Ep 91 | My Fat Loss Journey End of Week 2 Check In

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I'm two weeks into my own Fat Loss Transformation journey, and I wanted to share an honest look at what's actually happening — the wins, the water-weight freakouts, and the small adjustments I'm making along the way. If you've been following along with The Coaching Corner Podcast, you know I'm using the same six-month program I built for my coaching clients, with a goal of dropping from around 28% to 22% body fat while holding onto (or building) muscle. This isn't about the number on the scale — it's about changing my body composition, getting stronger, and seeing the muscle I've built over the last two years actually show through.

If you missed the last episode, you can catch up here. And if you're ready to start your own fat loss journey, my Fat Loss Transformation Program is open — sign up here!

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):

  It is now the end of week two of my fat loss journey. So let's take a look at my progress so far. I was able to hit almost all of my workouts this week. I still have one more to do and I'm definitely making some progress in my fat loss and I can't wait to show it to you today. Hey there. I'm personal trainer Jayd Harrison and welcome to my series on my Fat Loss Journey. This is a mini series that's part of my podcast where I'm sharing my own personal fat loss journey as I use the same program that I designed for my personal training clients. It's called the Fat Loss Transformation Program and it runs for six months. My goal for the program is to reduce my body fat percentage and get to a leaner physique closer to 22% body fat. At the moment I'm starting out with about 28% body fat and I'm not super concerned with losing weight per se.

  (01:07)

  I would be happy to stay at the same weight as long as I can increase the amount of muscle tissue that I have and decrease the amount of body fat that I have. Now, if you have been around in fitness spaces for a lon period of time, you'll know that it is extremely hard to do this. Both muscle building and burning fat at the same time, it is a very slow gradual process. But my main concern is to be able to be strong so I don't want to lose any muscle as I get leaner. So I'm really hitting it hard on the resistance training and making sure that I'm eating plenty of protein as I try to keep myself in calorie deficit to prioritize burning fat. And if all goes well, my goal is to build muscle while also burning fat, changing my body composition and getting a leaner, more toned physique.

  (01:59)

  Today we're going to take a look at my end of week to check in and reflection. I've also taken some new progress photos. We'll take a look at those as well and I'll show you what I did for my workouts and how my weight was tracking in addition to how my calorie intake is tracking. Before we get into it though, make sure that you hit the like button and subscribe to my channel if you're watching on YouTube. If you're listening to the podcast, make sure that you follow the podcast so you always get the latest episodes delivered right to your device. And also keep in mind that if you're looking for a fat loss coach who can help you to build muscle, burn fat and get in shape without shame and without burnout, I am accepting new clients into my online coaching program. You can click on the link that's in the show notes or in the description of the video below to apply for coaching with me and schedule your one-on-one consultation.

  (02:56)

  And without further ado, let's get into my end of week two check-in.

  (03:05)

  So as part of my Fat Loss journey, I am tracking everything that I'm eating and drinking with the goal of eating about 1,800 calories on average a day. I'm also stepping on the scale every morning and entering the body weight that I measure into my ABC Trainerize app. This is the same app that I use to train my personal training clients. And today I also took some progress photos. Let's take a look at the progress photos first. I decided to change the outfit that I wear from my progress photos to one of my bathing suits because I want to make sure that I am taking note of the definition that's starting to come through, especially around my hips area. Because I've been doing the abduction and abduction machine I've noticed just by feeling on my hips a growth in the muscles there. And so I want to make sure that as I'm taking my progress photos, these are also capturing the differences in my body in those areas because the outfit that I was wearing before really covered up a lot of my hip area and I want to see that definition as it comes through.

  (04:10)

  I also tend to store most of my body fat in my hips and upper legs. So as I burn fat, this is probably going to be one of those areas that's going to show the definition more as my body fat reduces. I still have a pretty thick layer of body fat covering my muscles so I haven't really seen a whole lot of definition yet, but something that's really common with women is that our muscle definition doesn't tend to show unless we're actively working out or flexing. So I also decided to add to my progress photos some flexing videos so that I can see my muscles and my muscle definition because that's the thing that I'm really trying to pursue as part of this fat loss transformation journey. So I took a front double bicep flex picture, went from the side to show my side bicep.

