Episode 162: Tara Garrison ON Achieving Your Fitness Goals through Visualization

In this episode, Coach Tara Garrison, a renowned health and life coach, nutritionist, and biohacking specialist, shares her expertise and journey. From discussing the practice of effective visualization to sharing her methods of mental wellbeing through neurotransmitters in weight training sessions, she offers insights on multifaceted development. 

Tara also talks about her transition to low carb, whole foods, keto, and the role of nutritional choices in our lives. She touches upon the relationship between bodyweight and exercise, particularly for women and the anxieties many women face in lifting weights. Additionally, Tara introduces her new app, the 'Coach Tara App' that provides an all-round fitness initiative with home workouts, gym workouts, recipes, and more.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Presentation

00:18 The Power of Visualization in Achieving Goals

00:33 Interview with Coach Tara Garrison

01:57 The Journey to Becoming a Successful Coach

02:17 The Impact of Visualization on Business Goals

05:48 The Role of Motivation and Mindset in Success

06:52 The Power of Visualization in Overcoming Challenges

13:36 The Importance of Identifying Personal Values

20:49 The Role of Nutrition in Achieving Fitness Goals

27:26 Understanding the Keto Diet and Its Impact

28:11 The Power of Weightlifting for Women

29:18 Overcoming the Fear of Weightlifting

33:07 The Importance of Visualization in Fitness Goals

33:43 The Role of Neurotransmitters in Physical and Mental Wellbeing

44:33 The Coach Tara App: A Comprehensive Fitness Solution

48:46 Wrapping Up: The Power of Visualization and Fitness

Website: https://www.taragarrison.com/

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Transcript

0:49

We have an incredible guest today, guys, we are lucky to have interviewed coach Tara Garrison. She is a health and life coach. Nutritionist and biohacking specialists. And today she shared her expertise and journey to achieving our goals and how we can manifest success in our life. In this episode. Coach there. And I discussed the power of visualization in achieving goals and the role of motivation and mindset in success. Very saying stuff, guys, if you're interested in manifesting your goals into reality, this episode is for you. That'll further ado guys. Here's my interview with coach Tara Garrison.

Lorenz: 1:25

So excited for this guys, today we have a truly exceptional guest on the show. We got coach Tara Garrison. He is an advanced trainer, functional nutritionist, mindset coach, and a biohacking specialist. He is also the founder of Hire, a health and life coaching company that offers training, nutrition, mindset, and biohacking coaching. He has helped many athletes, celebrities, and top executives optimize. their health. Tara is the author of short term keto and also the host of inside out health podcast and the producer of the new app called coach Tara app coach Tara. Welcome to the ketones

Tara Garrison: 2:04

Thank you.

Lorenz: 2:06

I should have said, welcome back as it's your, uh,

Tara Garrison: 2:09

Yeah.

Lorenz: 2:10

um,

Tara Garrison: 2:11

Good to be back. Thanks for having me again.

Lorenz: 2:13

awesome. I'd love to have you back. For the listeners, Tara, Tara already shared her story with us before, um, which was about two years ago, July, 2021, which is a time of COVID, it feels ages ago, right? Last time you were here, I learned so much from you about, especially, your visualization of your success, which you express as the blueprint of, uh, your success. And a lot of has happened since then. So I want to do a little catch up with you, um, for the listeners, talk to them about how you become and became the, the great coach Tara Garrison.

Tara Garrison: 2:50

Thanks. Um, it's all constantly evolving and I love that you just brought up visualization. That's been the topic of the month for me and hire and something that I've been doing on a daily basis lately in terms of business goals. And I love to share it. That's how I got fit. That's how I created retreats. That's how I wrote a book. That's how I started speaking was I started visualizing these things I felt And it's like it these are things that are kind of coming through me already, right? You get these intuitive nudges like it feels like this way, right, but it feels so outside of your reality Maybe it's getting fit. Maybe it's starting a business. Maybe it's writing a book whatever it is but you're feeling like it's not like Some random thing where I'm like, I want to get a Lamborghini. Like, I mean, I guess you could do that for sure. I'm sure visualization was still work, but these are things that are like, my soul is like compelling me, like pulling me towards, right. You take something like that and then you add the daily visualization to it. I have never not had that work so far. And sometimes it takes a while, it's not like overnight, but consistently visualizing what happens is it starts to feel so normal to you, this new reality that you're shifting towards that when opportunities come around, you're just like, Oh yeah, right. Or your actions just start to match what you perceive as your normal. So for example, in my business, I just launched a program. Well, I launched the program in 2021. It's called Level Up. It's kind of, it was like my self guided version of hire coaching. It goes for a year. And I was starting to get these pings, like, no, like you got to guide people through this. Like you're going to have to take a group through it. Right. And so I was like, okay, it's going to be some work. I got to start this whole new group coaching offer. And. Build it and all these things. And, um, I knew it was going to take some work, but it just wouldn't leave me alone. It was like, do it, do it, do it. So I just started visualizing. And this is the question I'll leave for the listeners that it's, it's part of my morning routine now and higher, because it's been so impacting on me doing visualization this way. I asked myself like, what is the most important goal you're working on today? And then close your eyes. And for one minute, visualize the most optimal outcome of that goal. And so I just started seeing like people getting really fit, talking about how much this was like the mindset was impacting their life. And like, I saw them at the gym, like having tons of energy and feeling so good in their bodies. And I just, I saw me on zoom calls and I saw these heart connections. And when you start to do that, it just makes it so real that the actions required to get there are actually so full of joy. Like it was so fun for me. Yeah. It was quote unquote, a lot of work to get that launched, but. We're going now, you know, it launched a few weeks ago and like already I'm seeing comments like my husband's saying, I'm like so much more calm and less anxious than I've ever been. And like, wow, I can't believe how much I'm shifting or, you know, and it's like all of that happened with joy. The work was joy because I saw it before and like lived in it and felt it. before it was reality. And here it is. So any goal you're working on, I highly recommend visualizing on a consistent basis, get detailed and feel joy and gratitude and excitement while you're in that visualization. You honestly only need like 30 seconds a day. I'm serious. And you can really start to like push with joy and excitement towards your goals.

