4-Part Strength Workout Framework to Transform Your Body (FORGET EVERYTHING ELSE!)

You can forget everything else you know about fitness and just focus on these four things. Reps, reps, the R stands

four things. Reps, reps, the R stands for repetitions. Training two failure or

for repetitions. Training two failure or 1 to three reps shy of failure in every [music] exercise. Exercise selection is

[music] exercise. Exercise selection is number two. That's choosing one muscle

number two. That's choosing one muscle group to work at a [music] time. P is

protein, eating 75 to 1 g of protein per pound of body weight per day. And S

[music] is structure, working each muscle group twoish times per week on non-consecutive days. If you follow

non-consecutive days. If you follow these four things, I can guarantee you will see muscle growth.

Hey everyone, welcome back to OnPurpose, the place you come to become a happier, healthier, and more healed. Today's

guest is someone that I've wanted to talk to for quite some time now because she's going to help us do exactly that.

Dr. Shannon Richie is a physical therapist and the founder of Evo Fitness, a rapidly growing sciencebacked fitness platform helping thousands of

people rethink everything they've been taught about exercise. If you feel like you're doing everything right in the gym, but still not seeing results, this conversation will change the way you

think about fitness. Please welcome to OnPurpose, Shannon Richie. Shannon, it's

great to have you here.

Thank you. I'm thrilled to be here. A

lot of us are trying to apply all this advice we hear on social media and on the internet and everywhere else, but we're not seeing the change in our body.

And you've spent years now helping people do exactly this. So, the first thing I want to do with you is actually start by busting some myths. I want to dive right in. Oh, yay.

Because I feel like we should just get right in there.

The first one is you'll only lose weight if you're doing tons of cardio.

This is such a pervasive one. And I

think that the reason it's so damaging is because A, it doesn't really work.

And I'll explain why in a moment. And B,

it makes us believe that our workouts need to smash us in order to be effective. And what people do is they

effective. And what people do is they add endless amounts of exercise and they don't see results. So they either give up and burn out and they become less active overall, which we know is not

good, or they double down and they work even harder. and this uh burns them out

even harder. and this uh burns them out more. And as a physical therapist, I saw

more. And as a physical therapist, I saw this all the time. Then you're in my office with joint pain and disrupted hormones and you feel horrible. You have

a horrible mindset around exercise. So I

think that when you learn the science, it really helps you focus on the right things. And more than that, it helps you

things. And more than that, it helps you redefine what an effective workout looks like and your mindset around exercise improves. So all that to say, here's why

improves. So all that to say, here's why exercise is just not a very efficient tool for fat loss. So studies

consistently find that adding cardio without nutritional changes results in really underwhelming weight loss. Maybe

just a few pounds over a year. And

that's a long time to be working out really hard and only have like a few pounds of a difference. And the reason for this is because our body compensates. So our body doesn't like

compensates. So our body doesn't like large energy deficits. So as we add more exercise, your body adapts to burn fewer calories in other places throughout your

body so that you stay within this narrow window of calorie expenditure. So

overall, we're burning far fewer calories than we think when we add exercise. And at the same time, people

exercise. And at the same time, people typically can easily eat to replace those calories or sometimes even overeat because they've overestimated how much they've burned. And this can make them

they've burned. And this can make them either not see very great results or sometimes even gain weight when they're adding exercise, feeling like they're working really hard and not seeing

results. So that's why I just like to

results. So that's why I just like to recommend separating exercise and fat loss. If fat loss is your goal, you're

loss. If fat loss is your goal, you're so much better off focusing on nutrition and strength training, which hopefully we can get into a lot, but strength training so that you are at least maintaining or maybe even building

muscle so that any weight loss is coming from fat, not muscle. The next one is no pain, no gain, which I think kind of speaks to what you just spoke about, like this idea of just destroying

yourself in the gym. But what's your take on no pain, no gain?

I think that this comes from decades of marketing and messaging that especially in American culture that we need to hustle and we need to work harder and that if it doesn't hurt and it's not

brutal, it's not going to change your body. And like I just discussed, we see

body. And like I just discussed, we see that that type of workout doesn't necessarily result in a lot of weight loss or body composition changes, which is typically why people do those types

of workouts. So you feel like you're

of workouts. So you feel like you're working out really, really hard, but you're not actually seeing results. So I

like to teach people, okay, what is the stimulus that does change your body composition? And you'll find that when

composition? And you'll find that when you apply the right things, you no longer feel like you have to smash yourself. you no longer feel like no

yourself. you no longer feel like no pain, no gain is the only way. And when

you start to do this, not only will you see better results, but you'll feel more consistent with exercise because it doesn't physically drain you as much and it doesn't mentally drain you as much.

It's easier to show up for. It's what we call gentle consistency. Um, so yeah, I'm not a believer in no pain. Okay.

[laughter] Okay. Very, very clear again. Uh, this

Okay. Very, very clear again. Uh, this

one, running ruins your knees.

Running does not ruin your knees if it's in the right amounts. If you overdo any forms of exercise, your joints will pay for it. And again, we saw that I saw

for it. And again, we saw that I saw this as a physical therapist all the time. You get tendinitis from overuse or

time. You get tendinitis from overuse or joint wear and tear. So adding running doesn't inherently wreck your knees.

It's that it has to be in the right amounts and you have to progress up to it appropriately. The problem is many

it appropriately. The problem is many people start running again to lose weight and they overdo it and they don't see the weight loss. So they either add more, burn themselves out, and their body hurts because it's just too much for their body to handle. their body

hasn't adapted to that stress yet.

Got it. Wow. I feel like I feel like I'm learning so much already. And and I feel like these are these are things that we hear everywhere, right? Like these are things that your parents said to you, your friends are saying to you, and they

kind of get stuck in our minds and then we never even question them, right?

And so, okay, got a couple more of these before we dive into some deeper subjects here. You must work out every day.

here. You must work out every day.

I do not believe that you should work out every day, at least not intense exercise every day. Your body needs recovery. If we look at I like to think

recovery. If we look at I like to think about exercise as this stimulus, recovery, adaptation loop and you need all three of those things. So the

stimulus is the workout and what you do in your workout matters. There is high quality stimulus and lowquality stimulus. We can get into all of this,

stimulus. We can get into all of this, but you need a high quality stimulus and then you need to give your body time to adapt and repair. And that repair process is the magic. And that's what

people want to skip right past and just go right up to the adaptation of the results because they they're impatient and they just want to see results faster. But your body does not adapt

faster. But your body does not adapt when it is overstressed. It adapts when it gets the appropriate stress. It has

time to recover. And then that's when you build muscle, improve endurance, improve whatever you're you're uh setting out to do. So recovery is a big piece of that. And so I do believe that

taking uh days off, active recovery days, it's not like you're just sitting on the couch all day long. We still want to be active overall, but taking days off structured exercise is very important.

Yeah. Thank you for allowing me to have my two days off.

You're welcome. You take two, which is exactly what I would recommend. Like

take those days, you still want to do things, but not smashing your body because your body needs time to repair.

Otherwise, you'll just spin in chronic low-grade inflammation. So yes, I that's

low-grade inflammation. So yes, I that's perfect. you you're doing just the right

perfect. you you're doing just the right thing.

Yeah. Okay. Uh a couple more of these.

Uh women shouldn't lift heavy weights because it will make them bulky.

This is not true. If we look at this bulky appearance, that typically involves a lot of muscle mass. And

muscle mass takes at least 3 months to build substantial amounts of it. And

beyond that, it takes years to develop these physiques that most women would consider bulky. So lifting heavy does

consider bulky. So lifting heavy does not inherently create that bulky appearance. What creates that bulky

appearance. What creates that bulky appearance is usually years of training.

Usually training at high volumes and potentially also having fat on top of your body so that you just have more mass in general. Um so yes, that is a myth that lifting heavy weights

immediately makes you bulky.

Yeah, absolutely. I think that that one's lasted far too long.

Too long.

Okay, this one. Let's do abs are made in the kitchen.

This is kind of true, kind of not. So,

you can build your abdominal muscles through focused abdominal work. Um, but

in order to see the muscle underneath, and this goes for any muscle, not just your abdominals, you have to have um less body fat on top to see the muscle.

And this goes for your shoulder muscles, your leg muscles, all of the muscles, but we think of the abs as different than the rest of our body for some reason. But um yes, so in order to see

reason. But um yes, so in order to see the the muscle underneath, you have to have a low enough body fat percentage.

So diet is important for that. Um but

also you can build your abdominal muscles through exercise. So it's it's a little bit of both.

Okay, brilliant. Great start.

already kind of get us out of these kind of limiting beliefs that we have, these structures that have kind of been set up over time. And I feel like so much of

over time. And I feel like so much of working out and so much of getting fit and healthy, if someone listened to all your advice today and they practically applied it, they followed your program,

what would change in their life?

The first thing is just seeing better physical results. I think that that is

physical results. I think that that is important for people not only aesthetically but your health, having more muscle and having a more fit body

is important for our health. Um, but

beyond that, smashing your body less and having a better relationship with your body and exercise and not feeling guilty for taking days off, not feeling guilty

when you take a week off for vacation, knowing that not everything is going to fall apart if you back off a little bit or if you're sick. Um, so helping people

understand the science of how our body adapts and changes really is this holistic approach. You see better

holistic approach. You see better results. You have a better mindset

results. You have a better mindset around your body and exercise. And your

body feels better physically. You don't

feel so worn down and depleted and exhausted because you're not smashing yourself every single day.

Yeah. It feels like there's such a mindset piece there as well.

Yes.

