S1 · Ep 30: Slow Gains — Building Stronger Mental Health Over Time (Part 2) | Coach Phil Green | The MindSpa Podcast

In this episode of The MindSpa Podcast, Tina Wilston and Michelle Massunken continue their conversation on sustainable change with Phil Green, CSEP-CPT, founder of bodiesbyphil.

Phil shares a practical framework for building strength and improving fitness in a way that lasts. Rather than chasing rapid transformation, he encourages starting smaller than expected, choosing movements you genuinely enjoy, and focusing on early indicators of progress long before the scale changes. Together, they explore why strength training and metabolic conditioning form the foundation of steady improvement, how adequate protein intake supports muscle while reducing body fat, and how to incorporate cardiovascular work without burning out.

The conversation also addresses common myths in the fitness industry, including “go hard or go home,” extreme cardio for weight loss, and dramatic short-term transformations. Phil explains how the body adapts gradually, why realistic timelines matter, and how small program adjustments every four to five weeks can help maintain momentum without overhauling an entire routine. They widen the lens beyond weight alone, highlighting measures such as sleep quality, mood, energy, and everyday strength as meaningful signs of change.

Supplements are discussed with balance and clarity. Phil outlines a minimal, evidence-informed approach, including whey protein isolate to help meet protein targets and creatine monohydrate for performance support. The discussion also touches on misconceptions about creatine and how women can approach training thoughtfully during hormonal shifts by building gradually and paying attention to recovery.

Phil Green, CSEP-CPT, is a strength and conditioning coach and founder of bodiesbyphil. His approach emphasizes structure, accountability, and long-term habit building over quick fixes.

This episode offers a grounded perspective on fitness, mindset, and the psychology of sustainable progress, reinforcing that steady gains often lead to the strongest results.

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The MindSpa Podcast

Thoughtful conversations about mental health, relationships, identity, healing, grounded in clinical expertise and steady human insight.

Hosts

Tina Wilston, M.Ed., Registered Psychotherapist

Co-Owner, MindSpa Mental Health Centre

LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook

Michelle Massunken, MSW, RSW

Co-Owner, MindSpa Mental Health Centre

LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook

MindSpa Mental Health Centre

Ottawa - Kanata & Gloucester

themindspa.ca

LinkedIn, instagram

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Transcript

Rapid-Fire Fitness Philosophy

Tina Wilston 0:01

Okay, welcome back, everyone. This is our second installment of uh Phil with personal trainer and coach Phil uh with Bodies by Phil. So we are gonna go right into like the lightning round, quick question type thing. So do you want to start us off?

Michelle Massunken 0:18

Yes. So what is your go-to workout?

Phil Green 0:22

Uh my go-to, my thing is strength training, hypertrophy training, which is just a fancy word for building muscle, um, and metabolic conditioning, which is another fancy word for um, you know, like using things like kettlebells, sled pushes, rowers, high repetition work for endurance, those sorts of things. Uh that's my jam for sure. Like I like I like lifting weights. That's my thing. And I've always really enjoyed that process.

Consistency Over Quick Fixes

Tina Wilston 0:55

And so what how what would you tell people when they're saying they they're having a hard time staying consistent when they get busy?

Phil Green 1:01

Uh yeah, I think and this is this is one of the biggest issues, right? Uh and I I think people always want to start too big, too fast, too often. And uh, you know, they they have this idea in their head that like if I don't work out every day, then I'm not gonna get any results from this, or it's not gonna happen fast enough, or anything like that. And, you know, my thing is is like just do more than you did last week, you know, and or last month, you know, and then try and do again do more than you did the previous month and just make it slow and steady like that and manageable uh and realistic for you, you know. Like if you don't have a lot of time, then start off with just 10 minutes of walking a couple days a week. Right. See how that goes. And if you can keep that up for three or four weeks, then see if you can add another day in of walking. I hear consistency is a lot more important than yeah, and like um yeah, and it's it's just you know, the way the world is today, things just like don't happen fast enough. We're just way too impatient. And sadly, it's our bodies adapt very slowly to fitness. It's a slow process that requires consistency. Um, so yeah, start slow. Start with something that you know you can complete.