  (05:01)

  I took picture of the back flexing to show my back muscle definition and then some tricep definition from the side. Overall, I am really excited about all of the muscle that I have so far built in the last two years and I am extremely excited to see as that muscle begins to show more as I remove that layer of fat that's surrounding the muscles. So something that I tried a little bit new this week was I took the camera with me and I recorded a little bit of a vlog while I was walking my dog during one of our long walks for cardio this week.

  (05:42)

  So we had a little bit of a mishap, just a small little blip over the weekend. I decided to splurge because I wanted a treat day and I was hanging out with my Twitch chat. We were playing the new Subnautica game and I wanted to treat myself a little bit. And you know what? When you're on a fat loss journey, you're totally allowed to have treat meals or treat days. And I ordered some DoorDash because it was kind of salty and high carb. My body ended up retaining a bunch of water and so when I stepped on the scale, I think it was yesterday, my weight shot up to 142 and I was like, "Uh-oh." But that's the kind of stuff that happens, especially when you have food that's like out of the ordinary. If it's not your normal stuff, especially if you're ordering like takeout food from like a restaurant, it's just going to have more sodium in it and it's probably going to have like added sugars and all of that just makes your body retain more water.

  (06:59)

  So when you see big jumps like that, it's not that you like that on meal made you gain two pounds of fat. It doesn't really work that way.

  (07:11)

  I was feeling pretty bloated though. I will say I felt pretty bloated so I needed to drink a bunch of water and I knew that once I got exercising again, now I'm on my walk with my dog. As soon as I did that, then that water weight gets released. So that's what we're doing. We're on our daily 30 minute walk and this is my first time vlogging outdoors. I can't say I recommend the experience because there's been so many noises that I can't really control for. So we'll see what it actually looks like when I actually go to do the editing. It's really challenging because I'm also like trying not to dox myself, so not showing like street signs or whatever, but I did want to show you like a little, I wanted to take you with me on a part of the process. So yeah, this week ... Oh, I did end up actually skipping, well, not skipping, postponing my second leg day because I just wanted to give my leg a little extra time to heal.

  (08:17)

  It feels pretty good. So after I finish my walk with my dog, then I'm going to go and actually take care of that second leg day to tie up week one of my new resistance training program and then I'll be able to officially start week two with my upper body, which I'm thinking about doing tomorrow. So yeah, it was a pretty good week. I'm happy with my progress. I did find it amusing that my weight shot up the way that it did after I had that DoorDash. I did also, I mean, part of the reason why I ended up getting the DoorDash was because I kind of ran out of what I had prepared for my meals. So that's kind of why that happened, which we already knew that like if I didn't have food prepared, either I'm going to go for cereal like convenience food or in this case order, but it's okay to have treat meals.

  (09:23)

  It's okay to have treat days even, even when you're trying to burn fat because your body and your brain need that and mine definitely did. So I'm sure once I actually get back into my normal exercise routine, I'm going to drink a lot of water to flush out that extra sodium. My weight will probably be back down to 140.5 within a day or two. So that's the plan.

  (09:54)

  So like I mentioned when I was walking, my body weight did fluctuate quite a lot this week. Let's take a look at what it was doing. Like I mentioned while I was walking between the 6th and the 7th, my weight shot way, way up because I had eaten food that was out of the ordinary, lots of sodium, lots of carbs. And so my body was retaining a lot of water when I went on this walk with my dog, but just like I expected to happen, my body weight did come back down after I got into my exercise routine and drank a lot of water, but it stayed kind of elevated for two days and then finally came back down on the 10th. Now I did actually forget to log, but one of these days I actually went all the way down to 139. So my body weight definitely is reducing very gradually and I'm really happy to see that.

  (10:49)

  It is normal to see these big fluctuations in my weigh-ins on a day-to-day basis. I've mentioned before in previous episodes, body weight really can fluctuate pretty drastically from day to day, even within the same day, depending on what you eat and how much water your body is retaining, but we take the daily measurements so that we can see general trends over time. We're only two weeks into this process and this really is the first week that I was really trying to be in a calorie deficit. We really won't see the big picture progress in this data until I've been at it for four to six weeks at least. But from my trainer's eye perspective as an expert looking at my graph, even though I didn't plug in all of my weight ins, I know that I made it below 140 at least for one way in this week.