Because what you're saying is we're trying to accelerate those results. We

want to see them ASAP and because of that we'll push ourselves to our limits.

Those limits mean we give up sooner. We

can't stick to a schedule and then all of a sudden in two months if you're lucky you're giving up if not in 2 weeks because you're just so exhausted and depleted.

Yes. And I see that cycle over and over and over and over. And it's one of the reasons why people are not seeing results because we have the rest of our lives to work out, which means we need

to be smart about how we're treating our bodies, we can't put our bodies through the ringer and expect that to be sustainable. And so, the sooner you can

sustainable. And so, the sooner you can learn the stimulus that changes your body, because I'm not saying that your workout should be easy. I'm not saying that. But I am saying having the correct

that. But I am saying having the correct effort and placing your body under correct load in the right amounts, adding in cardio, having your rest days,

having this balanced approach will get you so much further than this kind of start stop yo-yo mentality that so many of us kind of end up doing. And I even have my own experience with this because

I've been in the fitness industry for like 15 years. And so I've taken all of the certifications, done all the things.

And 5 10 years ago, I was smashing my body with exercise. I was doing all of the things that women are taught to do to get fit. Um, light weights, high rep, um, no recovery days, trying to burn as

many calories as possible, trying to get really sweaty. And all this did for my

really sweaty. And all this did for my body was leave me with so so fitness results. Like, it kind of got me a

results. Like, it kind of got me a little bit of the way there, but I was like, "Oh, I'm just not working hard enough. I need to go work harder." And

enough. I need to go work harder." And

my body had chronic pain all over. So at

the age of 24, I felt like I was 90. My

body was completely falling apart. My

wrists were always hurting. I had

chronic back pain, hip pain. But this is what so many of us are taught. And this

as a physical therapist when I was practicing, I saw so many of my patients dealing with the same things. They

thought that they weren't seeing results cuz they just weren't working hard enough. But their body hurt all over

enough. But their body hurt all over because of their workout. So, I do think that when you can shift to what works, because when I shifted, I got in the

best shape of my life. I built eight pounds of muscle and lost 5 lbs of fat over one year. And over that time, I worked out for far less than I ever had.

Six I used to work out for like 60 minutes and then started working out for like 35 minutes. Rarely did I burn very many calories or break a sweat. My body

didn't hurt. I had a better mindset around exercise. Then yes, I also saw

around exercise. Then yes, I also saw the best physical results that I had ever seen. So yeah, it comes from first

ever seen. So yeah, it comes from first understanding and learning the science and then applying it over and over and over and giving your body long enough.

What's something that science has taught you about our bodies that you think we're unaware of or ignore?

I think one of the biggest mistakes I see, like we talked about, is using exercise as a tool to burn fat or lose fat or using it as your primary tool.

Um, but then what people do is they're like, "Okay, I'm going to use my workouts to build muscle." Great. Love

that. But they still end up doing the wrong workouts that don't build muscle.

And one kind of really helpful reframe that helped me is differentiating between muscle fatigue and muscle failure. So the science shows that to

failure. So the science shows that to build muscle, you need to train close to failure in every single exercise, every single set. You don't have to train all

single set. You don't have to train all the way to failure. You can or you can stop one to three reps shy. So failure

means that you are physically unable to do another rep. So let's say you're doing bicep curls. You cannot physically do another rep despite your best efforts. You can do anywhere from 4ish

efforts. You can do anywhere from 4ish reps all the way up to 30 reps or anywhere in between. You can just choose what you prefer. But your last rep needs to be really challenging. But I think

often what people do is they confuse fatigue with failure. Let's I used to do this all the time I would go to a group fitness class and be holding like a lunge position for like 3 five minutes straight and that feels really hard and

really fatiguing and lots of burn, lots of shake, but it's not fatigue does not reliably build muscle. Failure does. So,

one really helpful tool that I like to give people that's changed the game for me and for our membership and many people that I talk to is called the rest test. So, this will help you

test. So, this will help you differentiate between fatigue and muscle failure.

I want to know this. Yeah.

Yes. So, you'll have to try this during your next workout. So what you do is uh do your final rep and if you think you are at failure or near failure, set the weight down, break for like 5 seconds,

shake out, take a tiny little break, just a few seconds, pick up the weights and try to do more reps. If you could do three or more reps, you were just fatigued, you were not close to true muscular failure. And so that just means

muscular failure. And so that just means go up and wait next time or do more reps so that you get closer to that true muscular failure point because that will be the potent stimulus that changes your

body so much more than fatigue will.

That's huge. I mean that's such a big one. I feel like and and it's something

one. I feel like and and it's something that my body naturally makes me want to do.

Like I noticed that like if I've done 10 reps of something and we're trying to get to 15 at 10 my body's like all right I need to take a little 3se second break. I need

to put the white weights down shake it off.

Yes. pick them back up and then oh I could do another 10 now and you're saying I have to that's what you're saying is that I should do another 10 if I can rather than just hit the 15.

Well what I'm saying is when it starts to get hard around that 10 rep range those are the most stimulating reps. So

the reps where you are closest to failure are the most important ones.

So let's say you're trying to go to 15 and at 10 that's when you're starting to struggle.

Yeah. That is the time to push through and continue trying to get to 15. Even

if you don't get to 15, it's not about the number. It's about proximity to

the number. It's about proximity to failure. So on that 10th rep, you're

failure. So on that 10th rep, you're really really struggling, try to do a couple more reps. Try not to break because that means you're reaching a a

big percentage of the muscle overall.

You're reaching what's called your type two muscle fibers. They're the ones that kick in when uh you have a powerful stimulus, when there's a lot of mechanical tension. So those last few

mechanical tension. So those last few reps are the most important.

Got it. So actually I shouldn't pause at 10.

I should push myself to maybe 12 or whatever is realistic.

Then shake it off. And then what should I do after that?

Then shake it off. If you find you could pick your weights up and do three or more reps, that means the weight wasn't heavy enough. So that means go heavier

heavy enough. So that means go heavier and try to get to whatever rep range you can do. Any I like to not count reps.

can do. Any I like to not count reps.

And this is like kind of controversial.

Okay, go on. Because I think when you put 15 in your head, you grab a weight that you feel like you could do for 15, but really you could probably do 20 30 with that with that weight. Whereas, if

you just grab a weight that feels challenging and you're like, I don't know how many reps I could do, maybe somewhere between like eight and 15.

Anywhere in in there is great cuz all of that will work for muscle growth. And

you just do as many as you possibly can.

You often surprise yourself at how strong you are and how many reps you can do. And like I said, getting close to

do. And like I said, getting close to that muscular failure point is the most important part, but it's that piece that so many people are missing because they're stopping when they're tired.

I fully agree with you. I know for a fact that when I'm telling my brain, I've only got to do 10 of these.

Yes.

I've just programmed my upper limit. And

there are times when I'll do 10 and I know I could have done 13.

Yes.

But I'm only trying to hit 10 anyway.

Like I did 10. I did I did what I was supposed to do.

I did the thing. Yeah.

Totally. But you're not you might that set might not be very stimulating. If

you apply this one tool, it can change your results.

I couldn't agree more. I I feel like I've been I've been sometimes doing it right, but I can tell I'm doing it wrong, too. Like, what's the what is the

wrong, too. Like, what's the what is the cost of stopping at 10 and then just doing another set? Like, what is the cost of not listening to your advice?

Growing muscle.

We see that if you want to build muscle, those are the most important reps. This

isn't to say that doing 10 reps is and you could do 15. That's not to say that those 10 reps are useless. You're still

building strength. You're building

neuromuscular connection. You are

improving your uh stability. All of

those things are important adaptations that come along with strength training.

But when it comes to building muscle, yeah, those last few reps just can't be cheated.

Let let's stick on this building muscle seeing as we're on it already. I assume

that that's one of the top three things people come to you with.

Yes.

Yes. So, we're talking about this rep range. We're talking about the ability

range. We're talking about the ability to push past know the difference between fatigue and failure. What else are we getting wrong about building muscle?

Because that's something that I think you've clarified that for me in a way that I haven't heard before and that's huge for me and I know I can take that into my next workout which is tomorrow thankfully. No, wait, tomorrow's

thankfully. No, wait, tomorrow's Wednesday. Yes, tomorrow. Yes,

Wednesday. Yes, tomorrow. Yes,

tomorrow's not Thursday. So, yes,

tomorrow I can take that into my workout. And I love that because it's

workout. And I love that because it's I'm going to be thinking about that the whole time. So, when I start a set and

whole time. So, when I start a set and my trainer who I have, my PT is going to say to me, "We're going to do four rounds of this." And we're usually doing four rounds of roughly three activities.

Great. Love it.

Right. And then we're doing another four rounds of another three activities.

Great.

And then maybe doing another three rounds of another two or three activities in one workout.

I think structure is very important. So,

which muscle groups you're working on which day?

Yes.

We talked about the importance of recovery. I recommend working each

recovery. I recommend working each muscle group two-ish times on non-consecutive days in one week. You

can split your strength training workouts into three to five strength training workouts, taking those two recovery days. Um, and making sure that

recovery days. Um, and making sure that you have about 48 hours of recovery in between your muscle groups. So, let's

say you work glutes on Monday, you probably don't want to work your glutes again until Wednesday at the earliest.

Your body needs that recovery time. It's

so crucial. But I think what a lot of people do is they want to change their glutes or change their abs or change their arms. And so they'll work that muscle group every single day. But the

problem is when you do that, you're not giving your body enough recovery. And

the recovery is when you repair and adapt. So that's really crucial. So

adapt. So that's really crucial. So

that's one mistake that I think people make. It sounds like you are already

make. It sounds like you are already doing this in your training routine, which is great.