Tina Wilston 2:23

Yeah.

Phil Green 2:24

Instead of giving yourself like this absurd training schedule that does not match your available time at all, at least right now. Uh, and be consistent with it and just slowly but surely add things onto that.

Michelle Massunken 2:39

Yeah, it's a bit of a quick fix to like doing it and getting results when it comes to it.

Phil Green 2:43

And there's there's a million things out there that say quick fix, and all of them are bullshit. So like because you can't change your own biology. Sorry, like that's weird.

Tina Wilston 2:53

So you love all the influencers out there that know nothing about physiology that give a lot of advice, is what you're saying.

Phil Green 2:59

And yeah, yeah. That's that's just yeah, a lot of uh stuff on social media is just people trying to sell you stuff to make money and they don't really know what they're talking about. Okay, but they know how to get your attention, right? Right.

Measuring Progress Beyond The Scale

Michelle Massunken 3:11

And so if I've been influenced by these influencers or I'm doing my own thing, how do I know that my workouts are actually working and that I'm getting results?

Phil Green 3:19

Yeah, so um you'll know if a workout is working. Um, I mean, you'll feel it. You'll just feel it. And if you're consistent with something um and you keep it up and you're you're slowly but surely increasing and improving, then you'll notice it. You'll notice that you sleep a little better, or that your clothes fit a little better, or that you feel a little bit stronger. And like, oh, I don't feel as winded going up the stairs anymore. I notice that now. Like people mentioned to me, at least that come to the gym, they tend to notice these little lifestyle things that are a little bit easier. But yes, you have to wait for them to come. Because it's not gonna happen in a day or two, that's for sure.

Tina Wilston 4:08

You were saying something before, too, where you have to be careful what measurement you are using to say it's working. Right. Because if it's like a number on a scale, that's probably one of the worst like assessments of whether or not you're a workout screen.

Phil Green 4:21

Yeah, or or it could be, you're right, it could be the only one that you're looking at. You're uh, I'm only looking at the scale. Whereas you might be having a lot of improvements happening, but you're kind of like tunnel visioned into this number on the scale that you're not noticing all these other things that are happening. Like you might have more energy, or you might be sleeping better, or you might be in a better mood in general.

Tina Wilston 4:43

Or body comp could be changing. Body composition could be changing, and and that scale won't budge, or even can sometimes go up, right?

Phil Green 4:50

You know, like people's body compositions can change without their weight changing at all.

Tina Wilston 4:54

Yeah.

Phil Green 4:55

Um, that's that happens to many people. So um, yeah, just kind of like try not to zero in on one thing. And uh that the other thing that happens is if you do zero in on one thing and one thing only, that just almost I feel like that just breeds in patience, you know, because you're just like, when is that gonna change? When is that gonna change? Oh my God, it's not changing. And you're you're just not noticing all the other great stuff that is happening from what you're doing.

Tina Wilston 5:21

What we notice in therapy is that sometimes if people are so focused on the goal, they're looking at the goal and all they're thinking is I'm not there yet. So they're gonna be making changes, doing good things, all that. But if they're focused on I'm not there yet, they actually stop, feel unmotivated, and stop doing the things that are actually moving them towards the goal. So I'm always like, and I think fitness would be the same thing, where it's like, I want you to look at where you were yesterday and compare yourself to yesterday, not some random goal in the future that we don't even know if that's actually a good goal for you or not.

