The Body Reset: How Women Should Eat & Exercise for Health, Fat Loss, & Energy | Dr. Stacy Sims

it often has felt like to me as I've

learned more and more like oh my God

wait a minute we've just kind of treated

women and our health almost like if

you're golfing there's the tea That's

further back for the guys and there's

the tea that's a little bit like closer

for the women and we're just going to

treat everybody the same but shrink it a

little bit we'll take running shoes or a

bicycle all they do is they make it a

little bit smaller maybe put some pink

on it and say it's a woman's product we

experience things differently as women

than men do but that's not ever really

explained when we look at the trends of

the fasted training don't eat be it's

all on maale data if you look at most

women who make a point to get up do some

training go

exercise and after four weeks of

following the same kind of training

program as their male partner their male

partner has gotten leaner fitter better

focus all of the things that you want at

of fitness and the woman's like how come

I'm fatter and tired we have gotten into

a societal idea that we all live in the

same kind of temperature we have

automatic garage door openers we have

created this environment where we don't

move and if we're talking about how do

we just make one small change to improve

our mental health that's

exercise hey it's your friend Mel

welcome to the Mel Robins podcast I am

absolutely thrilled that you're here I

am on such a I don't even know what to

say it I feel so excited about what

we're talking talking about today it is

going to be liberating is such an honor

to spend time with you to be together

with you but especially when we're going

to have a conversation that is going to

light you on fire and make you feel both

mad and empowered let's freaking go and

if you're a new listener I want to take

a moment and just welcome you welcome to

the Mel Robbins podcast family and boy

have you picked a winner of a

conversation to listen to because you

made the time to listen to this

particular episode here's what I already

know about you you're the type of person

who values your Health you want the

facts you want the science you want

results and that's what you deserve and

if someone sent this to you that's

really cool it's because they care about

you and they want you to have the

science and the facts and the correct

information so that you can take better

care of yourself too I cannot wait for

you and I to learn from Dr Stacy Sims

today now Dr Sims is a globally

recognized expert in women's health

exercise physiology and nutrition

science she has a PHD in exercise

physiology and nutrition science she's

on the faculty at Stanford teaching

about lifestyle medicine and at Ackland

University of Technology teaching sports

medicine she is a renowned researcher

and has directed research programs at

Stanford Auckland University of

Technology and the University of yat and

she has published check this

out7 peer-reviewed research papers which

in normal persons speak is a a ton her

research has revolutionized how women

mhm women approach Fitness especially

during menopause and hormone changes

she's the author of two groundbreaking

books Roar and the next level she also

has a daughter and just like me is in

her mid-50s juggling a big career a

marriage motherhood and hormone changes

she has so much to teach you today and

we are going to go straight for the Bro

Science we are going to tell you the

mistakes and the lies that you've been

told we're going to tell you the truth

based on the research about what works

for women and what doesn't we're going

to teach you why the things that you've

been doing have been backfiring it's

because you have been exercising like a

dude and it is time for you to exercise

like a woman I am so fired up for you to

be here I am fired up to learn with you

and I am fired up for all of the women

and the young women in your life that

you're going to share this with so

please help me welcome Dr Stacy Sims to

the melro podcast Dr Stacy Sims I am so

thrilled that you're here in our Boston

studios I've been waiting a long time to

be able to sit down meet you and learn

from you I'm just thrilled that you're

here oh thanks for having me I'm excited

have lots of fun and we have a lot to

dig into and so here's where I want to

start could you speak directly to the

person that's

listening and this is somebody who

doesn't have a lot of time but they made

the time yep to be here to learn from

you okay what could that person expect

might change about their life or feel

different if they take everything to

heart that you're about to teach us and

share with us today and they use it in

their own life I find there's two big

things that often happen one most women

become more empowered and have better

body positivity and two they have a

sense of separation from the stress and

their own selves so they're able to take

that step back from the stress of

everything that's happening it's kind of

like that pause moment because when you

are taking care of your body then it

feeds back into a lot of positive

metrics so the big thing that I love is

watching women go through an evolution

to go from being not so confident in

themselves to having such empowerment to

be able to stand up and say I own this

space and I'm taking it you know one

thing that strikes me about your

already is that

you

actually exude that oh thanks now you

have a level of presence and power in

your body and it's not just because you

are in incredibly great shape in terms

of muscle definition

but it's it's actually something that's

noticeable and so I think this goes

beyond sort of that sense of separation

of stress like what I experience in just

sitting here with you is that you're

actually embodied in the present and in

your body and a lot of times when we're

stressed out especially you know as

caregivers and the amount of stuff that

we do we're up in our heads and

disconnected from our body yeah and so

I'm excited to really learn from you

because I want to feel more like the

centered confidence and calmness that

you just seem to move through a space

with I'm good with the facade no just

kidding thanks um yeah it does come from

a lot of pushback I've had in my life so

it's like putting being put into a

pretty Mal dominant situation you have

to find your feet and how do you move

through that space and I found it

through exercise strength all the stuff

that we're going to talk about amazing

so you have such an incredible

background and I'm actually going to

read it because it's quite a bit you

know I've talked about this in when I

was introducing you but you have a PhD

in exercise physiology you're a

researcher you're a former professional

athlete you now trained professional

athletes you're an expert in exercise

physiology you have a long list of other

Specialties like cardiovascular disease

prevention Thermo regulation Women's

Health you are a pioneering researcher

that participates in her own studies and

you have this incredible Mantra Dr

Sims women are not small men yeah what

does that mean yeah um I laugh when

people say women are not small men

because when we hear it we're like oh

yeah that's right but it's started from

when I was teaching at Stanford and

wanted to wake some of the undergrads up

after and lunch and afternoon sleepies

come in and I was teaching about sex

differences in training or high

performance so I would started with

women are not small men and people are

like well of course not like that's you

know women aren't small men but what I

mean by that is everything from what

happens in utero until we die is

different for women than men so when we

talk about women are not small men and

we see all the guidelines that are out

there for exercise all the guidelines

out there for mental health for the

connections the sociocultural pressures

we experience things differently as

women than men do but that's not ever

really explained so when we say women

are not small men it makes people take

that pause and ask well what do you mean

by that what topic so today what I mean

by women are not small men is we're

going to dive into exercise especially

how what we do should change as we move

through our lives what does that motto

women are not small men mean in

practice I think when we look right now

at what's being portrayed in social

media fitness Trends the medical Trends

all of that data is really drawn from

men and just generalized to women which

is a huge disservice so I want women

especially you as a listener on this

podcast to take a pause whenever you see

a new trend come up or someone pushing

something to just go well where do this

originate how does that appropriate for

me as a woman in my phase of life and

when you take that pause you begin to

have an objection to some of the things

that are being pushed on you and and an

objective view of how you should

approach things to make it beneficial

for you I am so glad that we're starting

here because

um I am constantly shocked at the things

that I think I should be

doing and the things that I hear a lot

of male Health experts talking about or

a lot of the Bro Science or a lot of the

kind of bro experts and the Fitness

trends that are very dude oriented no

offense to the guys I'm just saying that

it often has felt like to me as I've

learned more and more like oh my God

wait a minute we've just kind of treated

women and our health almost like if

you're golfing there's the tea That's

further back for the guys and there's

the tea that's a little bit like closer

for the women and we're just going to

treat everybody the same but shrink it a

little bit yep shrink and pink is what

we called it in the industry shrink and

pink shrink and pink so uh we'll take

running shoes or a bicycle all they do

is they make it a little bit smaller

maybe put some pink on it and say it's a

woman's product it's so true I know and

it's like wait that's not really

appropriate you'll see in my book

there's some pink and that's an oage to

shrink in pink because that's what

people think is honoring women by making

it a little bit smaller let's bling it

up with some color and we're going to

call it a woman's product and that is

not appropriate well the other thing

that I think has been like really

fascinating we're going to get into this

is just that a lot of the research has

only been done on men and there hasn't

been research on how certain things have

an impact on women and our hormones and

our body structure and our composition

which is as you've already said

fundamentally different than that of

somebody who's male yeah and so I'm

excited for you to take a step by step

by step and help us kind of tee up all

the assump iions that we've all just

kind of come to assume that work for men

but don't work for women and what we

need to know and need to be doing to

actually work with our bodies and take

better care of ourselves perfect so

what's the most common mistake that

women make by following male Centric

Fitness

advice uh they don't get any results and

they end up what we call tired but wired

I mean if you look at most women who

make a point to get up do some training

go

exercise and it happens so often after

four weeks of following the same kind of

training program as their male partner

their male partner has gotten leaner