Lorenz: 6:19

That's what I love about you. When I see your videos on TikTok, you know, I see coach Tara and that mindset that you have. That's what I want to be in all the time, you know, but, uh, reality is it's, you know, a lot of us struggle from that reality is, you know, How much of that is motivation? How much is that is mindset, right? And people get so confused with, uh, with the two, because when you do rely on motivation, sometimes, uh, it will only take you so far. Right. And, you know, I admit to, I'm particularly not a fan of motivation, although it can. You know, get you somewhere, get you start something right. But it's, it was always the results for me that pushes me to keep moving forward. You know, the last time I, uh, you were here, I didn't get the chance to talk to you about, you know, visual, the visualization in general. And thank you for talking about that. Um, cause you are sort of. When you're visualizing, you're sort of like picturing what you want to be in your future, right? And that's very interesting to me because for everything that we do, right, that, you know, there will be setbacks, there will be challenges, right? Um, can you sort of give us an example of, you know, how we can use visualization when we're Maybe down, or we didn't see what we like in, you didn't get the results that we wanted. Um, and just, we're stuck somewhere that, uh, we're not happy with. Um, how can visualizations, uh, help us with, you know, just keep pushing forward and keep. Is it discipline? Is it motivation? What is it? Or is it a mix? What happens, what has to happen for somebody? To maybe get over the hump or are we just gonna should, should we just put our head down and work? What should we do in that scenario?

Tara Garrison: 8:14

Yeah, I love this question. When. When we are in debt making any sort of endeavor in our lives, we're not going to do it or we're not going to see it through unless we have compelling enough reasons, right? So, for example, if let's say somebody like is coming to your house right now. And like, no, you got a bunch of dishes in your sink and a lot of people like now they have compelling enough reasons to put those dishes in the dishwasher, right? Whereas maybe 10 minutes before they didn't have compelling enough reasons. So when we have compelling reasons, we, it drives action when you visualize consistently and you are feeling is so important in this process. I like to take my clients through a outside in perspective. Like you're looking at yourself. What is your expression on your face look like from the outside? What are you wearing? What kind of jewelry do you have on? Where are you? What shoes are you wearing? Like, you know, what is the people around you? What are you guys doing? Like details, details, colors. What does this room look like? Or this outside environment? What does it actually look like? So you're like crystallizing this. And so you're seeing your feeling from the outside. And then I have them go in their body. I'm like now. Now go in your body and from the inside, like, what does this feel like? How does it feel moving around in your body? Like, what is your energy like? Like, what are you feeling? Right? So the feeling aspect is really important. And when you get attached to that, when you start to, and you're in, and you feel joy and gratitude and excitement, your reasons start to shift. So I'll share a quick example. When I was going to start retreats, it was, again, it was this like. Coming through me through the, you know, like divine inspiration was like start freaking retreats and I had all these self limiting thoughts and fears and I'm like, Oh my gosh, what if only like three people come or like sign up and I have to like refund them and it's like all embarrassing. You know, I had all these like limiting thoughts and And, you know, the typical, like, I don't know how, and blah, and it's gonna be hard, and all this bullshit. I'm sorry. Yes. And, um, and so, I started visualizing. I started visualizing with her treats every single day. And I started seeing things like I saw one of my clients one day, this one will really anchored me. It was like, I saw her crying. I saw her having a breakthrough and like feeling that a heart connection with her and hugging her was gonna make me cry just even talking about it. But it felt so real for me. And I felt this like intuitive, like Every time you get in your own way, cause you're caught up in all your own stuff with this, you're, you're preventing that from happening. And that just drove me like crazy. And she has been to both that client that I happened to see, she's been to both of my retreats. She's coming to my next one. And we've had those moments, you know? And it's like, That kind of stuff, like when you have reasons, when your heart is connected to it, like you understand the assignment, you know, it's like that, like, and you feel so deep within yourself that this is what's happening. That's when it's like a, when people talk about motivation and discipline. I get that all the time, right? Like, people see that I have muscle and they'll be like, wow, you, you just have some discipline. Like, how do you stay motivated? And it's like, it's so out of left field for me. Like it's the, the energy of those words. Like, I'm like, is that what this is? It definitely doesn't feel like. either of those. Hold on. I guess maybe it is because what it feels like to me, like from my fitness habits to my, you know, all of my health habits, to my business, to everything, they feel like these like compelling, like joy, like I want that for me, like, like happiness, you know? And so I think when we are driven by Joy and fulfillment and wanting what's best for ourselves and others. It's a much easier to quote unquote, stay motivated. I think the reason a lot of people feel like they feel much discipline and motivation is because they're so freaking hard on themselves that they suck the joy out of all of these processes. So bring the joy in through the visualization and hold onto that. And then the process, like I was sharing with the level up thing, it becomes much more joyous as well.