Yeah. So, so that's good. So for muscle building, we've got knowing the difference between failure and fatigue.

It's huge. And then the second one is making sure that the repair time is at least 48 hours before hitting that muscle group again because just overwork that muscle isn't going to win. I think

I do have that right. I think I did find for a long time that I was underworking a muscle group too. So like you just said I should try if I have five workouts and I'm doing say back and buys

or chest and tries I need to get two days of each ideally in a week because I think for a long time I was doing one of each and I wasn't seeing the benefit either because I was doing the muscle

group too little now.

Yes. And and we see there was a recent meta analysis about this that found that twice a week is is the sweet spot for muscle growth and um that frequency matters hitting that muscle group again.

And this is just yet another reason why you can't smash yourself in your workout because you know you have to turn around and work that muscle group again in a few days in order to keep compounding those results.

How sore should you feel if I'm working a muscle group. So like you gave the example you worked your glutes on a Monday, you're going to work them again on a Wednesday. Like how sore do you want to feel on a Monday and the Tuesday

before you get back to it on Wednesday?

Such a good question. I think this is something that holds a lot of people back. light to no muscle soreness is

back. light to no muscle soreness is ideal. And I think that we overindex on

ideal. And I think that we overindex on soreness because it's proof that we worked that muscle. It feels satisfying.

It feels good. But studies consistently show that it's a poor indication of muscle growth. Soreness typically

muscle growth. Soreness typically happens when you do a new movement pattern or if you add significant load or challenge to the muscle that you're

not used to. And soreness typically happens when there is damage to the muscle or connective tissue like fascia.

And that causes an inflammation cycle which causes the uh tissues to be sensitive. So that's what soreness is.

sensitive. So that's what soreness is.

But we just consistently see that it's not a very good way to measure if your workout worked. And so again, because we

workout worked. And so again, because we want to hit those muscle groups again in a few days, we want light to no muscle soreness so that you can show up to your next workout and put in uh really high

quality stimulus for those muscles and that's what again keeps compounding those results.

And are people do you think a big part of that is also bad sleep?

Yes.

In terms of the soreness piece or is it really to do with just pushing yourself so hard?

That's so interesting. I wonder if there is literature that says you get more sore if you are underslept. I'm not sure but just based on what I understand

about the body it does make sense.

It means that you are underreovered.

So if you are chronically sore yeah you're under recovering which is not beneficial. People think like oh I'm so

beneficial. People think like oh I'm so sore all the time that means I'm seeing results but the results again are happening when you're when you are allowing your body time to recover. So

yeah, I think that if you're so sore all the time and you're still applying all these principles that we're talking about, maybe it means that you need to dial back volume or frequency slightly

so that you can work within your own recovery capacity cuz it's easy to say like sleep more. Like everyone knows sleep is so important, but if you're like me, I have a baby and I'm like well that's just it is what it is. I can't

get as much sleep as I would like to. Um

in a perfect world I would love to get 9 hours but that's just not practical for me right now. So, I might kind of dial back my intensity or my volume a little bit so that I'm staying within my own recovery window.

And what you're saying is that even in the case that you have uh two beautiful babies under two, that hasn't necessarily negatively affected muscle building for you if your sleep recovery is not as strong or have

you felt the difference?

You know, I don't think I have. I think

I have continued to see results even with two under two. And I think that I knew the power of all of this like before having this, but now I'm in the

most chaotic season of my life ever.

Like running a business with two under two is just wild. Um, and yet I'm still getting stronger than I've ever been.

And it just goes to show the power of all of this. Like if you are giving your body the right signals over and over and over and over, you're not going to feel underreovered. You just won't. If we're

underreovered. You just won't. If we're

going to the extremes of this and you're only getting like four hours of sleep and all of those things, like yes, you do need to back things off from what we're recommending, but for the most part, most average Americans can do exactly what we're saying and see great

results and recover from it.

This is such helpful advice. Everything

you're saying feels practical and doable. And it's also reassuring to me

doable. And it's also reassuring to me because I feel that light to moderate soreness. And I've been questioning

soreness. And I've been questioning whether I'm not pushing hard enough because I'm like, "Oh, maybe I'm not working out hard enough and maybe I need to increase the intensity of my workout." And hearing that from you is

workout." And hearing that from you is so helpful because I actually walk into my morning workout feeling pretty refreshed. Yes.

refreshed. Yes.

And really excited to work out because my body feels like it can take on more rather than walking into it going, "Oh my gosh, I'm still really sore from yesterday." The only time I ever feel

yesterday." The only time I ever feel that is after leg day.

Yes. There's something about legs that like only feel worse 24 hours and 48 hours in. Is that normal?

hours in. Is that normal?

Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, they're just bigger muscle groups and quads specifically, I don't know if you find quads, anecdotally, and again, I've looked this up and I'm not sure what the reason is,

but quads and glutes tend to get more sore. And that could be because and

sore. And that could be because and again this is like up for debate but there's an interesting theory that soreness actually is from more fascia damage fascial damage rather than muscle

tissue damage. Um fascia is richly

tissue damage. Um fascia is richly invated which means that it's very sensitive. So when uh you're working

sensitive. So when uh you're working bigger muscles that just have more fascia surrounding the muscles, there's more uh there's a higher ceiling for more damage in the fascia. So that's

what creates more soreness. So, I just like to say like just don't worry too much about soreness. If you're

constantly sore, it probably means you're doing too much or you uh could afford to take an extra recovery day or something like that. But, um I just don't recommend chasing soreness cuz

it's just not a very reliable indicator.

Yeah. Don't chase soreness. Okay. Got

it. And in terms of as we're still focusing on building muscle, the way we're currently talking about is we're splitting up groups. Yes.

So, I was saying back and buys triceps.

You're talking uh chest and tries.

you're is that the way you'd think about building muscle or is there another way to think about it? And am I getting it wrong?

Yes, absolutely. You there are so many different ways you could split up your muscle work. I will say exercise

muscle work. I will say exercise selection is very important. So, you

want to bias one muscle group at a time.

Don't choose an exercise that works your upper body and lower body at the same time because as we talked about, training to failure is really important.

And when you're working upper body and lower body in the same exercise, it's difficult to know, are my arms a limiting factor? Are my legs a limiting

limiting factor? Are my legs a limiting factor? Or am I just stopping because I

factor? Or am I just stopping because I hit 10 reps and that's what the trainer told me to do. So separating, doing arm workout separate from your leg workout, core workout separate from your leg

workout. And keeping each muscle group

workout. And keeping each muscle group separate tends to be more effective and productive. Um, but you can split that

productive. Um, but you can split that work into whatever makes sense for you in your life. I like to do um I do five strength training workouts that are 35 minutes, so they're not very long. It's

just the EVO five time per week track.

Uh Monday's upper body, so we're working four three to four muscle groups in the upper body. Tuesday's lower body, and

upper body. Tuesday's lower body, and then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday are a mix of full body. So, we are making sure to separate each muscle group so that you're not working the same muscle group on consecutive days. But that's not

necessarily the only way you can split it up. You can do it as you were talking

it up. You can do it as you were talking about. You can do back and buy one day

about. You can do back and buy one day or chest and try and then legs or however makes sense for you. There's so

many different ways to kind of slice and dice it.

Okay, good to know. I'm I'm now making sure that my workout makes sense.

I got you. [laughter] It does. It's

checking all the boxes.

Yeah, I'm checking it out for you. That

that makes sense.

Is there something I could be doing to build muscle faster?

Yes, you can build muscle faster when you increase what's called volume. So,

sets taken close to failure. So studies

show I like to kind of back this up and talk about the minimum effective dose because I think this is really important for people to understand what's the minimum that I need to be doing to see results and then we can play and work

work on that and build upon that um and talk about kind of the maximum as well.

So the minimum effective dose for muscle growth is around four sets per muscle group per week. So, four sets of glutes, four sets of quads, four sets of chest,

four sets of shoulders spread across your week. That's kind of the minimum

your week. That's kind of the minimum amount that we see will reliably build muscle.

Some studies find even one hard set per muscle group per week, but I like to recommend four. From there, you can

recommend four. From there, you can build upon that. So, we do moderate volume in Evelo just because it's really easy to recover from. It is effective and your workouts don't take a long

time. So, it's really easy to show up

time. So, it's really easy to show up for, but it's very effective. So, our

volume tends to be around six to eight sets per muscle group per week, but you can do more than that and continue to see gains. You're just seeing diminished

see gains. You're just seeing diminished returns as you add more than like 10 sets per muscle group per week. Um, but

yes, you can do higher volume work and see faster muscle growth. Just make sure that you're recovering because if you're not recovering, then you're not growing.

Yeah. Is there anything that I missed about building muscle?

We didn't talk about protein, did we?

No.

So, protein is, and I am not formally trained in nutrition, so I like to keep this really high level and leave that to the RDS like your wife. Um, but protein is essential, and how you're fueling to

rebuild your muscle tissue is essential.

So, the RDS that we work with typically recommend 75 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day.

Anecdotally, I have found that when I stay on the higher end of that, I do see better results. Um, yeah. So, I used to

better results. Um, yeah. So, I used to not track my food and I didn't I wasn't building muscle and when I started tracking I noticed that I was eating about half the amount that I should to

build muscle and I was like, "Okay, no wonder I'm not seeing muscle growth."

So, I upped my protein and that really did help me. So, that's I guess another way to to make sure that you're building muscle faster.

So, when I was doing that, what I found is that I was getting bigger overall.

So, I was building more muscle for sure, but my body was just getting bigger. And

so I've literally got like end of last year.

