#37 - How To Lose Weight - BUILD Muscle, LEAN DOWN and TONE UP with Strength Training [Episode 8]

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Ready to lose weight and finally feel confident in the gym? In this episode of the Simple Weight Loss for Busy Moms Podcast, we're breaking down beginner strength training for women.

You'll learn why lifting weights won't make you bulky, how strength training supports fat loss, and the simple workout basics every busy mom needs to know.

In this episode:
• Why strength training is the missing piece for sustainable weight loss
• Common fitness myths that keep women stuck
• Gym vs. home workouts for beginners
• Basic strength training vocabulary: reps, sets, form, progressive overload
• How many days per week to work out
• How to choose the right weight safely
• The essential movement patterns: squat, hinge, push, pull, and core
• Tips for building confidence in the gym

Whether you're brand new to exercise or getting back into fitness after years away, this episode will help you create a simple, realistic workout routine that fits your busy mom life.

FREE⭐️ MEAL PLANNING TEMPLATE DOWNLOAD HERE:
https://the-health-hobby.kit.com/7e89f219f9

#37- How To Lose Weight - BUILD Muscle, LEAN DOWN and TONE UP with Strength Training [Episode 8]

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, so I just wanted to start this episode by saying that I have been all over the place. I am also not in my usual podcast recording area of my house. I have stuff going on in the downstairs and there's too much noise and it's just been kind of a crazy several last few weeks. So sorry if the sound is a little bit different. It's not as bold, I'm not on my usual mic. And this episode is a little bit all over the place because I was just kind of free-flowing and I just really need to get this episode out to you guys. So busy mom problems, and I appreciate your grace. Let's get excited about adding strength training, the cherry on top of your weight loss journey. All right, let's dive in. Welcome to Simple Weight Loss for Busy Moms, the podcast that cuts through all the social media noise and gives you real strategies to lose weight without fat diets or complicated plans. I'm Amanda Ford and I teach Busy Moms how to use calorie tracking, simple nutrition skills, and strength training to finally lose the first 10, 20, or even 30 pounds and keep it off. If you're tired of starting over, overwhelmed by your schedule, or wondering if lasting weight loss is even possible while raising kids, you're in the right place. Each week you'll get practical tips, tough love motivation, and repeatable routines that fit into your real life. So you can feel strong, confident, and in control. This is Simple Weight Loss for Busy Moms. Let's get started. Hey everyone, welcome back to the Simple Weight Loss for Busy Moms podcast. This is episode number 37, but it is actually episode number eight of my series called How to Lose Weight. So in this series, I'm coaching you exactly as if I was your one-to-one weight loss coach. Each episode will walk you through specific stats and skills that you will fine-tuned to revamp your daily rhythm and routine so you'll never ever have to start over again. And weight loss will be in your grasp. As a continued reminder, these episodes can stand alone, but this series is meant to be listened to from start to finish as each lesson builds on the next. If you're joining me for this series for the first time, hey girl, hey, welcome to the podcast. Or if you're listening to the podcast for the first time, I am so grateful you came in to our little world of busy moms trying to stay healthy and navigate all the things to lose weight. But do me a favor, if you're looking to dive into this series and this is the first episode, go back and start at episode number 30. Then be sure to come back on a weekly basis for your next coaching session until you're all caught up. If you're a longtime listener, I appreciate you. Thanks for coming back for each episode and for your patience. As I'm literally, you guys, I am recovering from the end of school year rush. We've just had our first official full week of summer. So that means all the graduations, all the dance recitals, all the awards nights, the promotions, the rushing to study for finals, getting projects ready. I mean, I don't even know what just happened in the last six weeks. It was wild and crazy. Um, so I really appreciate everyone's patience in me getting this episode out to you. I am a busy mom, so I I kind of feel like you guys get it. And I have a full-time job for the for the for those of you who are joining for the first time. I've shared this multiple times. I work for a hospital. I have a very busy department I work in, and I am juggling all the things just like you guys are. So again, thank you, thank you so much for your patience. I always feel bad when I can't get these out every week, which I haven't done in a long time, but that is my ultimate goal. So please pray for me, you guys. I'm gonna get there, I know it. And for you newbies, this series is just the latest. I have over 30 episodes for you to binge on. Just some other housekeeping things, as remind you guys, if you're listening to older episodes, like with some of my first episodes, I do mention that there's links in the show notes for you know resources I've created for you guys, free resources. They may no longer be there. So if you're listening to an episode and you're like, where are the resources? Well, just send me an email to hello at thehealthhobby.com and I'll send it over to you. You guys know by now that I'm your weight loss coach in your little ears. And if you have any questions, you guys, just go ahead and leave them in the YouTube comments. And be sure to subscribe on YouTube. Many of my listeners, that's you, are listening on Apple or Spotify. Thank you so much for listening, but you don't subscribe to my YouTube channel. So be sure to follow over there as well. So even if you don't listen on YouTube, do me a favor and hit the subscribe button. It is a simple and free way to help me grow the podcast. I appreciate it. My little tiny YouTube channel is growing. It's tiny, but it's growing. Thanks to you guys. Finally, don't forget to sign up for my email list as well because I share all sorts of other weight loss types to my email subs. This is a really great way to connect with me because I don't use social media much, although I've recently started posting again on my Instagram stories. I'm not super serious about it over there, you guys. I have a whole episode about staying off social media and how it's distracting you from your health goals, your weight loss goals. So I have a love-hate relationship with Instagram. I just started posting again recently on my podcast feed, and I'm already annoyed about it. So um, it's fun. I love Instagram like for the personal stuff, but for my little podcast business, it's it's definitely a love-hate relationship. I need to focus more on getting episodes out and creating you know useful content for you guys, not like making sure I have like a reel that goes viral, right? Like I don't even care that much. So, but I'm over there if you want to follow me. But more importantly, I'd prefer that you follow me on YouTube. That would be really, really great. Okay, you guys, enough of that housekeeping. If you want to link up to any of the things I just mentioned, my YouTube channel, my