Lorenz: 12:31

Hmm. It's, it feels like whatever you do from now on, it's just going to serve a purpose. Like you're very intentional in everything that you do when you, when you're, like you said, when you're happy with what you're doing, especially you talked about visualization and started to feel, um, when, when you're actually there, it's just brings it. To your reality today, right? It's just a feeling of that brings it to your reality today. And that joy, that feeling just pushes you out. I can see how that can play out. Um, it's just everything that you do starting from now on. It's just very intentional. And you describe everything. It's like, it's becoming a purpose, right? Serving a purpose instead of just relying on motivation, instead of just relying on discipline. So when you are serving for a purpose, it becomes so much easier to get up in the morning. It's so much easier to do that thing, that task that, that used to be so daunting, right? When you get up in the morning and you have that, uh, that greater why, the greater reason to, to get up and go work out and not just because you want to, you want to be Certain you want to reach a certain aesthetic, but for your health and for your longevity, now that becomes more reinforced. Why? Right. Um, how much is, uh, your coaching is reinforcing that? Why are figuring out that? Why for that individual, or is that important in the beginning?

Tara Garrison: 14:11

Oh, yeah. I, um, the first question. So my one on one clients, that's higher. And it's like, they're my one on one clients, but I also have them in a group. So as part of that process, they go through, they have like this video course, it's a 90 day personal development program. And the first question that I asked in that is, who are you? Right? And so. Usually people are like, uh, what, I just wanted to lose. What is this? You know, um, and, uh, it's, it's very intentional because the. identity that we have, like how we see ourselves, what we feel that we are worthy of all of that, like that, like, okay, for example, some people might be motivated to lose weight because they were trying to play with their kids and they couldn't keep up and their kid looked at him and they were like, dad, why are you always so tired? Right? Like that sometimes can really drive people, right? And that's a why. Right. But beyond, and that's important and that does work, you know, understanding your why, but beyond that, like, for example, I don't have any fitness goals. I don't have any aesthetic, you know, I'm not like, there's not an end game for me. It's just purely because I love it. Right. But part of that is that identity piece of like, Of course, of course, I'm going to take care of myself. Of course, I'm going to explore what my body is capable of. Of course, I'm going to want what's best for myself because of the deeper internal work of how I've come to see myself and value myself. You know, I know what I'm capable of. Right. And so the why is important for sure. And it's a really good starting point and it gets deeper than that is all I'm saying. It's like eventually you get to a place like of course, of course, for myself because of how I treat myself and how I respect myself and how I see myself, you know, so my thoughts on that.

Lorenz: 16:11

Yeah, it's just, you know, you talked about just identifying your vowels. I think it's really important to, cause sometimes we can go through life and not know our values. I have my values up on my window here. So it's just like, I look at it every single day. Cause it's easy for us to. Just forget on what values we, uh, we stand for. And sometimes we don't know what our values are and it's okay. And sometimes we have to really look ourselves in the mirror or, or step back and, uh, write down what we really want to be in life and know. And from that, we can reverse engineer and say, Hey, if I want to be here, if I want to be there. These are the values that I need to, uh, to have, right? Maybe it's

Tara Garrison: 17:01

Yeah.

Lorenz: 17:02

right?

Tara Garrison: 17:04

And you can incorporate those values into whatever goal that you're working towards, and it will make it so much more enjoyable for you. So for example, I've traced this, I've tracked this, I'm like, yep, definitely my top two values in life are freedom and fun. If it, if it's about freedom, I'm all over that. If it's about fun, like I will almost be like kind of ADHD kid, irresponsible sometimes. So I actually have to watch that one sometimes. But in my business, like I've really like pushed towards that in my workouts. Like I'm like, is this creating more freedom for me? That's how I see like my, my health is like freedom. Like I see going to bed early as like freedom. Like some of these habits like create so much. Like endless energy and good. I'm not saying I always have endless energy. I'm always in a good mood or something, but overall in my life, it's significantly improved from some of these habits. So it's kind of like that discipline equals freedom. Jocko willing stuff, you know, but it's definitely true. I just don't see it as it doesn't feel like discipline when you're like, I know that if I go to bed early, I'm going to feel freaking amazing tomorrow. Like it doesn't really feel like discipline that feels like wanting what's best for me. That's how it feels to me. Like I can't wait to wake up early cause I love my morning routine and my workouts. And I want that for me. Right. And then in business, I'm like, if this isn't fun, if I'm not having fun, they're not having fun. Why don't we make this more fun? How can I make this more fun? So you can take, you know, whatever your values are and like infiltrate that into how you see whatever goal you're doing and it will make it much more rewarding has been my experience.

