Fuel Your Strength is the podcast for athletic women over 40 who lift weights, train in their sport and need to fuel for it. Host Steph Gaudreau, strength coach and performance nutritionist, breaks down exactly how to build real strength through progressive training and eat like the athlete you are. Each week covers the mechanics of getting stronger, the nutrition science that actually fuels performance and recovery, and the value of coaching and support as you train for your next PR or big event.
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Life is life-ing especially in midlife. One day you're fired up, smashing your lifts, and thinking the whole week will be a highlight reel; two days later you're sleep-deprived, stressed, and wondering who parked a bus on your quads. In this episode, you'll learn a structured-yet-flexible strategy to use with your lifting to ride the wave of real-life energy swings so you can keep showing up, build muscle, and actually enjoy the process.
We'll break down how to anchor your week with strength, layer in cardio, and use auto-regulation (RPE/RIR) to dial intensity up or down without ditching your plan or your progress. If you're an athletic woman 40+ navigating perimenopause, career, caregiving, and sport hobbies, this practical framework will help you train smarter, recover better, and stay consistent long term.
What you'll learn in this episode:
Why the "go hard every day" mindset backfires once you hit your 40s and what to focus on instead.
The approach that keeps lifters consistent even when life is chaos.
How to tell if it's a day to push or pull back without second-guessing your training plan.
The simple two-day strength & cardio framework that delivers results without burning you out.
The mindset shift that turns "I missed a workout" guilt into sustainable long-term progress.
Enjoyed this episode and want more?
If you want a lifting program that tells you exactly what to do, try 7 days of Strong with Steph here >> https://stephgaudreau.com/workout
Share this episode with a friend looking to improve their strength training knowledge.
Subscribe to this podcast on your favorite streaming platform for new episodes!
The 5 Hard Truths Your Lifting Needs After 40
Season 1 · Episode 445
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 • Duration 34:40
If you've ever heard a coach say "it's not wrong, but it's not right either," you'll resonate with this episode. Dive into the nuance that gets lost in punchy social media hot takes – especially for athletic women over 40 who want strength, muscle, and better performance without the fluff.
Get insight into why your progress may feel stuck, what to do about it, and how to build muscle with less frustration. Get practical coaching on progressive overload, program hopping, hypertrophy, auto-regulation, and why DIY training isn't actually "free."
What you'll learn in this episode:
What happens when you've been lifting for a while… but the weights (and results) haven't really changed?
Why "switching things up" might be the reason you're stuck in place.
The truth behind words like toned, sculpted, and long and lean and what they really mean for your training.
How chasing the number on the scale can quietly derail your performance and progress.
The real cost of trying to make up your own workouts, and what it's stealing from your gains.
Enjoyed this episode and want more?
If you want a lifting program that tells you exactly what to do, try 7 days of Strong with Steph here >> https://stephgaudreau.com/workout
Share this episode with a friend looking to improve their strength training knowledge.
Subscribe to this podcast on your favorite streaming platform for new episodes!
Why Movement Prep & Balance Matter in Strength Training Over 40
Season 1 · Episode 436
Tuesday, December 3, 2024 • Duration 41:48
When it comes to creating a progressive overload plan, we have touched on a lot of elements so far. However, when it comes to how to specifically create your program, whether you are creating a program for yourself, finding one online, or looking to work with a trainer in person, there are some nuances that need to be discussed.
Key Takeaways
If You Want to Improve Your Strength Training, You Should:
Give yourself the freedom to warm up and work on balance as a key part of your strength training program
Focus on the type of exercises that will help you feel good for longer
Challenge yourself with where your current ability level is and up the ante over time
Consistency is the Name of the Game
When you are doing a deadlift, overhead press, bench press, or squat, you need to familiarize your body with the movement pattern you are going to be doing that day. Movement prep and balance work will help you prepare your body for what is coming next, and create positive changes in how your body and brain relate to each other more effectively when things get heavy. Giving yourself the freedom to warm up, be consistent, and listen to your body, is what is going to get you further in your progressive overload plan.
