F45 for Beginners (and Busy Adults): Coach Stacey on Functional Fitness, Strength, Steps & Hyrox

Curious about F45 — or wondering if it might be too intense to start? In this episode of Piece of Work, I sit down with my F45 coach, Stacey Pasciak (@staceypfit) for an honest, unscripted conversation about functional fitness at any age.

We talk about what F45 (Functional 45) actually is, why the workouts are time-based instead of rep-based, and how the structure, coaching, music, and community make it easier to stay consistent — especially if you’re busy, bored with the gym, or getting back into fitness.

Coach Stacey shares practical guidance on seeing real results, including why strength training matters more as we age, the importance of daily steps, how protein supports muscle and recovery, and why creatine is one of the most researched and effective supplements. 

We also talk about Hyrox — what it is, how the race works, and how F45’s Hyrox workouts fit into training.

If you’re looking for a realistic, sustainable way to get stronger, feel better, and move with confidence in everyday life, this episode will give you clarity and motivation without the overwhelm.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction

00:37 Coach Stacy's Fitness Journey

02:10 What is F45?

03:24 F45 Workouts and Philosophy

06:36 Personal Experiences with F45

10:57 Importance of Strength Training

18:48 Hyrox and Its Connection to F45

22:42 Getting Started with F45

28:25 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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Transcript

F45 for Beginners (and Busy Adults): Coach Stacey on Functional Fitness, Strength, Steps & Hyrox

Audio Only - All Participants: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Piece of Work, the podcast. Today I have a special guest, my coach at F45, Stacy, coach Stacy. And this is very impromptu. She didn't really have any prep. I didn't tell her the questions I was gonna ask her 'cause I wasn't a hundred percent sure what questions I was gonna ask her, but I wanted her to come in.

I wanted to talk a little bit about F45, what it is, and Hyrox, which is another thing that Stacey's involved in and I just asked her to come on. So Piece of Work. We're all a Piece of Work, a work in progress, and a work of Art. Coach Stacey. Tell us a little bit about. Yourself, how you got to F45, what F45 is and Yeah.

So I've been with F45 for five years coaching as a head coach. I started my journey with fitness when I started soccer, probably at five years old. I played soccer all through the collegiate level, and then after college I was like. What the heck am I supposed to do? I love fitness, but how do I [00:01:00] do this on my own?

I really got into running and I started doing marathons and I didn't know that. Yeah, same. So after all of the running, I knew I needed some kind of strength program and it was just really hard to do it. All the time on my own at the gym, and I stumbled across F45 and it just brought me back to that college soccer experience, the fitness, the team aspect, and I just absolutely loved it.

So I started as a member and probably a year into my F45 journey, I decided I wanted to be a coach. And so I went through and got my personal training cert, and from there I've been doing it ever since. Great. That's awesome. I was just thinking as I'm hearing us, our voices echo through here that I hope the sound on this is Okay.

Usually for a podcast, we wanna be in a little bit more of an enclosed area, and we're in a huge studio. All of the F45 gyms are always in this big kind of industrial type feel. With the hair scoot over here so they can [00:02:00] see if anyone's watching on YouTube, you can see the kind of typical red, white, and blue colors.

I loved hearing about your journey. I, we have way more in common than I even realized. But wondering what, for people who might not have ever even heard of F45, what is F45? Why is it called F45? Where did it come from? Who started it? What's the story? And I don't expect you to have a perfect history because I didn't prepare you, but, so F45, functional 45 minutes.

So the, fitness is supposed to be very functional, very like all fitness levels. It teaches you movements that you already do in your day-to-day lifestyle. And then of course all the classes are 45 minutes except for Saturdays that being a special bonus of a 60 minute class. But that is what F45 is.

It's high intensity interval training. So most of the time for all of our workouts, we go based off time rather than. Reps this way, all fitness levels, [00:03:00] they just need to work through that allotted time where they can slow things down or go a little bit faster depending on what kind of goals they're working towards.