Lorenz: 18:34

Yeah. That's, you know, you talked about sleep, you know, somebody talked about how sleep is like a job for them, right? That they have. Okay. I have to, I have to sleep at. Uh, 9 p. m. So that, yeah, you wake up in the morning, you feel amazing, right? It's part of your daily routine. It becomes a part of your job of, you know, if, if health is one of your values, you really have to treat it as one of the things that you have to get done, right? There's no excuses that this is a non negotiable for me. I have to sleep at. 9 p. m. and there's no negotiation, right? Cause I know Kobe, uh, Kobe Bryant, rest in peace. He talked about how he has non negotiable every single day. And once you started negotiating with yourself and that becomes dangerous, right? Cause you're negotiating. Hey, maybe I'll sleep at 10 or maybe I'll just have that one bite, right? And then one bite becomes two, right? And when you negotiate with yourself like that. You'll find yourself negotiating more and more. And so you're, you, you start to slip away and sometimes that slipping away, right, you, and that happens for, for a period of time. And then you find yourself somewhere that you are not happy with because, uh, you were slowly negotiating with yourself and slowly withering away because you are not really being present with. Or being mindful of your values. That's why, you know, having these values every single day for me, like seeing it every day on my wall, um, I have eight on my wall. It could be five, it could be four for you, whatever it is, you know, I try to stay within these values and operate within this value so that I know that one day. You know, and I want to be able to visualize my future too. And that's why I love having you here so I can learn more from you visualizing my future and having these goals, you know, sets me up that, okay, I can relax a little bit, but knowing that when I get these done in a single day, I know I'll get there eventually, right? I'm in the process of. You know, reaching that, uh, dream body of mine, right, uh, over and over again. And sometimes the work can be daunting, right? When you wake up, Hey, I got to work out again. Um, I got to do this again, but it sometimes becomes very repetitive and for others it can be boring. But, you know, I understand why visualization and somehow it's reminding you of what you really want in life, right? And why you're doing it, right? And so I believe it's very powerful. Um, I want to talk to you about nutrition because that's one of my values is. You know, nutrition and I want to be able to be on top of nutrition and, you know, it's impact on our journey. Um, you transition to low carb, whole foods, keto, and you've been weight lifting and exercising, but in the beginning you weren't particularly losing weight. I want to get to help, um, Uh, a lot of women out there that are struggling with weight. Um, especially when they start having children, right? They put a lot of weight on, um, they're exercising, but they're not losing weight. Even worse when they put a lot of weight on, it starts to affect their health. Um, so I want to ask you what needed to happen for you when you shifted your focus to nutrition and what do you, what did you learn from that experience that you think had the most impact to your life? Nutrition wise,