fitter better um cognition you know

Focus all of the things that you want

out of fitness and the woman's like how

come I'm fatter and tired and I don't

have any like increase in my fitness

like my partner does and I see it all

the time and I'm always explaining well

one your partner might get up and go

fcet training women's bodies don't

respond well to facet training what's

fcet training I don't even know what the

heck this is like fcet training fcet

training means you're not having any

food before you go do exercise oh so

well that's what I would always do like

I would always literally like I'm going

to eat after because my husband would

eat after and then we would my mouth is

on the floor you can see this on YouTube

but like as you're listening I'm I'm

processing this because I'm thinking how

often I've been pissed off at Chris my

husband yeah because will take on some

challenge together and I'm like this is

not fair like how is it that this is

actually making you lose weight and I

feel like I'm puffier and fluffier and

tired and pissed off yep and I'm

following the same steps I'm doing the

intermittent fasting I'm not eating

beforehand I'm slamming the thing after

I'm doing and I'm like what the hell is

going on and it this is because he's

male and I'm female yep exactly and it

comes really to the brain right so when

we start looking just at first thing you

get up and and our responses are

different where women's Brains will

start going okay where's the food to

come in to help bring my stress hormones

down and get me started for the day okay

and Men by the nature of being XY their

brain's like eh okay I'm going to supply

some amino acids and some blood sugar

and let's get on with the day then we'll

find some food that's fine but women's

brain specifically what we call the

hypothalamus that is really sensitive to

blood sugar and food coming in so if you

get up and you start your your exercise

without any food the hypothalamus is

like wait a second this is a stress to

the body that I need to really try to

figure out but if I don't have food to

counter the fuel that the muscles are

needing from a contraction I need to

find a way to supply that fuel so it

goes into a little bit of a tizzy and

one of the first things that starts to

get broken down is your muscle M cuz

muscle is a pretty active tissue and the

hypothalamus is like well I don't know

if I'm going to be able to supply the

food that this muscle needs if I don't

have any food coming in so it's a very

small amount of food that a woman needs

first thing in the morning to then go be

successful in her training and it's even

if you're going for a walk a lot of

women will get up and go for a walk on

the ospice are you with me like I are

you in my house with me maybe Stacy I'm

I'm sitting here thinking to myself S I

think a lifetime of messaging about like

thin is preferable yeah and that I want

to maximize calories burned so I'm going

to get up and I'm G to have a cup of

coffee because I'm tired and I'm going

to wire myself and then I you know back

in the day would be going for a run or

going to some sort of like Fitness class

uh you know I'm old enough to have been

doing step aerobics and everything else

let's go um

and now and and I've just carried that

over yeah and I also then tell myself a

story that I'm G to get a cramp or I'm

gonna like want to throw up in my mouth

if I'm doing something too much and I've

had too much to eat and so this is a

complete Le different change for me yeah

and it's one that's going to be really

super beneficial so every woman

listening and every woman in your life

if you're listening and your male needs

to know that one of the biggest mistakes

that we're making by following male

Centric Fitness advice is we need as

women biologically and physiologically

speaking to actually have something to

eat first thing when we get up yes yes

and when we start looking at it I've I

did a competition a couple of weekends

ago just for fun and I had so many women

come up and go the first thing that you

did to change my life was to tell me to

eat beforehand and now like my

training's better my outcomes are better

I have more energy and I'm like well of

course cuz your brain is like I can

handle this stress so if you are

supplying fuel to the empty tank of

course you're going to go far if you

think about trying to drive a car and

rev it up and get it on the highway to

at speed with it on E it's not going to

get very far so I try to explain to

women if you're going to get up and even

if you're going for a walk like you want

to maximize what you're doing you want

your metabolism to fire on all cylinders

you want to get some aerobic fitness

through that you need to supply just a

little bit of fuel and it doesn't mean a

full meal it could be the protein coffee

it could be a couple of tablespoons of

yogurt a half a banana it's not a lot

but it's enough to bring your blood

sugar up and tell your brain yeah I I've

got this I've got this so the first

change already small change but critical

one for our biology and Physiology is

you need to eat something before you

move or exercise in the morning yeah and

to also I think like the bigger thing

here for me is that I'm starting to

realize I've been so brainwashed about

the fact that you need to be thin yes

that it's a paradigm shift to actually

think well wait a minute I need to learn

how to work with my body and my natural

wiring to make it work for me and to

actually

optimize the way that my body's designed

as a woman right and one of the things

that um has come up recently in

conversations where uh some women who've

just started into strength training

realm or have dropped all of their you

know big cardio walking because we all

come from the 80s and 90s of let's do 90

minutes of aerobics and and that's not

appropriate so they've gotten out of

that mentality but they'll see other

women at the gym who are on the litical

or treadmill or out running and they

look really lean m and they're like well

I don't understand I kind of want to

look like that but I know that I need to

be doing strength training so I'm

confused the women that are 40 plus who

are doing the cardio for the most part

they're going to be what we call skinny

fat so that means that they're not going

to have a lot of quality muscle there's

going to be a lot of of fatty tissue

within the muscle and their bones are

going to be like chalk because if we are

doing all that cardio work and we're not

looking at how our bodies are aging and

what we need we need the food before the

training we need to put in some strength

training then we're going to

continuously be breaking down the tissue

that we want to keep to age well so when

we're talking about that mentality of

well what do I do it's like these small

steps of yeah let's have some food

before let's look at how we are dosing

our exercise what kinds of intensities

let's bring in some strength training

because all of those are going to feed

forward to having our lean mass having

really strong bones having really good

neuroplasticity so that means how your

brain changes in a positive way so as we

age we don't get dementia so these are

all the things that I would rather women

focus on than the drive from the 9s to

be Kate Moss thin because on the outside

that drive to be super thin is killing

us on the inside wow you you mentioned

protein coffee yeah can you explain what

that is and how that might satisfy the

first takeaway which is eat before you

move in the morning yes so a lot of

women don't have an appetite first thing

in the morning I'm one of those but I

know that I need fuel so I'm very much a

espresso addict I love it and one of the

simple things that I do is I make a

double espresso at night and I mix some

protein powder into my alond milk or

whatever milk you want and then I put

the hot coffee in there and put it in

the fridge overnight and then it's my go

to first thing in the morning where then

I'm getting my 30 gr of protein I'm

getting my caffeine it tastes like a

latte I'm good to go and so that's a

first hit it's a first eating

opportunity to bring in some of that

protein that we need and if you're going

to go do any kind of exercise knowing

that exercise mutes your appetite then

it also helps with that recovery part

because you're going to have those amino

acid circulating your brain's going to

say hey yeah okay I've got stuff to

rebuild tissue so it's a really really

good way of being able to have what you

need without feeling over full and still

enjoying some of the good things of life

like coffee well you've changed my life

already yay because I've got two

takeaways the first one is and I still

want to stay on it so I actually

understand why eating first thing before

I move my body and having fuel first

thing in the morning is actually super

important and I want to unpack that a

little bit more but I want to hover on

the protein coffee because I'm drinking

it right

now you made me one in our studios here

in Boston this is going to change my

life and here's why I have struggled

forever since I've learned and a lot of

us are learning as women that focusing

on more protein and especially getting

protein first thing in the morning is

super important and I'm always

struggling with how the hell am I going

to get 30 grams of protein first thing

in the morning without choking down 10

egg whites and what do I do if I'm on

the go and what do I do if I'm tired of

eggs and what do I do if I don't have a

blender near me and my stuff what do I

like and so you literally took a scoop

of protein shoved it in milk put in

espresso stirred it up and put on ice it

tastes like a freaking milkshake and

what I love about this is that a I can

make it the night before B it's 30 grams

of protein in a cup which c means I

could even take this on the walk with me

I could take this in the car if I'm

dropping my kids off somewhere I could

make this on the road like this is such

an incredible tip so thank you for that

you're welcome what I want to do though

Dr Sims is you mentioned that when women

wake up our brains are different than

the guys and our

stress levels are higher and it is

important to understand that and to give

yourself a little bit of fuel MH what

happens in your

body if you do start eating breakfast in

the morning or you CU a lot of women

skip it a lot of women are now

intermittent fasting a lot of people are

waiting until noon a lot of people don't

want to eat before they exercise because

they don't want cramps or they like

actually want to maximize calorie burn

but what is the benefit to a woman in

particular first thing in the morning if

you give yourself fuel there's a few

things to unpack there so first we look

at eating opportunities because there's

so many women who are one trying to lose

weight or two or in the fitness space

and following some of the trends that

don't eat enough so if you aren't eating

enough you're not going to actually

change your body composition so we look

at eating opportunities first thing in

the morning 30 grams of protein boom

that's an eating opportunity that you're

not really feeling overly full but it's

such a great benefit to the body and

you're ahead of the game by having 30

grams of protein we also look at some of

the newer research that's coming out

about our circadian rhythms or how how

