I was a guest on the Living Lean podcast (hosted by Jeremiah Bair - link below!) in Fall 2020. He asked great questions that really allowed me to get in-depth with my approach to coaching women, more so in terms of breaking down myths, barriers and self-limiting beliefs in order to really shape strong women.
There was one Q in particular that really stuck with me and I am sharing my response (the expanded version) with you:
“When it comes to training for women, what do you think are the biggest pieces most women trying to achieve a physique similar to yours are missing?”
I think there are 3 huge pieces that most women are missing, and I will expand on each of them:
Understanding
Most women don’t know what is required in order to get to their goals, whether it’s ‘my body’ they are after or any other physique-related goals.
I’ll be fully honest, I am frequently asked questions like:
“how many calories are you eating?” because they think it’s a magical number, or something really low that they can ‘simply’ apply in order to look like this, or
“what ab exercises do you do?” because they think that doing certain exercises are going to have them look like me; which, by the way, I rarely specifically train core. But that’s for another conversation.
It’s important to understand that yes, this is based highly on my genetic composition, but it’s also based on my lifestyle choices as well. Look at the life I live: I have a very routine structure (not ‘rigid’ in a sense of restricted, but I have created a routine that makes me feel so good, so organized and so successful). I walk daily as my means of transportation around town. I prioritize my strength and resistance training much higher than most people. I track my nutrition and adhere to my own set guidelines because I know what I like, how I feel and how much that can impact my goals. It’s important to understand that my lifestyle choices are a huge factor that most women are missing when trying to achieve a physique similar to mine. But again, you won’t ever look ‘like me’ because the most important element is my genetics that you do not have.
Healthy habits
It’s more than just a nutrition protocol or tracking macros. It’s not just a workout program. Being completely honest, the workout program is almost of least importance if these other things aren’t aligned. These being the biofeedback in our life.
Sleep hygiene, stress management, adequate hydration, bowel regularity, hormones, mindset, daily energy and rest. All of these factors are so important and absolutely impact your progress to your physique goals. When these factors aren’t aligned or in check, many women will miss out on the potential to their Magnum Opus (their greatest masterpiece).
Consistency
And all of those habits need to take time to develop and change as life continues; it’s about being consistent!
It’s not a 16-week program or a diet with a timeline, it’s a lifestyle, like I said. This has taken me years to get to where I am now. Ii’ve tried so many different approaches to those habits – some worked well, some didn’t work at all, some only benefited certain seasons in my life. I’ve done extensive research and testing protocols to how to better understand my genetics, my body composition, and my lifestyle habits. It’s taken me a long time to work on breaking my own self-limiting beliefs (which I am still working on!) to get past common claims like, “oh my body just isn’t designed for this,” and throwing in the towel way too early to actually see any progress happen.
Dig into the Living Lean conversation with myself and Jeremiah Bair for so much more beyond this article. He connects with other phenomenal humans on other episodes. Always remember to be kind and grateful and to ‘pay the fee’ with podcasts by leaving a review and rating.
Living Lean with Jeremiah Bair
Courtney Ustrzycki - Lifestyle Optimization