Phil Green 5:53

Yeah, and I would argue that makes you dislike the process as well. You know, you're not gonna enjoy the process of getting there if all you're focusing on is the end goal. You're just gonna be like, oh, I have to do this again. Yeah, it's my dare yet. Yeah, like you're enjoying the process. Like I don't know. I always tell people if there's not some semblance of enjoyment from exercise that you're doing, there's no lasting relationship there. It's impossible. Yeah, you know, if you hate your workouts, who's gonna keep doing that? Yeah, nobody. Yeah, you have to find a way to enjoy that. Um, which, yeah, is why you you you kind of start with something that you know you kind of enjoy. Yeah. So if you like being outdoors, then do start there. You know, start walking outside. Start if if you're able to run or do like run walks or something, or do an outdoor body weight workout or whatever, like then do that because at least you enjoy being outdoors, right? You know you enjoy that.

Tina Wilston 6:52

Amazing.

Michelle Massunken 6:54

Um how do we lose fat without muscle? Without losing muscle.

Phil Green 7:01

How do we lose fat without losing muscle? That's a good question. So um I guess I I'm gonna simplify things a little bit just for the sake of answering this question. So when we lose weight, there's kind of two options. We can lose fat or we can lose muscle. Now, I always make the assumption that people would rather lose fat than their nice juicy muscle. Um and I guess what that comes down to, a lot of it comes down to nutrition and protein intake. And shocking to hear that word protein. It's huge right now. But um typically, the way our body works, if our protein intake is quite high, uh, when we lose weight, we're gonna lose majority body fat. If our protein intake is extremely low, then we're gonna lose muscle mass.

Tina Wilston 7:49

I did not know that.

Phil Green 7:50

Yeah, and uh I mean, it's it's not as cut and dry as that. I mean, when we lose weight, we're always losing kind of both. Oh but uh your body can prioritize one or the other. And we can tell it to protein intake by by adjusting our diets and and making sure our protein intake is high. Um, a lot of people who come into the gym, if we're if we're doing sort of nutrition programming for them and everything, there's some people who come in and we're sometimes doubling, even maybe tripling their protein intake because it's real low.

Tina Wilston 8:20

Okay.

Phil Green 8:20

And um I think there's just a lot of misconception. A lot of people think like, oh yeah, I eat high protein. And then we kind of look at things and it's like, you're actually not. You think you are, but you're not. Um so that's probably the biggest and maybe the easiest thing to make sure that that's happening. Um, the only other thing I'll say is make sure that you're doing weightlifting. Make sure you are training your muscles.

Tina Wilston 8:45

Uh because if you ingest protein, but then don't work out the muscle, then you could still lose muscle.

Lose Fat Without Losing Muscle

Phil Green 9:06

I mean, yeah, I you could. Um it's it's kind of it's kind of more we we those two go together really nicely. Okay. They're like a package deal. You know, like high protein and some resistance training goes a long way in uh losing body fat. If you like those two together are huge.

Tina Wilston 9:25

And the more muscle you have, right, the more efficient it is at burning fat. Is that correct?

Phil Green 9:28

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's it's fair to say the more muscle mass you have on your body, and and like just to clarify, when I say muscle mass, I'm talking about like regular people, not like bodybuilder muscle mass. You know, if you just have a little bit more muscle on your frame, um, it just kind of boosts your basal metabolic rate, which is basically just how many calories per day or per hour or whatever that your body burns just existing.

Tina Wilston 9:55

Yeah.

Phil Green 9:56

Okay. Um, and if we have more muscle mass on our bodies, our our bodies become much more uh efficient machines and they require more energy. Like muscle requires energy.

Tina Wilston 10:08

Yeah.

Phil Green 10:09

So just having muscle on your body means you burn more calories. Okay. And good incentive. Yep.

Michelle Massunken 10:15

Get those weight lifts, put some muscle off. Yes. Yeah.

Phil Green 10:18

And that that's the, you know, like there, there was a, I mean, I don't think this is quite as prevalent anymore, but it used to be, you know, like, oh, okay, you want to lose weight, you got to do tons of cardio. That's it. You just got to burn those calories, right? Right. And just get on the treadmill for hours and hours and hours a day and burn those calories off. And that's not wrong, but it's it's kind of like it's better to do, yes, cardio, but also do your strength training for that exact reason. You want to get some muscle mass on your frame too. And if you can do both of those things. And your protein intake is high, then you're like, you got it. You got it. Yeah. Amazing. That's good to know.