our body goes through 24-hour cycle and

for people who break their fast by

around 8:00 a.m. and then they don't eat

after 6:00 p.m. have all these great

metabolic outcomes that you would expect

from quote intermittent fasting but we

see that people who hold a fast till

noon or after don't get any of that

benefit so if we look well why why is

that we have to understand that half an

hour after a woman wakes up we have a

spike in cortisol that's our stress

hormone if we don't have food to tell

the brain to drop that then we stay in

this heightened stress State and what

cortisol is responsible for is that

fight or flight but also providing fuel

for being able to fight or flight so the

first thing that goes is we start

chewing into our lean mass which is bone

and muscle and a signal to keep our body

fat especially as we start to get older

wait a minute so not eating

and not eating because you think it's

going to help you lose weight actually

counterproductive it's counterproductive

because it's signaling your body to stay

in fight or flight which makes your body

hold on to Fat yes are you kidding me no

I mean when we look at the trends of the

fasted training don't eat be it's all on

male data and the difference between men

and women in the situation is again it

comes down to the brain so a man can get

by with the fasted training because when

when we're looking at getting up and

holding a fast or going training without

food for a man's body it stimulates the

little molecular structures in the

muscles to use more fat because their

muscle structure and the types of fibers

that they have are different than

women's so men have what we call more

glycolytic or fibers that use glucose

and not as many oxidative or the fibers

that use fat as a fuel women we're born

with more of those oxidative fat burning

fibers so when we go and we don't

provide fuel the body's like I'm going

to store fat because I'm going to need

it because that's the preferred fuel for

your muscles so men's bodies will start

to adapt to be able to use more fat

which is why you see fasting and holding

a fast working so well in men but for

women it doesn't do the same because we

have different feedback mechanisms from

the brain we have different muscle

requirements because of different

morphology we call it or different

muscle fiber types so this is where you

know we start looking at all the stuff

that we've been trained to do over the

decades and how counterproductive and

harmful it can be for women who are

trying to improve body composition and

Bone wow now does eating first thing in

the morning because you mentioned the

Circadian rhythm for a woman also help

you sleep better at night absolutely how

come because if we're look looking at

decreasing our overall stress response

so that cortisol bringing the cortisol

down over the course of time you're

going to have a lower Baseline of that

cortisol if you have a lower Baseline of

cortisol then your body can get into

what we call parasympathetic so that's

what you need to sleep if you have this

high elevation of cortisol all the time

we're always sympathetically wired so we

can't get into deep reparative sleep so

you see a lot of Awakenings the other

thing that happens when women frontload

their Foods so we have a lot of of our

calories in the day which we should then

when we go to sleep we aren't waking up

with hypoglycemia that means we're not

waking up with low blood sugar because a

lot of women who undereat or hold a fast

and they aren't eating enough their

Awakenings at night is due to low blood

sugar I thought it was because I had to

pee it's also because of the low blood

sugar Doctor S where the hell have you

been like I I needed you in my life like

decades ago I needed me then too it's

taken me this long to be able to acquire

all the knowledge and the research so

now I'm hoping that we can hit all of

the listeners and so that they will

learn what we should have known decades

ago this is so eye opening like already

you

have highlighted so many differences

between men and women just in the

morning just in the stress levels just

in the fuel that we need in the morning

in the muscle comp composition like all

of it and it also is very Illuminating

because it makes a lot of sense then as

to why the programs that work for Chris

and seem to work like magic actually

leave me frustrated and tired yeah so

what would be the ideal breakfast for

anyone whether like and let's just talk

about the person who just wants to move

more they want to take better care of

their body they want to understand how

their body works so that you're getting

better results and you're feeling better

in your life so what would breakfast

look like just on an average morning if

you know for anybody yeah that I will

say that it's a hard one because people

have different food preferences how

about an avatar what's an avatar a a

makeup person okay a makeup person

makeup person so we'll say there's a

woman who is plant-based but not

vegetarian know so she has a preference

for plants three kids you know super

busy wakes up has been waking up tired

but wired didn't sleep well was like

okay I need to make this change never

hungry in the morning so we can split

her breakfast it could be overnight oats

which is chiaia seeds oatmeal some um

milk or or oat milk to soak it then when

she gets up she's like I'm going to

split that in half the first half I'm

going to add some berries and maybe

another tablespoon of Greek yogurt CU

then I'm going to get some protein

carbohydrate some Fiber and it's going

to calm me down it's going to tell my

brain yep ready to go okay then

you either are going out for your walk

maybe you're going to do some home

strength training maybe you're meeting a

friend for a session maybe you're taking

15 minutes of Just Breath work to to

bring yourself down especially if you're

the Avatar of three kids in a busy life

just taking that moment to put yourself

first and then when you get back maybe

it's an hour hour and a half later you

have the second half the second half of

those overnight oats with a few more

tablespoons of Greek yogurt and some

nuts and berries because then you're

getting the protein carbohydrate so

you've actually split your breakfast but

you've given your body the benefit of

food on different eating opportunities

without being over full but at the end

you end up with 30 grams of protein over

the course of a couple of hours so it's

easy you can mix it up do it the night

before you know that I'm not that hungry

but if I have a little bit and then over

the course of a couple of weeks you're

going to find that you're going to wake

up go yeah I need some food and this is

kind of a reset of your circadian rhythm

your body is starting to fall in line

your hypothalamus is understanding your

appetite hormones are starting to work

properly and when all of that feeds

forward then you're going to start to

see changes in body composition because

you're having better sleep because we

can't change anything if our sleep is

perturbed so the more we focus on how

are we going to work with our body's

natural rhythms and the way that our

hormones work the the more it feeds into

better parasympathetic drive for better

sleep I have just so screwed this up

like I literally wake up I delay the

coffee I exercise on an empty stomach I

then have my coffee which I'm then

drinking on an empty stomach which means

I've now maximized stressing myself out

and then I'm slamming something that has

30 45 grams of protein after I work out

and so what have you done if you are the

kind of person like I am that you've

bought into all the BS and you've

basically been starving yourself in the

morning and even if you get out for a

walk how are you kind of actually not

only not getting the benefit but you're

making it worse what's happening in like

the person's body when you do not feed

yourself first thing in the morning as a

woman yeah I always bring it down to

what are we doing when when we want to

exercise right we're looking for better

blood glucose control we're looking for

better bone we're looking for better

muscle if you're not eating then you are

not going to get better at any of that

stuff because the body again is like I

need fuel for the stress that's

occurring and I need fuel for the

exercise so if you've been brainwashed

like I am MH and you're exercising

because you are trying to like lose

weight or you're trying to look thin

MH what is happening if I continue to go

down that route where I don't eat before

I exercise and I'm basically starving

myself and I'm going for my walk and I'm

delaying food you lose muscle and then

the other thing when we look at women

who are late 30s early 40s onwards we

get a signal to put on more visceral fat

so that's that deep belly fat that that

metabolically active that can be

dangerous so I'll see women who are at

you know doing the same Pursuit and

really proud of the fact that they're

intermittent fasting they're not

breaking their fast till noon they've

had their coffee to hold them through

and you do a DEA and what's a DEA a DEA

is when you go and you get a complete

body scan so it looks at your muscle it

looks at fat where Fat's put it looks at

how dense your bones are so we see their

dexa results and on the outside they

look healthy right but on the inside

it's a bit of a scary story where we see

low bone density we see an increase of

fat accumulating in the belly area which

means that it's more what we call

metabolically active so you see a change

in your um cholesterol so you have more

of the quote bad cholesterol that's

elevated you have more inflammatory

markers which is a predisposition for

diabetes we see insulin resistance so I

know that there are listeners and maybe

you know you're thinking about well I've

been doing this forever and I don't have

any bad blood markers what's going on I

didn't say that it necessarily comes out

that's the worst case scenario but when

we look at what's happening on the

inside side I don't want your bones to

be like chalk and I don't want you not

to have muscle to be able to get up and

run after your grandkids or carry your

groceries into your house so if we just

make that Small Change by having some

food first thing and then carrying on

with your day you're going to get the

impetus to build muscle you're going to

get the impetus to keep your bone and

you're going to be able to reduce the

signaling for that deep belly fat and

it's all those Health like I understand

it I've been there I grew up in that

same 1980s 1990s and I still get it in

my head sometimes like well is this the

right thing and I'm I've done the

research I've been in the lab I've

implemented it so it is really difficult

to get your head around yeah but you

have to look at the long terms like

where do you want to be in 5 years 10

years 15 years from now well and I also

think it's just like if you actually are

working out not only to take care of

yourself but because you do want to

change the composition of your body you

do want to be a little leaner you do

want to be stronger that focusing on the

actual science and this is like a

complete turnaround for me that you need

to actually eat more yes in order to

lose exactly which is the exact opposite

of the brainwashing that all women and

girls have have received for their