  (11:44)

  So that's a victory and that tells me that I'm right on track. And to be honest, I didn't do the best of jobs tracking everything that I ate and drank this week. There were a few days where I didn't completely track everything, but I was intuitively keeping track of what I was eating. But like I mentioned when I was taking the walk and vlogging, I kind of splurged over the weekend as kind of a celebration and relaxing with my Twitch chat while I was playing the new game. Outside of that, on the days that I was fully tracking, I am able to stick to 1800 calories or even less. In these last couple of days in particular, I've been sticking closer to 1600 or 1650 and this is really because I was really busy on those days and especially in the morning I didn't really have time to sit down and eat something, but I don't really mind being in that 1600 calorie intake because like I mentioned in last week's vlog, I am thinking about maybe accelerating my fat loss to be closer to a pound of weight loss per week just to accelerate things a little bit in the short term.

  (12:57)

  So dropping 200 calories or 150 calories below the target goal, which was 1800 calories, should allow me to burn more fat. But I am paying attention to my recovery from my workouts. When you go really, really low in your calorie intake, it can make it harder for you to recover from your workouts and it can affect your energy levels. I have been pretty sore after my workouts, but I'm not really sure if that has to do as much with my calorie intake versus my body just getting used to the new routine because it is a new workout routine. I won't really have as good of a sense of what the effect is until I've been doing this for another week or two. So my goal for the coming week is going to try to stick to a calorie intake every day of between 1600 and 1800, which will allow me to stay in a calorie deficit of at least 250 calories to burn at least a half a pound of fat per week.

  (13:56)

  And if I burn more, then that's awesome, but I really don't want to go below 1600, 1500 at the bare minimum because I want to make sure that my muscles are fueled properly for my workouts. Speaking of workouts, let's take a look at how my workouts went. Because I had strained one of my muscles in my hip, I decided to make my fourth leg day kind of a mobility day. So I spent a good chunk of time working on the floor doing some various calisthenic and yoga-based movements to make sure that my legs were properly warmed up and that I had given my hips a good stretch. So I did some bear squat to down dogs to start with and then I did the bear plank to Spider-Man lunge. These two movements together are so good for getting some blood flow to the legs, but also stretching out the hips.

  (14:49)

  You get a nice stretch in the hip flexors of the straight leg and the hip adductors of the leg that comes forward. It's also a really good core activator as well. And I wanted to give myself even more of a stretch. So I started to add a little thoracic rotation where I reached my hand up as I brought my hip forward and this really gave me a nice big stretch all through the front of my hip. So I went side to side with this and it felt really good and I could definitely feel my quads burning, which is great because I wanted to warm them up before hitting the leg press. After this, I grabbed a kettlebell and I worked on my balance training and worked on waking up all the stabilizing muscles in my legs and in my core with some single leg deadlifts.

  (15:31)

  I call these drinking birds because they kind of look like one of those drinking bird toys and that helps my clients to visualize what they should be doing. It's a really great movement for working on anti-rotation and it also helps to fire up all of the muscles along the legs and in the core to help you stabilize. So I did eight on both sides with a 20 pound kettlebell. Then after doing this, I did my star single leg balance for reps, which is a great exercise for waking up the hip abductors and abductors while you also continue to work on your stability, your balance, and continue to get blood flow to all those muscles in the legs. This is one of my favorite warmup exercises and balance training exercises. Most of my tightness in my hip tends to be in my abductors and abductor muscles so this really helps to loosen those guys up, which I really wanted to be mindful of before hitting the leg pres today.

  (16:27)

  I hit both sides for eight reps and then I went back down to the ground to do a little bit more dynamic stretching with the pigeon pose and I made sure to perform this dynamically where I wasn't spending more than like five seconds on either side. Performing this exercise dynamically really helps to light up those muscles, get some blood flow there and warm them up. When you're doing a warmup, you generally don't really want to be holding a stretch for too long because that starts to slow down your heart rate and I want to keep my heart rate up. I want to keep blood flow to these muscles. So I'm just spending a few seconds on either side to help loosen them up and this really made a big difference. And then after this, I did a seated internal and external rotation in my hips just to try and loosen up those muscles even more.

