Bryce podcast audio RAW
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[00:00:00] Gym culture was awesome. And if you wanted to learn, you would walk into a gym and look for a guy in his late forties to early sixties because that guy knows what he's talking about, if he looks muscular and in that age range that guy can teach you. And so that guy found us and he basically knew that we didn't know what we were doing.
And so he began to teach us. And something unlocked when he began to show us. Yeah, absolutely. So the big question that usually people wanna know, right, when you're coming onto a Fitness, nutrition wellness podcast and your podcast is very well-rounded around wellness topics, is what brought you into this space.
And I think that what brought me into this space is probably what brings most of us into this space. And that is that at some point I struggled with body image issues. My [00:01:00] relationship with food and it really centered for me around my relationship with athletics Growing up, uh, I had an older brother and because of that, he always kind of beat me to the sport, and so everyone was always comparing like, how's he stack up against his brother?
So my reaction to that was, I. I'm just gonna be smarter than him. I'm gonna be more articulate than him and I'm gonna be better at basically everything else but sports than him, which I accomplished. But hopefully he never hears this podcast. 'cause you know, he might have some things to say about it, but I believe that I accomplished all those things.
But as a result, because I avoided sports, I remember looking at myself in the mirror one day and thinking to myself, yikes, what happened? And. The reality hit me is that I hadn't been active, that I had been so invested in academic endeavors and building up those skill sets that I had completely [00:02:00] neglected the physical side of things.
And so, as a reaction to that, I made a commitment that I was gonna run three miles every day and just eat salads and you know, and I now know. That ended up being a train wreck because number one, I lost a ton of muscle. My metabolism slowed down. I did not have the nutrients my body needed, and you know, a struggling of brain fog, cravings, kind of all the things.
And so after a while I decided that, hey, this just is not worth it. Until one day my younger brother was like, Hey, I am curious about joining this local gym and lifting. Well, I had never lifted before, and I was like, you know what? This could be different, could be fun. And so we went and I went with him and we met this older guy.
Named Rick. So I have a home gym, so I'm not really sure. It's been a few years since I've gone to a commercial gym, but when I first [00:03:00] started, so this was back around 2012. Gym culture was awesome. And if you wanted to learn, you would walk into a gym and look for a guy in his late forties to early sixties because that guy knows what he's talking about, if he looks muscular and in that age range that guy can teach you.
And so that guy found us and he basically knew that we didn't know what we were doing. And so he began to teach us. And something unlocked when he began to show us. This is what happens when you eat enough food in combination with strength training. And I spent an entire year kind of following what he was laying out for us, uh, the programming, the recommendations, the nutrition that he was like, Hey, if you follow this, you'll succeed.
And I spent a year doing that and I was blown away at the end of that year because I began that year wearing a 36 inch size. [00:04:00] Pants and I ended that year in a 31 inch pant, and I was further blown away by the fact that I think I had lost about two pounds. And so even though the scale really didn't change, my body was dramatically.
Different fall the year following, and the end result was that I was kind of bought in like this. Strength training is the key to a healthy metabolism, to performance and to actually achieving the body that most people really want. Yeah. So then where did you go from there? Like what brought you to where you are right now?
Tell, tell us what your expertise. Yeah. What brought me to where I am right now is the fact that I did spend a few years probably doing too much and chasing soreness, and I think everybody at first goes through that journey as well. So you start running and eating basically nothing, and then you graduate.
So this is better by the [00:05:00] way. You graduate to lifting weights and chasing soreness. And I remember also reaching a point where I thought to myself. I just don't have the time to do this anymore, and so this was probably a couple years after that. I was able to achieve a lot during that first year because of newbie gains.
Basically, no matter what I did in the gym, I was going to see progress, but then a couple years later, I still wanted to see progress. But I was chasing soreness. And I began to realize that the more time I spent in the gym, the more discouraged I felt about it. And so then I began to think, okay, is there any possible way that I can spend less time and still get a similar result?
And that led me to just really studying and thinking about, okay, what are. The core movements that absolutely need to be learned because they do need to be learned, [00:06:00] right? There are compound movements that you want to incorporate into your routine because that's what's gonna save you the most amount of time while also developing a well-rounded physique.