entire life right and so it's so helpful

to hear you talk about the science and

it makes so much sense because I think

we've all had that experience in our

life we're like I am trying and this

isn't working right and the first

mistake that I've been making for now 56

years I'm understanding is literally not

eating before I exercise yeah and you

know one thing I want to ask is does

this work for everyone you know I got

this listener question because when

people found out that you were coming oh

my God it was like our website crashed

Ruby wrote in why do some people have

natural muscle tone and some of us can

eat right work out and we are still

flabby and not

toned there are lots of things on this

and I wish that Ruby was in this room

because then I could say well let's look

at um your morphology so your body type

so there are some women who have a

better predisposition for building

muscle we call those mesomorphic and

then we have other women who struggle

really hard to put muscle Mass on and

they tend to be a little bit flaber and

that is more of our endomorphic and then

we have in the middle the ectomorphic

that are the super skinny K moss and

most of the time people are a mix of

that okay so when we look at those

different muscle types and you're

looking at doing all the work and not

getting any benefit I want to see what

kind of training you're doing because if

we are looking at when you're eating and

how you're complimenting your exercise

then we can make gains and every woman's

a little bit different like my sister

she isn't so into Athletics and stuff

that I am we grew up in the same

household but I was always out building

tree forts and she was in reading books

uhhuh but over the past year she's

really put herself into getting stronger

and strength training body composition

is changing her grip strength is

stronger and she's like I never really

thought that lifting weights would help

me change my body composition I was like

why have you not thought of that like if

if you're lifting under load you build

muscle she's like but then that's weight

on the scale and I was always afraid of

the weight on the scale not the outcome

of looking better right and then we also

because we've been so gaslit to think

that it's about being so thin right that

and that's what's desirable that you

hear build muscle and you're like but I

don't want to bulk up I'm actually

trying to lean down yeah and what you're

saying is no no no this is actually like

putting on your own Spanx with your

muscles right it tightens you up right

and I will say like I sit here and I

know people always comment about my

arms and it takes a lot of work to get

arms like that I would think yeah but

the other thing is I they're amazing

arms thanks I I'm wearing a long sleeve

shirt for a

reason if I had your arms I'd be wearing

a tank top too I would love it if all of

this would go lower body like I have

tried for years to get really strong

hamstrings and really strong glutes

they're strong but they're not bulky

it's just mesomorphic up here

ectomorphic down so it's the difference

in the

combination um but I went through a time

where I was really upset with the fact

that I had more muscle like when I was

bike racing I tried really really hard

to lose it but I couldn't because my

body's like no this is how you are born

so women who are like I'm really trying

to build muscle it doesn't necessarily

mean you're going to get bulky

if you don't have a genetic

predisposition for putting muscle on

really really easily it's really hard to

get bulky and for most women who are

trying to put muscle on not eating or

doing lots of cardio work you're not

going to put muscle on it's really hard

to get

bulky so what do you want everyone to

know about exercise as opposed to diet

ah so when we look at all the diet

trends that are out there right we see

the plant face the carnivorous the keto

the intermittent fasting all of the

things they are born out of a Want For

Better Health body composition better

gut all of those things but if you

exercise then you get all of those

things and wait say that again yeah okay

so hold on a second so all of those

diets are designed to try to create a

health outcome through eating yes but if

you exercise the exercise provides the

health outcome yes because we look at

exercis as a stress like we have gotten

into a societal idea that we all live in

the same kind of temperature we have

automatic garage door openers we have

the internet we have our computers even

driverless cars so we have created this

environment where we don't move the

outcome of having a environment where we

don't move we don't have a lot of green

space or opportunities to even walk

places is now we have this obesity

epidemic and even if you're not facing

obesity you're facing some

overweightness and you're being

bombarded by all these diet

Styles if we were just to put a pause on

the diet style and just take a step back

and say you know what if I go back to

eating normally which means that I'm

eating breakfast lunch dinner and I'm

not eating snacks after dinner and I'm

kind of paying attention to kind of food

that I'm eating so it's nutrient dense

it's not all these ultr processed things

there's no protein Pop-Tarts CU it says

protein on it you know what I call this

Dr Sims the grandparent diet yes okay

basically how your grandparents lived

right exactly and then you put in some

exercise because exercise is a stress

the body is very adaptable to stress so

if we're looking at doing a longer

harder walk up a hill after a couple of

weeks of doing that it's going to be

easy cuz your body's adapted to that

stress oh we call it getting fitter but

actually your body has adapted all of

its mechanisms to that stress so if

we're looking at how do I get a better

okay hold on a second so I just had this

like Epiphany okay I can't believe how

many bombs you're dropping today like I

I I I've never thought about exercise

that way because I've focused on you

have to exercise to get in better shape

what you're saying is exercise is

intentionally moving and stressing your

body in a way that it needs and is

designed to do yeah and in response to

the stress your body gets stronger at

being able to manage stress exactly oh

my God it's a stress resilience and the

reason why we're so flabby and

everything else is because we're sitting

around and not moving and not stressing

our bodies in the way that we need to

and that only makes us more stressed out

right because we look at stress mental

health all of the things that are really

plaguing everyone and the part of it is

lack of community lack of empathy all of

these things that breed depression

mental health and the fact that we

aren't moving our bodies there's so much

research out there that says if you go

for a walk you're you are reducing

stress if you go for a walk and you

actually go to a green space so that's

to a park and you're in nature it

induces an incredible parasympathetic

response which means that you reduce

stress but because we are so ingrained

to doing all the things all the time

inside sitting and not actually getting

outside having the fresh air having that

connection with being outside and moving

our bodies we are by Design now a global

of very stressed out unempathetic

depressed people and if we're talking

about how do we just make one small

change to improve our mental health

that's exercise I'm not necessarily here

as an exercise physiologist to tell you

the listener to go out and go for a long

hard walk because you want better body

composition I'm here as an exercise

physiologist to explain what exercise is

it is an incredible positive stress on

the body that creates changes from

central nervous system down to the

smallest little thing in your cell to

improve your overall stress resilience

and Metabolism meaning how your body

handles food how your brain reacts to

stress how your brain perceives an

environment and you just the moving part

really does help bring Center and bring

yourself back to you I believe it and I

want to see if I can

just use an example to try to to really

paint the picture of what you're

teaching us right now which is an

entirely different way to think about

the importance of movement and exercise

strength training whatever it is that

you're going to do MH when you go for a

walk and let's say you go for a walk and

you were mentioning you go for a walk

and there's a hill in your neighborhood

and when you have to go up the hill

we've all experienced this you get

shortness of breath you got to be using

your legs a little bit more to go up the

incline mhm make it a little winded a

little sweaty yep even if you got a dog

on a leash pulling you up the hill like

you're going and that is you by

exercising your body putting yourself in

a stressful situation right because it's

requiring your body to exert effort and

to move against that incline and it's

designed to do that yeah and if you keep

doing that over time what you're

actually doing in addition to all the

positive things that happen is you're

training your

body on how to be strong in situations

that are stressful right so the more

that you walk and the more that you

build muscle and the more that you take

the advice that you're about to give us

about what we should specifically be

doing as women fast forward six months

from now if you keep doing that and

you're sitting in a stressful meeting at

work the impact of that outside stress

on you is going to be way less because

you and your life have been

strengthening your body by going to the

gym and going for a walk so that your

body can actually be in stressful

situations and not get hijacked exactly

so the whole flight or fight response

that people talk about with cortisol

we're flighting we're teaching our body

that flight by exercising and your

body's like this is a stress I need to

understand it overcome it get stronger

could also think about it as the fight

response too cuz if you're in the gym

and you're building the muscle and

you're ready to go coiled up ready to go

your body's learning that stress because

it's we're not an algorithm we adapt to

so many different things so if we put

our body into an uncomfortable or a

challenged situation doesn't like it so

it learns how to overcome that and get

stronger in the process so when I you

know as you're explaining it's like yes

it's all about stress resilience we're

resilient to stress in a meeting our

immune system is also really resilient

to stuff that's going around and we're

also resilient enough to maintain a

focus if we're getting ready to lose it

and our kid goes off like we're not

going to break down and start yelling at

our partner or our kid because we have

the stress resilience we're able to take

that

pause it makes so much sense and you

know you've talked a lot about strength

training why is strength training so

important for women in

particular yeah I wish I had known about

strength training way back when like I

was introduced to it when I was 16

because my friend's brother was a

bodybuilder and I was like oh okay I'll

go cuz Michelle you're going I'll go

with you but I didn't really realize

what that meant so when we talk about

the science of strength training right

now we know that with age we lose muscle

really quickly start to lose it when we

hit 30 and it's really important because