That's perfect. So yeah, my friend and I were discussing that about the. The reps versus the time he was like, I don't like that. What's the philosophy? Who came up with this concept and how did they come up with that philosophy? Or do, or what do you know about that? Yeah, so I don't know if it's an F45 thing, but back in the day you would hear a lot of like Tabata workouts and it's 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest, and people just go through that.

Round wise, the intervals. Yeah. I think. F45 does time-based sets because it allows people to be able to go at their own pace. If you were to say, okay, you have to hit eight reps or 12 reps, or maybe 15, some people might not be able to do that 15 reps, however, mentally they can be like, okay, I can work for 30 seconds at a time at their own [00:04:00] pace.

Makes sense. So all the workouts are different, but they follow a pattern. Is it, I, a lot of times I'll, when I'm trying to describe it to people, I'll describe it as almost like a cross between CrossFit and group personal training and I don't know. It's a combination of things.

It's a class set up where you come at a specific time and you go through a prescribed class, but it's different than going to a workout class at a regular gym. So this is all set up for you. The stations are already out, they're numbered. Something that you can't really replicate in a regular gym setting.

'Cause it's hard to find all of that space if you're just going to some kind of box gym and it's crowded. So all of the stations are set up for you. You don't have to think about it. You might get lost, but that's what as coaches are here. Stacy loves to make fun of me because I. One of the reasons I like F45 is I don't really have to think about it.

I show up. I've been working out since I was, 17 years [00:05:00] old, so I know, I could do this workout on my own at the gym. It's not I don't know the moves or anything. But anyway, I love F45 because I don't have to think about it, but half the time I'm lost about wait, where am I going next?

Because they do like to mix up the navigation of the room, which I think is hilarious. It's like sometimes you're in pods. Going and then sometimes you're going around the entire room and then sometimes you're going in a line and then back and it's just, it's, there's some classic F45 navigations, but, and then there's a couple funny things because it's from Australia, right?

Yeah. So it's in some ways it's like backwards of how I think we would do it in the us like. We'd go from back to front. And is it from right to left or I don't know. There's a couple things there. No, I agree. Yeah. So what, yeah, how did it get started? Do you know who started it and when?

It's based in Australia. I do not know the person who started it. I know we have gone through a little shift of CEOs, so it's a new group now. I know Mark Wahlberg was a [00:06:00] big, is involved who's, I don't know if he is now, but he did have a big thing about promoting it. But it did start in 2013, back in Australia and came over to the us I believe it was started.

First US gym was California. But. Nice. Yeah. What's cool? So I am in East Mesa and we are, we're at the Red Mountain, F45. And if you're interested and you live in the area, definitely text, email me, reach out to me and maybe I can get you a special deal. I didn't talk. That was one, one thing I was gonna ask you is if we could have a special promotion, but I'm sure that, I'm sure that we can arrange something.

So I have worked out at a couple different F45s. I first found F45 when I was living down in Eastmark area, so not too far from here. And I was surprised how much I liked it because like I said, I've been working out my whole life I did marathons myself and then I had stepped back from that after breast cancer and having babies in my forties and a hip [00:07:00] injury.

But I had tried a lot of things and I was looking for something new. I was feeling very uninspired whenever I'd go into the gym and I was just like, I need, I'm not wanting to train for marathons anymore, but I need something that's gonna really keep me in shape where I don't. I don't really have to think much.

And I, and it's just like exciting. And so the first time I did a class pass where you can try different things and F45 wasn't part of that at the time, but there was the F45 near me. I decided to try a class.

You could try one for free. And it happened to be a Saturday, so it wasn't 45. It was an hour, and it kicked my butt like nothing I had tried in years. I was shocked. And it felt so good, like it was a good kick your butt. And I was like, okay, I'm hooked. So I joined pretty much the next week. It was way more expensive.

It was 10 times the cost of the other gym that I was part of , the box gym as you called it. But it was so worth it because not only did you have, a set workout to follow scientifically based without having [00:08:00] to plan it out, but you. You just walked in. It was all set up for you.

Like you said, you had the community, like the other people around you. The energy, I loved the energy of it. 'cause I don't know about you, but I can like, really feel the energy of a room or a place. Like I go to some gyms and I can't stand the energy. Like it's just gorgeous zombies. Yeah. And, or it's just super crowded and just yeah.