And so you do need to learn them because they are difficult moves. I'm not gonna sugarcoat that, but once you learn them and you learn proper form, you can save yourself hours of doing isolation movements. You can literally condense your workouts down to one or two movements per day. And if you just really focus on.
Executing those movements with really good form and progressive overload, then you're gonna be set up for success for a very, very long time, and you're gonna save yourself a ton of time and energy as well. Because there's nothing worse than spending two hours. 'cause there was a point where I was spending two hours in the gym, like five days a week.
And I was like, this is like a part-time job. What am I doing here? And I was already [00:07:00] working like 60 to 70 hours a week on top of that. So when you begin to feel exhausted, that is the signal that there's gotta be a better way. And so that led me down the path of, okay, how can we make this as efficient as possible?
I feel like everyone's ears just perked up. You're like, yeah, you can do a couple things and get in and out really fast, like that sounds amazing and we're gonna get to that. I wanna back up just a little bit. Um. Because I know that you do speak to women. I mean, you, you have a lot of coaching clients that are women.
Um, there's a lot of intimidation factor when it comes to the gym. Um, and I think a lot more women are more comfortable on a treadmill or an elliptical, and they haven't really been taught, um, how do we. How do you help first overcome that barrier of intimidation at the gym? Or when you say complex movements there, there's like this excitement of like, yes, I want it to be [00:08:00] efficient, and then, oh, these sound scary.
How can we get started? Yeah. I think that a great way to get started is number one, thinking about, because I've also discovered this working with women in the fact that I do work pretty much only with women. I've only ever worked with one man. And I discovered that men don't really take instruction that well.
So in working with women, I discovered that they also have another layer of things going on. So before we get to the strength training, it is also worth mentioning that women in today's just socioeconomic climate. They have jobs, you have kids, and so that's like, it's almost like you have two full-time jobs.
Yeah, and whenever I first begin working with somebody, more often than not, like 95% of the time, [00:09:00] I discover that before strength training there is the issue of stress management in the fact specifically, they're not sleeping enough. They're not eating enough because they're chasing that smaller body. But the thing about not eating enough is the fact that if you're not sleeping enough and not eating enough, that's two additional stressors to your day.
So you have your full-time job, you have your second full-time job, which is, you know, the stuff you do at home with your kids and taking care of your household. And then I guess maybe stress wise, you could add a third full-time job because you're not sleeping and you're not eating. Because you're chasing a smaller body.
And so first before strength training, I think that sleep is important and overall calorie consumption is important before you get there. So if you're somebody that's like, I feel like. Everything's outta control. I feel like I'm not sleeping. [00:10:00] I feel like I'm not eating and I'm still not getting the body that I want.
Then I think that stress management is the place to begin and don't even worry about strength training until you're able to get at least seven hours of sleep. I know we hear eight, but, and I think that eight is the place that you want to be. But I think that people also discouraged, get discouraged when they hear that number because they're like, I just can't get there.
So first, set your sights on, get at least seven. Once you achieve that, then work your way towards eight. But if you can get enough sleep, you can get enough calories in for your body and your specific needs, then that is going to make a huge difference for you before you even get to the strength training.
So that is a way that you can kind of decompress and be like, okay. Right. There's other things that I can do before I get to that, because if you add strength training on top of [00:11:00] not sleeping and not eating, then we could say, okay, now you have four full-time jobs. Yeah. Not that it's taking that much time, but that your body interprets all of those stressors as just additional things that you're stacking.
And your body's never getting any relief. And so when you think about it in those terms, then you begin to to realize that, okay, there's things that I can simplify and actually make my life easier before I make it more complex. Does that make sense? Yeah. You know, it's funny, we just had a call about this in our women's wellness hub, like yesterday.
Same thing. The, the step one was figure out where you're at, right? You need to like, meet yourself where you are and see your capacity. And if you're, if you're already stretched thin, I like to think of health as a series of, um, deposits and withdrawals. You know, we're, we're constantly making deposits when we sleep enough and when we, uh, eat well and all that stuff, but people don't realize how many withdrawals and, and, yep.
