Have you been trying, seemingly forever, to lose fat, and just not seeing the results you want? Maybe you've tried a bunch of methods or different diets, you've tried exercising more, you've upped your protein, and you've hit a plateau. In this episode, Rachel and Ashleigh walk you through six things to check in your habits and behaviors before you give up or decide that there's something "wrong." Fair warning, going through this checklist requires you to be absolutely honest with yourself: are you really being as consistent as you think you are? Does your effort match your expectations? Have you actually been paying attention to the right things?

Listen to the full episode for clear instructions on a six-step audit to determine if you're really doing what you need to do in order to lose fat.

Thank you to our new sponsor, True Nutrition, where you can customize your own protein! Choose a mix of protein bases, a range of delicious flavors and sweetness level, and boost your protein with adaptogens, collagen, immune support, electrolytes and much more. Ashleigh loves the chocolate fudge brownie with a grassfed New Zealand beef protein base, and Rachel is testing different protein base combos for the ultimate protein ice cream recipe. Save time, effort, and money by combining all your supplement needs into one delicious protein powder. Head to truenutrition.com/MUSCLE and use the code MUSCLE for 20% off your custom mix!

Join the conversation - leave a comment on the podcast, share the episode on social media, or leave a comment, topic idea, or question on the website: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/contact

Or send a voice message here and they may play it on the pod! https://www.speakpipe.com/msg/s/468952/1/3h8gyc5cfc71vsbu

Check out the MSW Substack here: https://musclescienceforwomen.substack.com

Learn about all of the MSW training programs here: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/programs

Subscribe to the new YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@musclescienceforwomen

In today's episode, Ashleigh speaks with family and motherhood fitness influencer Kayla (@kdavis_fitness on IG) about balancing fitness and motherhood as a mom of three (who just happens to send her kids to the same school as Ashleigh's son!) They talk about shared fitness backgrounds, how Kayla's work and life changed during the pandemic and as she raised three kids, and how to encourage your kids to love movement in a pressure-free way. She also talks about what happened that time she went viral on social media when her baby did a dead hang from a pull-up bar...

If you're a parent trying to figure out how to feel fit and strong again, find time for yourself, or help your kids discover a love of movement, this episode is a great place to start.

Join the conversation - leave a comment on the podcast, share the episode on social media, or leave a comment, topic idea, or question on the website: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/contact

Or send a voice message here and they may play it on the pod! https://www.speakpipe.com/msg/s/468952/1/3h8gyc5cfc71vsbu

Check out the MSW Substack here: https://musclescienceforwomen.substack.com

Learn about all of the MSW training programs here: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/programs

Subscribe to the new YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@musclescienceforwomen

In this episode, Ashleigh and Rachel provide a comprehensive overview of the Training Zones 1 through 5, giving you all the information you need to understand and use them effectively, including:

• Generally what your heart rate, perceived exertion, and overall feeling should be in each zone
• What kinds of exercise and duration are appropriate for each zone
• The pros and cons of training in each, including common misconceptions
• Addressing the dreaded "Grey Zone" (zone 3) and why lots of people are using it incorrectly
• How individuals can adjust or tweak their cardiovascular training work to better suit their goals, improve their fitness and body composition, and minimize injury risk, and more!

We are very excited to announce our new sponsor, True Nutrition, where you can customize your own protein! Choose a mix of protein bases, a range of delicious flavors and sweetness level, and boost your protein with adaptogens, collagen, immune support, electrolytes and much more. Save time, effort, and money by combining all your supplement needs into one delicious protein powder. Head to truenutrition.com/MUSCLE and use the code MUSCLE for 20% off your custom mix!

Join the conversation - leave a comment on the podcast, share the episode on social media, or leave a comment, topic idea, or question on the website: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/contact

Or send a voice message here and they may play it on the pod! https://www.speakpipe.com/msg/s/468952/1/3h8gyc5cfc71vsbu

Check out the MSW Substack here: https://musclescienceforwomen.substack.com

Learn about all of the MSW training programs here: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/programs

Subscribe to the new YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@musclescienceforwomen

In this episode Rachel and Ashleigh answer questions about how sleep can impact meal timing, how to properly breathe during exercise (especially for those of you who always feel like you're breathing out when everyone else is breathing in during yoga!) and talk about whether or not there is an "upper limit" on happiness for each of us, and after that point, we actually try to stop ourselves from being any happier. That leads into a convo about self-sabotage, which many of us are familiar with and which can be a pretty big obstacle to achieving your goals, fitness or otherwise.