  (17:19)

  And I really felt the stretch and the internal rotation on the side that I had strained. So this was a really good stretch to do. Before you do leg day, it is good to make sure that you take your body through its full range of motion and the hips are such a complex joint. So it's good to practice with light or no resistance doing all of the movements that your legs do, like hip flexion and extension, internal and external rotation and then just to make sure that these muscles were really nice and warm and ready to fire. I finished up with a set of clam side planks. I love this exercise for training core stability and also getting those abductor muscles fired up and I did 15 on both sides. And then finally I definitely learned my lesson from last workout. So I made sure to do my dynamic leg swings forward and back to make sure that my hip flexors and my hamstrings were ready to go and I also did the side to side leg swings just to make sure everything was as loose as it could be so that I don't end up straining something during the strength training.

  (18:21)

  I also did some kickbacks to stretch out my quadriceps dynamically and I did feel some of the tightness in that muscle that I had strained on the right side while I was doing this, but it wasn't super bad and I still felt it but it was good enough to work with. So then I headed over to the leg press machine to warm up and get ready for my leg press sets. So anytime that I go to do a heavier exercise, I always warm up with really light resistance. So I did the first set here with no added plates and then after I felt out the movement, made sure that my quadricep was going to be okay, then I loaded up the weight, just putting a 45 pound plate on both sides and then I was able to do a set of 15 without pain or discomfort.

  (19:11)

  I also felt like I could do a little bit more. I mean, I felt the muscles burning a little bit towards the end, but I definitely could do more. And so I decided for my second set that I would add on a little bit more weight, but nothing too crazy, just an additional 10 pounds on both sides. I really wanted to go slow here because I had strained my quadricep in the week before and I definitely didn't want to do too much too soon heading back into these knee bending focused exercises. That felt really good and I was again able to do another set of 15. So I added on another 10 pounds on both sides of the machine and I did my last set and that was really juicy. I felt the burn in my quads and in my glutes and I think that this is probably going to be my starting weight next time because my quadricep felt fine and I'm going to try next week to do all three sets at this weight.

  (20:09)

  After I finished up with the leg press, I decided to do a lunch sequence because lunges are so good for training your endurance in your muscles, but they also help with mobility. So I did some walking lunges with the medicine ball and adding a twist to the bottom of the lunch. This gave my hip flexor a really nice stretch as the rest of my muscles were having to work. After the walking lunges, I did a set of 3D lunges, which is a variation of lunges where you do first a forward stepping lunge and then you step back to a single leg balance and then you step out to the side for a side lunge and then back to the center and then you go back into another reverse lunge. And then when you come back to the center, you start back at the top with another forward lunge followed by a side lunge and then a reverse lunge.

  (21:05)

  So each time that you complete all three lunges is one rep. And I was going for between five and 10 reps. I did five on the first set because I was still just feeling things out trying to figure out how this was going to feel on my strained muscle. It felt fine. In fact, it actually felt pretty good and I felt like I was getting a good stretch, but it was gentle and not harsh. And then I did another set and this time I actually did a little bit heavier with the walking lunges. I went up from the 10 pound medicine ball to the 18 pound medicine ball. This gave me much more of a challenge in my torso and I was definitely feeling my obliques the next day. And then I did the 3D lunches again and you know, those felt really good as well.

  (21:46)

  I was able to go all the way to 10 reps on both sides and by the end my leg was feeling great. So it was definitely the right call to turn this into a mobility, stability and endurance day. And then I finished off the workout with some stiff leg deadlifts staying in this little outdoor area because it was just so nice outside. Stiff leg deadlifts are a litle bit different from Romanian deadlifts. Romanian deadlifts, you allow your knees to bend a little bit so that you can get your hips back further. The focus on a Romanian deadlift would be glute activation. Here, I was really trying to stretch out and activate my hamstrings in the back of my thighs. So I didn't go very heavy with this and I'm trying to keep my knees from bending too much and I definitely felt my hamstrings after this workout, but that was really good because they definitely needed the stretch.

  (22:34)

  After this workout, I was back at the beginning of my resistance training program. I am trying to do four days a week alternating between push and press upper body, leg day one, and then a back day for upper body mainly, but there are RDLs on that day as well and then another leg day that I just completed. I am going to try to get into a routine where I'm able to complete all four workouts in one week, but it looks like at least for this week and next week, I'm probably going to have to push the last workout off just because I got a little bit off schedule because of that strain in my leg. So I will probably be including the last workout for the week in next week's vlog. I was really excited to get to do my upper body day in my home gym while streaming to my Twitch channel.