Weight loss [00:12:00] strength training. That is an initial withdrawal, right? It does deposit, but it does require energy. It requires your body to be in a place to be ready for that withdrawal before it becomes kind of like a deposit for you. Yeah. Yeah, a hundred percent. And I totally agree. Now, remembering back to the question that you asked, the intimidation factor.
Would you like to talk about that? Yeah, let's do it. Because this is your show. I want you to like drive the car, but I realized that I did not really answer that question and I think that number one, gym culture, I do have to kind of reverse a little bit and say that I do have a home gym and I haven't been in a commercial gym in a while.
My perceptions of the commercial gym right now are purely through the eyes of social media, which is probably a very inaccurate view by the way. Um, so first make sure that if you do join a gym, [00:13:00] that you're comfortable with the culture of that gym. If you're going into that gym and you feel like it's a weird place and not a welcoming place, then that's not the kind of gym culture that I kind of cut my teeth on.
The kind of gym culture that I. First was introduced to, was one where somebody took me under their wing, and literally the biggest guys in the gym were the kindest, most helpful people there. Like it. It really was the gym that I first joined really was a community of people that all just wanted to better themselves.
So if you're going into a gym and you're like, I feel intimidated here. I feel like people are watching me. There's two things to think about. Number one. Are you projecting that onto other people? Because sometimes the problem is, is that we are thinking about ourselves and we are uncomfortable about ourselves, and because of that, we're projecting that belief onto other [00:14:00] people.
Other people might not be watching you at all, but you think they are because you're kind of in your own head about it. So first, just kind of taking a step back and evaluating is that happening? And second would be. Okay, if that's not happening and people really are like judgmental at this gym, 'cause there are some gyms like that, I would argue that there's less of them than good gyms.
But there are some gyms that the culture is weird. And so the fix there would be find another gym because that gym's not a good culture for you. It's just not a good fit. And there is something to be said about the culture and the community. Of the gym that you join, but even if you're thinking that. I really don't want to join a gym.
Then there are things now that used to not be available. There are so many companies that make things like bands that are way cheaper than buying like a full home [00:15:00] gym. Jams are bands. Sorry, I was getting tongue tied Bands. Super cheap and they provide sufficient resistance to grow muscle and to maintain muscle.
Uh, things like suspension trainers are also pretty affordable and they also provide enough stimulus in order to. Maintain and to build muscle. Uh, things like dumbbells, adjustable dumbbells have become more affordable today than they used to be in the past. And so looking at your at home options, uh, could also both save time as well as give you the doing exercise in the comfort of your own home.
Yeah, I was just kind of thinking as you were talking, you know. Decide what feels best for you. Like if you, if you go to a CrossFit gym and you don't wanna do CrossFit, like you're not gonna feel comfortable there. You're right. Yeah. But if you go to a gym that maybe has this, a similar demographic as [00:16:00] you, you might see that might motivate you.
Um, or if you're at home, you know, it just. Maybe you're like, this is where I am right now. This is what I can give, I can, I can be at home. And so do, do what makes you feel most comfortable, I think is the first thing that you're kind of saying is like, let's be, let's, let's be as comfortable as we can to start.
So we get to that point. We we're, okay, we're gonna, we're here, we're either at the gym, we're home. Um. And we wanna get started. What are some mistakes that women make when they get started on strength training? So this one is one that I see very, very, very often, and I would be interested to know if you see the same thing.
But one of the first things is that women will lay aside the treadmill and then they'll pick up a very light dumbbell. And they will do like a [00:17:00] thousand repetitions of a movement. And what they're doing is they're really replacing the cardio that they do on a treadmill with cardio, with weights. Hmm.
Because what we know right from exercise science is that. Whether or not it's strength training or cardio has less to do with the actual activity and more to do with the signal and the stimulus that we're sending our body. So for example, running could be a form of strength training if you are training sprints, because strengths sprints require explosive strength in order to accomplish them, whereas.
Endurance running takes. It doesn't take explosiveness, it takes stamina. And so when we pick up a light dumbbell and do a ton of repetitions with them, that's the same thing. It doesn't require [00:18:00] explosiveness and it doesn't require building strength. It requires stamina. And so you have to think of the bodily systems that are being trained rather than.