Tara Garrison: 23:11

Okay, to sum it up, I mean, before the nutrition piece came in was a strong desire to learn how to lift weights and build muscle. Okay. So it was about eight months into that coming from, um, Marathoning background, like 20 years of running, like really into it since I was a kid, honestly, my mom was a big time runner. So yeah, I ran for fun in high school. Like my whole family is like this. We actually really do love running. Um, even my kids will like just go for a run. So it's like in our genes or something. But, um, That I was doing that and like workout classes, like the typical young mom kind of vibes. Like I'll go do like some weightlifting workout class, but I'm not really like lifting weights by myself and running, right? Maybe Zumba or something every once in a while. Um, so I got into weightlifting and I was like really getting into it about, you know, by eight months in I was like, I really felt like I had, like, I was like, I'm like a bodybuilder now. Like I know what pre workout is and I have whey protein and like BCAAs, you know, like that's where I was at. And I wasn't, uh, and I was really learning. I'm watching all these videos on YouTube of like how to execute deadlifts and squats and I'm getting kind of nerdy about it. And I wasn't making any like body composition changes. And so that's when I was like, okay. Let's go. It's time to really change your nutrition drastically. And so at that time I was really doing like this isn't like 2014, 2015. So like what was out there that was commonly, you know, pretty much anybody who wanted to get build muscle and lean out was doing was like that bodybuilder type approach where it's lower fat. You know, it's a typical stuff you get. If you're going to sign up for a contest right now, You're going to get oats and egg whites and then you're going to have like some chicken and some sort of vegetable and then you're going to have like a can of tuna and you know, a hard boiled egg maybe, but the yolk might be too much fat. You know, it's like that whole vibe, right? Um, and I did that and it worked. Right. I lost a lot of body fat. I don't know where I was when I was started, but I was like 175 pounds. I'm five, six. So, and I'm like no muscle to 135 pounds. And when I finally got a DEXA scan, I was 11 percent body fat. So a lot of muscle at 135 pounds, you know, And, um, that's when I started keto and at that point at 11 11. 3 I think percent body fat is pretty freaking low. I had no idea my body fat had gotten that low, right? So then I started keto and obviously I hadn't been eating very much fat. For a while and so I felt this like tremendous hormonal like I just felt well You know like mentally well from the increase in fat and I went full keto for like a year But my body is just not a high responder to keto like I slowly even though like I was very deep in the keto world and I'm eating like Uh, wild game meats, like wild boar, elk and like grass finish, you know, high quality food, organic, like whole foods. Like I was eating a very high nutrition keto. Um, and I was, you know, supplementing leucine and just doing all the things to maintain muscle mass and staying on top of electrolytes. And, you know, I was coaching people as a part way into that journey on it and they're getting results, but I'm like. Not feeling satisfied at the end of meals after a while So I'm starting to like wanting to binge on like nut butters and keto bars and all that kind of stuff And I was like what the heck I haven't been like this and forever like I thought I was like a really good place With food even at 11 percent body fat. I wasn't tracking food. Like I was just Eating whole food. I don't know my body was really responding So I lost muscle mass and gained body fat on keto after a year and I started to get this Um intuitive like it's time to bring some cars back in And so I did and I whoa, like I got up to like 18 body fat on keto from 11 Which is still very lean for a woman um, but I felt knew that I felt best around like maybe 15 was like I don't know my body. I don't even look that lean when I'm 15, but like, I felt feel like really good around that. And I couldn't get there on keto. So I brought cars back in and boom, immediately, like, I mean, not immediately, maybe within nine months or something like that. I went back down to 12 percent like just eating healthy carbs again and dropping my fats. So that was eyeopening. And here I was in the middle of the keto space, like deeply entrenched in it in the whole keto community. And I'm this keto coach and I'm getting all these like high level clients and stuff. Cause I know keto and it's all the rage. And that's when I right in the middle of that was like, Hey guys, I'm eating carbs again. And this is what I'm experiencing. And that's how I ended up getting, like, the book off, or I wrote this keto in and out program, and I started saying, like, do keto not forever, and I was like, hey, you know, some people, yeah, they might do great on keto forever, and especially if you have, like, type 2 diabetes, or you're, you know, pretty obese, like, you're gonna probably want to do keto for a long time, but somebody who's 11 percent body fat and training like a beast, and I was still marathon, on I was still training for the Boston Marathon when I started keto and like was already really lean like my body just did not thrive. I'm glad that I did it. Um, I feel like I upgraded my metabolism tremendously in terms of being able to go into ketosis, right? Like fasting became really easy. Like I felt pretty invincible, like I can go without food or I could have food. Like it really regulated that for me. So I'm really grateful for that. Um, but it definitely for me, like I learned, like a full on ketogenic lifestyle is not optimal for me. Right? And so I've seen that over the years, coach so many people in keto and bringing them into keto and bring them off keto and all of that. And some people like, there's a few things, like if you have a lot of inflammation, you have high blood sugar, you have a lot of weight to lose. You got some sort of thing that keto keels keto heels, you know, and your health, like, yeah. Awesome. I mean, you just get these amazing results. Some people are just really high responders to that type of eating and some people aren't, you know, and it's just led, I think when you're in the trenches with people on the daily, you lose dogmatic viewpoints really quickly. Cause you get your butt handed to you over and over on your dogmatic, like keto does this. And it's like, not on everybody. So yeah, that's my story. So, uh, sorry to sum it up for real quick, like what you were asking for people, I would say like one, ask yourself if you're like me, if you're listening to this and you were like how I was before one is you start lifting weights. That is like my biggest first tip for women. Like, it made everything, it made, it took me from somebody who could never lose weight to the annoying person who eats whatever she wants and is still lean. Okay? Are you hearing me? Like the, I give up, I can't do this, it's too hard, I'm always gonna be overweight, to, wow, this is so easy. That's what weightlifting did for me. And then once you get into that, then start feeding muscle, boost your protein. If you want to do keto that speaks to you, do it. If you want to do like a more whole foods, moderate carb, moderate fat, higher protein lifestyle, that speaks to you, do that. There's a lot of ways to approach this, but start with lifting weights and then start eating to support muscle and fix your sleep and start watch what happens. It's, a journey. But you will get there

Lorenz: 30:49

Well,

Tara Garrison: 30:49

and it will be with much more ease if you lift

Lorenz: 30:51

what is it with women in weightlifting though? Um, I can never understand it. Why is what, what's, what's the view of women with, uh, weightlifting nowadays?

Tara Garrison: 31:02

Current the current State i'd say we've made a lot of progress Like when I'll post about this on social media I'll have like a hundred women comment and be like no I love I want muscle like we've we've definitely shifted a bit There's a lot more women that do feel that way Um, they understand, you know, the message has been delivered. It's like, this is going to boost your metabolism. It's going to be easier to be fit. You're going to just look toned. Most likely you're not going to look like some giant muscle woman. So we're, we've made a lot of shifting, I'd say in the last five years on this. And I still occasionally, you know, get the women that they're like, I just want to do bands work at home and I want to look like this skinny model and. You know, and I'm like, okay, and we, we just kind of talk about it, but I'd say the women that are resistant to it are, um, they're thinking that they are going to look manly, you know, or they thinking that they're going to look like one of these like shredded, like competitor chicks who just have like all this muscle and like they're. They're busting out of their biceps and it's like, no, their whole life is like surrounded around that. Like you're not going to be like just an average person getting in shape and look like that. You are going to have to become obsessed to look like that, which I wouldn't really recommend, but you can do that if you want and learn some lessons along the way, come out in a more balanced place at the end of it, hopefully. But, um, Yeah, I think that women have unrealistic expectations of what's going to happen when they start lifting weights All that's really gonna happen is it's gonna make it easier for them to like eat food and not get fat to have more Energy feel stronger like get some shape that they're looking for. It's really like the fast track to leaning out If you want to lose body fat lifting weights is like the fast track for that and you're not gonna lift that muscular Not for a long time, even if you try really hard