Everybody in their own here. It was a, just a very. Happy vibe and I really liked that the music was pumping. I liked, I'm not usually a fan of loud music, but like with the workout, it really gave the energy. There were coaches and I have been to some F45s where the coaches can be a little annoying.

That's one reason I like you, is that you. I, you have a way of just looking at me like I walk in five minutes late and you're like, it's just a look. Or I'm laughing, I'm lost [00:09:00] or I'm not picking up a weight that's quite heavy enough or something and all you have to do is look at me. So anyway, I picked

F45 because of all those things. The community, the comradery, the coaching, and then the workout itself. I just felt like it really is functional. I was in Hawaii over felt like spring break, but it was actually like November. 'Cause it was still, it was warm there. And just watching, I was with, we were there celebrating my mom's 80th birthday and I was there was a man.

In the water, like an probably an 80-year-old man and he was, I could see him like swaying like al he was gonna fall. And I was like, okay, how can I like help him without making him feel, embarrassed the nurse. So yeah, the nurse in me walked up and that's exactly what I said. I was like, Hey, just put your hand on my shoulder.

Just I'm a lot stronger than I look. Just lean on me like a, like a cane. And, 'cause he was of course taller than [00:10:00] me, and he did. And I was like, don't worry, I'm a nurse don't worry. But it made me think, just watching my mom. And her boyfriend navigate the sand and that how awesome this workout really is.

As I get older, I'm only 51 now, but I feel like doing this. This work, this type of workout is gonna help me even just in everyday life as I get older. Like I've been, trying to reach something up out of the, like a suitcase out of the Yeah. Shelf in the garage. And I feel stronger just in on those, like you said, everyday movements, but it also really can change your body and change your, what do you think about.

Kinda shifting, so like workouts have definitely shifted. Like there, years ago it was all about cardio and now it's a lot less about cardio. Do you still do long runs or do you only do the shorter. Runs. So I still do long runs. However, we have to [00:11:00] remember, strength is so important and valuable, especially like in females.

When you are in your thirties, probably 33 and older, if you are not doing strength training each year you can lose up to 1% muscle mass. Wow. And think about that in your sixties. If you take a fall and then you have a hip replacement that leads to. So many people. Yes. Such a downfall. Less mobility issues and shoulders replacement and things like that.

So strength definitely needs to be in the forefront of everybody's training plan. If that's three times a week or five times a week, whatever fits that schedule. Cardio is still really good, especially for our hearts. It doesn't have to be crazy cardio. Just going on a 30 minute brisk walk or a lot of people like the StairMaster.

I would say F45 does have a really good. Balance of strength and cardio. However, those cardio days here are gonna be a little bit more high intense than just going on your everyday [00:12:00] walk, which definitely should be in your daily plan, right? Weekly. Yeah. Yeah. I know you're a big proponent of getting your steps in, like Yeah.

Even when we're talking about the challenge coming up, you were saying that steps are a part of it. Yes. Why is that so important? Why are those steps? If you think about it, us Americans are very. We sit all day. Yeah. And on average Americans get 4,000 steps. The more we can move at a moderate pace, the more our bodies are burning, which also leads to weight loss or maintaining that weight as well, which is super important.

'cause if you're just sitting all day, your body's not burning, you're eating so many calories, and then people are like why am I gaining weight? It's because you're moving less. Yeah. So what is a good how do, let's talk about females middle age, females, old females between 35 and whatever age.

What is a good way [00:13:00] to actually move the scale to actually not just move the scale, but get rid of that extra fat and, let's say somebody is already moving a little bit, how do you. Make a difference. I would say, not to get too nitty gritty into the topic, but protein is gonna be a really good thing to focus on.

We need to be eating enough protein that keeps us feeling hungry, helping our muscles grow, recovering our muscles, and then on top of that, instead of thinking how I can change the scale weight to be. Less, I think it should be more of a mindset of how heavy I can lift day to day and like building that strength.

The more muscle mass we have on our bodies, of course might seem to make the scale increase. Mentally not having a mindset of I want to be this number on a scale, and rather what can I pick up weight wise? I've literally stopped weighing myself, honestly. Yeah. Like the last couple years.