The actual thing, like just because you're using a dumbbell doesn't mean that it's strength. If you are doing like 20 reps or more, I think up to 20 can be classified as strength. But if you're like 25. 50, 60 reps, then, you know, okay, I'm in the endurance category, which is not necessarily a bad thing, by the way.
It's just that most women are coming from, you know, running the treadmill, the elliptical, and then they're picking up the same exact thing. Whereas what they need is they need to change the stimulus. They need something that is going to stimulate. Strength and growth, uh, number one because it will provide that strength and growth, but [00:19:00] number two, you're gonna see results so much faster 'cause your body's just not used to it.
There is the novelty effect, like I talked about the first year that I was involved in strength training, I saw massive results. Mostly because I had never done it before, not necessarily. 'cause my programming was great. And whenever we change the stimulus, we can expect to see results faster. And so that's something to keep in mind as well.
People want results faster and so think about what am I doing right now? And then do the opposite. And so that's gonna really be helpful. Awesome. Okay, so we've got really, you're starting out either too light or too many reps, or a combination of both. Yep. And, um, you're kind of doing the same thing like that.
That's a comfort thing too, right? Yeah. Um, maybe we're doing the same thing that we were taught. X, y you know, X years ago or we went to a different gym and we were taught that. And so we, we, we [00:20:00] stay in our comfort zone. And if you stay in your emotional comfort zone, we're not gonna change. But also staying in your physical comfort zone, you're not gonna change.
And so that's one thing is like pushing yourself out of that. And that might be for someone lifting up a little bit heavier weight than you might think, and doing less repetition. So like. Thinking about, yeah, this is gonna require my muscle to almost break down, to rebuild. And I might, I might, I might need to actually feel this rather than like, just do it through the motions.
Yeah, a hundred percent. And that exactly is, you said, that is something to keep in mind in that. A lot of times the reason why we do that, so men are the opposite, right? The mistake that they make is that they try to lift as heavy as often as possible. So here's the ironic thing, is that the mistake that women make is the complete opposite of the mistake that men make.
Men will never do cardio, and that's the mistake that they make, and they will always [00:21:00] push the weight to be as heavy as it can be to the point where they cause injury. So it's not like. If there's one form of exercise that's good and one form that's bad, it's just when you keep doing the same thing forever, then you're going to plateau, and that's when you're gonna have those difficulties.
And keeping in mind that fitness and nutrition is a journey of growth. And whenever we want to grow, we have to, by necessity, put ourselves into uncomfortable situations. So whenever there's a movement that one of my clients comes to me and they say, Hey, I can do this movement. And they demonstrate it for me.
They show me what they're doing. They're doing it with good form, and they say, yeah, but I just don't like that movement because I'm not as comfortable with it as this other movement that I've been doing for longer. And I say, you know. I hate to tell you this, but that's the sign that we need to do that thing more, [00:22:00] and that's the reality of, uh, that situation.
Yeah. Um, so maybe how, how do we, how do you teach people to prevent injury then? Yeah. When it comes to preventing injury, you do need to listen to your own bodily signals, so. I know we talked a couple weeks ago, uh, Elizabeth came on my show and you talked from the food perspective about listening to our bodies and being able to eat intuitively.
And sometimes we think that when it comes to exercise programming, and the same thing is true for nutrition, that somebody else kind of has the magic formula. So I've seen in the gym, I've been in gyms and I've been working with people and I've seen situations where somebody's like, I do not think that I can do another rep, but my program says that I should.
And so they push it and then they get [00:23:00] injured and that's never gonna be helpful. So first, giving yourself permission to listen to your own bodily signals. And there is kind of pros and cons to that in that a lot of people don't like to be uncomfortable, so we have to keep in our minds that we need to push ourself into discomfort.
Like that has to happen. But at the same time, we have to keep in mind that we usually can push ourself into the area of discomfort. And some people will push themselves beyond that into injury. So the thing to keep in mind is this, number one, if I'm uncomfortable, that's probably a good thing. But number two, if my form breaks down, then that's a bad thing and that's going to lead to injury.
So instead of thinking. Can I possibly muster another rep? The thought transforms to, can I do another [00:24:00] rep with absolutely perfect form, and if you can't maintain perfect form, then your likelihood of injury just. Multiplies itself exponentially. And so if you can't do it with absolutely perfect form, then you've pushed yourself into discomfort enough and you're done.