Instagram, my email list, it's all in the show notes. And again, I'm super tired. I'm like burnt out from a long work week, so I don't know what version of me you're gonna get today, but we're gonna keep on moving because I really need to get this episode out. I've been like thinking about it and I feel terrible that it's not already out, so we're just gonna keep on chugging along, you guys. So by now you guys have a solid foundation on how to lose weight. Um, if you haven't listened to all the episodes prior to this in the series, again, go back and start at episode 30. You're gonna get a checklist, you're gonna get information on how to track your calories, you're going to get a mini nutrition lesson, you're gonna talk about, you know, maintenance and checking in each week to make sure you stay on track. There's so many goodies in the previous episodes, you guys, and they're very important skills that you need to develop so you can be successful in your weight loss journey and then maintain a healthy, strong um body through the rest of your life without having to feel like you're a failure, without having to feel like you have to start over again. You'll know what to do. This isn't just about losing those 10, 20, 30 plus pounds. This is about building a skill set that will take on forever until God calls you home. And I know that sounds a little more morbid, but we should take care of our bodies as much as possible. Neglecting your health is keeping you stuck, it's keeping you depressed, it's keeping you um in a negative space, it's keeping you from really enjoying life. And I want you guys all to feel the spark, the energy, the lightness, the strength that comes from the confidence, obviously. I want you to feel confident that comes from learning the skills and finally hitting your weight loss goals. But today we're going to put what I call is the cherry on top of weight loss, and that is your fitness. And the reason I call it the cherry on top is because you might be surprised, it doesn't account for as much calorie burn as you may think. So, no, you don't have to work out like an insane woman like two hours a day, unless you're me, because that's what I do. I go very early in the morning. It's my hobby, you guys, so don't judge. But you don't have to do that, you really don't have to do that. You don't have to do CrossFit, you don't have to be in like an insane spin class like for four hours every day to lose weight. No, we want that little bit of an extra calorie burn, but it's not going to take as much as you think. The more important steps for weight loss is to be in a calorie deficit. You've got the first thing, you guys, is to lock in your nutrition. You need to be eating the appropriate amounts of calories where your body is pulling stored energy, therefore you're losing weight. So if that kind of goes over your head, you need to go back and listen to the previous episodes. But that is the number one. You have to be eating in a calorie deficit. That means you are eating less calories than you need each day in a healthy way. We're not under-eating, we're just eating a little bit less. Now, the second thing that you do, again, you guys are already doing these things, is that you need to move more. Moms start to wonder, okay, I had babies, or maybe you haven't even had kids yet. I doubt it if you're listening to my podcast, because this is a podcast for moms, but you're like, okay, like maybe you had your second baby. This happened to me. I'm like, okay, so I lost all the weight with my first one, and I'm trying to lose weight after my second baby, and this is a little bit harder, or I'm 40 something now, so like things are seem to be a little bit slower, but a lot of times what's going on is you're just not moving as much, right? Like, I have a full-time job, I'm at my desk all day long, so I have to really force myself to stand up, to walk, to move, to get out of to get out of my house. So you need to think about how much you're actually moving. So, first, nutrition. Second, just moving more in general throughout the day. So, park far away from the grocery store. Get up and go on walks during your work breaks, you guys. Like force yourself to take more breaks. I know you guys are hard workers. You just sit down and you go hard all day and you don't get up. It's not good for your body. Your body's gonna start aching. Yeah, and you're gonna start gaining weight and it's gonna be frustrating. Or you're not gonna be able to lose weight. You gotta move more, and that does not mean you have to join the CrossFit gym, you know, with all the crazy people. No offense to anyone that does CrossFit, but it's very intense workout. What that means is you just need to move more. So go on walks every day. That was something I told you guys to start, I think on the very first episode. I said, before we get into all the things, I want you to start walking one mile every single day. It can be at the chillest pace, you guys. Like listen to like spa music. I don't care, just slow and go, but get it done. And you're gonna start, you're gonna start feeling better just from doing that. Because right now, or previously, because if you're at this point in our journey together, you know, you weren't moving that much. So calories in, calories out, get into that deficit and moving more. Now, the cherry on top is the fitness portion. So you might be like, Well, I'm already walking, that's my fitness, that's my exercise. Yes, true. But we want a little bit more calorie burn, and we're gonna get that through strength training. Second, we wanna be strength training for multiple reasons. We want to be working on our bone health, makes us stronger. So I'm in my 40s, so I'm really, really cognizant about you know, osteoporosis. I want to make sure that I can, you know, keep my bones strong as I age, and that goes for any woman at any age. I also want to be able to like hang out with my kids and go on hikes and walk, you know, around Disneyland for 11 hours, right? Without it being a big deal. And just think about little things like that. It's not about like, oh, I need to bench press 150 pounds. No, it's it's more about like what I want to do in life. And so I want you to think about that. Like walking up the stairs if you have a two-story house shouldn't be hard for you. Thinking about vacuuming the stairs is like a workout. Like, I want that to be, it's still a workout for me because it's kind of like that. Is like the worst chore, you guys. But think about things, like it shouldn't really be that hard. Like, I can do it without an issue, but yeah, you're gonna start breathing you vacuuming the stairs. Can you participate in life without it being hard? Can you move a couch? This I have a funny story. So my husband listens to Joe Rogan. This is an old Joe Rogan episode, and I I can't remember what the episode was about, but my my husband thought it was funny is because Joe was talking about the kind of woman that he wants, talking about a woman that takes care of her body, and he's like, I don't really care what she does, I just want her to be strong enough to help me move the couch, you know. And I thought that was funny, but it's actually true. It's like she should be strong, you should be strong, you should be able to, you know, pick up a couch with your husband and move things around. And it's a silly, I just always kind of thought about that as kind of a funny comment to make, but I agree with it. I want to be