Tina Wilston 10:57

Now you said one of the biggest mistakes that people make is going too hard too fast, that like when they kind of start out. What what's like what what would you say is the next kind of biggest mistake or biggest myth people kind of walk around thinking and it and then they just have it all wrong?

Cardio, Strength, And Metabolism

Phil Green 11:13

Um maybe the the timing, the time it takes to get results, you know, and because there is so much misinformation out there, especially with social media, you know, they're like beach God in six weeks. Yeah, or or like you know, I'll still to this day. I I I don't know, like sometimes you you'll see magazine covers or something like that, and and it it's really, it's really a shame that it it's very much targeted toward women, right? And it's kind of like uh ridiculous claims like lose 20 pounds in three days or something. And it's like absurd claims like that. That it's like don't tell people that. That is completely ridiculous and like impossible. Uh and but no wonder people have all these like yeah, they're misconceptions about how long it takes to adapt to exercise and how long it takes to get results and all this, because there's all this bullshit that it says on magazine covers or on social media. Yeah, um, that stuff is rampant everywhere. Or, oh yeah, take this mystery supplement and you'll lose weight. It's like no.

Tina Wilston 12:25

Uh you're don't do that. Don't do that because it's protein.

Phil Green 12:29

Like, if you think you can you can like hack the system and like do this without any sort of grit or hard work or sweat, you are wrong. And or you're doing it in a way that is in the end not beneficial to you, like it's unhealthy what you're doing, or something like that. Um the real way to get results is you gotta work hard for it. That's that's it. There's no getting away from it.

Michelle Massunken 12:56

And so they've put in the work and they've put in the work, they're working out, but then they've reached a plateau. What happens then? How do we break through those moments?

Phil Green 13:05

How do we break through plateaus? Yeah. So um having variation in your training. So um, you know, for example, me, I change up my program that I do every four weeks. So every every four or five weeks, I and it might not be a big change. I might only change a few things about what I'm doing.

Tina Wilston 13:26

Um, I didn't realize it didn't need to be a total makeover. It could just be a partial makeover.

Phil Green 13:32

Not necessarily. I mean, you might just need to change a few things. So, you know, for example, for four weeks, I'll do pretty much, you know, if I'm working out three days a week, I'll do uh those three days every week. It's the same workout and for four weeks. And then after four weeks, I'll change things up a bit. I might change it altogether, or I might just tweak a couple of things. I'll change the rep ranges here, or I'll uh change this exercise variation to something else or whatever. Uh just make a few changes, and that it kind of just switches things up for your body enough to like keep those adaptations coming. I think a big mistake people make is they they find a workout routine that works for them and then they keep doing that for like months or years or whatever, and it it's kind of like you gotta tweak things as you go.

Tina Wilston 14:22

Yeah.

Myths About Timelines And Results

Phil Green 14:23

Um and I think that's the best way to break through plateaus.

Tina Wilston 14:27

Amazing. And and you've talked about protein already as an important supplement, like supplement your diet with protein. But what are is there any other supplements that you would say if you're working out you should take?

Phil Green 14:39

So this is uh this is something I talk about with people who start at Bodies by Phil quite a bit. And you know, I always say, okay, supplements are great. Yeah, they're a good tool, you know. Uh people make uninformed decisions when selecting supplements, but I like to say it's not their fault. It's an incredibly confusing industry.

Tina Wilston 15:02

So confusing.

Phil Green 15:03

Uh these things have ridiculous names and they're these random powders, and it's like, what the hell is this stuff, even? Um, you know, but you've got some dude at Popeye's saying, like, this will help you grow muscle, and you're like, hell yeah, give me that.

Tina Wilston 15:17

Right. You don't even have to work out.