No, it was end of the year before last, sorry. So it was like two years ago

sorry. So it was like two years ago where I really started following that protein goal.

And if I showed you a picture of me now versus a picture of me then, I couldn't fit into my suits. I couldn't

like my pants were all growing in size.

Like and that was me not it wasn't like it was protein. It wasn't sugars and fats or you know it was I was eating higher I was eating that dose of protein.

I didn't like what was happening. And I

don't know if it's I wasn't doing enough cardio. I never really figured it out. I

cardio. I never really figured it out. I

just realized I didn't like that much bulk and so I cut down on my protein, but that's also slowed down my muscle build. So talk to me about what was

build. So talk to me about what was happening then 2 years ago when I was eating the recommended dose of protein, but I just looked, felt, and was bigger.

Yes.

And like I said, I couldn't fit into my clothes. Everything was tighter. Um I

clothes. Everything was tighter. Um I

definitely, you know, just I just felt like I was putting on weight more than building muscle. Uh, I'm so glad you're

building muscle. Uh, I'm so glad you're bringing this up because I think this is a very common goal for people. They want

what's called body recomposition. So,

they want more muscle, but they don't want more fat or they want less fat.

And this is a process that involves proper nutrition. So, like we said,

proper nutrition. So, like we said, enough protein, but also potentially a slight calorie deficit or even in your eating and your calorie maintenance and then proper strength training. So, and

you do need to do cardio. Cardio is

important for keeping your overall energy expenditure high, but you don't need to overdo the cardio or rely on cardio to lose fat because then you're just going to overdo it. Um, so when you have those principles, you're eating in

a slight calorie deficit or at your maintenance. And that might involve

maintenance. And that might involve tracking. And I know tracking isn't for

tracking. And I know tracking isn't for everyone, but if you do have that goal, it might be illuminating to take a week and just kind of track your food and see where you're landing on your uh overall

calories. um see where you're landing on

calories. um see where you're landing on your overall protein because my guess is maybe you were unintentionally trying to get more protein and eating in a calorie surplus. So maybe

surplus. So maybe I didn't realize that.

Yes, you might have been gaining fat and muscle at the same time. Um and that's typically going back to that bulky conversation that can happen to women when they're gaining lean mass. They're

gaining muscle mass, but they're also gaining fat mass at the same time because they're unintentionally eating in a calorie surplus. So, the reason I like body recomposition, it's kind of that quote unquote toned look that a lot

of people are searching for. Um, but the reason I like body recomposition is because it makes you focus on your muscle mass, which is crucial for women

as we age, all people. We are under muscled as a society. And so, when we focus on our muscle, everything else kind of falls into place. Um, you can't

under fuel or you won't build muscle.

You can't overtrain or you won't build muscle. So, applying all of the

muscle. So, applying all of the nutrition and strength training things together will maybe be a slower process, but so much more sustainable and you'll end up being a lot happier with the

aesthetic outcome of that.

I think you're spot on. I was I think without knowing I was eating around 3,000 calories a day and like my you know, I need to be at 2500 or and if I'm in a deficit like at a 2,000 or 2,200 or

whatever it is. And so for me it was I was definitely doing that and not only was I not happy about just like not being able to fit into my normal clothes or whatever it was. It was also not leading to the results that I was

looking for.

And so what I've had to do and I wanted to get your sense on this. So now I do about 80 to 100 gram of protein which is significantly less than what I was

doing. So before I was doing like 150

doing. So before I was doing like 150 or something like that. Now I'm at like 80 to 100 grams of protein a day. is

that just slowing down how long it takes to build muscle for me even but that is also more aligned with my goals because I'm able to do that with a calorie deficit whereas if I was to eat 150 gram

I'd probably been a calorie surplus obviously I'm plant-based so that applies to it but also because honestly I was struggling with like my gut was not enjoying eating 150 g of protein my

gut just couldn't take that. Do you hear that at all from people where they just can't digest that amount of protein or Yes, especially if they're using lots of like powders and stuff? I I hear that a

lot. Training stimulus is the most

lot. Training stimulus is the most important for muscle growth. You do need protein and protein um eating out a higher amount of protein might make your workout more effective. So, but it

doesn't mean that you won't build muscle at all. The training stimulus is the

at all. The training stimulus is the most important part. So, I love what you're saying because I think there is kind of guard rails around these things.

Like these are the recommendations of what you can do, but you can tinker within this and find what works best in your own lifestyle and what you can stay consistent with because the truth is

you're probably building muscle. It just

might be slower than if you were eating 150 g per day.

Yeah. Yeah. Got it. Yeah. I need to find a way to I'm I'm testing different protein sources as well being plant-based like really feeling like the powders and the bars and stuff are just not great.

Mhm.

And trying to find them naturally but without adding the calorie surplus.

It's so hard.

Which is like a really interesting dynamic.

Yes. It's so hard cuz like if you're eating tofu and beans and things to get that amount of protein without being in a overall calorie surplus is difficult. Um, yeah, it is it is hard.

difficult. Um, yeah, it is it is hard.

What does your wife think about all that?

No, she she agrees. We we're both we're both tinkering with this stuff all the time. Yeah. And and I think the reason

time. Yeah. And and I think the reason why I wanted to have this very open and honest conversation with you here on the show is because I think this is the kind of stuff people are really dealing with and struggling too where they're just like well what about this and what about

this and and you know it's it's good to hear from you that hey you can be personalized about it and it is going to look different for everyone and totally but being real about what that means and

what your results look like and then not having these you know crazy expectations.

Totally. And it's just going to take time for you to learn what you can fit into your life. I talk about this all the time with like exercise selection.

We've been taught that we have to do squats and overhead presses and deadlifts, but what we see from the literature is there is a wide variety of exercises that will be effective to build muscle. So, you just choose the

build muscle. So, you just choose the ones that feel good in your body, that you enjoy, that you can take close to true muscular failure. I think a lot of people can relate to this. Like let's

say you're doing an exercise that you hate. I used to hate Bulgarian split

hate. I used to hate Bulgarian split squats.

Oh, I still hate Bulgarian split squats.

Something switched to me and now I love them. I don't know what happened, but

them. I don't know what happened, but we can't be friends anymore.

Yeah, right. I know. I know. A lot of people hate them a lot. And it's

understandable. They're very hard. But

if you hate Bulgarian split squats, you're more likely to stop that exercise because of overall discomfort or boredom or you're just ready for it to be over.

Yeah.

Rather than taking that exercise close to true muscular failure. So instead of doing the Bulgarian split squat, which you know you don't like, let's choose a different exercise that targets the same muscle group. Maybe you're targeting

muscle group. Maybe you're targeting glutes. Maybe you love hip thrusts and

glutes. Maybe you love hip thrusts and you find I can reliably get closer to failure every single time in hip thrust.

I don't feel distracted. I feel locked in. Like it feels very satisfying. Just

in. Like it feels very satisfying. Just

do the hip thrusts and you're more likely to see better results because you're training closer to true muscular failure. You're not stopping because of

failure. You're not stopping because of discomfort or boredom or any of those things.

I'm telling my trainer that.

Yeah. Does he make you do the hard things?

Yeah, of course. Yeah, all the hard things. I'm going to tell him. I'm going

things. I'm going to tell him. I'm going

to be like, "Look, like I heard from Shannon that I don't need to do these Bulgarian split squats anymore."

Well, it's like, and I I know a lot of people will fight me about that, but it it's No, I get the point. The point makes sense.

The point is, and it makes you more consistent because if you know your workout will be filled with exercises that feel really good for your body, and this isn't to say that anything goes.

I'm not saying that. I'm also not saying that your workout should be easy. Um,

but when you choose exercises that really work with your body, because exercise is physics, a lot of the reason why we don't like an exercise could be because of the physical length of our

bones. For example, in squats, you might

bones. For example, in squats, you might have longer legs, longer femurss, and so you have to bend forward more in a squat just to keep yourself from falling over.

So squats might feel really low backy for you. And therefore, you might feel

for you. And therefore, you might feel like, I don't feel comfortable in a squat. I feel like it's going to hurt my

squat. I feel like it's going to hurt my back. I don't like them. I don't feel

back. I don't like them. I don't feel like I can push close to failure. So, a

barbell squat might not be the best exercise for you, but that's your body proportions. There's nothing wrong with

proportions. There's nothing wrong with you. You can just choose a different

you. You can just choose a different exercise and carry on.

If you're pushing to failure, is there a difference between heavy weight low reps or lightweight high reps?

You can see the same strength and muscle growth whether you are lifting four reps all the way up to 30 reps. As long as your final rep is to failure or near

muscular failure, you can use anywhere in between. That might evolve based on

in between. That might evolve based on your training status, based on the day, based on the exercise. Some exercises I love to go really heavy and do like four

or six reps. And some exercises I prefer to go a little lighter and do like 8 to 12 reps. You can do all the way up to

12 reps. You can do all the way up to 30. 30 is kind of that's kind of brutal.

30. 30 is kind of that's kind of brutal.

30 reps.

You can do up to 30 reps. Science shows

in one go.

In one go if you train close to failure.

Um, the problem with doing that high of rep is people typically stop because of fatigue, like we talked about earlier, they don't stop because of true muscular failure. But knowing that you have the

failure. But knowing that you have the option of I could do four, I could do 30, I could do anywhere in between. Then

you can choose a weight that feels comfortable for you, because I think that's a barrier for a lot of women especially, is they're like, I don't want to lift heavy. Muscle building

isn't for me cuz I don't want to go lift heavy. Well, you can lift relatively

heavy. Well, you can lift relatively light and go for 20 reps and see the same muscle growth as if you were to lift a heavy barbell for four reps as long as you're training close to failure.