able to help around the house. You know, we're remodeling our house. We had to unload a bunch of hardwood floor, like 50 or more pallets or not pallets, but like it was two large pallets. There's 50 boxes. The wood floor in one package is like it was like 30 or 40 pounds, and we had to spend, you know, an hour or so unloading it, and it was a workout, it was hard. I knew I could lift it because I can lift, you know, I can I can deadlift like over a hundred plus pounds. So, like lifting up 50 pounds wasn't a big deal. So I'm not trying to make you feel bad if you can't do something like something like that, but we want to be able to participate in your life. And the next thing is strength training helps you sleep better and it also helps you build a nice shape, so your physique, so your body recomposition. And if you're not strength training, and especially if you have a lot of weight to lose, you're gonna get flabby skin. And if you're over 40, you just have loose skin anyway. Ugh, annoying. Again, if you have a lot of weight to lose, like you know, over 50 plus pounds, you might have loose skin no matter what, but you wanna make sure that you can, you know, kind of handle that a little bit and make a nice shape on your body as you're losing weight, and that might be you might be like, you know, that's super vain. Like, you know, it shouldn't be about what your body looks like, it's about how you feel. Yes, absolutely, you are right, I agree with you, but I am not gonna sit here and pretend that I don't care what my body looks like. I want my body to be the bangin'est, most hottest, sexiest body on the block. And that is for my husband, not for me. Like, I want to be the baddest baddie on the street, okay? So, and I think you want it want to too, right? Your husband deserves that, you deserve that because you know when you're feeling good and you feel like you look good, no matter what that is for you, um, everybody's everybody, everybody's body, say that 10 times fast, looks different, even if they weigh the same, they lift the same amount of weight, and that's just because of genetics. So my body might look different at 170 pounds, then your body looks different at 170 pounds. And then as you lose weight or gain weight or whatever, you know, everyone looks different. And so, whatever that look is for you, I want you to love it, I want you to be okay with it. It's important to know that if looking good and confident in your own skin and having your clothes to fit and feel nice on your body is what you're looking for, that's okay. And I I always kind of hesitate on saying, like, I want your body to look strong and beautiful, like you take care of it. I'm not saying I want you to look skinny and sickly, and that's what I'm saying. I want you to feel and look like you take care of yourself, and you're gonna get that look when you strength train. No, you're not gonna look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. You will if you take steroids and you lift weights like for I don't know, four hours a day. That's not gonna happen. You're gonna get a nice shapely body, you're gonna get those tank top arms that really defined a back. You may or may not get a six-pack. Okay, like that's a whole that's very difficult to do, and it's very nutrition-based, water-based, body fat-based, right? You have to get really, really lean. We're not working towards that. I want you just to start building in the skill of strength training into your life, and you will not regret it, I swear, on everything. You're going to love it if you've never done it before. You're gonna feel so energized, your body is going to start reshaping in front of your eyes. You are going to be blown away, and your clothes are gonna fit really nice, and even those first few weeks, your clothes will start to fit differently, and you're like, this is all it took. I swear, it it's uh it's like a magic wand, you guys. Like, if you're fully participating, you're locked in your calorie budget, you're strength training, you're walking, you are going to look like a haughty pizzotty, but just remember it takes time. So patience is your friend. A lot of women are hesitant to strength train for a few reasons because of the time commitment, because of they don't know what to do, they're embarrassed to go into the gym, you know, you don't have a gym membership, or maybe you don't have equipment at your house, you don't want to get bulky like Arnold Schwarzenegger, which I already touched on. Some people think strength training is boring. Look, if that's you and you want to live into those excuses, I'm not going to sit here and try to convince you. But if you want to lose weight and you want to feel good, you want to keep your weight off, you need to build in the routine of strength training. Period, end of story. There's a whole, you know, I'm sure you're on social media, there's a whole thing like, oh, like hormone health, paramedicals workouts, you need to lift heavy. Yes, you need to lift heavy weights. We'll talk about that later. But strength training, it does, it helps regulate your hormones. It will help, like I said earlier, help you with your sleep, which also helps regulate your hormones and your mood and your energy energy level and your motivation and your insulin triggers and your cues. So everyone's taking GLP to I can't speak today, GLP ones for weight loss. You guys don't need that unless you have diabetes. I really am an advocate for using GLP ones if you are a true diabetic or you have uncontrollable blood glucose levels. That's what the medications are for. But if you are relatively healthy, do not use that. Use your own skill, save your money, save your money. You can use this series and you can lose weight. Your body already handles all that stuff for you, all the signaling, all the hormone signaling. You don't need medication to do it for you. So look, you don't have time, I'm gonna handle that for you. I can get you some mini workouts. I already have them on YouTube. If you're if you're already like, ugh, I don't want to start this, I don't wanna, I don't have time, my calendar is full. I understand. Go over to my YouTube channel. I have workouts called the just three workouts. It's three moves, three sets, and I'm I encourage you to do it three days a week. Just start there. Just start there, you guys. It doesn't have to be crazy. I have big dreams. I gotta get this done. But I do plan on making a more robust workout for this particular series. But you guys, it doesn't have to be like these insane, like two-hour workouts, okay? We just need to build some sort of strength training into your weekly routine so we can work on your body composition, so we can work on your your strength, your confidence, get you sleeping better, get your hormones balanced, get your muscle growing now. I want you to get more muscle. You need more muscle anyway, just to be a healthy person. We have more muscle, we have a little bit less fat. The body, as we strength train, the body is gonna start getting signals like I need to gain more muscle, I I I'm doing these workouts, your body composition will start to shift. More muscle, less fat. That's what we're working on here, right? Right, you guys, that's what you want. I know it. The other thing about having more muscle not only keeps you strong and stable, and it makes you look really good, but when we have more muscle mass, the body has to work a little bit harder just to do its daily