I I actually [00:14:00] don't know exactly how much I weigh from day to day because it's, it fluctuates anyway, and I go by how I feel and feel, look. Yeah. And how my clothes fit and how. Like you said, how much weight It's, I think it's so interesting that how things have shifted since When I was a teenager, we used to think low carb was best and we used to think, low fat.

Not, sorry, not low carb. We. We didn't think about carbs, we just thought about low fat. There was like all these snack wells, like all these things that I would eat in college like rice with nothing on it. Like we, we thought that low fat, yeah, if you didn't eat fat you wouldn't be fat.

And we thought yeah, if you weigh, if you were weighed less, you'd be skinnier and you'd look better. But it's actually, like you said, the muscle we all know weighs more than fat and. Lifting more lifting heavy things. It was like so important and that we used to be afraid of that as women. Like You're gonna bulk up.

Yeah. Most of us [00:15:00] couldn't bulk up if we tried. We'd really have to try and change our diet. Yeah. Significantly or take to even Yeah. Take over things. Take things, yeah. Take things to make us help. So what, speaking of that, do you have any thoughts on supplements? What supplements regular people should be taking versus what is a waste and what is downright bad for us?

Yeah. I would start with protein powder. And creatine are gonna be my top choices of supplements. Make those. I wouldn't get too crazy into the supplements because it does come down to exercise and diet. If your diet. As in what you're eating, nutrition isn't good. The things that you're supplementing with aren't going to magically make you lose weight.

I think protein powder, if you are struggling eating, like actual Whole Foods chicken, meat, fish protein powder is a great source to supplement for a post-workout shake. If you're needing something super quick and you just don't have enough time to [00:16:00] cook a meal, grabbing a protein shake. For that on the go kind of thing.

And then creatine. I think everybody should have creatine. It's one of the most studied supplements. We naturally create creatine in our bodies. Women less than men. And if you don't eat as much red meat, you're not gonna create as much as well. But creatine is my, yeah. Second number. That's so interesting.

I've been hearing a lot more about creatine lately, like in the last. Couple years and I recently started taking it regularly because I've heard and read that it's important to take it regularly. Not just, it's not like a one and done thing. It's not like taking a shot of caffeine and you're gonna instantly have a right.

A hit of energy. It's more it building it up in your body. So what does creatine do? In very simple terms, don't, yeah, I don't expect it. So the number one thing, if you're gonna take creatine, you have to be drinking enough water too. 'cause what creatine does is it basically is taking water and filling up the muscles.

Oh, [00:17:00] interesting. If you don't have enough water in the body, then it really can't do its job. Nice. Okay. So creatine is important. And other than that, you're not, you don't really think that specific supplements. No. Your everyday vitamins like multivitamin, fish, oil, those things are great to have daily.

But getting carried away with the supplements. If your nutrition diet isn't in line exercise, those supplements aren't going to. Do anything magical. Now, is there an easy formula? We've talked about macros a little bit here and there during class. Is there an easy formula for somebody to figure out what their ideal macros are?

Or do you really need like a coach or some kind of help professional to help you? It's not like you have. Need a professional, but I would start with some kind of body scan. So here at our studio we use InBody and it can give you what is gonna calculate your resting [00:18:00] metabolic rate. So that number is pretty important because if you were just to lay down all day do, absolutely nothing.

That's the number your body burns. Now you can add in roughly how many calories you're burning with exercise daily activity. To that, and that is gonna help dictate how many calories you should be eating throughout the day. And then you can separate them into how many carbs, fats, and proteins.

So you can find something like online to plug in. But I would start with some kind of body scan. So you have a foundation number so you know where your body actually is, not just where generally someone who is your age and weight and height is. Makes sense. Okay. So I am sure there's so many other thing, other directions we could go.

But I wanted to talk about about sometime last year I started hearing about this thing called Hyrox and I had never heard of it and there seemed to be some, a sort of partnership between Hyrox and F45, and it was [00:19:00] a little bit vague, so I still don't know a lot about it, but I know you do.