Lorenz: 32:57

I think most of them are maybe just intimidated with, you know, just working out

Tara Garrison: 33:03

True there's that Yes, sorry. Yeah, and that's just to add to that. I just want to say like I started out, like, I didn't know what a deadlift was. I didn't, I didn't have cool gym clothes. I didn't, I didn't know any of the stuff. And I just want to say to women, like, we all start there. And a lot of guys start there too. A lot of guys in the gym, they didn't do sports growing up. Like they didn't take gym class. They walking in there, like, just like us, you know? And so humble yourself and remember that, like, everyone's learning and it's okay. To be in there learning. It's okay to be like, what is this machine? And like Google the name of it and watch a YouTube video of how to use it. That's all that's normal.

Lorenz: 33:44

You know, I worked with somebody and he said, um, He said he's gonna go back to the gym when he's looking fit again, right? Because he, it's for some reason, since, since he, uh, you know, gained a little bit of weight, he, he wanted to go back, get back to the gym when he's a little bit. Uh, shredded and so like, okay, so you're not going to go to the gym now because you put a little weight on and that's, and that's, that tells me that, you know, a lot of people are really intimidated and they, they think that people are going to be looking at them and, um, but no, I mean, everybody over there understand, cause everybody started from somewhere, right? Everybody, everybody started from somewhere and you, you know, I remember you saying, um, the mindset was. Uh, just wait, watch me. I'm coming, right? Something like that. You remember that? That confidence that you had. Yeah. Yeah.

Tara Garrison: 34:41

like I knew 100 percent 999 like, yeah, I was overweight and frumpy and all that and didn't know what I was doing. But I was like, Nope, no, I'm not like, just watch everyone's gonna see soon. Like I was It's a hundred percent there. And that came through a lot of that visualization stuff we were talking about. So yeah, stay there, you know, like have your own back, support yourself, believe in yourself. If you're worried about people judging you, that's when you get to come in and decide, or am I going to abandon myself here out of fear of what other people are thinking? Or I'm going to show up like as my best friend, like I got you. Let's go. We're going to get through this together, you know?

Lorenz: 35:14

Yeah. I love that. I love that. Um, You know, you talked about, uh, you talked a lot about neurotransmitters with weight training. Um, you know, big words. This is, you know, that I really want to understand this. Um, and you talked about, like, The balance of neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and how GABA influence, uh, our physical health, uh, you know, and then it can help also with mental wellbeing. Can you explain that a little bit? You know, it's, it's just, it's just nice to know that there are, you know, these, these mental health benefits from weightlifting too.

Tara Garrison: 35:54

Yeah. Uh, I mean, I'd say that's probably my main driver in lifting these days. I mean, it's also for the health benefits, but like what makes me like excited to go on the daily is the mental health benefit because I get super creative. I get super alert. I can make decisions faster. Like I can handle a lot more. I can emotionally regulate better. And that is because of the things that you just mentioned. So when you lift weights, you boost every neurotransmitter. There is that helps you feel awesome and operate well. So dopamine, obviously we, we, we increased dopamine. Dopamine will cause you to feel alert, focused, uh, driven, outgoing, social, um, quick decision making high executive function, like all of those things that pretty much everybody wants to be in all the time. That's. And that's boosted from all forms of exercise. Um, and then also serotonin. So serotonin, I like to call the grandmother molecule, because how serotonin helps you feel is like loving and like, like kind and like, Oh, like look at them. They're so such a cute couple. And I love dogs. And like, you know, it's just like this, like happy, loving, all's good in the world kind of feeling. And that gets boosted from exercise. Also GABA, GABA is such a underrated neurochemical. Like this needs to be talked about. I, when I bring this up with people, like nobody knows what I'm talking about. And I'm like, this needs to be like common, like household knowledge, understanding glutamate and GABA. Because we got everybody in the freaking planet with anxiety, right, right now. It feels like, like anxiety and depression, ups and downs and ups and downs. And so much of this has to do with GABA, all of the neurochemicals work together. So like we can't just isolate them, right. But just to give GABA and glutamate the stage for a second, um, glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter. So it helps you go. It's the most abundant neurotransmitter. We all have a lot of glutamate. And that converts into GABA. Well, when that conversion doesn't happen well, GABA, and GABA's lower, your glutamate's higher than it needs to be. GABA is what causes you to feel cool, calm, collected. You're not overthinking that much. You're not too worried about stuff. You're just kind of, it's all good. Everything's good, right? It's one of our major inhibitory neurotransmitters. Um, like, when you exercise, you help increase that conversion. of that glutamate into GABA. So that's why people may notice like, again, it's several neurotransmitters at play, but like after a workout, you may notice that you feel pretty like level for a while, right? Like you're in this space of like, everything's okay. And everything's good. A lot of that is the GABA boost. So that's huge and important. And also nutrition plays a huge piece on this too. fructose, meaning high levels of fructose, unnatural levels of fructose that are in sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Those also can block that conversion of glutamate to GABA. So if you're not exercising and you're eating sugary stuff all the time, you're most likely, especially if you're predisposed. of this, because some people have genetic predispositions to have a poor conversion, then you're kind of a sitting duck for anxiety. So exercise can really help with that. Also, last one I just have to mention is you release, um, anandamide. It's a endocannabinoid. So like, yes, like cannabis, like endogenous. Cannabinoids makes you feel really good and that gets released tremendously through exercise. So that's part of that feel good feeling as well. So you just get so many benefits and that's why I like to exercise first thing in the morning because it just kind of like trickles throughout my workday and then I start to get tired and repeat.