functions every day. So, you know what that means? That means more calorie burn just by being alive. So that right there should be your number one. If you are not motivated to work out right now, that should motivate you. I mean, it's not a ton, but it's enough that I'm mentioning. It's okay, so get excited. We're gonna talk about strength training today. I am kind of winging it. I usually have a script that I'm reading off of, so again, thank you for everyone's patience. And I know I might sound a little bit more different. I'm kind of free talking today, but I think what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna do a lot of kind of like question and answering, like an FAQ in this episode to kind of answer what I know the questions are going to be when I say, Hey, I need you to strength train for X amount of days. I'll tell you what I think it should be in a minute. And then I plan on uh publishing a workout series for you guys that you can grab. So let's start out with what I kind of told you why in a roundabout way. It's really important to strength train, right? Muscle growth, hormone health, bone strength, more muscle mass means more calorie burn. And then in that same note, you guys, after a strength training workout, the body tends to burn a little bit more calories throughout the day versus if it was a cardio workout. Again, it's not a ton, but it's enough that I'm mentioning it. So again, it's a win-win-win-win-win for strength training, you guys. It is a must-do. Okay, really quick before we get back to the episode, I want to share something I made just for you. One of the questions I get all the time is how to actually plan meals when you're trying to eat more protein. Not just randomly adding protein to things, but building meals that are balanced, filling, and easy to repeat during your week as a busy mom. So I created a free meal planning template. It walks you through my protein pillars framework, which is the method I use to build meals focused on protein first. And then you get to layer in the rest so your meals are tasty, actually keep you full, energized, and on track for weight loss. Inside the guide, you'll find a sample high protein, high fiber day of eating. Three blank meal planning pages so you can map out your very own three-day meal plan, a protein and fiber inspiration pick list when you need ideas for what to build your meals around, and a portion size starting guide for all food types. It's super simple, really practical, and something you can use over and over again when you're planning your week. Download it now, it's completely free. Just head down to the show notes and click the link for the free meal planning template. All right, now let's get back to the episode. Okay, so strength training accounts for only about 10, it could be up to 30% of your daily calorie burn if you're doing it consistently. So it's it's not as much as you think, and I think it's even a little bit lower, like 10 to 15%. So that's why I call it the cherry on top, because you can lose weight without strength training. You actually only need to be in a calorie deficit. That's that's how you lose weight. That's like the first thing. But we want to also, you know, this is a holistic approach. We want to be working on our body as a whole, and it's helpful to add in strength training to get that little bit of a cherry on top of calorie burn, which I already mentioned more muscle. Um, you're getting more calorie burn just by being alive. Uh, the post-strength training calorie burn is really beneficial. And think of it as optimizing your weight loss journey. So that's the first thing I really want you to think about is like how can I optimize my weight loss journey for better results? Well, strength training is going to be one of those things. So if you're brand new to strength training, I want you to get excited. If you've done it before and you're you're a little bit rusty, I want you to get excited. I want you to get your workout playlist ready because I just I love having my music going. It's it's kind of like my zen time to be alone. You know, we're busy moms, like we're overstimulated, we can be burned out. When you're working out, that's your time. So I always encourage you to like, what is it that's gonna get you motivated? Like, I like to listen to EDM music, like techno, like house music, I get excited, or you know, my my 1990s, 2000 hip hop playlist. You know, like I love just being in that space. And so, first things first, get your playlist ready so you have something to like keep you motivated and keep your energy up as you're working out. That's my favorite thing to do. It's like, what am I gonna listen to today at my workout to like keep me motivated and motivated and energized? And maybe you just want to get a little bit of dance moves in between your sets. That's me at the gym. If you ever see me, I'm sure people stare at me and are like, she's crazy. But I have so much fun and I feel so good that you know I can't help but dance. So, um, okay, so a little bit of vocabulary if you're brand new to strength training or just coming back in. So, strength training can also be called resistance training. You might hear that. So they're kind of one in the same. They basically mean that you are working against some type of resistance, you're putting some type of force on your body and pushing or pulling against that force. That's basically all strength training is, andor resistance training. There's the same thing, or weight training, you might hear that though. So they're all the same: strength, strength training, weight training, resistance training. Same, same, same. So a couple things you might hear when you're strength, when you're starting to strength train, is you might hear the word reps and sets. So a rep is the number of times you do that move, and a set is that block of reps that you do. So I would say let's do some bicep curls. We're gonna do uh three sets of 10 reps. So the first set you would do 10, you would rest, the second set you would do 10, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, right? And then the third set you do 10. So reps and sets, you're gonna hear those words, rest periods. So the rest, when I talk about rest, we're talking about a few areas. We're talking about rest in between your sets and rest throughout the week. So obviously you're gonna rest a certain amount of time between your sets while you're working out, but we also need actual days of rest um when we're working out. So that's we'll talk about how you can create your fitness schedule so you have adequate rest before you work out a particular part of your body again. We don't want to do back-to-back workouts. Um, like you don't want to do back-to-back leg workouts. You're you're you will not be recovered. So um recovery is a really important thing. So recovery and rest, uh, those are important aspects of a fitness routine, a strength training routine. Actually, very, very important if you want to see results. Another one is active rest. You might hear me say something like that. So an active rest day is it's a rest day, you're not hitting the gym, but maybe you're going on an easy hike, or maybe you take the dogs on an extra long walk. Um, really nothing intense, but you are moving your body in some capacity that day. So you might hear me say active rest now and then um when we're talking about schedules and things like that. Um, I do love active rest days because