Phil Green 15:19

When it might not do that whatsoever. Uh and the supplement in supplement industry is also poorly regulated. So, you know, supplements can make claims that they do something even though they don't do that whatsoever.

Tina Wilston 15:31

Yeah.

Breaking Plateaus With Smart Tweaks

Phil Green 15:31

Um, yeah, so it's it's a hot topic and a and controversial, I would say. Um, you know, and it's fair to say that as far as supplements, there's it depends who we're talking about, you know. And if we're talking about just a regular person who's maybe starting to get into working out, doing some strength training, that sort of thing, there's not a whole lot of supplements that are really of any use to you other than a couple. And if if you want, if you want them, if you want a list, the only ones that I ever recommend to people who come into Bodies by Phil is uh a whey protein isolate. So something that allows you to boost your protein intake by quite a bit at a very low caloric cost. Okay. That's what protein powder's purpose really is. Um, and creatine monohydrate is one other supplement that probably a lot of people have heard of at this point. It's a big buzzword right now, but really anyone who starts a bodies by fill, those are the only two that I recommend. And everything else is kind of like, eh, you don't really need that stuff.

Tina Wilston 16:35

And one of the um sort of to dig into that a little bit is that there has been a misconception that it's just for men, right? But it's actually really important. Or just for bodybuilders. Or bodybuilder. Yeah. If you really want to get jacked, kind of thing.

Phil Green 16:48

Yes. And uh it is a common misconception, but I I feel like it's starting to change direction, which is a good thing. Uh, you know, in my opinion, kind of like anyone who lifts weights should be taking creatine. And it and there's even new studies with creatine now, where arguably everybody on the planet should be taking creatine. It's really good for your brain, right? Yeah, they're doing a lot of studies now uh of how it affects cognitive function. Um, and they're doing a lot of tests. Um, I think they're doing a lot of research right now on um Alzheimer's patients and how they react to it's quite large doses of uh creatine and affecting yeah, memory, cognitive function, stuff like that. How good is that? And apparently there's other studies that are saying it improves skin health and like anyway, so you know, like they're all these this stuff that they're doing on, but but it's been around for about 60 years. Yeah, maybe even longer, and it's been researched thousands of times. It's one of those supplements that's a good one that kind of does what it says it does.

Tina Wilston 17:50

Right.

Phil Green 17:50

It has one ingredient, you know.

Tina Wilston 17:52

So people are really looking for like that magic pill. There actually seems like there is a magic pillow. Yeah, and like a lot of good things.

Supplements That Actually Help

Phil Green 17:59

Yeah, it's not gonna solve all your fitness problems. Uh, but if you won't give you muscle. If you uh if you lift weights and you're getting into working out, it's a great tool in your toolbox for sure.

Tina Wilston 18:12

Amazing.

Michelle Massunken 18:13

That's amazing. That's good to know. So for women, how do we get to a place where we can tone up and burn fat, lose weight without it affecting our hormones? Because we have things to think about, like when it comes to perimenopause or cortisol levels or thyroids or all the different factors at play. And so, what does that strategy look like for females different than perhaps males?

Phil Green 18:33

Yeah, um, I I think mostly there is um the intensity level and what you're starting out with and how hard you're starting out, and how many things you're changing at once. This is this is why it's good to like gradually kind of get into fitness, nutrition, that sort of thing. So like one thing at a time. I think your hormones are very much affected by like drastic changes, right? So if you uh, especially if you're you know, you've never paid attention to your nutrition once in your life, and then the next day you decide to eat keto. So you're basically not gonna eat carbs anymore. It's like that's a huge change and a huge shift that your body is not ready for, is probably gonna be very confused about, and it's gonna just throw a lot of stuff unpleasant side effects. Yeah, there's gonna be some unpleasant side effects and not just hormonally for sure. Um, but uh yeah, it's kind of like just do small things, make small changes, and keep the, you know, keep a um uh a realistic intensity level to your workouts uh at first and just monitor things and see how it goes. You know, like you gotta kind of listen to your body when you make changes to what you're doing, too. I think a lot of people don't think about that part. Like, how is my body or my brain or my hormones gonna react to what I'm doing? Uh again, people focus on the end goal, which is just like, well, I'm just getting here. That's why I'm doing it. And I'm not gonna pay attention to anything else.