  (23:28)

  I used to stream almost all of my workouts to my Twitch channel and that's actually how I grew my community, but it's been a really long time since I've been able to do that just because of my crazy schedule and all of the work that I've been doing. We were all really happy to get to hang out while I did my workout. So I started my push press day with some dynamic stretches and some priming exercises because I was going to be doing some bench press. I always like to do cat cows and T spine rotations before I do any kind of bench press or chest press because it helps me to activate all those muscles in the back of my shoulders and in my upper back. And then I wanted to activate my core while stretching out my lats and my shoulders. So I did some pullover dead bugs with a 20 pound kettlebell.

  (24:17)

  This gave my shoulders such a juicy stretch and also helped me to fire up my core. After this, I finished up with some pike planks to keep warming up my shoulders and getting them ready for the first exercise, which is my double Arnold press. Like I said last week, I love doing the Arnold presses at the beginning of my push press day because they're so good at loosening up the tightness in my shoulders. Because I work in front of a computer for a lot of my content creation and my online coaching, I have that same problem that a lot of people have, which is my shoulders tend to be rounded forward. And if I take that posture with me into my workouts, especially my pushing and pressing exercises, that can lead to an injury in my shoulder and pain in my shoulder that I'll feel while I'm trying to do these exercises.

  (25:09)

  So doing this external rotation and maintaining that external rotation as I press upwards I've found has been really helpful for getting my shoulders ready and it's also a really good way to burn the shoulders out and build strong looking shoulders. After I finished my Arnold presses, I started to warm up my bench press. I always start with one set using just the barbell by itself with no weight so that I can rehearse the movement and feel the movement out. And then I decided to do a little heavier warm upset with 75 pounds on the bar before heading into my five by five using 95 pounds total. This felt really good and I think that in the coming week I'm probably going to have to bump up the weight on that. I think we are ready. The five by five felt really good though, really strong.

  (26:03)

  And then when I finished up with my five by five on the bench, I did my reverse flies for the back of my shoulders. This time I did them with my pinkies out and thumbs down so I could bias a lot more of the rear delts. Sometimes it's hard to get that muscle activated when the palms are facing down and I really wanted to feel my rear delts. It's such a hard muscle to feel for most people. I did a couple sets of between 10 and 15 on these, they felt really good. And then finally I finished up with my tricep dips. I did both sets with my legs extended this time, which gave me a lot more of a burn in my triceps. I felt really good and I had a huge pump in my upper body so I took the opportunity to do some flexing in front of the camera so that I could see that pump, see the muscle definition as it's coming through and I was really happy with that pump.

  (27:03)

  I definitely have a ways to go because my muscles are still hidden under a small layer of fat, but you know what? We're working on it and overall I'm really happy with my progress. Oh and while I was doing my posing, I saw my dog start to tuck himself into his blanket, which is like something that's so cute and I couldn't believe I was able to catch it on camera. Take a look. He's doing it. This is how he does it. He uses a little nose and he bumps the blanket up over his head and he crawls in and he just like disappears like a little cocoon. But I called him and he popped out. He is the best little gym rap and such a good helper. And then I did a little midweek check in and reflection. So let's take a look at that now.

  (27:47)

  This morning, which is Thursday, I weighed in at 139.8. So I have officially broken the 140 barrier and I'm officially down a pound from when I first started the journey. So I'm really excited about that, especially because after this past weekend when I had that huge jump after having the DoorDash meal and then I also put two and two together and realized that I went to the grocery store on Sunday after a really, really long day of teaching and also I was really tired and I was hungry, which you should never go to the grocery store when you're tired and hungry because then you're going to impulse buy, which is exactly what happened. I saw this, of course it was cereal because I'm a fiend for cereal, but Cheerios has now come out with what they're calling their protein cereal. It's not that much protein.

  (28:42)

  It's not. It's not that much protein per serving, whatever. I was like, let's try this. That sounds delicious. I love Cheerios by the way and yes, it is something that I treat as a treat meal because even though you might be thinking, "Oh, Cheerios, isn't that healthy?" Well, the honey nut ones especially or any of those sweetened cereals, like they may be a better alternative to like cocoa puffs or Fruit Loops, which is like nothing but sugar, but it's still a pretty high sugar food with very minimal nutritional benefit. So I count it as a treat. When I want something sweet to eat, when I'm feeling like I want dessert, I'll have a bowl of cereal and it'll be like a bowl of sweet cereal. So I try not to keep that in the house because I know if it's there, I'm going to eat it.