I always feel like I'm not like I'm forgetting to do something when I'm not going to the gym. So um it's just I going to the gym is like so hard-coded in my day that active rest is it's really important. It makes me feel good. It should make you feel good too. You like you're still kind of like the engine's still revved and ready to go. Okay, form your your workout form. When I say form, I'm talking about how are you holding your body, how are you strategically and safely placing your body uh while we're doing a particular exercise. So that's what I mean when I talk about form. And this next one is progressive overload. Progressive overload, uh, this is really, really important for getting results in the gym, you guys. So burn this one into your brain. It is so important. Uh, progressive overload means you are gradually making your workouts a little bit harder over time. So your muscles have to keep adapting and keep growing. And so you don't stall out, you don't plateau. This can be done in a variety of ways, but the easiest, the simplest example that I would say we could do that is let's talk about the bicep curls we just said. So we're doing three sets of 10 reps of bicep curls. So the first set let's do with five pound weights, the second set let's do with seven pound weights, the third set, let's do with 10 pound weights. Of course, if you could safely do that, if that was your fitness level. So you can see we're progressively making the workout harder. Um, you could do that by increasing the number of reps. You could use the same weight, but you know, do your first set you do five, five pounds, five pound weights, and you maybe you do five reps. So you do it one, two, three, four, five. The second set you use five pound weights, but maybe you do eight reps, and then the third set you do five pound weights, but then you do 12 reps. So you can see you're progressively getting harder. Um, this also goes for just like over time. So like the bird's eye view over time, you're increasing, and you'll naturally do this because you're gonna be like doing a move, and you're like, wow, this was heavy two weeks ago, but it just this really just doesn't feel that hard anymore. And I'll tell you how to make those assessments in a little bit, but um, that's when you know it's time for you to bump it up. You don't want to just be willy-nilly using five-pound weights. I'm used to just generically saying five-pound weights. Um, everyone's at their own fitness level, but I'm just using that amount of weight. For an example, like you don't want to just be using five-pound weights all the time for like the rest of your life. You it's not bad. You're still putting resistance on the body, utilizing the weight. The body is still resistance training, you're still getting strength training in, but you're not gonna see uh really great results, and your body's gonna stall out and plateau. Um, and you're just it's not gonna be as optimized as it should be. So progressive overload is so important. You wanna get those, you wanna get those tank top arms, you wanna build your booty. That's one of my goals. I in the gym, I'm always working on my glutes. Um, they're a huge muscle, they need a lot of work, and they need heavy work. So um, I'm always really thinking about like how can I get stronger in my leg workouts, my glute workouts, so I can make sure that my my booty muscle is getting strong and solid and really nice and shapely, but that goes for every part of the body. So progressive overload, burn it in your mind. We're gonna talk about it, we're gonna do it safely. That doesn't mean you jump from a five-pound weight to a 20-pound weight. That's not what we're talking about. We do it slow and steady and methodically and safely. Again, lots of different ways to do progressive overload. I barely touched the surface on how, but the simplest way is to just slightly increase your weight through each set during your workout. Then that the next thing I just want to share as a vocabulary thing is a training split. So you might hear this in the weightlifting world. This is how you schedule your training throughout the week. So, what the what does that mean? That means how do you train each area of the body throughout the week. That's your split. So, do you do arms on Monday and lower body on Tuesday, and then you go back to the upper body on Wednesday? That's a split. Or some people even do it even more detailed. They do I do biceps and triceps on Monday, I do chest and back on Tuesday, I do quads and hammies on Wednesday. I, you know, it's whatever. There's a thousand different options. There's a lot of debate on what the best training split is. No need to overcomplicate it, you guys. I'm just letting you know that that vocabulary word is out there. I might say it. For me, my personal training split is very easy. I do upper body, lower body, upper body, lower body, upper. No, sorry. It's month, it's five days. So I do lower body three days a week. So Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and upper body two days a week, Tuesday, Thursday. And then I walk for three miles. So I do active rest on Saturday and Sunday. That's it. So I just wanted you to know that vocabulary word, if it comes up, that's what that means. It's a training split. How do you schedule each part of your body throughout the week for your workouts? All right, now you have a little mini library of vocabulary words. If you had no idea what those are, so you know what a training rep is, you know what a set is, you know about rest, active rest, form, progressive upload, and a training split. Really, those are high-level foundational training words. Of course, we could get into like a million different other vocabulary words when it comes to specific exercises and muscle groups and things like that. I don't think you need to know that right now, and you'll slowly just kind of learn it as you start to move your body and get into a strength training routine. So I know you're wondering how many days should you work out? I really encourage that you think about working at least, working out at least four days a week for 30 minutes each time. So the workouts that I plan on building for you guys are probably gonna be a little bit longer than 30 minutes. I imagine they'll be about 45 minutes if I yeah, they'll probably be about 45 minutes. I'm just kind of thinking out loud um here, but it's okay if you need to cut, you know, a move off. Like if you use my workouts, which I really hope you do, um, it's okay if you like can't get through it. It's like just do what you can. You're a busy mom, and that's that's why I made those just three workouts. I was having a really hard time with my work schedule a couple years ago that I was like, I just need something. And I was like, three moves, three sets, I got it done, and I would get those things done in like 10-15 minutes sometimes. So if you're struggling for time right now, I want you to be just doing some strength training just to make sure that you get some in. Um, and as time goes on, as your seasons of life change, changes as your schedule adjusts, that can always be uh altered and you know recalibrated to where you are at that time in life. So don't feel like, oh my gosh, I can't do four days, 45 minutes right now. You possibly can if you need to go back and listen to my episode number two, you guys. It's how to make more time for fitness, for healthy living. It's my number two most listened episode. It