one it's an active tissue so it helps

maintain so many different systems in

our body not only that but we think

about strength training and how it um

puts leverage on the bone to improve

bone but the big thing really is when we

think about cognitive decline so we see

that there's a sex difference as we get

older in Alzheimer's dementia cognitive

decline and it has to do with brain

brain metabolism so that's the fuel that

your brain uses and what we call

neuroplasticity or how your brain

adapts and creates neural Pathways if

we're strength training then we yeah

we're taking care of our bone and a

muscle but it's creating signals to the

brain to increase its ability to be

really plastic so it's like yeah okay I

need to have a new PA pathway let's

develop that pathway and so it's always

changing it's like sidoku right you're

mentally working on that but strength

training does the same thing but it also

Improv improves overall metabolism so

now your brain is very flexible and it's

like okay well I need glucose but then I

can use lactate so when you start doing

all of these things it reduces your

chances of developing cognitive issues

so for women I'm always like yeah

strength training is great because we're

building all these things we're changing

our body composition but for the long

term we want to have a good body and a

good mind so for doing these things and

creating more Pathways and

developing existing Pathways and making

the brain very responsive and able to be

flexible then we're going to have a

really good sound mind when we're all

doing Zimmer frame races when we're 100

what are Zimmer frame races you know

those frames that old women have to use

and or old men I've never seen those I

don't know what you're talking about in

the nursing homes you haven't seen those

silver Walkers oh yes I thought that was

a game you were talking about so the I

have a feeling you're not going to be

using a walker I have a feeling you're

going the one teaching us all how to

lift weights when we're 90 years old in

the nursing home together well no I'll

be using a Zimmer frame I'll be doing

the races with everyone else because I

can't say that my joints are all that

great so what is the biology behind

building muscle and how is it different

for men versus women like what do women

need to know women are what we call more

fatigue resistant so as I was describing

earlier the differences in the muscle

fiber types right so women have more of

those fat burning we call endurant

fibers so that means that you can do

lots of work and then you recover

relatively quickly so when we're looking

at sets and Reps and things like that

women don't need as much recovery time

between your sets and Reps to be able to

have the same kind of training stress

now break that down please because I

don't know anything that you just talked

about I was like sets reps okay what are

we doing so say have a man and a woman

that go to the gym and they're like okay

I'm supposed to do five sets so that's

five sets so yeah this is there a lot I

know it's an avatar here okay well let's

just use an avatar of somebody who is

just starting okay so like we're gonna

like what's the bare minimum doctors I'm

looking for something I can succeed at

five sets sounds like a lot yeah I'll

get to there but I want I wanted to

explain the biology okay you tell me

biology I'll give you the biology and

then I'll give you the actionable where

to start thank you Dr SS all right so if

we take a man and a woman they go to the

gym and they have this the similar

program where they're supposed to do

five sets of five reps on the three

minutes so what does that mean you do

five reps of a squat in 3 minutes so

however long it takes you to do those

and then you rest the rest of the time

for the 3 minutes okay so maybe it takes

you 30 seconds to do your five squats

and then you have 2 minutes and 30

seconds to recover oh okay okay and you

do that five times so that's 5 by five

so if a man and a woman both do that and

we look over time the strength the

relative strength gain so that means

relative to sex and body weight the man

will acquire better strength gains in a

woman but if we were to change that

recovery for the woman to go five sets

on 5x5 on the 2 minute so she does it in

30 seconds and has a minute 30 recovery

then over course of time she'll have the

same outcomes because her body is like I

don't need as much rest so it starts to

kind of downturn with so much rest so

you can put more training stress on and

less time as a woman wow so this is one

of the things that we're starting to

really discover in the strength training

research because it's relatively new

we're like okay we know that there's the

sex differences in the muscle fiber

types where women have more of these you

know endurant type fibers men have more

of the fast glycolytic fibers so if we

really want to maximize the outcome of

our strength training we need to work to

women's physiology where they don't need

as much rest to get the same kind of um

stress and outcome and you know what I

like about that it means it doesn't take

as much time exactly I have a lot of

time so that's very good news Dr Sims

you know I'm about to ask you a bunch of

questions about like the specifics of

what we should be doing but I had one

question you know whenever I'm

complaining about uh my body or you know

feeling out of shape or whatever it is

that I want to change my husband always

turns me and says well don't forget abs

are built in the kitchen not in the gym

yeah is this like a man's is that what

works for men that works for men

definitely yep because when I hear that

abs are built in the kitchen not in the

gym I'm like am I supposed to starve

myself like what what are you talking

about right so this comes back to the uh

you know the fasting and I get really

frustrated where men will drop alcohol

they'll drop sugar and then all of a

sudden their abs are ripped right they

like belly fat gone yes but for women we

tend to store belly fat correct and if

I'm not drinking yeah I want results I

know but it doesn't necessarily happen

no it doesn't Dr Sims it doesn't this is

not fair no cuz I don't understand my

own body I know it's very frustrating

and I've been listening to the Bro

Science and my stupid husband telling me

the advice that works for him and he's

he's only trying to help so what do I so

why does it not work that way for women

we have a higher percent body fat for

one and again it comes down to food

intake and hypothalamus so if we start

taking out food and not replacing those

calories with something else then we end

up in a lower energy state so that's a

that could be a whole another podcast

but basically we're not eating enough to

support body composition change and

health outcomes so if we talk about ABS

in the kitchen if we're eating the same

kind of grandparent diet then we're

going to have the same outcomes right

but if we have the extra 20 bit of life

where we're having chocolate and whiskey

and all those fun things a man can take

it out and get super ripped woman takes

it out there's no

change why because the hypothalamus is

like where are those calories I need

those calories so if we want to eat a

little bit cleaner we have to make sure

that we're actually providing enough

calories so if we're providing enough

calories and our body's like yep sweet

we got enough for all the things that we

need to do in a day overcome the stress

and we have enough to uh fuel the

training and the changes we want with

the exercise we're doing you're going to

get those abs wow and then the compound

movements like working abs in a

functional way not doing sit-ups but

like doing deadlifts or squats where you

have to use your abs as a support

mechanism builds them faster than you

see you know guys on the floor doing

lots of sit-ups or rushing twist yeah

they're going to get those strong ABS

but for women it's better to do this

compound for that torsion to be able to

use that as support because then it

allows us to stand upright and have

better posture because our center of

gravity is down in our hips men's center

of gravity is up in their chest so if

we're working to control our posture and

develop the strength through our core

and we're standing up taller our ABS

show wow cuz I I would be a happy woman

if I never had to do a crunch again and

so if I'm actually lifting that could be

true so let's talk about the specific

things we should be doing okay what is

the minimum amount of exercise that a

woman needs to maintain her health and

to be strong if we are looking from an

age standpoint okay okay let's start

with our 20s in our 20s you can get away

with a lot right what does that mean so

that means that you could do bare

minimum couple of days a week of mixed

aerobic and strength training so you

don't have to do that much okay so it

could be a total body circuit set twice

a week and that means like going to the

gym and doing the machines you could do

that or you could do an at home circuit

where you can do what I say every every

minute on the minute so you warm up with

stretches and Mobility for five or so

minutes and then you have five minutes

where one minute is jumping lunges the

next minute might be some push-ups the

third minute might be um some overhead

thrust or you know you're pushing

something overhead the fourth minute

might be some air squats and then the

fifth minute is completely off where

you're recovering you do that circuit

two or three times that's all you need

wow and you don't even need equipment no

that's your bare minimum right because

we're talking bare minimums and talk to

me about cardio because we've all been

so obsessed with cardio so is cardio a

good thing is it a bad thing so cardio

is interesting because it's about

intensity so if we're talking about

going for a walk that's really good like

you're walking with a friend perfect

because that's going to allow you to

have some metabolic change it's going to

improve your blood glucose it's going to

improve your body stress resilience and

hey you get to hang out with a friend so

that's great it's Community it's

connection it's all the great things so

that's one kind of cardio if we're

looking at improving our blood pressure

you can do some walking but what we find

is true high-intensity work that's uh

really directed with call it Sprint

interval training where it's 30 seconds

or less as hard as you can go and it

doesn't have to be running it could be

kettle bell swings could be air squats

jumping lunges could be running could be

cycling anything that's going to make

you go as hard as you can for 30 seconds

or less and recover for two minutes you

might do two or three of those and that

is such a strong stress that it creates

this whole Cascade of change that

improves your entire cardiovascular

system okay so let me make sure I'm

tracking so one thing that you would

tell us to do

is to do Sprint training which sounds

horrible but it actually as you broke it

down was like oh I could do that yeah 30

seconds or less of something that's high

intensity whether you're sprinting on a

treadmill or you're doing kettle ball

swings or you're doing push-ups or

you're doing jumping jacks or just

something right and then you rest for a

minute and a half minute and a half to

two minutes because we want a full