There's such a myth around just wanting to lift heavier and lift more and then feeling the pressure of I can't.

Yes.

Or whatever it may be. And and again, going back to the failure point is far better of a marker than how heavy you're lifting now.

Yes. Yes.

Yeah.

Cuz some body weight exercises too can get you close to failure.

You literally just read my mind. I was

about to ask that question next. I was

going to ask you if someone goes, "I don't have a gym. I don't have a gym membership. Can't afford it. Don't have

membership. Can't afford it. Don't have

access to one.

I have very little time to work out right now. Maybe I have 20 minutes. I

right now. Maybe I have 20 minutes. I

only have space to do body weight in my on my bedroom floor or on my living room floor. What is the difference between

floor. What is the difference between body weight and then barbell weights or, you know, any other type of weight?

If you're training close to failure, it doesn't matter. You can do I like to use

doesn't matter. You can do I like to use push-ups as an example. A lot of people can't do more than 30 push-ups physically. Like they would fail before

physically. Like they would fail before they got to 30 push-ups. And so that is a an effective stimulus for building muscle. If you could do more than 30

muscle. If you could do more than 30 push-ups, then your body weight is not challenging enough.

Pull-ups, same thing. You could do maybe just a few pull-ups before getting close to failure, and that's a body weight exercise. However, there are some body

exercise. However, there are some body weight exercises that are just difficult to load up enough. So like a lunge for example, you might feel like you could do a 100 lunges or more. Um just because

they're stronger muscles, they do require external load in the form of a machine, a cable, a barbell, a kettle bell, whatever you have. But this is why I say yes, some body weight exercises

can absolutely be effective. But just go back to can I do more than 30 reps? And

if I can, it's not heavy enough. And

maybe it means involving uh or investing in a set of dumbbells or a kettle bell or two or whatever you need to add that external load.

If someone wanted to just get started tomorrow and they've almost not thought about their physical health for a long time, where should they start?

What's really cool about beginners is that they will see results with far less stimulus than those that are trained.

So, if you have already been working out, the bar is higher. you do need to apply some of these things that we're talking about if you already have a consistent workout routine. If you

don't, you can do far less than that and see results pretty quickly. Um, it's

what's called like newbie gains. So,

this is really exciting for someone that's new. It's really motivating to

that's new. It's really motivating to keep going cuz you're like, "Oh, I don't I don't have to smash my body."

How many squats should the average person be able to do?

I don't think that there's a number that matters. I think what matters is overall

matters. I think what matters is overall muscle growth and strength. And there

are a variety of exercises you can do to build muscle growth and strength. I will

say I have not, again, this is contentious, but I have not done squats in like over 5 years. I just don't do that. Squats have never felt good on my

that. Squats have never felt good on my back. I'm one of those people that has

back. I'm one of those people that has to lean far forward and I don't enjoy them and so I don't do them. And I think giving myself that freedom to not do

exercises that I just hated was so freeing for me and allowed me to stay so much more consistent and my body didn't hurt. Like I just really

didn't hurt. Like I just really struggled with so much chronic pain and that's because I was forcing myself to do exercises that were making it worse.

Yeah.

Not to say that squats are automatically going to give you back pain. I'm not

saying that.

You're just saying for you.

For me. And I think that everyone can kind of find those things for themselves. Some people hate push-ups.

themselves. Some people hate push-ups.

You don't have to do push-ups. You can

do chest presses. Works the exact same muscle group. What I will say is you

muscle group. What I will say is you don't want to ignore any muscle group.

So, work all of the muscle groups in your body, but just there's so many different exercises. We have so many

different exercises. We have so many different options. So, you can choose

different options. So, you can choose what what you like and what feels good.

You can work that muscle group in another way.

So many different ways.

There's not just one way. And and yeah, I mine are RDL's. I just like there's it's the worst thing. like I'll be in pain for the next few and and like it's it's like I never get lower back pain,

but if I do RDL's with a heavy enough weight, it's like that's what I'm going to have and then it ruins my workout for the next 3 days.

And there's plenty of other ways to work that muscle group.

And ultimately, the goal is to build strength and muscle in the hamstrings.

And so maybe you can do hamstring curls instead and that achieves the same goal.

Unless I I will say like maybe you want to compete in like high rocks or a CrossFit competition. You need to be

CrossFit competition. You need to be doing those exercises in order to train your body to be good when you perform those exercises in that competition. But

if you're just trying to get fit, trying to be strong, maybe you're trying to look more muscular, more defined, or quote unquote toned, whatever the word is, there's no one exercise that's required.

I wanted to shift over to losing weight.

Yes.

Because I'm assuming that's another top goal that everyone comes to you with.

She I want to build muscle. I want to lose weight.

Yes.

What's the biggest thing we're getting wrong about losing weight right now?

We are over glorifying exercise as a fat loss tool. It just doesn't move the

loss tool. It just doesn't move the needle as much as we think. When you do that, when you're focusing on cardio to lose fat, not only do we see from many

studies that it produces underwhelming fat loss, but there's an opportunity cost. Maybe you're doing cardio or kind

cost. Maybe you're doing cardio or kind of going to these really hard workout classes or whatever it may be to lose fat, but you're not intentionally strength training. And the opportunity

strength training. And the opportunity cost is that when you lose weight overall, let's say you're in a calorie deficit and you're losing weight, that weight can come from both fat and

muscle, unless you are intentionally strength training. So, we see that 25%

strength training. So, we see that 25% of weight loss can come from muscle if you're not properly strength training.

So, there's an opportunity cost. So I

think that's the biggest thing that people do wrong is they over prioritize cardio and make strength training kind of the cornerstone of your routine and that way any weight loss is coming from

fat not muscle.

Mhm. So that's that's a shift we can make.

I think so.

Yeah. I think that was a big one for me too. I think I was like playing so much

too. I think I was like playing so much sport.

Yes.

And I was just not losing the fat that I had left to lose. like it just I was I wasn't and because you're not building any muscle.

Totally.

It was it was Yeah. It didn't make any difference really.

And you're very active which is great.

There was actually a recent paper that came out that I thought was really illuminating. They studied over 5,000

illuminating. They studied over 5,000 women aged I think it was over 60 like 60 to 99 or something and they followed them for 8 years and they found that the people that lived the longest were the

strongest. And this was even up against

strongest. And this was even up against other women that were very active. So

being active is not enough. Having more

muscle and strength gives you that extra layer of protection. And I know that people think about like, oh, I'll worry about that when I'm older. It's like,

no, what you're doing now is so important because this is all compounding on itself. You can't wait until you're older to build muscle because it does take years. And like

like you and I are even talking about like even if you're doing all the right things, you still have to tinker. you

still have to figure out like how can this work within my lifestyle, within my goals, within how I want to eat, with what activities I want to do as my cardio. So there is a learning period.

cardio. So there is a learning period.

Um it's a skill that you have to develop. So I don't think we should wait

develop. So I don't think we should wait until we get to that age to develop our muscle and strength.

What's the cut off point from which you can't build muscle as much as fast anymore?

There is no cut off point. You can build muscle at any age. I will say as you get older and I don't know the cuto off age of like when it gets harder.

Mhm.

But as you get older recovery demand gets higher. So you just typically don't

gets higher. So you just typically don't recover as well when you're older. And

so it does get harder to add a lot of volume of exercise because you're just not recovering from that. Um, so using your 20s and your 30s to build a bank of muscle, you will be so happy with

yourself that you did that when you get into your 40s, 50s, beyond. But if

you're listening and you're in your 40s, 50s, beyond, it's never too late.

What should we be doing for weight loss that we're not doing right now?

So I will say again, I'm not formally trained in nutrition, but nutrition is really the primary piece for for weight loss and fat loss. what I do and I have

body recompositioned three times now. So

I did it once before my first uh baby and then I did it in between my pregnancies and then I'm doing it for the third time now after my second.

Explain to me how you define body recomposition.

Body recomposition is losing fat while building muscle. And those two processes

building muscle. And those two processes I like to think of as individual processes but they can happen at the same time. They can happen um whether

same time. They can happen um whether you are new to training or whether you're trained. Like someone like me can

you're trained. Like someone like me can still body recomposition. Someone like

you that's already trained, you can still body recomposition with the right ingredients. But I like to think about

ingredients. But I like to think about nutrition as your primary tool for fat loss. And what I have found the most

loss. And what I have found the most success in is being in a very slight calorie deficit. Not in a huge calorie

calorie deficit. Not in a huge calorie deficit because that's really hard to sustain and you kind of end up yo-yoing.

So a very slight Yes. Oh my gosh. Yeah.

Same. I used to like eat nothing during the week and then I would just binge on the weekends and it just is like that is what I'm doing right now. Making

up for all like the binge is ruining the deficit of the entire five six days.

Yes. I I heard a metabolic scientist say hunger always wins like it's always going to win. So you have to work with your physiology. Our body does not like

your physiology. Our body does not like aggressive energy deficits because our body is always trying to keep us safe.

And if it senses an energy deficit, hunger increases, cravings increase. And

so it's our body kind of working against itself. But if the calorie is deficit is

itself. But if the calorie is deficit is slight enough that your body doesn't feel like it's in an energy scarcity, you can sustain that and see better results. But it's not going to be an

results. But it's not going to be an overnight thing, but it it is something that you can sustain. And again,

compounds.