actually just surpassed my number one most listened episode of all time. And it's for good reasons because time is the number one factor that keeps women from progressing in their weight loss goals. Everyone wants to know how do I do that? How do I get more time? How do I make more time to do this? I talk about that in that episode. I actually have a, it's almost like a little workshop. You're gonna open a calendar and I'm gonna have you map out your calendar and I show you how to create more time. I talk you through strategies on how to use your time in different ways so you can create space for doing these types of things, which is so important because you are important too, just like everything else on your calendar. So go back and listen to that episode if I'm kind of triggering you when I'm saying I think you should work, I want you to be working out at least four days a week. Go back and listen to episode number two. I got you. I got you. Where should you work out? Well, you can work out at home or you can work out at a gym. You can, if you are super strapped for time and your kid's a traveling baseball kid. I'm just using that for an example, it's baseball season right now. You can work out while you're at baseball practice or while you're at the hotel room while while they're doing warmups before you go to the game. Like you gotta get creative if you're busy, okay? But on a regular day, the gym, the house, it doesn't matter. You can work out where you feel comfortable or where you have appropriate equipment. So at home is fine. I do both. I have equipment at the house, I go to the gym. I lift super heavy, so I don't have everything I need at home. But if you're just starting out, I always say just get dumbbells at uh five, eight, and ten pounds, maybe a 12 pounds. You can get those sets. You're probably good for a while with those dumbbells. Like literally, that's all you need. Maybe a mat to do uh floor work. Um, but that's really all you need, you guys. And TJ Maxx, Walmart, Facebook Marketplace, you don't have to spend a fortune, you know. Go get someone else's workout gear that they got and then never used, you know, um, because dumbbells can be expensive, but those are the best places I'd say TJ Max or Target is okay too for a good deal on workout equipment. What moves do you have to do? This is a really big question, and it could be like 10 episodes worth of answers, but we want to do the basic movement pattern. So that's a squat, a hinge, a push, a pull, and something for stabilizing and strengthening the core. So, what does that mean? So a squat is like sitting up and down on a chair. That's something you do all the time. It's a really important move. A hinge would be you moving over from the hips, bending forward, right? Think about picking up your baby off the ground or picking up, you know, maybe luggage off the ground or something that you dropped. A push is obviously something that you're pushing away from your body. And a pull, again, you're pulling something towards your body, and core is something that we're gonna be working the abdominals or even the back of the ab the trunk. All of those core, um, that's why we call it the core, because it is it's actually the trunk of the body. So think about like your pelvis all the way to like the underneath your boobs. We wanna be working that to to strengthen and stabilize. Yeah, if you want a six-pack, you know, you can work for that, but it's really important to strengthen and stabilize because if we don't strengthen and stabilize the core, we can get a lot of back pain, and we can also get injured when we're doing strength training. So we're always engaging the core when we're when we're strength training. We're always trying to figure out that's part of proper form, is making sure our core is stabilized and engaged. I want to talk about safety a little bit. Anytime you're brand new to something, and I say this at the end of my episode, so please make sure you always listen to that all the way through the end. I do have a really important disclaimer. You need to check with your physician before you start any type of fitness program, nutrition program. I am not your physician. I don't know where you are health-wise or physically, if you're physically able to do some of the things I recommend. I tell you this for information only. I'm very sensitive to this. I work in healthcare, so I'm very sensitive to saying things appropriately to make sure that you guys are doing things that are appropriate for your body at this point in time. So make sure you check with your physicians or your healthcare providers before you start anything. And that is the first safety note I want to say. So let's talk about safety while you're working out and in the gym. If something starts to be painful, you need to stop immediately. If something's hard and you're like, oh, like I'm just not strong enough, that's different. It's not like searing pain down your knee. Okay, so you need to listen to your body and it's okay to stop. Okay. If if something's hurting you that bad, you need to stop. Don't do that move ever again until you go get it checked out by a doctor, okay? If you feel unstable or like lightheaded, you need to stop. If you feel wobbly and unstable, like maybe if we're doing a hinge move, or maybe if we're doing a one-legged move, go ahead and stabilize yourself and hold onto a chair. I do this a lot. I have really unstable ankles. I I don't know why I've been trying to work on them for so long, but I have just started to be like, you know what, whatever, I can still do this move and I stabilize myself, I hold onto a chair, or if I'm at the gym, I hold on to the squat rack, one of the bars, and stable, stabilize myself. I'm still getting the workout done and it's much safer. So at the gym, if you are moving around the gym, just be cognizant that it is a shared space. A lot of people have their headphones in and they're zoning out on themselves. You might have your headphones in, just be aware of your environment. Some people are not thinking of others and they leave their weights and their equipment all over the floor. So you need to be careful about walking around. Um, also, just unloading and loading up weights, you know, on the barbells or just putting your dumbbells back. Go. Slowly go carefully, no need to rush. Believe me, you can drop them on your foot, you can smash your finger. We don't want that. We want you to be slate, safe, and methodical while you're moving around the gym. And you know, at that same point, be respectful and put your stuff back. You know, if you rack up some weights on the squat rack, take them off, put them back on the holders. Just take your time in the gym. No need to run, no need to rush, be vigilant about what's on the ground, where you're put setting weights for yourself while you're working out, and also what other people are doing. You know, also like if you're swinging in kettlebells or someone around you, be careful. Just be careful. The same thing goes for home. So if you are using dumbbells or whatever equipment you have, just be vigilant about where you're setting them on the ground. So if you're doing, you know, you're gonna be moving in all sorts of different planes, meaning, like you're gonna be moving forward, you're gonna be moving sidewards, you're gonna be moving backwards and diagonally. So that whole space needs to be available to you so you can safely work out. That goes for you