And it doesn't matter what your program says, listen to your body, put the weight down, you're good to go. Yeah, I love that. Listening to your body and, and. Just because you are supposed to do seven reps, you know, maybe we need to stop at six or something and prevent that injury. And I, I would be willing to bet that most injuries can be prevented right there, you know?
Yep. Just like if, if we did, if we did it with the right form, I always tell people, do form before heavy, right Before you get too heavy. Make sure that you've got the right form and then you can add the heaviness into it when you have the good form. Yep. A hundred percent. [00:25:00] Okay, so how do we, I kind of wanna marry these two ideas of like.
Motivation and efficiency, because I know there are a lot of women here that are like, I know I need to do this. Right. I, I don't think we need to convince anyone that strength training is good for them, especially women. I, I, I've talked about it. I think women get that message all the time, but for whatever reason.
There's a barrier here. There's a barrier to actually starting the thing and you just kind of hung like a, a little, like, I don't even know what the right word is, like a treat in front of us. It's like you can do this really quickly, efficiently. How do we put together this? Like, okay, I'm struggling to get started.
Teach me what it looks like. Yeah, so. There is two ideas there. And so the one that you were going after right now is the motivation piece. Is that correct? Yeah. Okay. So [00:26:00] how can women get to the place where they feel like, okay, I can actually do this and go in and accomplish it? And this is not going to be like a flashy, attractive answer, but I think that it is the answer and it's that.
Remember back to maybe one of the first jobs you ever had and maybe you started that job and you were on a biweekly pay schedule and you started that job and you, you started maybe at a weird time. So instead of being biweekly, you were not gonna get paid for like three or four weeks. And I've had that happen before.
Just 'cause when you join payroll and while you're working at the beginning, you know those two weeks roll by. And you begin to look at your bank account and you begin to think to yourself, I don't wanna show up to work tomorrow because I'm not actually getting anything out of this. Now, your logical [00:27:00] brain will prevent you from quitting that job because at the back of your mind, you know, if I make it to week three or four, there's gonna be a paycheck that hits my bank account, and then I'm gonna get paid.
I'm gonna see the benefits of it. And then I'm gonna be motivated to go back to work. Once that first paycheck hits, it starts to, to starts to hit that flywheel of motivation. Right? I know. I am going to get paid. I'm seeing the benefits of getting paid, therefore I'm gonna come back to work because I want to continue to get paid.
And the same thing is true when it comes to strength training is that the difficult reality and why so many people have a hard time getting that flywheel started is because you need to be consistent with it. I would say for like 60 days. To be able to see those first results. Now, those first results are not likely to be body composition results.
[00:28:00] You're going to notice first. That you're able to push more weight, that over time your body's gonna adapt and you are going to get stronger. And that's gonna be the first sign that, okay, I'm doing well. Then the second sign will be, and my wife just experienced this a few days ago. She's been working on her shoulders for the past year, and then the second sign is going to be when other people are like, whoa, what happened to your shoulders?
Or what happened to. You know, whatever. They look strong. And she was really proud of the fact that that individual was not telling her that she looked smaller or like she had lost weight. She had really been working on how can I become stronger? And then when somebody noticed, Hey, your shoulder is a lot rounder than it used to be, your shoulders are, are rounded and strong.
And that's something that continues the motivation. And then you'll begin to notice those things about yourself. You know, maybe somebody else will say, wow, you look strong. Then you'll [00:29:00] look in the mirror and be like, you know what? I am strong. And then you'll start to adopt that belief. You will then believe that you're strong.
And when you believe that about yourself, then that's another form of motivation that continues that, that you begin to step into that new reality. And once. You become the kind of individual that focuses on becoming stronger performance goals, and you step into that reality, it's no longer, I'm trying to do this because I want.
This superficial result, it's, I do this because this is who I am. I'm the kind of person that takes care of myself. I'm the kind of person that wants to be strong, well into my sixties, seventies, eighties, but it doesn't start there, right? It starts with, how can I get that first result? That first result is how can I get a little bit stronger?