Tina Wilston 20:13

Right. Yeah. So very much what works for you. Like do what works for you. Yeah. Pay attention.

Creatine For Everyone

Phil Green 20:22

If if you if you if you try different ways of working out, like you maybe you do spin or you run or you lift weights or you I don't know, anything. You play pickleball, and like you'll find something that you'll realize, like, oh, okay, my body likes this.

Michelle Massunken 20:38

Right.

Phil Green 20:39

When I do this. If you do it often enough and you try different things, you know, and I've landed, I for me, it's landed where I really like lifting weights and doing conditioning work, you know. And I never really got into Olympic lifting, although I've I've tested the waters there. And I, you know, I've I've tested the waters with running. Like I've I used to do triathlons and run 10Ks and stuff like that. But eventually I decided I don't think that's my thing. Like I don't really, I'm not really like a cardio junkie or running races isn't my thing. And the only way I figured this out for myself was just by trying stuff and just seeing what I liked and what my how my body reacted to things.

Tina Wilston 21:20

I love that. I love that. Well, thank you so much for being here. We have had a blast talking to you. I feel like we've only scratched the service of your knowledge.

Michelle Massunken 21:27

We'll have to have you back for a part two. Definitely.

Tina Wilston 21:30

But we definitely want also our listeners to know if they want to get started with Bodies by Phil, what what's the steps? Yeah. How do they do that?

Women, Hormones, And Training Intensity

Phil Green 21:37

Um well, the best way to start at Bodies by Phil is uh we have kind of an introductory program for new folks uh called our six-week Kickstarter challenge. Um and I tell people this is the by far the best way to get started uh at Bodies by Phil, or maybe in fitness, if I can toot my own horn. But um, so what it is basically is we get people in um and for six weeks they do three workouts a week with us. They get assigned an accountability and nutrition coach. So you have a coach throughout the entire six weeks who you kind of speak to almost on a daily basis. You get provided a customized meal plan that you get coached through with your coach. Um, there's tons of social accountability. So you kind of interact with other people doing the six-week challenge at the same time, so you can kind of motivate each other. Uh, and it's there's a lot of check-ins and there's a lot of goal setting and goal building. And usually by the end of the six weeks, people feel like they've gotten a really good kick in the ass in the right direction and they've built some really good habits. And what we try and do is when people finish their six weeks, we sit down with them and we build them a realistic long-term plan. And that's kind of mainly, at least in my mind, the the big goal there is like we need to find something realistic and sustainable for you. And if you do these six weeks and you kind of follow it as we've laid it out, then we're gonna be able to do that. We're gonna find something realistic by the end of it.

unknown 23:12

Amazing.

Phil Green 23:12

Yeah, and that's the best way for people to get started. And it's been, it's been such a joy doing this challenge. Uh, coaching people through this challenge is so fun and rewarding. Some people have some amazing stuff. Like we've uh without, you know, tooting my own horn, we're changing people's lives. You know, some people come out of it and they're just like, oh my god, this is changing my life.

Tina Wilston 23:35

Yeah.

Phil Green 23:35

Um rewarding. Yeah, yeah. And that's fun. It's fun to get people to that point.

Michelle Massunken 23:41

Amazing. And so how can folks find you? What's the best way for them to do?

Phil Green 23:44

So uh a few ways. I mean, uh, our website is bodiesbyphil.com, so you can just go there. Um, we're on Instagram, that's the the biggest part of our social media platform, I guess. Um we're bodies by phil 613. Um, so you can find us there, and there's tons of ways to contact us through both of those things.

Tina Wilston 24:02

Amazing. Well, thank you so much for being here.

Phil Green 24:04

Thank you.