at the gym and at home. So be very cognizant about that. Your workout structure really fast. So basically, the workouts that I'm gonna recommend are gonna be three sets of the number of reps will vary depending on the move. I do want you guys to be lifting, I'm doing air quotes heavy weights, so that is relative to you. I'll go back to that. That's actually a state safety um item we'll talk about. I need to go back. They're gonna be three sets, variable number of reps, probably between eight and ten, maybe twelve, depends on what it is. That's something that's the for the core, that's a little bit different. I might do it, might be timed. You can just think about it. Three sets we'll just for the ease of this conversation, we'll say three sets of 10 reps of said workout, and then the rest periods will be anywhere from 60 seconds to two minutes. I rest sometimes four minutes between my reps. That's because I my sets, it's because I lift super, super heavy weight. And I'm doing less reps because I lift heavy. So let's talk about that. If you're lifting very heavy weights, what does that mean? Well, my heavy might may not be the same as your heavy, and then that also goes for the particular exercise that we're doing. So my heavy for I don't know, a bench press is like that's like 90, I think I can do 95 pounds now. That's pretty heavy for me, but I can do it. I can do like six reps, no problem. You might be starting out and you're like, I'm using 10 pound dumbbells for your bench press. That's perfect. That's probably, and you're like, that's heavy for me. That's good. So if 10 pounds is heavy for you, if 95 pounds is heavy for you, what the port the important thing is is that you can safely do the move with proper form. So that let's talk about how you do weight selection. Weight selection is very unique to the person and their fitness level. You will quickly progress in your strength training, weights, like the amount of volume and weight that you can lift if you're consistent, it will blow your mind. But we don't want to do it too fast. Like, even though I could probably bench press a hundred plus, probably more than a hundred pounds, I can't do it safely. So I won't do it. And I only progress in small increments throughout time. So anywhere, but depending on um if it's an upper body or a lower body move, someone sometimes my upper body moves, I only increase by like two and a half pounds each set. Lower body, I might do five pounds, five or ten pounds more each set. So again, the muscle group is important. Our upper body as women isn't as strong as men, and it also just physically they're smaller muscles versus the lower body, right? So we can push more, pull more with the lower body uh versus the upper body. So we use lighter weight on top than we do on bottom typically. When you first do a workout, it's important to just keep it really light. So I want to just let's use the bicep curl example again. A bicep curl is basically you have two weights in your hands, your palms are facing towards you, your elbows are at your sides, and you're basically all you're doing is pulling the weights towards your face. It's an isometric move, meaning that's a new vocabulary for you, meaning there's nothing else going on. You're isolating your biceps in this move. That's the the muscle that, like, if you flex with your arm, that little bump should pop out. That's your bicep, that's the belly of your bicep. So let's say that you're brand new to working out. I'm your I'm helping you, and you're like, I'm like, okay, I want you to do, see, I want you to use five pound dumbbells, and I want you to do 10 wraps. And you can easily do that. You're like, okay, I did it. Perfect. I'm gonna increase your weight to seven pounds in the next set. You're like, okay, this is definitely heavier, but it's not crazy. Okay, good. Now I'm giving you 10 pounds, and you're like, this is heavier, and let's say it's it's so he you can do it, but you can only get to like four or five reps. That's perfect. That's safe, and that's a great, that's a great set right there. So, what I would tell you to probably to do in that instance is that I would say, how about you start with sevens? So your first set you do for for the next week. Next week I'm gonna start at seven pounds and maybe do seven and then do like two more sets with the 10 pounds, and no matter if you don't get to 10 reps, that's fine. So, what's the indicator that something's too heavy? You can only you can't lift it at all, you can only do like one or two reps, but that's too heavy. And also if you feel unsafe doing it, you'll know. You want to be lifting anywhere between safely for something that's heavy, like if you can get to five reps, but you're like, oh, six is gonna be hard. That's a good indicator that that's heavy enough that you're you're really pushing your body, but you can do it safely. So um, you also don't want to be going the other direction, like you're just using. I kind of talked about this one earlier, you're just kind of using like lightweight all the time. That does nothing, it does something for you, but it's not progressively overloading the muscles, and that's what we want to do. So you kind of have everyone's unique and you kind of have to play with it. Always start much lighter than you think. I do this every month, my workout changes every month, and during the first week, I always just take my time and kind of start a little bit lighter than I know that I can do so I can get my form down and kind of assess where I should be next week, and then I start lifting a little bit heavier. So just give your that first week, give yourself a trial run of each move with lighter weight and make notes. Making notes is so important, and I'll make sure that I get a workout tracker made up for you guys so when you do download my workouts, excuse me, you have something to make notes. I always make notes because sometimes I'm like, oh my left, I have injury on my left wrist. I was like, this really hurts my left wrist, I need to come up with something else to do, or I can't do heavier weight because my wrist is hurting. Um or you know, I'm like, okay, I could lift 125 pounds in my deadlift, but I'm feeling like my form is compromised, so I'm gonna keep it there as my max weight for the next couple weeks. So, or something, maybe you tried something, you're like, that was way too heavy. You can you can write that down too. So keeping notes is super important. Uh, this is one of the reasons people have trainers because the trainers keep track of this type of stuff, but I believe that you can do this for yourself. You just need to start very light, slow, and steady. You will get to the heavy, heavy weight, I promise. And we want heavy weight because it it puts that strong resistance on the body, and you're gonna get mega results. And again, heavy is relative, right? Heavy for you might not be heavy for me, or vice versa. And that's okay. We are all in our own space, our own different timelines, our own different fitness levels, and you will get there, whatever that goal is for you. But let me just share this, and I I didn't ever think about it this way, but I was listening to a trainer um online, and he's one of the most famous trainers on the planet, and he was like, you know, the heavier you can lift, the stronger your body's gonna look, the the more fit your body will just transform to looking like because you have to have bigger muscles to be able to lift