And then all those other things, as you continue being [00:30:00] consistent, will begin to reward you. But at the very beginning, there does have to be a settling into the contentment of the fact that I have to delay gratification for at least 60 days to see those first signs. And then once you see those first signs, then that's a lagging indicator that all those other things I was talking about will happen.
You just have to keep on that path. Oh man. I love this conversation. I kind of think of it like, um, affirmations. I'm not a huge fan of affirmation of I am affirmations because so often we don't connect with VIM. Right. I am a millionaire. I am a, a, a bodybuilder. I don't even know. Yeah. We don't connect with that in the moment.
And what you're saying, which I love. We've talked about this is like motivation doesn't create the action. It's the action that creates the motivation that then creates the identity. Yep. You won't have the identity of a strong [00:31:00] fit person unless you have been performing the action long enough to connect with it.
And then that I am statement can come in, but I like to tell people. At the beginning say, I am committed to, right. I am committed to becoming a strong person. I'm committed to becoming a woman of wellness or whatever. Um, and I, I just appreciate it because we don't do things I. Sexy around here. That's what I say, like it's not, it's not flashy.
It's not like 30 days to this. It's like we're trying to build a lifestyle here and you know, I would be doing everyone a disservice. We all would. If we were to say, 20 days, you can get this. That's not the reality. But what I loved what you brought in is in 20 days you could. You could get confidence.
Yeah, right. You could get more motivation. You could get those things that then help you build that identity, that give you those deeper results. [00:32:00] I love that. Yeah. A hundred percent. It is being able to delay gratification and step into the person that you want to become. Yeah. The ironic thing is, is that the longer you are focused on weight loss or some kind of aesthetic goal, the longer it's going to take.
I was, I was literally, this is funny. I was literally sitting at dinner with somebody on Sunday and I. Um, I won't say the relation that this person has to me, but they are related. 'cause we were out for Mother's Day lunch and this person looked at me and said, Hey Bryce, I've been doing this for two weeks.
What's the deal? And I'm like, uh, two weeks is not long enough. Two weeks is long enough. Two kind of hint at the fact. You can build confidence. Inconsistency, three weeks you can. You can be confident in your consistency, but two weeks is you have to push through to that third week and your first [00:33:00] layer of confidence is really, I've made it 21 days and I've proven to myself that I can actually do it.
And yeah, you have to stair step into your identity and make that a part of who you are. It's about expectations of being realistic with your expectations. Um, knowing that, you know, a certain result does take time and a lot of times we fizzle out before then. So I love the delayed gratification, which is awesome.
Um. Okay, so you are have, are so kind and generous. You're actually gonna give us a full starter program, um, inside our women's wellness hub. It's very detailed. We can't obviously go through it on the podcast, but, um, it's very detailed on like anyone that wants to get started. Uh, very basic, like, you know.
Uh, 10 to 15 minutes a day to start out and just really be efficient with your [00:34:00] exercise and your movements. But for the podcast, how could someone get started if they're like, Hey, how do I get started with this? Where might I start? And then obviously they're gonna have that resource in the Women's Wellness Hub.
But if someone's like, man, I'm struggling with the, the, I'm either struggling with the motivation to get started, or I'm struggling with the, um, like maybe spending too much time. I want that efficiency. What are some steps? So we've talked about the motivation. So I'll go with the efficiency angle. And the thing that you want to really target is you want to target those movements and I'll tell you exactly the ones that I would recommend.
And then you can throw in any ones that you like as well. 'cause it's not limited to these, I just am trying to simplify it as much as possible. Yeah. But focus on those and focus on doing those with good form. So I would say. Not only to watch videos about these exercises, but also to have somebody else watch you do them.
'cause [00:35:00] sometimes somebody else, especially when you first started, can see where your form is going wrong, where you can't feel it. And um, so this is funny. The first time I ever went to the gym with my younger brother and he did a squat, he came up outta that squat in the most awkward back wrenching way I've ever seen.
I. And I was, I started laughing and he was like, what are you laughing about? And I was like, I'm surprised your back didn't just break in half. But he didn't even notice. So for somebody that's like never done it before, start very light. Start maybe with just an empty bar with absolutely no way, and just practice your form and the things that you want to practice or you wanna practice squats.