recovery from it's more of a central

nervous system recovery because we want

to be able to go just as hard if not

harder for the next interval and then

how many of those am I doing so you

don't want to do any more than five oh I

love the minimum that's it yeah I can do

that that's the maximum five is the

maximum now we're talking Dr Sims some

people will go I can do all five and

then they start and if they're doing it

properly after two they're like I can't

do anymore that's fine you've gotten

that impetus of stress and it creates

this whole Cascade where all of a sudden

your muscles are releasing signals

called myocin that now is telling your

liver let's not store that visceral fat

we need the that fat for other things

it's also telling your body we don't

want to store Under the Skin

subcutaneous fat we need that fat for

other things it's also telling your

muscles to open up and bring

carbohydrate in so our insulin become or

we become more sensitive to insulin so

there's so many great things about that

high high intensity and by the way your

blood vessels are going to respond

really well so you get better blood

vessel compliance vasod dilation

constriction so better blood pressure

control because again your body responds

to stress and it's such a strong stress

your body's like there's this whole

Myriad of things that I need to be able

to do to do that stress again so it's a

really effective means of getting heart

health better metabolic health and

better body composition and burning fat

in 30 seconds of effort yeah I mean I I

am G to I actually going to do that good

that sounds like something because when

you were going the box I'm like I think

I can absolutely do that and again I

also love that it doesn't take a lot of

time no I mean I come from a huge

endurance background but now I'm tra

like I live in New Zealand I'm traveling

the world I have a daughter I have a

business super busy and I still want to

exercise because one it helps with

stress resilient two yeah I'm like you

know there's a little Aesthetics and

vanity in there of course and Sprint

interval it's so between lifting three

days a week and some Sprint training

that's pretty much what I do because

that's all I have time for lifting three

days a week MH and that Sprint training

we just heard of 30 second bursts full

recovery for a minute and a half to two

minutes and try to do it five times

maximum yep and sometimes I put that on

the end of my strength training because

if I'm already at the gym I might finish

with some aerodine bike you know 30

seconds as hard as I can go so I'm

maximizing time so I don't spend any

more than 45 minutes to an hour in the

gym so if you had to bottom line what a

woman should be doing in her 20s versus

her 30s versus or 40s versus 50s and up

what would it be so strength training

across the board okay the type of

strength training you do is different so

when we're in our 20s and our early 30s

we can do some of the protocol stuff

that that is out there for men like

you're doing your 10 to 12 reps or

you're going to failure or you're going

in you're doing a full body workout

you're going to get results as we start

to get into our mid-30s and onward we

start to have changes in our estrogen

progesterone and it doesn't quite work

for us okay because now we need to find

an external stress that's going to

create the same responses that those

hormones used to support okay so now we

want to look at more of a power-based

type training what does that mean yeah

like 30 up your hormones change and now

the 10 to 12 reps that we've all been

socialized

does not work is why we all start

bitching about the fact that our bodies

are not responding to what we always

used to do this makes a lot of sense Dr

Sims so when you're doing the higher

reps it's more of what we call metabolic

stress so that's more like muscle

contraction using fuel yeah but it's not

an impetus to build lean mass or to

become stronger so this is where I say

the power base so when we're talking

about the spectrum of weights and and

and the reps and sets and stuff power

based is zero to six to eight reps oh I

love that I can do less yes but it has

to be heavy okay has to be heavy but

okay yeah so that means that you go and

you pick up say we pick up this 20 right

and you're like oh yeah I can do 10

overhead no problem maybe I could do two

more great so we call that 10 with two

reps in reserve okay we want you to be

at a six with two reps in reserve so

that means I would have you put the 20

down and pick up those 30s and see can

you do six really good wow not failing

form and then could you eek out two more

great that's the weight that we want you

to use gotcha so I'm definitely lifting

way too

light and I am lifting far too much of

it like the little tiny two pound

weights with the put those down put

those down like those aren't doing

anything for my chicken wing arms no no

not at all okay not at all well that

explains it because I'm like why does

this hurt so much and I'm getting zero

result here yeah but my daughter's

literally look like they're cut yeah wow

cuz they respond well to metabolic

stress as our bodies get older we need

more of a central nervous system Goa so

the general takeaway here is that when

we hit that sort of late 30s to 40s Mark

and our estrogen is dropping and our

bodies are changing and we're not

getting the same results you got to

really focus on these Sprint trainings

and also doing weight training where the

load is heavier but the reps are are

shorter yeah but I don't want women who

are listening to go oh I heard Mel's

podcast and I have to go lift these

heavy weights and do Sprint training it

takes time yeah to learn how to do

things well without getting injured

because I mean when we get older we're

more susceptible to soft tissue injury

joint injuries so I always want women to

learn how to move first so if you've

never done any kind of strength training

don't be put off by oh I heard I have to

lift heavy weights I better not do at

all no any kind of resistance is good

maybe it's just body weight at the start

maybe you're doing a body weight circuit

and then maybe you're putting a backpack

with some stuff that's in there to make

it a little bit heavier maybe you're

following somebody online that's

teaching you how to move properly first

and over the course of time you can add

load because your body is learning how

to move and it's becoming stress

resilient so you add load to increase

that stress and then over the course of

six to eight months you're going to be

in lifting heavy weights and doing the

Sprints without injury so it's not a

training block like we've all been

conditioned to what do I do every day in

and out in and out so I can get X

results we want to think about what am I

doing to improve my overall health my

strength my bones my brain so that when

I'm 80 I'm self-sufficient when I'm 90

I'm self-sufficient it's not a training

Block it's a lifestyle that we want in

so it takes time to build into that

lifestyle so I another question from a

listener named Aaron is it better to use

machines or free

weights with machines I want people to

realize that it's hard for a woman to

actually get the machines to fit well

because they are designed for a 58 to 6

foot guy who's 160 to 190 lbs so if you

are outside of that Norm it's really

hard to get the right fit which can

predispose you to

injury if if you are just getting

started it can be a way because you're

not going to put a lot of load on you're

not going to get as injured like I'm not

for me personally I'm not a huge fan of

something like Planet Fitness but I do

appreciate the fact that they've opened

the doors to so many people to make

lifting accessible so a woman can go in

and use their machine circuit and get

some resistance and some load to start

to get them self resilient so then they

can move away from those machines and

get into to dumbbells I like more of the

free weights where you have a barbell or

a dumbbell because you have to use more

of your stabilizing muscles which is how

we move anyway because you're not going

to go pick up a bag of groceries just

with your arm right so if you're looking

at um bicep curls or tricep dips on a

machine that's not functional per se yes

you're adding load but I like it when

people are okay I've got to lift the

groceries or I've got to lift this

overhead so I'm going to do a full squat

using my abs and I'm going to go from

ground to overhead it could be with a

plate could be with a dumbbell it could

just be that motion at start because we

have to think about how we move in the

day I would love to have you talk

directly to the person listening who has

never stepped foot in a gym because I do

think you know even though I'm in shape

and I know a little bit about what I

should be doing I always feel

intimidated when I go to a gym

because there's always guys like it's

filled with guys yep and there's more

and more women which is great but if I

walk into a gym even at a hotel and I'm

seeing all the machines and then I see

the free weight space and then I see the

little space over and I don't know

exactly what I should be doing right I

don't stay long and I leave and I would

love to have you since you've been in

this industry for so long talk to the

person who wants to do something and

wants to learn about this but the idea

of actually walking into the local gym

is just daunting yep so what do you want

them to know though about the people at

the front desk

and the way that people at a gym think

about somebody new Walking In yeah so

gyms are super gendered I sometimes get

intimidated you do yeah so I'll say like

if I go to a typical bro gym like a

Gold's Gym mhm I'll walk in and I'll see

the lifting platforms and there's some

big dudes and I'm like uh maybe I'll

come back I'll go do something else

first so it's it's still there because

the gems are so gendered and it's a

fault of that industry where you walk in

as a woman the front desk person looks

at you and goes oh okay how much weight

do you want to lose here's the cardio

machines here are our classes if a guy

walks in they're like yo bro how much

weight do you want to put on how much

muscle the lifting platforms are back

there and we have bumper plates and our

dumbbells go up to 80 lbs so you know

it's all back there but it's so gendered

even if you feel like I'm going to go to

the free weights because you have to

walk through all the treadmills and the

ellipticals and cardio and then you like

the free weights are here and then the

lifting platforms are at the back yes so

it's not surprising that someone who's

not ever been in a gym situation doesn't

want to go into a gym situation

and the way that we can get started in

this is put the gem out out of your head

at the moment right so we can look at

there are two main things that allow

women to thrive in strength training one

is knowing what to do and two is

community right we see that working out

with someone else is fun for one thing

and two it allows you to push yourself a

little bit harder it's just

intrinsically you want to keep up or you

don't want to look like the weak link

it's just a psych psychological things

so Community working working out with

someone is super important so if you're

someone who's like I don't want to go to

the gym I don't know what to do well we