Strength Training for Every Age
Movement prep and balance work are two things that I program into every session of Strong with Steph. Especially as we transition from perimenopause to postmenopause, we need to work with the changes happening in our bodies to help ourselves stay strong for longer. The truth is, that our body loses strength, hormones, and energy as we get older, which is why we need to have a strength training plan that helps us combat what we are losing and instead helps us find gains. Implementing a well-planned program takes the burden off of you so that you can focus on feeling great.
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Body Acceptance, Powerlifting & Living Your Fullest Life w/ Christina Malone
Season 1 · Episode 344
Tuesday, July 27, 2021 • Duration 47:07
Christina Malone has been an athlete in a larger body for her whole life. When she found the sport of powerlifting, she used what she had been told would hold her back for her entire life as a positive attribute. Christina is dedicated to helping others who are hurting, stuck in the cycle of diet culture and body negativity by learning to love themselves and fight for body diversity and acceptance in the fitness industry.
Key Takeaways
If You Want To Live Your Fullest Life You Should:
Accept that your value has nothing to do with what you see in the mirror
Stop feeling responsible for other people's reactions to you and your body
Find a fitness routine that focuses on what your body feels good doing
Advocate for your health and your options at every size
Fitness as a Big-Bodied Person
Christina is a state-record holder and national-level athlete in the sport of powerlifting, a body inclusivity coach and speaker, and happens to be in a larger body. Her passion is finding ways to help other people find peace with their bodies, learning to appreciate everything they are, and how to be in fitness as a big-bodied person. She is powerful and raw and here today to share how picking up a barbell has helped her feel more at home in the gym and her body.
The Power of Powerlifting
At one point in her life, Christina was using exercise to punish her body for being the size that it was. That was before she fell in love with the technique of powerlifting and how it made her body feel. Powerlifting allowed her internal perspective about her body size to shift, which was a life-changing experience for an athlete in a bigger body. Instead of being told that her weight was going to hold her back, powerlifting allowed Christina to harness her energy on learning to come home to her body's purpose.
Other People's Comfort Is Not Your Responsibility
While the conversations and attitudes towards body diversity and body acceptance in the fitness industry are changing, we still have a long way to go. Just as we have accepted height differences and race differences in the fitness industry, Christina believes that we also have to accept body size differences. What you look like in the mirror has nothing to do with your value, worth, or ability.
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Exploring Your Fitness Gains through Health at Every Size (HAES) w/ Stacey Sorgen
Season 1 · Episode 343
Tuesday, July 20, 2021 • Duration 41:41
Have you felt like there is a misalignment between your strength goals and what society tells you your goals should be? So often the fitness industry is focused on shrinking your body, but it doesn't have to be that way. The Health at Every Size movement is a prime example of your ability to work with what you have to be the best possible version of yourself each and every day.
Key Takeaways
If You Want to Embrace Health at Every Size, You Should:
Create fitness goals that have nothing to do with your size
Find a form of fitness that you enjoy and brings you happiness
Focus on what you are gaining, not what you are losing
Becoming The Best Version of Yourself
Stacey Sorgen felt that misalignment first hand. When working to become a personal trainer, Stacey felt like she had to shrink herself to be taken seriously in the industry. Finally, Stacey said enough is enough and has found great success helping people of every size and shape work towards their goals that have nothing to do with the number on the scale.
Making Fitness Accessible
Society tells us that being a larger person is the worst thing that can be done to you. Stacey is here to tell you that that is absolutely not true. The Health at Every Size movement is all about making fitness more approachable and accessible for as many people as possible.
Because the truth is, there is nothing wrong with the size of your body, and you can become the healthiest version of yourself without focusing on becoming smaller.