Yeah. Yeah. That's that's helpful to hear because I find that I can do that sometimes where I can pretty much fast the whole day and then at night you're just like totally just going crazy and you're like wait a minute what was the point of that

because sure I made it till 6:00 p.m.

and you know had done a extreme fast and now I'm just you know going crazy or once a week. If someone is going to have a cheat meal how does it have to work? Talk to me about is that even

work? Talk to me about is that even worth it? Should it be or should it be a

worth it? Should it be or should it be a general balance throughout the week?

What do you recommend when it comes to that?

That's interesting. I've never really seen meals as like cheat meals or cheat days or anything like that. I just

typically like to apply what we call gentle consistency into my nutrition.

So, for the most part, 80% of what I eat is highly nutritious within my um calorie plan for based on my goals, within my protein goals. But 20% of the

time, I'm going out to eat with my husband and we always get dessert. I

typically have a cocktail or two and I plan that in for my week and I do that, you know, a couple couple times every week, but I don't necessarily see it I think it's a mindset shift. Like I don't

see it as the cheat meal. I just see it as like part of my lifestyle.

Um, and I think that that's what's so hard for so many of us. We're so black and white when it comes to nutrition.

And I think I know it why is it so hard?

It it really is. And I think it just does take time. And this is also why tracking your food is takes a lot of time. It's annoying.

time. It's annoying.

Maybe there's an AI tool now that like makes it easier. I don't know. But it

can be so helpful so that you can kind of understand like oh I can have my favorite food and it not derail me. Um

but or like I am like I'm really undereing here and no wonder I'm so starving and binging all the time. Um so

getting some clarity around where you're sitting on your on your calories can be really helpful. I had a really good

really helpful. I had a really good system where I I'm pretty much eating really extremely healthy probably like six and a half days a week.

Yeah.

And then I'm allowing one meal for me myself to eat something that like I'm talking about like burger fries or something like that, right?

Yes.

But I'm I'm not sure if some of that burger fries dessert that I'm having is so extreme from a calorie point of view and from a nutrition point of view that it's actually setting me back and I need

to kind of make a shift there.

Probably not. I would say I would say probably not. Yeah, I just had a burger

probably not. Yeah, I just had a burger in my head. Yeah, I just had a burger and fries last night. Like I I truly think I mean I love a burger and fries.

That was the best.

Again, I would track it and see like you might find like, oh, this isn't really setting me back as as much as I think it is. But this is another reason too why

is. But this is another reason too why I think one of the reasons why I've found so much more balance with it over time is because a I've like tinkered with it for a long time. I think there is a learning phase, but b I have more

muscle mass. And when you have more

muscle mass. And when you have more muscle mass, your glucose metabolism improves.

Muscle increases the storage sites for the sugars that we eat to be stored. And

so when you have more muscle mass, you store more sugar in muscle rather than being stored as fat. And it can help you balance your cravings because insulin sensitivity also improves. So having

more muscle can kind of act as that buffer. I think that's what I'm feeling

buffer. I think that's what I'm feeling as well that as I build more and as I get more consistent with that I think that's going to offset this.

It does. I think you're in this critical like learning phase and this is where a lot of people give up and they're like it's not working and keep going because as soon as you get to the other side of that like I've experienced this. As soon

as you get to the other side of that then it's a lifestyle and you crave your workouts and I never thought I would do that even though I've been in the fitness industry. I' I've got to Yes,

fitness industry. I' I've got to Yes, I've got to do with my workouts.

I'm trying to figure out the rest of it.

But the food is hard and food is hard because and this is why I always say I defer to the experts because man, there is so much with food because it's not

just like calories and it's also so mental. We have so much emotion and

mental. We have so much emotion and tradition and celebration wrapped up in food. So, it's really really difficult.

food. So, it's really really difficult.

There's it's such an intertwined part of our life.

Um so, it's hard. It just is. or just

being a recovering sugar addict like me.

Oh my god. So, I have the biggest sweet tooth in the world. So, I could actually avoid everything else. But if it comes to like a good chocolate fudge cake with like ice cream or that kind of thing.

Oh, same. I'm like, forget it.

I get dessert every single time I go out to eat and I'm just like that's just never going to change. I just love it.

[laughter] But but I guess yeah, you you become so confident and that's what it is. It's a

it's a it's a confidence in your workout and having been there before and recognizing it where you don't overindex or over amplify these things mentally and get caught up in your head about oh

god I did that and I shouldn't have eaten that and that kind of guilt that comes with how long did it take you to kind of get rid of some of those emotional things at least in your personal experience I know was you're not a nutrition or dietitian we're not

talking about that but even for you personally was there ever a period where you went through where it was like I still feel guilty or I shame myself cuz I know that's what I hear from our audience and community too where it's like you're doing well and then you have

one bad day and then you guilt and shame yourself and now it's ruined your week and now for the rest of the month you don't work out or you've been good for 30 days and you had an off week and now you went on vacation and now you're mad

at yourself. Like talk to me a bit about

at yourself. Like talk to me a bit about that. Oh yeah, I've been through all of

that. Oh yeah, I've been through all of the different chapters of my relationship with my food. And it

started with kind of undereing during the week, eating as little as possible and then binging on the weekends and then once I shifted to more of like a

balanced nutrition, so like eating enough protein, fueling enough, that helped a little bit. And this was only, you know, several years ago, but I still kind of felt, you do feel that guilt

like that doesn't always go away where you're like, I shouldn't have this cocktail or I shouldn't have this dessert or I shouldn't have this piece of pizza. And that food noise, I just

of pizza. And that food noise, I just don't know that it ever fully goes away.

It's gotten so much better. I will say like again, last night I had a burger and fries at my hotel and I was like, it's so weird. I was just reflecting. I

was like, I don't feel guilty about this at all. like I'm enjoying this because I

at all. like I'm enjoying this because I know that 80% of the time like I eat really well to fuel my body and I have seen time after time that having some

meals that I really enjoy sprinkled into my life just does not derail my progress.

Now, if you're trying to like prepare for a bikini competition, like all those things do matter, but most of us aren't trying to do that. We just want to feel confident in our bodies and feel like we

have less noise around that food.

Yeah, for sure. For sure. wanted to hand you a little friend here.

[laughter] Oh my gosh, you had this hiding back there. I didn't even notice. Oh, that's

there. I didn't even notice. Oh, that's

so good.

And I wanted to ask you because I think one of the things you speak, you're like such a proponent of this and I've heard it today, which is like this. You don't

have to crush yourself. You don't have to just think that you have to sweat.

What parts of our body on a daily basis are we putting stress on that we don't even realize?

Feet first.

I like to think people neglect feet. We

shove our feet in socks and shoes that are too tight. Hi, I'm wearing pointy shoes right now.

They're wonderful, by the way.

Thank you. But, you know, it's not good for our feet.

And this compounds over decades to the point where we lose neuromuscular connection to our feet. And you should be able to articulate each of your toes.

The listeners can try this right now.

Can you leave all four to toes down and just lift up your big toe?

Yes.

Okay. And then do the opposite. Big toe

down. All four little toes lift up.

Yes.

Okay, great. You're already like 90% better than most people. Can you bring your big toe towards midline? So towards

the inside of your shoe like this with your big toe.

Yes. If your shoe is big enough, you are. Yeah. If your shoe is big

you are. Yeah. If your shoe is big enough, like I'm I can't do any of that right now with these pointy shoes. Yeah,

most people cannot do that. Even though

we have those muscles there to be able to do that, but we've lost the wiring.

We've lost the connection because we'veed our feet in socks and shoes that are too tight.

And so, this is why I'm a proponent of working out barefoot or in socks so that you can feel the floor, you can connect to your feet. If you're

doing cardio or high intensity stuff where you're jumping, you might want a shoe on to help you absorb some of that force. But lifting weights, I like to

force. But lifting weights, I like to lift weights barefoot. I think it is um one way for us to improve the neuromuscular connection to our feet.

We're also in Evelyn, we're always doing mobility warm-ups. So, we're always

mobility warm-ups. So, we're always doing foot and ankle mobility warm-ups to rewire that connection from our brain to our feet because everything from the feet up, your your foot is your

platform. It will dictate the forces

platform. It will dictate the forces that go through your knee, the forces that go through your hip, the forces that go through your spine, all the way up the chain. So, if this is rigid and isn't working how it should be, everything else up the chain isn't going

to work properly.

Wow. Any others? That was great. I never

thought you didn't think I was going to give you that, did you?

Yeah. You don't even think about your feet like that. That's why I love that answer is because your feet are You just said your feet are your platform.

Yes.

And the feet are how we feel everything else.

Yes.

But we just don't think about them. We

just kind of take them for granted and just go, "Yeah, like thanks for being there."

there." 100%.

And if Yeah. We didn't want to take our socks off and see if we could do the foot thing. No one wants to see our

foot thing. No one wants to see our feet. But but I hope everyone's doing

feet. But but I hope everyone's doing that back at home and trying it out. I

think that's such a great little test.

How can people reconnect with that if they weren't able to do the three things you mentioned?

Yeah.

What do we do about that? Practice it.

Is that just So I used to give this to my patients all the time as physical therapists because a lot of things do come from the feet. Like a lot of joint dysfunction

feet. Like a lot of joint dysfunction can originate at the feet. So, I would give them these exercises and they would start by being like, "I can't even do one single rep. Like, I can't coordinate it." And then it's funny because they

it." And then it's funny because they get it competitive with themselves and they try to do it like all day long and they'll find they'll come back to me in like a few days and be like, "I can do it now." And it's again because the

it now." And it's again because the muscles are there. You just have to rewire that connection from your brain to your muscles. So, just practice those even three exercises. You'll find that if you do it enough, like you will be

able to do them after um maybe a couple weeks. And also just warming up your

weeks. And also just warming up your feet before you exercise. Ankle circles,

foot circles, spreading out your toes, feeling the floor underneath you, that will lead to such a more productive workout. Your body will get that cue of

workout. Your body will get that cue of safety and stability from the ground up.