Lorenz: 39:38

What's your typical morning? Like, um, do you eat first before a workout or do you work out fasted? What's the, what's the typical morning like for you?

Tara Garrison: 39:49

Okay, so I'll share from me, but I also have to say like this won't apply for everybody. Okay? So part of my under, Fanning and passion for neurotransmitters started with doing Christian to mentoring with Christian Thibodeau. He's a really well known strength coach out of Canada. French Canadian Vin Diesel is what I call him. He really looks like Vin Diesel. Um, and he has a certification called neurotyping and I did that certification and I've also privately mentored with him a couple of times. So I'm pretty deep on that. And what he's doing is taking, giving people a personality test to see what some of your dominant and deficient neurotransmitters are like throughout your life. Cause like right now you and I are both going to have a little more dopamine, a little more adrenaline cause we're on a podcast, but you take us like two hours from now we might have much lower levels. Right? So it's easier to see somebody who's like basic status through personality, right? Like, are you worried about stuff all the time? Do you not care? You actually don't really give a crap at all about what other people think that would be like GABA indicators, right? So we're looking at that. So for me, I'm a two way, which means like I'm adrenaline dominant. And so for me, because of that, working out fasted. is awesome for me because I feel most myself and most energetic when I am in that adrenaline state. And so I'm intentionally working out fasted because that will drive up adrenaline. Now, somebody who's dopamine dominant, for example, those people will most likely do well with a little bit of carbs before or during their workout because that will prevent so much of their dopamine. being turned into adrenaline, And so, um, so like it's, yeah, that's all like a lot of reasons. And you can probably just figure this out yourself, like eat before your workout. Did that feel better? Okay, cool. Do that. Okay. Don't eat before your workout. Did that feel better? Okay. Do that. You know? And then last thing I just have to say is like, there are some considerations. If women are listening to this and they have hypothyroidism or their adrenals are already. pushing it or like something's going on in their body where it's already taxed quite a bit. I really wouldn't recommend fasted workouts for those women cause it could just push you too much into that adrenal like drive. You know, you might need a little bit more nourishment while your body's in that place. But so far so good. We'll see what happens when I hit menopause. I might have to change my tune, but for now that's what I do as a. pretty powerful morning routine. I don't eat. I go to the gym. I have pre workout. I do do well with caffeine. So I use a caffeinated pre workout and I hit it and I come home and I just come down the rest of the day.

Lorenz: 42:25

What time, what time, what time is that? Do you start your day? Oh, I'm sorry,

Tara Garrison: 42:30

Five.

Lorenz: 42:30

5am. You get, you get up and

Tara Garrison: 42:32

I love, I meditate for 10 minutes and I do a little personal development thing with that visualization. I just told you guys about like, what is the most important goal you're working on today? Visualize the most optimal outcome of that goal. Write down what you saw. What is one thing that you can do today to take action towards that goal? Right? So, and I do a gratitude practice before that. And then I meditate before that. And so that's kind of my flow. Um, right now I'm writing another book. Um, I don't have a publisher for it or anything. I'm just writing it. So when I have a big project like that, I just put that in my morning routine before I go to the gym so that, cause I know I'm going to go to the gym. I can't wait to go to the gym. It's the funnest part of my day. So it's like, you can go to the gym after you write. So right now I have that. I don't always have that. Um, but I'll put important projects when I'm creative in the morning like that. And, and then I'll go to the gym and then it's dive into work.

Lorenz: 43:25

mm. That's, that should be in a journal. Like you should sell a journal with all those questions in, you know, I would, I would, I'll probably get interested in that. Um,

Tara Garrison: 43:36

I actually am getting it printed right now. It's mostly for my higher clients, but maybe sell it publicly. I don't know.

Lorenz: 43:42

You know, I would be so interested in that so much because, you know, I, I want to incorporate visualization and I, I think that it does, the way you talk about it and how my works is I need to see it. I need to feel it. And by feeling it gives me more of that juice of, okay, I need to get up. I felt the joy I felt. They're the things that I need to be to be able to get there. And so by, you know, being, putting this in my routine, right. IE, a journal, right. Will help me even more. Cause it has to be a daily thing. It has to be a practice, right. For it to manifest. Um, I would definitely buy one of those if it's available.