It's Not About Shrinking Your Body
When you use fitness as a tool to expand your strength, confidence, and ability, instead of contracting our bodies to fit a certain mold, you gain the ability to advocate for your needs. Instead of using fitness as a means to an end, Stacey wants you to enjoy what you are doing and focus on what you are gaining, not what you are losing.
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Fitness Trackers and Listening to Your Body
Season 1 · Episode 342
Tuesday, July 13, 2021 • Duration 35:10
Recently I decided to welcome back a wearable fitness tracker into my life after a decade-long break from one. This topic brought up a lot of questions for me. While the decision to stop or start wearing a tracker is very personal, I want to bring to light a few of the questions that have surfaced for me in the hopes that they can help you out when making this call for yourself.
Key Takeaways
If You Are Considering Stopping, Or Starting, Using a Fitness Tracker, You Should:
Examine the pros and cons of fitness trackers and how they play into your personal relationship with your body
Find a tracker that suits your lifestyle and provides you with the data you are curious about
Keep listening to the signals of your body as your guide to what your body needs
Getting Curious About Your Body Patterns
It took me over ten years to get to the place where I am confident enough to listen to my body signals to be curious about the patterns and trends that a wearable fitness tracker can provide.
How my recovery is correlating with my heart rate variability, menstrual cycle, and fatigue are incredibly interesting to me. The key is to not be so reliant on these numbers that you stop listening to your body and only listen to the numbers on an app.
It's All About Balance
Wearing a fitness tracker is an incredibly personal decision and depends on your ability to combine the data from a tracker with the signals your body is sending you. While most of us don't have the same relationship to data, such as heart rate variability, as we do to the numbers on the scale, it is still something to be sensitive to.
An app can never tell you everything that is going on in your body. The question is, does the data from a fitness tracker help you reinforce the way your body feels, or distract you from it?
How do you feel about your relationship with fitness trackers? Do you believe they are diet culture? Share your thoughts with me in the .
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Strength Training & Tough Body Image Days
Season 1 · Episode 341
Tuesday, July 6, 2021 • Duration 33:41
Having tougher body image days is perfectly normal. Yes, even when you're actively working on your mental and physical health. Yes, even when you're strength training every day. Let's look at how we can start being kinder to ourselves when these thoughts happen.
Key Takeaways
How to Work Through Negative Body Thoughts
Journal it Out: Mentally backtrack in your day, or the day before, to see what, if anything, influenced that event.
Check-in with Yourself: Is there a basic need you're not meeting for yourself?
Understand your Menstrual Cycle: Your cycle can impact your mood and how you feel about your body
Practice Gratitude: Especially when you're feeling challenging ways about your body
Body Image Issues Impact Everyone
Challenging and negative thoughts about your body are perfectly normal. They're not pleasant or productive, but please let me reassure you that they're absolutely normal. We all experience them, even when we're actively working on our positive mental and physical health.
It's not realistic to never have a negative thought about your body. And that's okay. Working towards some form of body neutrality is a journey, not a destination.
Working Through a Negative Body Image
When you do have negative or challenging thoughts about your body, it's important to try to get to the root cause of these thoughts. First, take some time to journal out what might have influenced these thoughts throughout the last day or two.
You might also be neglecting one of your basic needs. When was the last time you ate or drank water? Are you getting enough sleep?
For longer-term solutions, start tracking your menstrual cycle as your cycle has an impact on how you feel mentally and towards yourself. Finally, take up a daily gratitude practice to help shift your entire perspective.
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Are You Lifting Heavy Enough (and Other Common Strength Training Questions)
Season 1 · Episode 340
Tuesday, June 29, 2021 • Duration 30:39
There are six common questions I hear all the time about lifting weights. So, I decided to put them into an episode with some simple answers for you so that you have a resource that you can come back to time and time again. If you are looking for answers to common questions I hear about strength training; this is the episode for you.