So tell us about Hyrox and what, how that came in. How you got involved and what, what's happening with that? Yeah, so Hyrox goes back to, I think starting around 2018, so it's still new to the world. It also, I believe, started in Australia, if not somewhere overseas. It is the best I can describe.

If you're used to Spartan races, it's like Spartan, but a mix of CrossFit and F45, and I use CrossFit very vaguely 'cause I know the CrossFit competitions are. Hard. Yeah. But this involves quite a bit of running. So from that CrossFit background, and you're gonna do eight kilometers of running throughout the entire race.

So it is a competition and it's very F45 style by the station. So you'll run a kilometer, you'll have a station work, you'll run a kilometer, another station. So eight kilometers. Eight stations [00:20:00] total when you finish. And they're very F45 functional. So I think like skier lunges, farmer's caries, things like that.

You're doing all of these stations, all these runs, and it's always the same thing. So every Hyrox race you do, it's always the same structure. So they have races, are they like around the world? Is it, yeah. And there's one this here, this weekend week, this week in Phoenix, Uhhuh. And you're competing. Is this your first time competing?

No, this will be my third race. I'm gonna do a solo. And then they also have options for doubles or even relay. So if this is something you hear about and you wanna try it, and you just wanna get your feet wet, a double. Or a relay is a great place to start. So with a relay, you would only do one of the stations, or you would do two stations.

Two runs, okay. Out of the eight. And then for doubles, you do all the runs. You and your partner can [00:21:00] mix up the stations on how you split them. Nice. And it can be male, female and stuff I noticed. Yeah. Yeah. You're, so you're doing both. You're doing it. Yeah. Okay. So that is here in Phoenix. I don't know if I'm going to publish this podcast before or after it happens, but check it out.

I think it's really cool. So I, and we, what we've done, how, what is the relationship between, 'cause we do some. Some workouts here now that are Hyrox based. Yeah, so F45 has partnered with Hyrox just because a lot of the station work you do in the actual race is identical to what you do here at F45.

So we've partnered with Hyrox, we do two Hyrox workouts a week. You have your Thursdays and Saturdays, and, thursdays are very more minimal, not as much running. You've been to some of 'em. And then I've been to a lot of 'em. Yeah. Yeah. Saturdays we do have a little bit more running just because we know a lot of people that come to class on Thursdays don't really enjoy running, so there's other ways that you can modify that [00:22:00] and dial it back. Nice. Yeah, I love it. We run, we've run around the shopping center when we come, it's fun. It's actually it. I really love the short bursts of running because I, like I said, I did run marathons for a little, for several years and then I had some injuries and things that prevented me from doing that, and I've been toying with the idea of getting back into it.

So whenever I. I'm outside doing that. Run as much as it as it's a little bit painful. It's also a little bit invigorating. Yeah. And it's a little bit like, yeah, I think I could do this without pain now, so maybe I should. Yeah. So that's cool than five Ks or half marathons. Yeah. Yeah. We will think about that.

If people are interested in checking out F45, is there, like what should they do? Yeah, if you're local to Mesa like we said earlier, we can reach out to you, send an email, text you Yeah. That way I can get us both like a good deal, maybe. We'll, it'll be a win-win, if [00:23:00] you're not local, just googling your.

Closest F45. Most F45s have a trial entry that you can do and there's no commitment usually and can try it out, see if it works for your schedule, if it's something that you can see. Doing it for a consistent fitness routine. And each studio is a franchise, so we have different membership options, so you'd have to check with that location, but.

Yeah. One of the coolest things that they added in the last couple years is this passport. So even though each studio might be, privately owned as a franchise, it's, they're part of this network. And it used to be that you are a member of one studio and that was it. And you, it still is, basically each studio is separate, but they, with this passport, you can go, if you're a member, an UN unlimited member, you can go to.

Any studio, you have a certain number of passport visits each month and you can go. So like when I was in Newport Beach or San Diego, I was able to [00:24:00] do it and I was, wherever I go, I can see where's the closest at 45. And what's neat is you can show up and there's some minor differences where each club.