Um, so yeah, feet feet are so important.

I don't get to talk about this that much, so I'm so glad you're asking. I

love to like nerd out about this topic.

Is there any other area of the body that you want to pick on for for the stress that we don't think about?

Yes, I'm going to give you maybe another unexpected one. Um, the eyes.

unexpected one. Um, the eyes.

Interesting.

So eyes are very important obviously for so many different reasons. Our five

senses give us information about what's going on in the environment around us and tell our nervous system if there is a threat or if we're safe and that can dictate muscle tone. So you're more relaxed if you don't feel like there's a

threat. If your nervous system senses

threat. If your nervous system senses there's something around me that might not be safe. Your muscles tense up. That

can lead to joint dysfunction over time.

It can lead to neck issues, headaches.

But the eyes take in I think it's about 10 billion bits per second of information, a ton of information at one given time. And so if you're giving your

given time. And so if you're giving your eyes good information, the rest of your body can follow suit. But a lot of times what we're doing is we're staring at screens that are this far away from us.

We're not ever looking out into the distance. Um we put on glasses and we

distance. Um we put on glasses and we just get stronger and stronger and stronger prescriptions. But when you

stronger prescriptions. But when you start to train your eyes, you might feel like your body moves better because you have better information. Your nervous

system has better information. Headaches

can go away. Neck pain can go away. Um,

so eye drills were something that I gave my patients a lot too, uh, when they would come to me with neck and shoulder stuff.

Well, which you don't even think about again.

You don't think about it. Yeah.

Yeah. Just kind of like looking around, not even thinking about your eye muscles.

Totally. You're not thinking about it at all. And it it can make us it can help

all. And it it can make us it can help with posture as well because if you're trying to look at something and you're cranking your head forward all day long, but if you have better, cleaner information through your eyes, it helps with posture as well.

You brought up posture. What can we do for better posture? Like I I believe the more I've been working out and building muscle, my posture has improved drastically. And I can't believe before

drastically. And I can't believe before when I used to pretend to have to stand like this. And now you're like, "Oh,

like this. And now you're like, "Oh, your body's actually doing that for you naturally." Talk to me about the

naturally." Talk to me about the connection between posture, muscle and just what we can do to get better posture.

Posture, I would say posture is a function of your environment. So how you are posturing all day long will influence how your body holds itself.

But strength training is one of the best things you can do for your posture. And

getting strong all over. It's not just your back muscles. All of your muscles need to be strong in order for your skeleton to be held in a good posture.

Um, so strength training is the number one thing, but I always say posture is complicated. So if you are having

complicated. So if you are having issues, go see a provider. And I know that's not a very like nobody wants to hear that, but it's so complex. Like we

just talked about, it could be originating at your feet. It could be because of originating at your eyes, could be originating in a place that you don't even realize you're doing. And so

just giving you shoulder blade squeezes and telling you that's going to improve your posture, I just don't think that that's very effective because it's so complex.

Yeah. Yeah. No, it's it's been a game changer for me because I felt like we're all on our phones. [snorts]

So my posture was getting weaker just by the fact that I'm constantly holding my phone and looking down and started to feel neck pain and upper shoulder pain.

And then working out has definitely just made it easier to have better posture and at the same time notice how easy it is to kind of two and fro.

Yes.

Between having good posture and not Yes.

because of our phones and our devices.

And even for everyone who's just sedentary all day.

Yes.

Like sitting even like this. Even when

we're doing the podcast, I'm always in my head thinking, gosh, like we're sitting for so long.

Yeah. Totally. and and it's great to have the and I love it, but at the same time I'm like gosh, we need to move so much more throughout the day.

We need to move. We need to like and that's why I say like if you're sitting all day long, get up and try to move at least once an hour because that will be far more beneficial than taking 20

minutes a day to like squeeze your shoulder blades together. What you're

doing throughout your day is so much more important. Yeah. getting up, moving

more important. Yeah. getting up, moving around, circling your hips, moving your feet, moving your ankles, maybe doing some eye drills, looking out into the distance. All of those things can make

distance. All of those things can make huge impacts on your posture.

I was going to ask that. Let's formulate

that for people. What's a great threeinut workout you could do every hour or movement you could do every hour that people could do at work, at their desk, at home, wherever they are that

would help them stay active the whole day?

Some jumping jacks. Simple, gets your body moving, gets your eyes up.

um makes your arms move out to the side.

Your legs move out to the side. We're so

forward and backwards. Um so doing some jumping jacks would be great. Circling

your feet, circling your hips, circling your shoulders. Um maybe you do that for

your shoulders. Um maybe you do that for about a minute. So a minute of jumping jacks, a minute of just like overall mobility around your whole body, starting with the feet, moving all the way up, and then maybe a minute of

breath work. I think that a minute of

breath work. I think that a minute of breath work might be the most impactful thing that you could do for your whole day. So what I recommend for breath work

day. So what I recommend for breath work is hugging your rib cage so that you can feel your ribs move because we want our rib cage to inflate so the diaphragm

moves downwards and that allows the kind of canister of our abdominals to work properly and our breath mechanics to work proper properly and the lungs expand. So breathe in through your nose

expand. So breathe in through your nose and feel your ribs move out into your hands up towards your shoulders. And

then just breathe out and don't contract anything. Just let it all go and feel

anything. Just let it all go and feel how it just passively recoils back to midline. And your shoulders relax and

midline. And your shoulders relax and your jaw relaxes. And then maybe just take five deep breaths like that.

Breathe in, feel the rib cage expand, not just side to side, but forward, backwards, and at the angles. And then

breathe out. And just doing that can immediately reset your nervous system.

We include that in the beginning and end of every single one of our classes and it immediately centers you. Like even

just doing that, I just felt like just this sense of calm.

It's like giving yourself a hug, too.

Yeah, it is. I know. It's nice.

Oh, that's great. I'm going to use that.

I've never heard that before.

Good.

What's that technique called?

Diaphragmatic breathing.

Oh, it's Oh, that is just diaphragmatic breathing. You're just holding yourself.

breathing. You're just holding yourself.

But the cue of your hands helps you know what should be moving. So, the rib cage moving and inflating. And because a lot of people breathe either with their shoulders or with their belly. We've

been taught to breathe with our belly.

It's actually the rib cage that should be expanding as you inhale.

Ah, got it. That's neat. Yeah, I like that practice. Yeah, cuz I've held my

that practice. Yeah, cuz I've held my palm on my stomach before, but but really when you're talking about diaphragm, you're saying you're going to feel that more through the rib cage.

Yes. And you will find that one side might not move the same way as the other side. And so really trying to breathe

side. And so really trying to breathe into all sides. Like I can't I struggle with

all sides. Like I can't I struggle with the left side. So I really try to breathe into my left side. And I find when I focus on that like my nervous system completely calms like it is very very powerful.

Wow. Going to try that out. Love it.

What's the uh is there a different recommendation that you have for people in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s in terms of what their workouts should look like?

No, I really don't. And I think that the fitness industry loves to overcomplicate this. And I think specifically the group

this. And I think specifically the group of people that are being told that they need to do something different is people in perry and postmenopause.

And we just see that these women can train similarly. Again, you're training

train similarly. Again, you're training close to failure anywhere from four reps all the way up to 30 reps. You are

targeting muscles one to two times per week, two-ish times if you can. You're

giving your body enough recovery. We see

that even in perry and postmenopausal women that works so well. You can do that whether you are 20, 30, 40 and beyond and it will continue to be effective which is just so empowering

because I just I think when we over complicate things, we just don't stay consistent.

Yeah. Yeah. And and everything else that you've said as well, which is like leaning into activities that you enjoy doing that work for you, finding a schedule that works for you. I

know you've answered this in different ways. I wanted to kind of find one place

ways. I wanted to kind of find one place to have the answer. If you could help design someone's ideal workout schedule week, what would it look like?

If you follow these four things, I can pretty much guarantee you will see muscle growth. So, reps, reps, each

muscle growth. So, reps, reps, each letter stands for a different principle of building muscle. You can forget everything else you know about fitness and just focus on these four things. The

R stands for repetitions. Like we said, training to failure or one to three reps shy of failure in every set of every exercise. Rep ranges can be anywhere

exercise. Rep ranges can be anywhere from four reps all the way up to 30 reps or anywhere in between. You can change it up based on your preference based on the exercise based on the day. Exercise

selection is number two. That's the E.

Two important things with exercise selection. I think about choosing one

selection. I think about choosing one muscle group to work at a time. Not

trying to combine upper and lower body like we talked about. Number two,

choosing exercises that feel good in your body and that you enjoy so that you can reliably take that muscle group close to failure. There's no one required exercise that everyone has to do.

P is protein, eating 75 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day. And S is structure. So working each

day. And S is structure. So working each muscle group twoish times per week on non-consecutive days, splitting those workouts into three to five workouts per week. So if you follow those things, you

week. So if you follow those things, you can kind of play within those guidelines to find what allows you to stay the most consistent. But you can pretty reliably

consistent. But you can pretty reliably I can pretty reliably tell you that you will see results. I will say it takes time. People think that if they've been

time. People think that if they've been working out for a month, they should miraculously see their body change.

Muscle growth takes about 8 to 12 weeks.

So, make sure that you're not giving up before you're seeing the results. So,

make sure that you're consistent for at least 12 weeks before you change things up.

Yeah. I think that patience part is so important and the clarity of just knowing because I think you watch everyone on social media and I was like, "This is what I did in 30 days." And

you're like, "Wait, why can't I do that in 30 days?"