Key Takeaways
If You Want To Embrace The Benefits of Strength Training, You Should:
Realize that what is 'heavy' is different for each person, and you should focus on adding enough of a load that is challenging for you
Create goals that are focused on what your body can do, not the number on the bathroom scale
Take care of your body through generous recovery time and exercises that do not involve weights
It's All Relative
Questions like 'am I lifting heavy enough?', 'am I too old to start lifting weights?', or 'how soon can I expect to see results?', are very nuanced. The short answer is, everybody's body is different and will look different even if doing the same exercise.
It is about finding a combination of weight lifting and other exercises that feel right for your unique body. What is 'heavy' is relative to each person and can change over time. Consistency and progressive overload are the keys to a long game mentality needed when strength training.
The Many Benefits of Strength Training
I know for sure that strength training can give you something to think about besides shrinking your body. Having goals that are only focused on achieving a certain number on the scale or an aesthetic look are not sustainable.
Lifting weights can help you stop focusing on the scale, promote healthy muscle mass, improve your bone density, and boost your metabolism. These are goals that can have a huge impact on your overall health but cannot be measured by the number on the scale. Strength training can help you reconnect with a sense of what your body can do, not what it looks like.
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The Problem With Getting in Shape
Season 1 · Episode 339
Tuesday, June 22, 2021 • Duration 33:54
The general narrative in the fitness world says that by getting into shape, you will get smaller. In reality, there are so many other ways to measure your fitness that have nothing to do with the size of your body. 'Getting In Shape' really has no concrete meaning, and it's time we stop equating fitness with a specific look.
Key Takeaways
If You Want To Dig Deeper Into The Problem With 'Getting in Shape', You Should:
Challenge those in the fitness space to stop defining fitness as 'a look'
Focus on the benefits of training that have nothing to do with your body size
Work to include marginalized bodies into the wellness space for the greater benefit of everyone
Fitness Is Not a 'Look'
Fitness doesn't have a specific look. Instead, it is your ability to do a task. Simple as that. Working out and 'getting in shape' simply to get smaller is not sustainable, and the companies or trainers that guarantee that your body will get smaller are not acknowledging all of the other things out of our control that go into fitness, and all of the other benefits of getting stronger and healthier. Your size does not equal your health and has no reflection on how fit or how unfit a person is.
How To Stop Comparing and Start Representing
If we compare ourselves to the highest performing human specimens participating in an activity, is that an accurate representation of all the people who engage with that activity? By comparing ourselves to the top athletes in the world, we are doing a disservice to the people out there who want to engage with a certain type of fitness but don't see anyone who looks like them being represented.
The idea that fit bodies have to look a certain way stops people from engaging with those pursuits and perpetuates the stereotype that fitness is a certain look and only people who look like that can be deemed 'in shape'. By challenging these narratives and making fitness available to people who don't fit the conventional 'fitspo' version of health, we can break down these assumptions and, in turn, make 'getting in shape' more beneficial for everyone.
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Mobility, Justice, and Representation in the Fitness Industry w/ Rich Thurman
Season 1 · Episode 338
Tuesday, June 15, 2021 • Duration 57:38
If you are someone who is not strength training yet or are looking to get back into activity, you might be nervous. Getting back into movement in a way that keeps you safe and healthy starts with understanding your foundation and finding mobility practices that meet you where you are now.
Key Takeaways
If You Want To Encourage Mobility, Representation, and Justice In The Fitness Space, You Should:
Get assessed to find out where your body is at and what mobility practices could benefit you
Stop viewing mobility practices as an optional extra and start including them in your daily routine
Work to view people in the fitness space as whole people, not just exercise machines
Seek out voices other than your own to find out how you can increase representation in the fitness space
Taking Care Of Yourself as a Whole Person
Rich Thurman, better known as Coach RT3, is a mobility specialist who is passionate about sharing his experiences as a black man in the fitness industry and advocating for coaching in a way that takes care of your body, mind, and spirit as one whole person.
Rich knows that mobility practices are not an optional extra but something that helps you get better at what you are trying to do and is here today to share how mobility, inclusivity, and representation intersect in the fitness space.