  (29:31)

  Well, I was tired and I was hungry and so when I saw, Ooh, Cheerios has a protein cereal, my critical thinking went out the window and I was like, "Yeah, we're going to do that. We're going to get that because then I can treat myself and it's protein." But then I look at the nutrition facts after I got home and I'm like, "Oh, this actually, this is not that much protein. It's not that much protein." And the protein source that this cereal uses is pea protein and my body does not I do well with pea protein. I always get so, so bloated, so bloated, which is why I stopped using pea protein powder years ago because I noticed I was just bloating and I was feeling really heavy and sluggish. My body doesn't do well with it. So anyway, I had two bowls of cereal with that cereal over the weekend.

  (30:22)

  So that in addition to the DoorDash is likely what led to my weight skyrocketing when I stepped on the scale Sunday and Monday morning. So I've been staying away from that cereal and my weight has been coming back down to normal, which is what I expected to happen. And then I've just been staying the course eating my normal 500-ish calorie meals, making sure that I'm eating three or four times a day. And my meals are pretty high fiber and high protein and I'm really doing well with that. I feel like I'm not getting as hungry as I was over the weekend when I was splurging and I didn't have meals planned. So I feel really good about where we are. I do feel like I need to give my workout plan another two weeks before I decide if I want to make any adjustments. Whenever you start a new workout program, you're going to be sore and you're going to be tired.

  (31:19)

  And that's kind of where I've been. I've been pretty sore and I've been pretty tired. So I'm going to give it another week or two to see if my body adapts and I start feeling less soreness and I start having more energy after my workouts and on my recovery days after my workouts. But I've been pretty tired and wanting to go to bed early. I've been feeling kind of tired in the afternoons, having maybe a little bit more coffee. Speaking of coffee, I did for a hot minute decide to get some sugar-free hot chocolate mix and use that in my coffee throughout the day. That didn't last long because it was sad and I didn't like it. I was like, "This is not hitting. This isn't hitting the way that I want it to hit." And then when I looked at the calories, I was like, "This is actually not saving me any calories.

  (32:10)

  It's like a 10 calorie difference between a tablespoon of the sugar-free hot cocoa mix and just using a tablespoon of the regular." So I was like, honestly, let's just go back to the regular because it's a 10-ish calorie difference. That's so silly. So I'm back in my normal coffee and I feel like everything is well with the world now. So yeah, the week is going so far so good. All that water weight that I was holding has finally flushed out. I've been staying super hydrated. I have been drinking a lot of water lately. The weather has been so hot here in North Carolina and we haven't gotten any rain so we're in a drought and I think my body feels that in addition to just the increased activity that I've had, the increased level of exercise. I've been exercising more. I'm building muscle so my body just needs a lot of water.

  (33:04)

  I am filling up my water bottle like five times a day at least, at least. And I'm still continuing to get my creatine in. It helps that the creatine that I use is really yummy and I really enjoy drinking it. So that motivates me to make sure that I get it in. And I think that that is helping me with my recovery.

  (33:27)

  I think that if I wasn't taking that, I would be even more tired and more sore than I have been. So yeah, things are going pretty well. Adjustments that I think I'm going to make, just seeing how my body is recovering, I think I'm going to start adding in more mobility work as sort of a brain break from work while I'm doing my computer work or between clients because I think that my body will benefit from that a lot. I still have tightness in my hip and a little bit of tightness still in my knee from last week when I did my leg day and that's the same workout that I'm going to do today. So I'm going to make sure that I take a really good chunk of time to warm up before I do my leg day so that I don't end up straining my rectus formoris, which is the quadricep that goes on top of all the others because I'm pretty sure that was the muscle that I strained last week.