Join the conversation - leave a comment on the podcast, share the episode on social media, or leave a comment, topic idea, or question on the website: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/contact

Or send a voice message here and they may play it on the pod! https://www.speakpipe.com/msg/s/468952/1/3h8gyc5cfc71vsbu

Check out the MSW Substack here: https://musclescienceforwomen.substack.com

Learn about all of the MSW training programs here: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/programs

Subscribe to the new YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@musclescienceforwomen

In this episode Ashleigh speaks with Hannah Aylward, a Certified Holistic Health Coach, Gut Health Expert + Mindfulness Advocate, to help breakdown:

• The major gut health issues we may be dealing with
• How to get to the root causes of your gut health or digestion issues
• How to mitigate the damage caused by antibiotics
• What gut tests to ask for
• All the lifestyle stuff besides eating you should be paying attention to, and much more.

Here is more information about Hannah and her work:

Website: http://www.hannahaylward.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannahaylwardhhc/
The Nutrient Dense Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nutrient-dense-podcast/id1788408977
Take the Gut Health Root Cause Quiz for free: https://go.hannahaylward.com/gut-health-root-cause-quiz

Join the conversation - leave a comment on the podcast, share the episode on social media, or leave a comment, topic idea, or question on the website: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/contact

Or send a voice message here and they may play it on the pod! https://www.speakpipe.com/msg/s/468952/1/3h8gyc5cfc71vsbu

Check out the MSW Substack here: https://musclescienceforwomen.substack.com

Learn about all of the MSW training programs here: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/programs

Subscribe to the new YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@musclescienceforwomen

In this episode, hosts Ashleigh and Rachel discuss what we need to be doing now to live the life we want when we're older, including discussing some key markers of longevity, the things they want to be able to do when they get older, and how to work back from the life you want to live when you're 80 and plan your workouts now accordingly.

Longevity studies discussed:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3080184/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6778477/

Join the conversation - leave a comment on the podcast, share the episode on social media, or leave a comment, topic idea, or question on the website: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/contact

Or send a voice message here and they may play it on the pod! https://www.speakpipe.com/msg/s/468952/1/3h8gyc5cfc71vsbu

Check out the MSW Substack here: https://musclescienceforwomen.substack.com

Learn about all of the MSW training programs here: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/programs

Subscribe to the new YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@musclescienceforwomen

In this solo episode, Ashleigh offers some food for thought on how to handle the onslaught of health information we are exposed to on a daily basis, and how to determine whether or not the "online influencer" you're watching is someone worth listening to. She also offers up an idea for how we can be more present and go back to basics in improving and maintaining our mental and physical health: be more like a baby. You'll have to listen to the episode for the details...

Join the conversation - leave a comment on the podcast, share the episode on social media, or leave us a comment, topic idea, or question on our website: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/contact

Or send them a voice message here and they may play it on the pod! https://www.speakpipe.com/msg/s/468952/1/3h8gyc5cfc71vsbu

Check out our Substack here: https://musclescienceforwomen.substack.com

Learn about all of our training programs here: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/programs

Subscribe to our new YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@musclescienceforwomen

In this episode, hosts Ashleigh and Rachel give updates on their Dopamine Reset Challenge, continue to explore the impact of AI, talk about the latest negative fitness trend on social media, and confirm the importance of managing where your attention goes. They talk about new physical challenges, literal dreams, and more.

Join the conversation - leave a comment on the podcast, share the episode on social media, or leave us a comment, topic idea, or question on our website: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/contact

Or send them a voice message here and they may play it on the pod! https://www.speakpipe.com/msg/s/468952/1/3h8gyc5cfc71vsbu

If you'd like to win a free premium subscription to our Substack, simply rate/review our podcast and send us proof/screenshot to our email, musclescience4women@gmail.com, or send it to us on Instagram.

Check out our Substack here: https://musclescienceforwomen.substack.com

Learn about all of our training programs here: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/programs

Subscribe to our new YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@musclescienceforwomen

Timestamps:

00:00 Welcome Back and Personal Updates
02:53 Navigating AI and Its Impact on Daily Life
05:45 Overcoming Overwhelm: The Importance of Taking Breaks
09:11 Building Healthy Habits and Managing Distractions
17:16 Interpreting Dreams
23:12 Rock climbing and co-ed football