Investing In Yourself Through Mobility Practices
Mobility is the best investment you can make for yourself. By giving time to mobility practices that will improve your longevity, and preserve, improve, and enhance your ability to do the things you love longer, you will save yourself the necessity to give it up later.
Something as simple as preparation can help you create strength in the realms you may not have strength in anymore, save you from injury, and help you find a workout that fits your body's strengths and shortcomings. Mobility practices are the key to move better, feel better, and ultimately do more for longer.
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Are you ready to reevaluate your strength training plan as a woman over 40? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page.
n This Episode
A recap of what we have spoken about so far when it comes to strength training over 40 (2:45)
The importance of balance work for longevity as we age (6:45)
How movement preparation can improve your training program (14:52)
Understanding the role of estrogen when it comes to your joints and their needs (20:16)
Examples of balance work and movement prep that show up in the Strong with Steph Workout Plan (30:15)
"Having these guide your strength training is super, super important, and not something you want to gloss over when you are either writing a program for yourself, finding one online, or looking to work with a trainer in person." (2:35)
"Movement preparation and balance work create a foundation for building strength and are so important when we are considering longevity in training and safety and mitigating risk to the best of our possible influence, especially as we are aging." (6:13)
"Research strongly supports the idea that warming up with the actual lift you plan to perform but at a lighter load is an effective way to prepare your body for heavier lifting." (21:20)
"Addressing these things through training is very important, and there is something that you can do about it." (29:08)
"Movement prep and balance work are essential, and we know they are going to play an important role in joint health, mitigating the risk of injury and enhancing our experience of progressive overload." (39:24)
It is not your responsibility to make others feel comfortable around your body. Everyone's body is different, and when we are able to accept others regardless of what diet culture and body negativity tell us, we can break down the barriers of the fitness industry and explore fitness with freedom.
Are you ready to start living your fullest life? Share what part of Christina's story resonated with you most with me in the comments on the episode page.
The lifts that are involved in powerlifting and how it is specifically unique (8:50)
Which practices can help you get into the right mental space to perform (13:42)
Why body diversity awareness in fitness and sports is important, especially now (21:51)
How the industry is changing in relation to conversations around body acceptance and bigger bodies (29:47)
What it is like navigating the medical system as a plus-size athlete and woman (34:20)
Quotes
"[Powerlifting] is really the only sport I have ever done that I am not sitting there saying 'hey I am big, but…', it's 'hey, I am big, and…'." (8:25)
"When I weight lift and when I am powerlifting, it's me, it's the bar, and it's the plates on the bar. And nothing else exists for me outside of that platform, the judge in front of me, and what I need to execute on the platform." (14:12)
"You could take 100 or 200 people and give them the exact same diet and the exact same exercise routine, and they could have a similar background, and they would still come out of it looking different. And that is just inherent, that everyone's body is going to be different." (23:47)
"We are at that point, where how do we go from accepting and valuing bigger bodies that are athletic to accepting bigger bodies without needing that modifier. And how do we become compassionate to all persons, because you exist in the world and you deserve to be treated with a certain amount of humanity, and I think that is a bit lost unfortunately with a lot of bigger-bodied people." (31:25)
"For me, living my fullest life means living up every single part of my life and reaching out to the very edges of everything that I could be, and not saying no to opportunities or to things because I doubt myself or it's something that you 'shouldn't do'." (40:53)
Fitness is about so much more than shrinking your body, and with the right perspective, you too can find health at any size.
Are you ready to set some fitness goals that have nothing to do with the number on the scale? Share how you are embracing Health at Every Size with me in the comments on the episode page.