heavier, and again, it's not be not like you're gonna look like Arnold Schnort Schwarzenegger, but like if you're lifting heavy, your body is gonna look like you do, and you're gonna look strong and shapely and super fit and and just a lovely, lovely shape. So that's why I'm always like, you gotta lift heavy, you gotta lift heavy. You wanna get those muscles so you can get that nice, beautiful shape that I know you guys are all daydreaming about, and that I always daydream about. I had it once when I was in my early 30s, and I'm working on getting it back. So it can always come back if you lost it, you guys, if you're in that space and you're like, I was at my fittest in my 30s or before I had my kids. Same, same. Can always come back. Welcome back. You can do this. Okay, so that's basically kind of all I wanted to talk about for fitness. So let me just do a recap. This episode's starting to be much longer than I want it to be. So that's what I get for not having a script. So, how many days should you work out? Four days a week to start. Okay, if you're if you're concerned about that, I want you to go ahead and think about my three just three workouts. So three days a week, really simple. Three moves, they're on YouTube. Go ahead and check them out. So four days a week, guys. I'm gonna give you workouts, they're coming. Please be patient. If you're looking for workouts and you don't want to use my just three workouts, YouTube is so great. Like, do not forget about YouTube. Put in beginner strength training workout, like you can even tell it the time length that you want. You can have Chat GPT write you a workout. I mean, tell it everything about you. You're a big beginner, you know, you want to do really basic foundational moves, you have this much time. Like, be creative, you guys. I taught myself how to do all of this on my own, and that's my goal. I want you guys to be able to do this on your own. I'm coaching you right now, but I want you to be able to coach yourself. I want you to be like, I don't even need Amanda's podcast anymore, even though I want you to come back all the time and listen. But that's that's why I'm always like, get creative, get flexible. Don't be like, well, I can't afford a trainer. Well, you can be your own trainer, shush. Be quiet. You can do this. I know it. So four days a week, strength training. You should be walking every day. You've already been doing that. Safety, make sure that you're not overlifting, that you're working on your form. If you're curious about form of a particular move that maybe is in a workout that you're doing, so you can watch my videos. I show you how to do it, or um, in the workouts that I'm giving you, I'll explain them. Um, but also you can use YouTube. I I love bodybuilder.com, bodybuilding.com. Um, now it's much more robust with videos, but before it was just like a blog with uh form technique um articles. So I I mean this was over a decade ago, but I used to be on there all the time because I was like, I just wanted to make sure my form was right because I was lifting really, really heavy weights, and you want to make sure your form's right so you don't hurt yourself. So don't be afraid to look something up or make that note in your log, you know, like I need to work on my form. I write that all the time. I need to work on my form because this is gonna keep you safe, right? Not overdoing it with your weight selection because you're eager. I I get it, but take your time and make sure your form is proper. You've got a little bit of vocabulary now, you know, about sets, reps, progressive overload, uh, structure, and your schedule, you guys. That's really up to you. I like to keep it simple. Like I said, I do upper, lower. I keep saying it wrong. I do lower, upper, lower, upper, lower. I go five days a week. I go very early in the morning. That's the very first thing I do in my day, and then I'm done. It's over. So and that's how I that's my training split is um I do three days of lower body, two days of upper body, and then I do two long walks on Saturday and Sunday for active rest days. And you guys, that's pretty much it. And you kind of kind of think about like, what are you gonna do? Like, when are you gonna get this scheduled? I am hoping to get my workouts out for you. I do have them have a couple, I've said it a bunch of times, so make sure that you check them out on YouTube. I'll link them below too if you guys need them. So I hopefully this kind of answered some questions. This is just the cherry on top. I I it's like putting the whipped cream and the sprinkles on top of your weight loss journey is is your your strength training routine. So if you're not ready for this, go back and re-listen to all the episodes before. Lock in your nutrition, just keep practicing, keep practicing, you know, making sure you're moving more throughout the day. You will lose weight, you guys. You will lose weight. And if you have questions about any of the topics, make sure to put them in the YouTube comments because other people probably have those questions, and I will answer them right there so everyone can see the answer. If you have a if you want to send me a love note, I've been getting emails from you guys. It's been really fun because I'm just here talking to myself. I always say that. Sometimes my dogs are with me, but they're not today. But um it's kind of nice to know that you're out there. So it's been really nice getting emails from you guys. So just send me an email to say hi. That's nice too. Hello at thehealthhobby.com. And I'll see you on the next episode of Happy Weight Training. Please pray for me that I can get my act together to get your workouts published, the new ones. I want new workouts for this particular series. I am so overwhelmed right now with everything that's going on in our life, and it's all a blessing. I'm so grateful for it. But I only have so much time in the day, right? So I'm gonna get that done for you guys for now. Hit up my just three workouts on YouTube. If you want a longer workout, there are millions of options available to you. Don't spend money, just figure it out for free. You can do this for yourself. Keep it basic, keep it simple, don't overthink it. And hey, if you miss a workout, who cares? Just get on with your life, get your next one in the next day. Okay, like don't fret about that. I know that can really spin people out. Just keep moving. That happens next week. I have my mom's coming into town. Like, I don't know if I'm gonna go to the gym every morning. I'm not super stoked about it, but like that's just whatever. Like things happen, you guys. So um just keep moving forward. Every day is a new day, and you just keep moving forward, you guys. All right, catch it on the next episode. Thank you so much for listening to my rambling. This isn't my most organized episode, but I had to get it out there for you guys. So I hope everyone's doing great, and I'll see you on the next one. Hey there, me again. Quick disclaimer: I share tips, insights, and ideas to help you on your weight loss and fitness journey. But I'm not your doctor or your personal health guru. Before diving into any nutrition or fitness plans I talk about, make sure to check in with your healthcare provider. They know your body best. Think of this podcast as your cheerleader in a place for healthy living idea inspiration, not your prescription pad. Stay safe, stay smart, and let's crush those goals together. Until next time.