  (34:26)

  I'm going to take a good chunk of time to make sure that I do my priming exercises, my dynamic stretches, I'm going to foam roll and then I'm going to also just carry the foam roller with me around to all of my exercises and make sure to foam roll between sets just in case and we'll see. But I think outside of my workouts, I'm going to start adding in particularly some hip mobility exercises just to kind of maintain mobility and to try to prevent that kind of tightness from getting so bad to the point where I strain a muscle during one of my workouts. I think that it would be good for me to make a YouTube video around what mobility exercises I'm doing to loosen up my hip because they're the same exercises that a lot of my clients are using to loosen up their lower back pain and that is something that a lot of people struggle with.

  (35:28)

  So I'm thinking of taking part of my vlog footage and recycling that into a follow along with me to do some mobility work on our hips. And I think a lot of people would like that. So that's what I'm thinking about doing as an extra little project for this week. But yeah, so I'm feeling really good. I'm staying hydrated back on coffee that doesn't make me sad and yeah, I'm looking forward to my workouts. I didn't work out yesterday because I was feeling really tired and beat up, which means that I'm probably going to have to squish all three of my remaining workouts for the rest of the week in back to back days. But I'm going to listen to my body and see how I recover from today's leg day. Tomorrow will be that upper body back day with the Romanian deadlifts. If I can get it done in the morning before all of the soreness from today's workout hits me, then I think I'll be good, but we'll see.

  (36:22)

  We'll see. So yeah, we'll see how it goes, but I'm feel pretty good. Unfortunately, the Smith machine was not available when I went to the gym to do my leg day one workout, which is fine because I could definitely use the practice squatting with the barbell. And I wanted to see how it felt given that my leg was still feeling a litle bit tight, my knee still felt a litle bit tight. So I took it really, really slow warming up my back squats, just using 25 pounds on both sides with the bar and I also tried to restrict my range of motion, not going super, super deep into the squats because it was the deep knee bend that really bothered my knee. So I took it a little easy, went a little lighter on it and then I just gradually added weight little bit by little bit.

  (37:16)

  So I did a first warm up set with 25 pounds on either side of the bar and then I was like, "Okay, that felt pretty good. Let's just be very gradual here and add 10 pounds to both sides." And I did another set of squats there just with five reps. It was feeling good and ultimately I decided to just stay at that weight and just shoot for between five and eight repetitions on each set. The goal here was really just to get those reps in on the movement and try not to strain my muscles, try not to strain my knee. Oh my goodness. There was this one point though where I was performing one of my sets and there were these two kids next to me on the squat rack next to me and they started like wrestling and messing around like literally right next to me as I was lifting.

  (38:05)

  So I did kind of have to yell at them. Don't be roughhousing in the squat rock room next to someone who's literally squatting with the barbell. It's so dumb. They were teenagers though. These were feeling good. So in my next couple of sets, I started to push the depth a little bit, trying to get my hips down to normal depth. I wasn't doing super deep squats because I still wanted to be really careful of my knee and I was also making sure that I was paying attention to activating my glutes and pressing the floor away and overall the squats felt really good. After the squats, I used the Bulgarian split squat rack to get in some single leg work. I still wore my knee sleeves for this because I just still wanted to be very, very careful with my knee and overall they felt fine.

  (38:52)

  I had no issues with the Bulgarian split squats. And then just like last week I finished off with some hip abduction and abduction using the seated abduction abduction machine or the good girl bed girl machine. These felt really good. I went up and weighed a little bit, pushed myself and was feeling really challenged by the end. I was pretty tired after that leg day and I think it might have been a combination of factors. It's been a few weeks since I've done an actual back squat in the squat rack, but they felt fine and I was really happy with how my knee responded. I was a little bit worried, but that's why I took it slow and I restricted my range of motion and I kept the weight pretty light and just focused on practicing my movement and that's something that you have to do sometimes.

  (39:40)

  Sometimes you have to deload a workout or deload an exercise, especially if you're nursing an injury. It doesn't mean that you have to completely rest from exercise necessarily depending on the injury, but you totally can listen to your body the way that I did and bump the weight down, reduce your range of motion and just focus on getting reps in because a lot of times just moving can help to loosen the muscle up and that's what happened for me. It felt really good. Now I was pretty sore and kind of tired after my leg day, but I wanted to catch up on my workout schedule so I went ahead the next day back to the gym to do my pull day, which even though is more upper body, it is kind of a total body workout because we have the Romanian deadlifts in there and the penly rows are a full body exercise, but everything felt really good as soon as I finished my warmup.