I know. And it's it it's a shame because yes, you can lose fat in a short amount of time, but like are you going to be able to sustain that? So many people do these fitness challenges and then they just they burn out and then they end

back up at square one and they maybe even lost some muscle while they did it if they were in an aggressive calorie deficit or doing a lot of cardio. And

not only are they back at square one, but they're worse than when they started. So, um, yeah, be in it for the

started. So, um, yeah, be in it for the long haul. We've got the rest of our

long haul. We've got the rest of our lives to work out.

Yeah. What's the biggest workout myth you've seen on social media?

You would think that this would die because we have so much information that it's not true, but spot treating fat.

So, trying to do crunches or doing a workout with the intention that it will make you toned up or quote unquote snatched, that's the term the internet loves right now, in a certain area. So,

like for your bat wings, this exercise will help get rid of your bat wings.

This exercise will help flatten your lower belly pooch. Those are all things that I see. And we just find that exercise cannot spot treat fat. You

can't preferentially choose where you lose fat. Fat loss happens systemically

lose fat. Fat loss happens systemically across your whole body and your body chooses where it mobilizes fat first.

You can't really control that, unfortunately. Um, so I think that this

unfortunately. Um, so I think that this causes people to overwork certain muscle groups in their body and be frustrated when they're not seeing the results that they were promised.

Yeah, that's that's good to know. I I

think that's the everyone knows that, but you're hoping someone's going to Totally.

You know, it's like Yeah, it's like a painful truth. I love it.

painful truth. I love it.

Shannon, is there anything that I haven't asked you today that you wish I did ask you?

I don't think so. I My hope is that I don't want anyone to listen to this and feel like they're doing it wrong or defensive. I just hope that people

defensive. I just hope that people listen to this episode and take away that there's a way to get strong, get fit. Yes, see the aesthetic goals that

fit. Yes, see the aesthetic goals that you're after, but also be nicer to yourself along the way. I've been there.

I know what it feels like to smash your body. And my hope is that this just

body. And my hope is that this just gives people the empowerment and the education to do that. So, I hope it helps people.

What was the hardest point in your personal health journey that you've experienced?

I think my chronic pain from overuse, thinking that it was my body that was the problem when really it was my workout that was the problem. It was

that I was doing at least an hour of exercise every day, hard exercise, not taking recovery days, feeling guilty for taking recovery days. Like my Saturday and Sunday, if I didn't work out, I'd be like, "Ah, I should have done that. I

feel so bad." Being glued to my fitness watch. I remember if I didn't burn

watch. I remember if I didn't burn enough calories in my workout, I would literally do jumping jacks in my apartment at the end of the day to try to hit that calorie goal. And now I don't even track any of that. And I see so much better results. And I just want

to scream this from the rooftops because it truly is such a mental and physical transformation. But you just have to

transformation. But you just have to give it enough time and give your body the right stimulus.

And tell me about the platform Eve that you built because people can find these programs and plans on there, right?

Yes. Yes. So, Evo is my fitness platform. It uh every class, it's all

platform. It uh every class, it's all followalong classes. So, if you like to

followalong classes. So, if you like to follow a class, this is great because we are training with you. We are doing the workout with you. We're showing you what it looks like and feels like to get close to failure. We are giving you all the options you have for certain

exercise. If you don't like an exercise,

exercise. If you don't like an exercise, you can see all the options right there.

We structure the week for you so you know you're getting enough volume and frequency. The workouts are only 35

frequency. The workouts are only 35 minutes and each class is taught by a doctor of physical therapy. So, we're

really helping you understand your body cuz we believe education is so important. So, you can work out with us

important. So, you can work out with us three, four, or five times per week depending on your schedule. It's all

effective. It all works great. Um,

eofitness.com.

Yeah, I love it. That's awesome. It's

great that there's a destination for people to actually find all of this. I

think you've given so much insight today and so much education and busted so many myths for us, but I'm glad that people can actually go to the platform to find a plan and commit to a plan. And I'd

love to see so many people who've been listening and watching today go and build a new 30-day habit and lock in and find a consistent schedule that they love there as well. So,

I hope so, too. And could I give a code to your listeners? Okay. Um, they can use on purpose for 6 weeks free. So,

they can really really get it. And then

if you do those six weeks, you're halfway there to seeing visible muscle growth. So,

growth. So, okay. Use the code on purpose.

okay. Use the code on purpose.

On purpose for 6 weeks free at evolfitness.com.

evolfitness.com.

Six weeks free. That's that's awesome.

Okay. Thank you so much. That's so kind.

That's That's incredible. Yeah. I hope

everyone goes and use that. You got six weeks of free workouts. That's

unbelievable. That's so much help and support. Thank you so much.

support. Thank you so much.

Good. Of course. Of course.

That's huge. Uh Shannon, we end every episode of OnPurpose with a final five.

These questions have to be answered in one sentence maximum.

Oh gosh. [laughter]

I'm going to struggle with that. I'll do

my best.

Yeah. I I often break the rules because I'm so intrigued, but Yeah. Yeah. I'll do my best.

Yeah. Yeah. I'll do my best.

So, Dr. Shannon Richie, these are your final five. Uh, the first question is,

final five. Uh, the first question is, what is the best advice you've ever heard or received?

Take personal responsibility for any change that you want to see in your life.

That's a great answer. We haven't heard that before. I love that.

that before. I love that.

Great answer.

Uh, I couldn't agree with you more. I

think personal accountability, agency, it builds confidence, builds self-esteem, like all of the self-love, self-belief stuff we talk about, it only comes when you take accountability for

change you want to see in your life.

It's up to you. Nobody else is going to come save you. It's up to you. It's so

empowering.

Yeah. Great answer. Uh, second question.

What is the worst advice you've ever heard or received?

No pain, no gain. [laughter]

Yeah.

Yeah. I think it's comes back to fitness. I mean, that just Yeah. No

fitness. I mean, that just Yeah. No

pain, no gain was really so not effective for me in so many ways.

Question number three. What's a fitness habit or workout that you wish you started earlier?

I wish I would have built muscle at the age of 19 or 20 because it would have been easier to hold on to. Is that how it work?

It's It compounds it. Yeah, it it gets easier the more you do it. And the

beauty about muscle is that if you were to ever lose it, it comes back quicker the second time you build it.

So, investing in it that first time is the hardest, but it will pay you back over and over and over.

Wow. Incredible. Uh, question number four. Something that you used to value

four. Something that you used to value that you don't value anymore when it comes to your health.

My fitness watch.

I used to obsess about burning calories and I just don't do that anymore because I just know it's not very effective and reliable and so I don't use that as a way to measure my workouts anymore.

Do you think it's important for a certain period of time? Is it valuable for people to do that or and and how should they use it if they are using data? What what should we count?

data? What what should we count?

Actually, it's probably a bit broader question you can answer in more than one sentence like what should people count? What should

people measure when it comes to weight loss, fat loss, muscle gain? What should

we be tracking?

I think food and strength training are obviously the number one things. We also

want to stay overall active. We see from data that around 7,500 steps per day is associated with positive health outcomes. So, um I do have an aura ring

outcomes. So, um I do have an aura ring and I I will sometimes I just like to track like different seasons of my life.

I've had it for like 3 years and I just like to look back and see like, oh, when I was in this super stressful time in my life, I wasn't very active. Um, how can I maybe change something about my

day-to-day to uh stay more active or what lifestyle habits can I uh adjust during a stressful period of my of my life? So, I like to use trackers to just

life? So, I like to use trackers to just kind of give you an overall activity, a picture of your activity rather than obsessing about hitting a certain number because what we see is, you know, if

you're active overall, like doing a ton more isn't necessarily going to give you a ton more gain, if that makes sense.

Yeah. And that's just how we think about everything.

I know. I know. It's you do see diminishing returns with with exercise.

And this is not me saying don't be as active as possible. I'm not saying that.

I'm just saying a lot of people think that it has to be all or nothing and so they end up doing nothing.

Amazing. Uh fifth and final question we ask is this to every guest who's ever been on the show. If you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be?

Maybe this is me just being an optimist, but giving people the benefit of the doubt, not fitness related at all. I

just find that we're all trying to do our best and you don't know what somebody's going through. And so if you have a negative

through. And so if you have a negative interaction, trying to give people the benefit of the doubt, even if they had bad intentions, it feels better for you to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Oh, maybe they're going through maybe they had a death in the family or maybe they're going through something that I don't I can't see or know.

Um, so that's what I really do try to do. And it's hard. It's not that I'm

do. And it's hard. It's not that I'm perfect at it, but um I wish that I wish that more people did that, too.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Uh, Dr.

Shen and Richie, I'm so grateful that we got to spend this time together. I feel

like I learned so much. My workouts

[clears throat] are never going to look the same.

Good.

I know that everyone in my audience will have gained such a wealth of insight, whether it's about building muscle, weight loss, losing fat, or even learning about our precious feet and our

precious eyes that we undervalue and underestimate. Uh I hope that our

underestimate. Uh I hope that our audience will go and connect with you on the Evlo platform and find more workouts and schedules that they can live by and follow. and I hope we get to see you

follow. and I hope we get to see you again here on the show.

I would love to be back anytime.

Yeah, that was fantastic. Thank you so much.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you. If you love this episode, you'll love my conversation with fourtime Grand Slam champion Arena Sabalena where she reflects on her latest victory and the mental battles

that almost broke her along the way. For

me, success is the discipline that you put in. Be there every morning, every

put in. Be there every morning, every practice. Doesn't matter how you feel.

practice. Doesn't matter how you feel.