can look at some of the online things

that are out there so like if you're

really super super basic and you want

someone to work with maybe oneon-one or

maybe a small group you could look to

someone like Loretta hog who does

Loretta loves lifting she's very like

she trains her mom she trains other

people who are just trying to really

understand how to do stuff in their

house it's a very basic way of starting

and you can move forward from there if

you're someone who's like I got that

part but I want to work out with a

friend and we want to set program then

maybe you look at someone like the Betty

rocker where she has specific programs

where we can work out with her in her

community or you and a friend can work

out together and that's a way to do more

stuff with dumbbells in the house then

we can move forward and go to something

like Haley happens Fitness that I've

partnered with where it's from the gym

where you actually have an app that

shows you what to do you can go into the

gym you know exactly what machines or or

barbell or dumbbells to use you bring in

a friend you can both do it together so

you're like here's my app this is what I

do you can record everything keeps

progress and you know exactly what to do

and it's guided for 12 weeks and it's

Progressive overload so you get benefit

there's lots of conversations there's

lots of community around it or you can

even look if you're really confident and

you're like yep I got that too I want to

get straight to barbell with some

dumbbell then you can look at something

like Annie tourist daughters Empower

which has a page from Crossfit so

there's all sorts of levels that you can

find and the big thing is grab a friend

have a friend and have that ownership to

say for 20 minutes let's meet have our

conversation and do this together

because we're going to get strong

together and it's fun I've been trying

to get my daughter engaged in some

strength training stuff and she's 12 we

have a project coming up where she needs

to know how to move properly and I have

her working with one of my friends in a

high performance gym but it's not

lifting it's moving and having fun so

she has another little friend in there

who's a surfer and a soccer player just

like she is and they go there and they

have fun she came back first day fizzing

going I didn't know how fun it could be

at the gym especially when you have a

friend I'm like exactly it's the adult

playground but little kids are being EXP

go to it it's like come into my

playground a playground it is absolutely

a playground where else can you like

jump up and down on things and then like

there's a rope and you can pull the Rope

or there's a sled and you can push and

pretend you're a bear or whatever it is

it doesn't matter everyone's there

sweating everyone's there doing stuff

it's like make it time to play don't

make it something that you're like I

don't want to go this is too hard and I

appreciate the list of resources and

we'll make sure to link to those in the

show notes so I have a bunch of burning

questions that listeners submitted okay

and we may have covered some of this but

I'm just going to hit these so that I

make sure to cover the things that keep

people kept writing in about that they

wanted you to answer Dr Sims okay can

you talk about cold plunging sure should

women be doing it what are the mistakes

that we're making what's the difference

between men and women and cold plunging

so inherently women don't need as cold

so thank you we don't no why when we're

looking at stress response cuz that's

how I view all the environmental and

exercise things is what kind of stress

it puts on the body when a woman gets

into ice cold or cold water and gets in

there it invokes such a severe strong

stress response much stronger than a

male's response that her body goes into

uh more of a shutdown phase where it

invokes a sympathetic dve and it doesn't

create the metabolic changes that we see

with men if you were to take a woman and

put her in 15 or 16° Celsius which is

around that 55 degree Mark she'll end up

with the same responses that a man has

because it's not a severe shock to a

woman's body as it is for a man's why is

that because we have more body fat so we

tend to vasod dilate and Vaso constrict

first for controlling our temperature We

Men will Vaso constrict and sweat when

they're cold no we're talking about just

in general okay so if we're taking a

woman and putting her in ice the body's

first response to environmental change

is severe oaso constriction and with

women with rain odds we have a stronger

constriction response because it's a

protective mechanism for men they'll

constrict and then start shivering to

induce heat women will just constrict if

we put ourselves into that 55 to 60

degree water or 15 to 16° C will

constrict and then start shivering so

we'll get the same benefit it's just the

ice is too cold for us to start that

shivering so we need the Shivering for

thermogenesis to get some of those

responses so we don't need ice we need

cool water I have been doing this all

wrong and do you feel uncomfortable when

you get in the ice well I I I mean I

live in southern Vermont so there's

always like an ice slick on the thing

and you're like having to take an Axe

and you know cut up the top of the

barrel or keep an agricultural bubbler

in it to keep it from freezing it's it's

got to be at least 32 degrees Yeah too

cold and my husband gets in it and he's

like a freaking like meditation Zen he

just gets in sits down he starts

shivering I climb in that sucker and I'm

like and then I can barely breathe I

never shiver right and the Shivering is

what you're supposed to be doing in

there yes because shivering is an

automatic uh response for survival

because when we're shivering we're

increasing metabolic heat so we're able

to keep our core temperature elevated so

we don't die and it's a strong response

that the body has to cold for women when

we're Vaso constricting and we're trying

to hold heat in we don't have the

capacity because water on the cold skin

is pulling out the heat so fast that the

body is just getting colder and colder

and colder and we won't really start

shivering when it's that cold so when

we're looking at like if you get in the

ice it's way colder than if you get into

a plunge pool that's cold so if we have

4° plunge pool 4 de Celsius so that's

about 38° Fahrenheit and you sit there

in a little microclimate and you don't

move at all you'll create a warm bubble

around you and then you might start to

shiver so that's what we say if you fall

through the ice and you're trying to

swim it's like no just try to Bob there

to keep this warm microclimate around

around you so if you get in cool water

and you don't move then you might start

shivering but for the most part that

doesn't happen so for women let's look

at a little bit warmer so we get the

same kind of responses and adaptations

that men have and if you do this in 55

degree water so it's more cool it's not

ice cold right what is the benefit to a

woman's

body by doing a cold plunge and how long

should you be in it so when we look at a

cold plunge the whole idea again is

environmental stress so we start to see

an improvement in our um parasympathetic

sympathetic drive so now we're able to

get into that calming um because again

body becoming resilient to stress we

have an increase in our body's capacity

for using glucose so we have better

insulin um sensitivity better blood

glucose control uh we have some signals

to lose some of that deep body fat and

we start to see better cardiovascular

responses but women do better in the

heat okay talk to me about this okay so

when we look at sauna exposure women can

tolerate heat a lot more than men so if

we get into a sauna that is 80° or 60°

Celsius so that's on the upwards

of gosh metric math hold on I keep

forgetting you live in New Zealand I'm

like why are you talking Celsius I'm

like okay that's why and science sence

all that's true science science is

Celsius um 130 degrees okay we'll go

with that uh woman can sit in there sit

up high 20 minutes or so not sweating

yet right absorbing heat Vaso dilate

it's great so we're heating ourselves

our body's responding to it by uh what

we call heat shock protein responses so

these little proteins that will uncouple

and then recouple and and be better for

it so it's creating a whole cellular

change that then is like okay now we

have better responses within the muscle

the muscle can use uh glucose a lot

better it can use fat lot better we're

also uh increasing blood flow to the

brain we're also improving our blood

vessels so they respond to hot and or to

constriction dilation a lot faster which

is important as we get older and start

hit par menopause we start having blood

pressure problems and it also allows us

to hit higher temperatures on the

outside um so like summer times and

things without having an undue stress

because women by the nature of being

women struggle more in the heat so if we

environmental heat on the outside but

when you're in the sauna sitting there

it takes time for the body to heat up

because of our Thermo regulatory

differences between what men do when

they get in and they start sweating

profusely and then they get dehydrated

and they don't have time to adapt as

well to the heat as women do because we

baso dilate first and then we start

sweating so if you have access to a

sauna do you recommend that women sit in

a sauna for the health benefit yeah I do

how long like what what would you

recommend like if you have access to

this because I see a lot of the Bro

scientists out there talking about the

magical benefits of a sauna but now you

I'm I'm starting to go okay for dudes

but what about for me yeah and so what

is the benefit or the protocol for women

to get the maximum benefit for us so

when we're looking at for health

benefits and not performance benefits

because there's two different things so

for health benefits if we are doing 10

to 15 minutes twice a week bare minimum

you get health benefits and what are

they so this is better cardiovascular

health so better blood um flow better

blood pressure we have metabolic

responses so we have better blood

glucose control better fatty acid

metabolism so your body's like I'm going

to use more fat as a fuel like meaning

you're going to burn more fat if you sit

in a sauna you will use the circulating

fat as a fuel instead of storing it yeah

this is my kind of exercise by the way

that's great send this on and it

improves your exercise tolerance because

when you exercise you produce heat and

one of the living factors for women who

first start exercising is the

uncomfortableness of being hot oh and

then my my my face still turns like a

tomato bright red yes I just am there is

something about me that I I can lift one

weight and it's like Bing yep and that's

that Vaso dilation first that's how

women offload heat first and some women

say I don't ever sweat it's like well

because your body is offloading the heat

so much through vasod dilation and

you're not in a hot enough environment

to absorb more heat so your body can

Thermo regulate and be be fine even when

you turn bright red and you hate it

another question that a listener had is

should you eat before or after a workout

this depends on what you're doing so we

know first thing in the morning we've