Tara Garrison: 44:30

Okay. Thanks for the, thanks for the encouragement, I guess. And I do have, like how I do, we have call it four peaks and higher. So it's like the four areas of our life to really focus on and how to make kind of goals in there. And then you go into the morning routine on the daily. So I'll, I'll let you know when I get it printed. I got a sample on the way right now. I just finished that project up. But, um. Also, I just want to say that the, the it's not just excitement and motivation when you visualize, it's also so much that you are making your goals, quote unquote goals feel normal. It's, it's feeling like normal life. So now you're on this frequency with that versus like if I say Okay. I want 10 billion. And it just feels like this, like crazy, like, yeah, right. Like, but I want it, but like, I feel separate from that being a normal thing. The good luck, right. That's a really extreme example, but let's say for some reason I want a 10 billion. Right. And so like, I would need to start visualizing my life as someone who has 10 billion. Like, what does that actually look and feel like? And I would need to live there a lot. And that's like the. benefit, I would say, is that like it puts you in the frequency of like, this is my normal life now before it's even really happened. And that's what makes it so much easier to get there.

Lorenz: 45:50

Hmm. Thank you for clarifying that. Yeah. That, that could be very difficult to imagine, right? Cause you really have to imagine that life. And again, if you don't know what that life feels like, then you're not going to manifest that cause you gotta be able to feel it. That's uh, thank you for clarifying that. Um. I want to please talk about your app because you launched an app, uh, it's called the coach Tara app. It has home workouts, gym workouts. First of all, how did that came to be? And what's the goal behind that?

Tara Garrison: 46:22

Thanks. Yeah. I, well, somebody had reached out to me from a company, you know, in an email and When I saw it, I was like, I don't know, you know, sometimes you just get that like intuitive, like this matters, red alert, like pay attention, like, you know, like it came in as, like it mattered. Right. And I started to think about it. I started to talk to them. And one of my biggest things that I, that was stirring in my soul was like, I have all these people who follow me on social media, but only like a small percentage of them can actually work with me based off of finances and also. Like how many people I can work with. And I, yeah, I had like some programs and stuff, but I'm like, I'm always looking at how I can serve more people better, you know, and like provide an awesome experience for them. And that without me having to coach, I can't coach that many people and be a good coach. Right. So, um. So it just started to feel really aligned. I just was feeling that and, um, wanted to make like something really affordable. So that's so I created it. It was it's I'm still working. I mean, I just I'm releasing a body part specific like, uh, programs right now. I've got a year's worth of training. I've got mindset journeys. I've got a whole nutrition section with all these recipes and how to Figure out your own macros and calories. We've got a biohacking section, like we just dropped one today on body composition and me showing them what it's like to get a DEXA scan and comparing DEXAs to in bodies. And like, what does the research say? And like, so it's my way of kind of like, uh, bring, bringing people into all of that. The, the mindset journeys are like 22 minute. It's filmed in beautiful nature locations where I take them through a little journey. So that's how I decided to do mindset in the app. People really like it. I really like them. I listen to my own mindset

Lorenz: 48:06

I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm also into those things. Yeah. Should be good.

Tara Garrison: 48:10

Yeah. And then it was a push for me, right? Because I'm doing the workout like. As like, I'm more of a strength coach, like, you know, I'm not like a class instructor. Like, usually I'm like with somebody when I'm, when I was coaching in person, I'm like, do this, do this. So for me to be like, okay, here we go. 10 reps. Like it was so weird, but I love it. I think my app subscribers are really, really loving it. I've got so many positive reviews. It's been cool to see because I'm giving them coaching cues along the way. Right. Like I'm like right here, this is what matters. I hear dead, like roll your shoulders back and down. Okay. Squeeze, you know? So anyway, that's, that's the app and it's been cool to be able to help more people that way.

Lorenz: 48:49

And everything is in just one app where you can do the home workouts, right? Gym workouts, whatever it is. Nutrition, everything is in one app, right? Recipes too, right?

Tara Garrison: 49:00

yep. And I even, I even went back and filmed knee substitutions for people with bad knees for the whole everything. Cause people were starting to say, I can't do Bulgarian split squats. I'm like, crap, I got to serve those people. We got to add in screen modifications for them, you know, it's very supportive. And there's also like, you can comment and I respond to everybody in there. And so there's like message boards and comments. People can leave and ask questions. So it's pretty cool.

Lorenz: 49:25

I love it. It feels like you are just living a life of non resistance, the life of least resistance, where it's like when it comes to your lap and it feels good. You know, you just do it. So it's amazing. It's amazing to see your growth in the, you know, last two years I've been following you. So it's been amazing to follow you. Um, where can people find you coach Tara?

Tara Garrison: 49:50

So the social media platforms I'm most active on our Instagram, Facebook, and tick talk. Um, and then my website is Tara garrison. com. The app is coach Tara app. And then I also have my inside out health podcast.

Lorenz: 50:04

Awesome. Awesome. We'll link everything down in the description box below guys. So you guys can check out coach Tara Garrison here. Coach Tara, thank you so much for coming on again and sharing your story with us.

Tara Garrison: 50:15

Thank you so much for having me. It was good talking to you

Lorenz: 50:17

Awesome. All right. Bye bye

50:19

Thank you for joining me for another episode of the ketones in coffee podcast with coach Tara Garrison, as we discuss the power of visualization in achieving goals in particular, our fitness goals. I have provided links to coach terrorists work and their socials. So please see the show note, captions below. If you're learning from or enjoying the podcast, please subscribe to wherever you listen to your podcasts, which is a zero cost way to support the podcast. And also you can leave us up to five star reviews on both Spotify and apple. If you have questions, please reach out to me on Instagram or our new website at keto. Coach lawrence.com.