine that there is going to be a difference here but maybe walk us through that a little bit.

Nate Johnson (04:23)
Sure. So I think, whether you're a guy trying to get jacked, you're a lady trying to get toned up and fit, whether you're even, you know, a grandparent who wants to be around and play with your grandkids, are there differences? Yes, but not nearly as many as people would think. I think that just the way that

I believe God made us and our genetic makeup, our hormonal profiles, the vast majority of women, the vast majority of women lack the ability to get super bulky and big. The second thing is that the muscle building process is actually a painfully slow process. Ask any teenage man or man in his 20s trying to build muscle who wants to build as much as possible. It's a very, very slow process.

And it happens about half as fast for women as it does for men. So in that case, right out the gate, typically, like the differences in how men and women should train come out more the longer you're around, depending on if your goal is like, do you wanna maximize muscle or do you just wanna carry an appreciable amount of muscle so that you're lean and toned and defined and healthy and strong?

Caitlin Estes (05:15)
Interesting.

Nate Johnson (05:33)
but I think women have really been done a disservice with this idea that men need to use heavy weights and low reps and women need to use lighter loads and higher reps. For toning, it's not true. All you can do is build a muscle, lose muscle, gain fat, lose fat. And so if the goal is to look a certain way, you wanna build some muscle and you wanna lose fat.

So again, the difference in the way that you approach this with men and women is not all that different. Now we'll say a couple things that is really interesting about men and women the differences in how they train. One is just like preference. So, you know, a lot of guys are like wanting to focus on upper body. A lot of women maybe want to focus on the legs or glutes. Of course, this comes down to the individual. So we're just going to tailor the program to the individual as they see fit. But next, you're looking at like the differences in men and women's biology. So ⁓ women tend to be able to recover faster between sets, and they tend to be able to handle higher volumes and I'm measuring volumes here in terms of the number of sets that we're doing in the gym. So that is a big difference. One other fun fact, and I think this is due to the fact that in general women have more type one, which is like aerobic endurance fibers compared to type two fibers. So women tend to have more type one than type two. Men tend to fewer type one than women on average. Everybody's different. But because of that at any given percentage of their one rep max women will be able to do more reps

Caitlin Estes (07:04)
Okay, think you got maybe got a little over my head near the end there. But it is it's encouraging to know that women can actually do more reps than men. Because sometimes I think we a little bit intimidated about the thought of trying to do this or getting involved, especially when it comes to strength. But women are equipped to do that. But I think the goal is really important here, you know, we both have mentioned some of the common reasons that women or men want to get into the gym, losing weight, wanting to sculpt the body in a certain way. But my conversation here, you know our goal in our podcast and in the work that we do outside of this is about overall health and restoring the way that God designed our bodies to function and honoring that, really protecting our dignity and those kinds of things. And so

I think about how strength training could play a role in that, in being a very dignified thing in saying not just we want our bodies to look a certain way, but we really want to nurture our bodies and help them to be as healthy as possible throughout life. So yes, the body may look a certain way. There may be a change to weight or something like that, but that would be maybe secondary to some of those other health benefits.

Now you mentioned when we were talking a minute ago about how maybe a grandparent will come in and they want to be able to lift their kids or their grandkids or get on the floor and play with them, those sort of things. I love the idea of establishing a strength training exercise now that's going to have lifelong health benefits for us. So maybe you could talk a little bit about what some of the specific health benefits are of strength training specifically.

Nate Johnson (08:54)
Absolutely, and I love this a couple things number one, you know, I'm talking a lot about physique and all that here But we really don't you know I can get into the nuts and bolts as you can tell I can get into the nuts and bolts of why things are happening what changes are happening with the physique and explaining that but I really do feel like that's just a byproduct of the body becoming healthier

So, you we always say we wanna help people get lean, strong, and healthy so they can do the things they love with the people they love. I went through a healthy experience where I was lean, strong, and healthy my whole life. I lost all of those things. I was not lean, I was not strong, and I was not healthy. And so really now, I still say it in that order, lean, strong, and healthy, but I think the order matters, and it's really, when you don't have any of those, you want health first. And when you're healthy, then you wanna be strong and capable so you can do the things you love with the people you love.

And then being lean should flow naturally out of that. It's a nice little byproduct. We all want to look good, but it's definitely way down on the totem pole. So I'm glad that you're talking about health here. And one of the interesting things, I'll give you this health benefits, but one of the interesting things too is our clients who are, let's say in their 50s, 60s, 70s, even in their 80s, when they see our clients who are in their 20s, 30s, 40s, they say, I'm so happy to see that you're doing this now. I wish that I had started something like this when I was your age.

So anyway, hanging out with some of those people in their 50s, 60s, and 70s has given me a lot of perspective on like, yeah, we want to look good, but the most important thing is like, we want to be healthy so we can be around, live a long life and live a full life. So anyway, some of those benefits, ⁓ I mean, number one, like it's going to improve metabolic health across the board. Typically, you're going to see improved cholesterol. You're going to see improved blood pressure, improved blood sugar regulation, improved insulin sensitivity, which

I would say a lot of Americans, even if they don't have diabetes, are insulin resistant. More muscle mass is a robust way to combat that. I mean, you're going to have more energy. It's good for your mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell. So there's so many metabolic benefits, hormonal benefits as well. You we mentioned, again, insulin sensitivity. It does just help regulate testosterone, estrogen levels in both men and women. so, and that's far from my expertise, but I know the goal in both men and women is there's kind of a sweet spot there. It's not like, you know, I think a lot of times with hormones, we just think, you know, this one's bad, this one's good. So you want max this one, none of this one. It's like, actually, they're all necessary and you just need them in the right ratios. think it's true with a lot of these categories that I'm going to mention, it really just help, it sends a signal to help regulate.