already talked about it that you need to

eat before you go if you are exercising

in the afternoon and you had lunch maybe

2 hours before

then you don't necessarily have to eat

right before but you do have to eat

afterwards if you are doing what we call

metabolically taxing so high-intensity

exercise a cardiovascular session having

a little snack before and then having

real food afterwards is really

beneficial if you're just doing strength

training we see especially from the

research of Abby Smith Ryan at UNCC you

have around 15 grams of protein before

any kind of strength training session it

improves the post exercise Epoch or what

we say your metabolism stays elevated

after exercise for a longer period of

time and it improves your body's

responses to strength training so I

guess the short answer is ideally yes

you'd have some protein before but if

you're really pressed for time and it's

in the afternoon and if you had a meal

within 2 hours not

necessarily um you in your work talk

about supplements like creatine and

caffeine MH could you talk about why

women in particular need to pay

attention to these two creatine is

something that's always thought of in

the bodybuilding set where you see big

muscly guys and they're using creatine

because it's a it's a metabolite or it's

an essential thing in muscle contraction

which allows our our muscles to contract

really quickly and then recover and

contract quickly but what we also see is

it's beneficial for all the fast

energetics in our body so we think about

brain we think about gut heart all of

the things that use energy quickly

because it has to creatine is involved

women by the nature of being XX have

about 80 70 to 80% of the stores that

men do primarily because men have more

muscle but also women tend to eat less

so we don't have as much coming in and

our liver only makes about 2 to three

grams a day if we supplement with it

then we see everything improves our

brain health improves our gut health

improves cardiovascular problems start

to dissipate and we have better muscle

function so there's an incredible body

of research that's being done for

creatine for health for women we see

it's beneficial in pregnancy it's safe

to take in pregnancy and it's really

beneficial we see it's really important

for mood and cognitive function in women

who repair and postmenopausal and then

for skeletal muscle health and bone

health we see that it's beneficial just

a small dose so we're thinking 3 to 5

gram so that's a half a teaspoon that

you might put in your water or something

once a day doesn't have to worry about

timing takes about 3 weeks for it to

actually saturate the body so you know

you want to kind of be patient and after

that you're going like wow why have I

not been taking this it's so important

well now I'm like wow I need to be

taking this because it's so important

here we go um what is your advice for

women who are struggling to balance

nutrition M and a busy LIF

Style part of it is being prepared I

know it's hard when we talk about that

consistency and

preparation um but then part of it

reality right so it's like okay I know

from being on the road it's hard to eat

how I want to eat and I go to a

restaurant and there's a salad and

there's lots of stuff in it and I'm

going to be one of those people it's

high maintenance I'm like I don't want

dressing can you put some extra veggies

in there great so I have to make it work

for me if you are super busy and you're

like running out the door to get the

kids to school and then going straight

to work and you're coming home and

you're starving and you got to make

dinner and then you have to do all the

things that we all have to do we have to

be a little bit prepared so I'm not

saying take all of Sunday and prepare

the week's meals because that's just not

appropriate if we do our protein coffee

or overnight oats and we know what we're

going to have and then we might have

snacks in our bag I have snacks in my

car that don't perish like I have nuts I

have a couple of protein bars I have

some Tetra packs of almond milk I have

single sachet of protein powder just

things that I'm like shoot I forgot oh I

have it in the car or I have it in my

bag and it's just something that's not

ideal but it is things that my body

needs to get through and I always make

the Precedence to have as much fresh

fruit veg and whole grains at every meal

that I have so that I'm taking care of

my gut microbiome because if we take

care of a gut microbiome then it feeds

forward in so many positive ways for

mood and health and Immunity and I think

that's one of the things that's missing

from looking at I come from New Zealand

here and I go into a grocery store and

I'm like whoa there are rows and rows

and rows of of supposed food but nothing

to eat because of all the ultr processed

sugar stuff that's on there with all the

marketing so again we go back to the

grandparent idea shop the perimeter get

as many fresh fruits and veggies and

then you know there are some canned

things that you can get and some frozen

things you can get but really think what

am I eating that's going to protect my

gut if the person that's listening takes

just one thing from this conversation

which is going to be hard to do because

you taught us so much

today what would the one thing that you

want that person to walk away with and

focus on to

be it's hard to make change and I want

women to feel ownership of their own

body

and it starts with consistency and

making time for yourself it doesn't have

to be a lot of time it could be 10

minutes first thing when you get up and

you might do some Mobility you might do

stretches you might do every minute on

the minute of squats and push-ups for 5

minutes but something that is you and

you own it and it helps you become more

centered and you're consistent with that

it doesn't mean you have to get up and

make time to go to the gym it doesn't

mean you have to take time out of family

I mean if you go to the playground with

your kids in the afternoon move around

have fun make the kid playground the

adult playground right it's consistency

and what are you doing 10 minutes a day

just for yourself you know one of the

things that I'm excited about is that

you know there will be millions and

millions of people that listen to this

yes and if every person that listens

shares this with one or two women in

their life or young women in their

life the number of lives that will

change simply because of the things that

you've just flipped on our head about

the way that we think about strength

about why you need to exercise in terms

of intentional stress and stress

resilience protein coffee has just

changed my life doctor I mean just

everything I've I had it all

wrong and for a long time and because I

didn't know right and because I've been

listening to the advice by men for men

yeah and I am so grateful that you're

here and I'm grateful that you have

chosen to listen to this and that you're

going to share this with women in your

life because I think what you're asking

us to do feels like it's accessible and

it makes sense and I'm excited to try it

all and I'm just wondering if there was

a mantra that you would love every woman

to turn to another woman after they hear

this or turn to their daughter and say

or some something that like truth that

we need to be telling each other and

reminding each other that we've all

gotten wrong what do you want us to tell

the women in our

life oh well I could joke around and say

women are not small men because that's

easy to say but in all reality my big

focus and push is creating body

positivity right and the body positivity

is how we feel in ourselves and how we

allow our friends to talk and to feel

about themselves because we could have

all the body positivity that we want and

feel really fantastic but if we're

surrounded by friends who don't have

that same empowerment and same body

positivity it's heartbreaking so being

able to share that and say you know what

take up space I want to be empowered and

I want you The Listener to be empowered

to say I deserve that lifting platform

in the back of the gym and I'm going to

go there and if there's a bro there

who's looking at me funny I'm just is

going to take the barbell and say I own

this space because I want every woman to

know that they have a right in every

place in every gym every situation to be

strong empowered and feel positive about

the space that they're in so if we can

turn to each other and say it's about

being empowered and having body

positivity then that feeds forward to so

many different things it's a good role

model for our kids it allows us to have

more connection with our workmates our

Partners it improves empathy because as

an expat I look and I travel so much and

there is a huge lack of empathy

everywhere I land here in the states and

I feel it so if we can just share the

positivity and empowerment despite

what's going on in the world then that

just improves all the things that we

have in our lives and if every person

that hears this shares this with someone

else and everyone starts to move maybe

10 minutes a day I just think about the

positive effect it has on mental health

and the rolling forward that will have

on so many different things well Dr

Stacy Sims you just made a huge

difference in my life you have

completely shifted the Paradigm in terms

of how I think about exercise and what

it is and why it matters and you've also

explained why so many of the things that

I've been doing just don't work and why

and now that it makes sense I feel more

motivated yay to do exactly what you're

telling me to do and I am so excited to

also change the narrative in my family

with my daughters yay about getting

strong and becoming stress resilient and

actually operating in a way where we're

not acting

like little men yeah we're acting like

powerful women so thank you thank you

thank you thank you and I want to thank

you for truly taking the time to listen

to something that will change your life

and that is teaching you how to work

with the design of your body and that is

also empowering you to make a huge

difference in the young women and the

women in your life by sharing this and

in case someone else tells you I want to

tell you that I love you I love you for

the fact that you do want to do better I

love you for the fact that you love

science-based information I love you for

the fact that you're willing to say you

know what screw it I am going to go into

that gym and I am going to do something

uncomfortable because I deserve to feel

good in my body and that means I need to

start prioritizing doing it and now what

I really love for all of us is that Dr

Stacy Sims gave us a matter of fact

science back simple step-by-step guide

to exactly what to do to work with the

design of your body as a woman and now

all you need to do is go do it all

righty I will be waiting for you in the

very next episode I'm going to welcome

you in the moment you hit play I'll see

you there and for you you sitting here

watching with me on YouTube I just want

to say please share this with somebody

don't just sit and watch please do

something and take a minute and

subscribe to this channel because it's

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and I'm sure you're looking for

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