Learn what Health at Every Size means and the main core values of the philosophy (5:41)
How to maintain a sense of independence in an all-consuming diet-culture industry (13:32)
Addressing the concern troll mentality and the misconception of Healthy at Every Size (17:18)
Tips for reframing the narrative around fitness and movement (23:08)
What to do if you are ready to do something different but are reluctant to put yourself back out there (32:26)
Quotes
"It's kind of a revolution of discovering that we can learn to respect or accept our bodies where they are at and do the best that we can with what we have in this moment now." (7:16)
"We can be larger people, and still be strong, still be active, still be fit, still be any of the things you want to be at the size that you are in your body today." (10:50)
"If we do not support and love all people, how can all people support and love themselves?" (18:41)
"As soon as you hit a plateau, if you are focused on contraction, there is only so far you can go. But the other direction, it's like the sky is the limit, you can really do anything." (27:52)
"We are always focused on everyone else. But that hour or that hour and a half or that fifteen minutes, focus on yourself and get out of it what you need out of it." (35:22)
Why I decided to start using a wearable fitness tracker again (4:48)
The pros and cons I see when using a fitness tracker (9:10)
How to deal with fitness trackers if you have an all-or-nothing personality (20:38)
Which tracker I am using currently and why I personally like it (23:42)
Explore if fitness trackers are in fact a part of diet culture (29:04)
Quotes
"I am not in an all-or-nothing situation with training anymore, I am able to really listen to my body, but I am curious about bringing some sort of fitness tracker back into my life." (8:37)
"I am not here to present my argument necessarily for or against, but if it is something that you have kind of been thinking about, maybe these will be some interesting points." (14:34)
"There is a tendency to become too reliant sometimes on external trackers at the expense of also developing a sense of what your training and recovery feel like overall so that you get to know your body a lot more intimately." (19:27)
"If you have started looking at data, do you sort of tune out what your body is telling you? Or are you looking where they overlap and using both to make decisions? Or can one help you make decisions about the other? Can having data help you connect to how your body is feeling? In some cases, potentially yes, but it is really about you individually." (23:20)
"I don't think fitness trackers are in the same league as the scale and tracking body weight. However, could they potentially become an issue for some people? Potentially. So this is where it is really important to know yourself." (32:18)
How do you currently feel about your own body image? What struggles have you gone through? Share your experiences with me in the comments on the episode page.
Why it's normal to have challenging thoughts about your body [6:00]
Why it's not realistic to expect to never have a challenging thought about your body [7:45]
The importance of body neutrality [13:00]
You deserve to eat. Make sure you're eating regularly [33:30]
Why you should track your menstrual cycle [24:00]
How challenging yourself with practicing gratitude can help shift your perspective [27:45]
Quotes
"It is still normal to have challenging thoughts about your body. You're not failing or doing this wrong if you still have those doubts, negative self-talk, or aren't at body neutrality or beyond to body liberation, or wherever you are on that spectrum." [6:28]
"By thinking or expecting that we're never going to have the negative thought or the challenging feeling ever again, we're actually setting ourselves up for not being as adept or experienced with getting through those challenging thoughts or feelings." [9:45]
"You need to eat. We need to eat. When you're running on low energy, your blood sugar is really low, and you're hangry, your mood is affected. You're feeling mentally foggy, more anxious, and on edge. Food is essential." [20:03]
"Gratitude is a muscle that you have to practice. Yes, you can feel these ways about yourself, you can feel down, sad, grief. All of those emotions are normal. At the same time, you can challenge yourself to give even a little bit of gratitude, just a little bit. It can be both - and." [27:18]
"It's okay for those negative body thoughts to pop up, even at positive times in our life. They probably will. Working on that resilience, instead of walking around on eggshells, is ultimately what makes you more resilient, more able to unlearn the things that aren't serving you, and lean into what it's like to be on this journey. It's never going to be perfect but it is so worthwhile." [31:31]
Have you ever asked one of these common questions? How did my answer hold up to what you have been told in the past? Share your experiences with me in the comments section of the episode page.