Caitlin Estes (11:23)
Yes.

Nate Johnson (11:30)
these things, testosterone, estrogen, insulin resistance, cortisol levels is a big one. We talk a lot about high cortisol and stress and cortisol is important for energy. mean, somebody with Addison's with low, I don't know if they have no, or very little cortisol production, it's life threatening, it's very dangerous. And so the goal is, yeah, we don't want it too low, we don't want it too high, we want it just right, like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. And so it's gonna help regulate cortisol.

It can help, again, regulate the thyroid. The other thing too, it supports the detoxification systems of the body, right? So moving length, increasing blood flow, sweating, all of that is going to help detoxify the body. And I won't go into all of that because that's a big part of my health story, but I do think that can also indirectly play a role on hormone health.

Caitlin Estes (12:27)
Yeah, I completely agree. I think that is such an important topic to talk about. And you're right, we don't have time to go into all those into too much detail today, but just the fact that you were able to list out so many systems of the body that are positively impact by strengthening our muscular system. And that goes back to something that we talk about here all the time. We are one body of many systems, but they all work together. And so we can't just ignore an entire system of the body and it's not expected to have negative repercussions on the rest of us. But the opposite is also true. If we invest in and nurture that system of the body, will have a positive impact on the rest of our body as well. if someone's listening and they're like, okay, I think I need to do this. You know, maybe I need to get started. It's still intimidating to think about

Caitlin Estes (13:20)
Where do you even begin if you want to do strength training because obviously it's not just playing around with weights at the gym. It's not running. how do you get started?

Nate Johnson (13:32)
Yeah, obviously it depends on the individual, but I think that adding strength training into your routine is the number one thing that you can do that's gonna have the biggest or most robust impact to your health. Now every individual is different, but it's rare that I meet somebody who's in a place that doesn't need to be strength training. And again, I think the fitness industry has done people a massive disservice. It's this all or none mentality. And we don't have this with anything else. We don't think like, I didn't do my best at work today, so I'm just gonna quit my job. But we'll do that with fitness. It's like if we can't be perfect, which is insane, because we're not perfect at anything, then we quit.

But that's kind of the only option that the fitness industry has offered people. So here's the really cool thing, a little science. You can build muscle and strength, a decent amount. Now I'm not saying this is gonna maximize progress. Side note, something that we talk about a lot at Steel Strength Training is not how can we maximize progress. There was a time in my own fitness training where I was trying to maximize things. Now, like as a busy husband, father, business owner, I'm thinking how can I get the biggest bang for my buck?

What is the most efficient plan? It's going to give me great results but take very little time. Strength training is something that very much the law of diminishing returns applies to. You can make strength and muscle gains with as little as one set per muscle group done twice per week. Meaning, you could do two full body workouts consisting of, let's say on a base level, seven sets. If you want to go really really fast, great question.

Caitlin Estes (15:05)
And what is a set for those listening who may not

know what that is?

Nate Johnson (15:08)
All right,

great question. So reps, repetition is how many times you're doing a movement, right? So let's say I'm doing 10 pushups and then I stop, that's one set. Okay, it's a set of reps. Yep, there you go, there you go. So you could do really as little as four, but mean, seven sets done two days per week and

Caitlin Estes (15:19)
So a set number of repetitions. Okay.

Nate Johnson (15:36)
you could in theory do this for sure sub 15 minutes. Now again, I'm not arguing this is optimal, but it is effective. It's going to get you results. But then if you're gonna do that, you might as well do two sets per muscle group, per workout, be there for 25, 30 minutes and make more progress. But the biggest thing is people have got to learn how to do the movements properly. You have got to learn how to do the movements properly so that the movements are safe and effective because it's not just doing a set. Here's what has to happen for the set to be effective. It's got to be done with ⁓ good form, so you're safe and you're targeting the body in the way that you want. Good form, full range of motion. Again, that's maybe a side category of good form. And this is the kicker. It needs to be roughly one rep shy of failure. And failure not being the place where it's burning or you're tired or no, it's not when it starts to feel hard.

Failure is the point where you literally cannot move the weight anymore no matter how hard you try. You don't need to hit failure, but you do need to be one, maybe two reps shy of that. So you're working very hard. That doesn't mean you're allowing good form to go away. You're not getting sloppy, but that is key. That's a drum that I beat over and over and over again. One set done with good form, full range of motion, taking close to failure is going to produce far more strength training results than five to 10 sets done. You know, five plus reps shy of failure because it's the last four to five reps before you hit failure that are actually stimulating progress.

Caitlin Estes (17:07)
That's so interesting to know. It's very helpful as you try to think about how can I get started? mean two times a week, maybe less than 15 or 30 minutes. That's very realistic, but it does sound like it's really important that as you begin that journey, maybe you work with a trainer, someone experienced who can show you how to do that correctly. And then from there, you could probably do a lot on your own, but you need to have that initial support there too.

Listeners, I'm going to make sure in the show notes to have a link to steel strength training if you are local to Alabama But Nate, thank you so much for being on the show and sharing so much of your knowledge and experience with us.

Nate Johnson (17:48)
Yeah, Caitlin, thanks for having me. I enjoyed it.

Caitlin Estes (17:52)
Listeners, I hope this has been helpful. We have a couple other episodes that may be interesting to you about this topic. I'll make sure to have them in the show notes. But as always, thanks for listening as we continue to explore together what it means to be woven well.