Again, and that's a complex movement. So practice your form. No weight. If you're just starting, just can I do this? Can my body mechanics accommodate this movement? So squats would be one, deadlifts would be one. And [00:36:00] again, start with no weight. Just can my body mechanics and my mobility provide the range of motion that I need.
So, squats, deadlifts, bench, press, same idea. Pull-ups would be another one. The caveat here is that that's one you need to work up towards because most people can't start there. So when you're thinking about pull-ups, you're thinking about pull downs, like any kind of pulling movement. So rows, inverted rows, banded pull downs, lat pull downs, if you have access to a gym, those kinds of things that can begin to build strength that you can.
Escalate later to get a pullup. And by the way, if you can escalate to a pullup and you're a woman that can do one pullup, then you're above average. So that's something to shoot for. You can become average by doing. You can become above average superwoman by doing one pullup. And then I'm getting there, I'm getting there.
I'm working on it right now as we speak. I mean, pull ups are hard. I mean, [00:37:00] nobody, they're so hard. Nobody's combating that. So you have to work up to towards that one. Um. And then lastly, uh, overhead press. And that's also a challenging one. That's like the squat for the upper body. So that would be, again, starting with no weights.
Can I with good form, get my arms up overhead, just holding something very light and bring them back down. And then slowly and gradually add weight to that, to the point where you become more comfortable, your mobility can accommodate it, and you become stronger in those movements. Hmm. So really like we're targeting each major muscle group in the body, some pushing, some pulling, and I think we complicate it more than we should.
As a personal trainer, when I first started, I wanted to like make fancy moves and the, the, I guess the smarter, I don't know what the word is, the more experienced I got, um, the more I realized like the basic moves is what we need, right? We need the ability to. Sit in and out of a chair, um, hold [00:38:00] things over our heads, put things in the cabinets, right?
Like those kinds of things. And so it really can be basic. And I wanna make a point for anyone listening that's like, I feel intimidated at the gym. I, I know exercise. Um, I am a coach. I, I have a degree in exercise physiology. There are still things that I also am intimidated. I haven't worked with power lifters.
That's not something that I have personally chosen to do. Um, there's certain things that I, I haven't, I haven't, I don't have, um, ex as much experience and. It's interesting as I've been working on this pull up, so I've been working on doing a pull up and it's been a goal for a long time. I've just never paid a, I've just never like actually gone in on it.
And it's humbling. It's humbling to be there as a coach, as a fitness coach and to hang on a bar and be like, I'm not going anywhere. And so I, I [00:39:00] want to recognize anyone listening that. I think we all have those humbling moments and I sometimes we think other people know better and, and there are, yes, we have people that can guide us, but just remember that no matter, you know.
Where you're starting from, there's a place for you there. And I think that this conversation has really brought that to light is whether it's at home or in a gym, you are welcome there and it's okay to get started and it's okay for it to be messy and and you're saying, you're telling us like start learning the movements, then you can add weight and that's a beautiful, just like.
Just start where you are moment. Um, so thank you for this conversation and just, I guess giving us that a little bit more motivation and a little bit more hope that we can get. [00:40:00] Results without feeling like we have to be there all the time and, and devoting our lives. Because I think, like you mentioned, women are busy and they have other things going on and sometimes they're not meeting those quotas of sleep and, you know, and so, you know, they don't have that much time.
And to be able to bring in strength training in an efficient way is phenomenal. So do you have any last words for us that you wanna share, uh, based on this conversation? I wouldn't say that these are like new words, but yeah, exactly what you just said. Start where you are and build upon where you are, and as long as you commit to competing against yourself, you're not competing against anybody else.
If you can just do 1% better than you did the week before, then you'll win. Like you can win this game. As long as you are consistent, you keep showing up and you compete against yourself and nobody else. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being here. Bryce, will you tell us where we can [00:41:00] find you and follow along?
Yeah, the best places to interact with me are actually over on my podcast, and you can find [email protected] slash podcast that I'll take you straight to the podcast player, um, as well as you can find me on Instagram at r bryce, spelled BRYC, eCore Hamilton, and I'd be more than happy to connect and communicate with anybody that wants to.
But yeah, those would be the two main places to connect with me. Awesome. Thank you so much. Yeah, thanks for having me.