How to know if you are lifting heavy enough (3:40)
How often you should be lifting every week (7:29)
How to know if lifting weights will help you feel better about yourself (9:53)
Why you should still consider lifting weights even if you do other sports (14:17)
Why it is never too late to start lifting weights (17:52)
How long it will take for you to experience results (22:20)
"Generally speaking, you want to think about grooving in the main functional movement patterns, which are push, pull, hinge, squat, and weighted carries; those are what the Made Strong program is built off of." (8:24)
"Lifting weights gives you something besides shrinking your body, or the bathroom scale, to focus on." (11:59)
"If you lift weights two or three times a week, it will make you better at that sport, period." (15:07)
"To efficiently build and maintain your muscle and bones and keep your metabolism humming along… the answer is lift weights." (21:52)
"Please focus on some kind of goal that goes beyond what you weigh or exactly having some kind of aesthetic look. Because it is going to be far easier to sustain your work towards what you can do, or developing a new skill, or building your strength in a specific lift, it's going to be a lot more motivating and a lot easier to stick to that than when you are not seeing the number on the scale go in the direction that you want it to go." (26:26)
Why 'getting in shape' really means nothing (4:12)
How I want to challenge the fitness space to focus on fitness as an ability and not a look (10:35)
Addressing the fit bias and fit shaming I see online (14:40)
The benefits of strength training that have nothing to do with how you look (21:50)
Why I don't like to promise anybody that 'getting in shape' is going to look a certain way (27:53)
"Getting in shape when used to mean getting fit is a huge problem because physical fitness isn't a look, it's not a look." (7:14)
"Strength training can give you a new lease on life because you get to focus on what your body can do, not just on what it looks like." (15:34)
"I can think of so many people who are not fitting the 'thin fitspo' gently toned but not too muscular body who are fit as fuck! Fit as fuck for what they do. And that to me is a cause for applause." (19:50)
"We have to be able to tease apart fitness from overall health and wellbeing. If we think health is multifactorial and influenced by so many things out of our control, we have to be able to tease apart fitness from health and from weight." (24:44)
"I hope that this podcast gives you some seeds of ideas to ask or to bring up with that potential personal trainer that you want to work within your city, or that potential email that you open up… what does the person or the company promising to you? What other ways are there going to be to see how your fitness has changed and improved?" (32:01)
For too long, underrepresented people in the fitness space, such as Black, Asian, and LGBTQ+ persons, have been burying themselves to make other people feel comfortable. Rich is here to say no more to that and encourage organizations, coaches, trainers, and anyone involved in the fitness space to do the work, become aware, and take steps to view someone as a whole person.
Instead of assuming the needs of others and pushing that agenda, Rich wants to challenge you to work to improve yourself, learn about your community, and recognize the intersections between identity, representation, and fitness. It is only by working to be better, that we can include the voices that have been marginalized for too long and lift up our fellow humans.
Are you ready to give yourself the gift of time through mobility practices? How do you work to stand up for your fellow humans in the fitness space? Share your thoughts about Rich's perspective with me in the comments on the episode page.
Why mobility is an important piece to getting active again that a lot of people skip over (6:16)
Tips for tackling mobility as part of your overall training program (21:35)
The role of social justice when it comes to the experience of being in the fitness industry (31:07)
How walking away from certification bodies can be liberating, challenging, and transformative (38:43)
The importance of mental health and representation when coaching a whole person (44:32)
"When we look at training mobility, and why it's important, it's more along the lines of preparing your body for the things that you want to do." (10:02)
"You can spend the time now, or you can give up the time later. There are only really 2 options. So when we create more room for the things that we love, we are basically creating more time." (22:31)
"Peripherally, all of the wealth that came as a peripheral means of those bodies, the bodies of my ancestors who survived this ordeal, to make me possible, that is carried inside of me." (33:07)
"The onus is not on us to find out when these things happen, the onus is on the organization to say 'this is what we want, this is what we would like, can we find the people who are doing good work within our organization who have paid us money and maintained our certification, can we find those people?'." (41:34)
"These conversations need to be had throughout all of these organizations and need to be commonplace. Because we need to know how to best serve the people we are working with, the people in front of us." (48:01)
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