Sometimes the coaches aren't as good as Coach Stacy, but you can, you basically know what you're doing. The workout is exactly the same and the equipment is the same and it's very, you'll feel very much at home. So it's almost like a home away from home, and it's a way to get your workouts in. Yeah, I love it.

It's, like I said, it's quite a bit more expensive than doing a gym. A regular gym, but to me it's so worth it for because it's something that I'll do and it's something that I end up craving. If I miss my workout a couple, like three or four days in a row I really miss it. It's become like a habit and it's an easy, it's an easy habit and it's something that I enjoy.

It's not. It doesn't feel like misery to work out A little bit of misery. Yeah. There, there might be moments of misery, but it's only 30 seconds or 60 seconds. There are days when I'm like, I don't like any of my [00:25:00] options here, so I just have to push through. But you can push through something for 45 minutes, and I've always said with working out that something is better than nothing. So even your worst workout days, that's what's cool too, is you can modify things a little bit. You can go a little bit lighter, you can go a little bit slower. Yeah. You can, take a little break if Stacy doesn't give you dirty looks.

What else, what, anything else that you think would be valuable for the person who's listening who maybe hasn't started a work? What about somebody who's not working out regularly and they're afraid that something like this might be too hard? Or it's just that they don't know where to start?

Yeah. The hardest part is always starting and getting through the door. Anybody can do F45. I myself, as a collegiate soccer player, I was very intimidated when I even first started F45, not thinking I was fit enough or in shape, but once you get in the [00:26:00] door. You grow from there and it gets easier, you start getting stronger and more confident, and your coaches are really there to support you and just help you with your goals.

So if you have never even done a fitness program or. You're just looking to start somewhere simple. A class like this is probably the best bet. Yeah. You have to start. I agree. I think it's perfect for someone just starting out and it's also perfect for somebody who's worked out for 20 years and just wants to mix it up.

Even if you know you have a workout, you know how to create your own workout. I still think it can be awesome because just. Mixing it up and having somebody else tell you what to do is nice. Yeah. There's challenges in both. Like I can push you harder, but I can also help somebody who's on their day one modify things as well.

Yeah. What, that's one of the things I like most about is that there's people that every level. Yeah. One of the things I wonder is, so I've [00:27:00] seen, you see a lot of people that like stay. Their body type or their body compositions stays the same even though they're working out regularly.

Do you think that is some, to some extent that's just genetics? Do you think it's the way they're working out, do you think it's diet? Obviously it's gonna be different for every Yeah. Person, but what are your thoughts on what we've talked a little bit about that, but what really moves the needle if you're trying to change your body composition or change your, get more lean or get more cut or.

I would first look at the consistency. Are you working out three to five times a week and doing that for at least three months? If that is something that you're already doing, I would look then at your nutrition. How much protein are you eating daily? Are we snacking a lot? Things like that. Next would be water.

Are we getting enough water in us to stay hydrated? And those would be my top three. And along with the steps that we talked about, are you actually [00:28:00] moving outside of the gym as well? 'cause a lot of people, they'll tell people, oh yeah, I do workouts daily and I'm a pretty fit person. But 45 minutes a day is only 45 minutes You have.

23 hours. Yeah. Make, you're sitting on your butt the rest of the 24 hours. It doesn't really help. So I would look at your movement outside of the studio as well. All right. Stacy, thanks for taking time out of your day and your week, your busy week with your race coming up and talking to me. I wish IWI had thought to have some equipment around to show for those of you who are watching on YouTube, but it's it's really a neat thing and I've really enjoyed adding this to my life over the last couple of years.

And I think that it's worth checking out if you're feeling. If you're feeling bored with your workout routine or if you're just looking for something new, or if you're just starting, or even if you're super fit, and I just think that it's such a great workout. [00:29:00] Thank you. This is awesome, and thanks for listening to Piece of Work, the podcast.

If you liked what you heard, please share it. Please review it. Please subscribe. Every episode is a little bit different. I talk about just life and I believe that we're all a Piece of Work, a work in progress, and a work of art all at the same time, and we're just trying to get better every day.

So I'm sharing tips on that. You can find me at DanielleTantone.com and all the socials @DanielleTantone and check out F45 too. All right. Thanks for listening. See you next time.