  (40:36)

  I spent a little bit extra time on the treadmill to make sure that I was nice and warm and then I did my dynamic stretches and all my priming exercises. I didn't film them though because I just didn't feel like it. But the Penlay rows felt really, really good, really strong. I didn't use my belt or the deadlift straps for these sets because I really wanted to focus on challenging my grip strength and my back strength and I didn't really feel like I needed the belt. After the penly rose, I did my deficit Romanian deadlifts all three sets this week at a deficit with the 135 pounds. I didn't use the belt for the first set and it was fine, but by the end my back was really tired so I did decide to use the belt for the second and third sets. I was able to get 12 reps on the first set and then in the second set I was getting tired so I only did 11 reps and my music cut off in the middle of the set because I started getting a phone call and my immediate thought was, "Crap, I'm getting a stupid spam call.

  (41:40)

  I better turn my phone on to do not disturb." And then I looked down at my watch and it was actually my brother calling and my niece had wanted to talk to her Auntie Jay. So I paused my workout and I talked to my niece on the phone for 10 minutes, just like pacing around. And then once I hung up with her, I got back to it and I finished off with my third set. Everything felt really good here. I felt really strong and then I moved on to my narrow grip pull ups. I did find a little booster seat. I'm using the heel elevation platform that people often use when they're doing like heel elevated squats and that was just the right height for me to be able to get a full range of motion in the exercise. I was able to get my elbows down a lot further and contract my lats a lot more and I took this shot from behind because I felt like my back muscles had such a pump.

  (42:33)

  They were looking so good so I wanted to make sure that I caught those muscles in action. Look, I may not have visible abs yet, but look at that definition in my back. I'm really proud of that. And these felt really good, no issues. I did go down in weight to challenge myself more. When it comes to the assisted pull-up machine, you actually reduce weight to challenge yourself more because the machine gives you a certain amount of weight to support you. So whatever the number is that you put the pin in, you have to assume that what you're actually pulling up is your own body weight minus that weight. So when you reduce the weight, you're making it so that you have to lift more of your own body weight. So I got stronger, I took away some of the support, but the reps went down and that's okay because I felt really strong.

  (43:24)

  I challenged myself, my muscles were burning and that's the point. After this, I did the single arm reverse flies using the cable machine and these felt really good. I especially felt my infraspinatus firing up and I took a few more shots from behind so I could really see the definition of my muscles as they were working as you can see that infraspinatus muscles really firing here and that's the goal. With this exercise, I'm really trying to bias the infraspinatus as well as the rear delt, not trying to have the trap take over the work, which is one of the main challenges with this exercise. And then I finished up my pole day with some bicep curls using the cable machine. These felt really strong and I thought a second about taking the weight up after I did my first set because I did like 18 reps and I was like, "Maybe I need to add in some more weight." But I didn't add weight.

  (44:16)

  I wanted to see how the second set felt and I'm glad that I didn't because my biceps by that point were really tired after all of those pulling exercises where the biceps have to actually help. And so I was only able to do like 12 on the second set. So I'm glad I didn't increase the weight because that would have been hard. And then I went outside to practice a little bit of flexing and take advantage of the pump that I had so I could see the definition in my lats and in my back. I had a really nice lat spread, still working on learning how to flex the back muscles. It's kind of a challenge, but overall I was feeling really good. This morning, I woke up really early to make sure that I could take my dog out for a long walk around one of the lakes in the area.

  (45:03)

  We both came back feeling really good. I felt really focused. I was able to get a lot of work done afterwards and yeah, things are feeling really good. In terms of like my end of week reflection, something that I'm continuing to learn and it's just kind of getting reinforced is that I really need to make sure that I have food prepped and ready to go in the freezer or in the refrigerator or if I don't, I need to make sure that I have on hand simple meals that I can just throw together in like five minutes because otherwise it's just really hard for me to make sure that I'm feeding myself adequately and on schedule with enough protein, enough calories because what happens and what happened a couple of days this week was I just kind of get lost in my work and I'll go for a long stretch of time without eating.

  (45:55)

  And then by the time I do eat, I'm just like, "I need to eat something now." And then I won't make the best choices. And I do have those protein Cheerios in my pantry and they're not horrible, but they definitely are not super nutritious, but cereal is the thing that I'll often go for as a convenience food if I don't have anything prepped. And then what ends up happening is one, it just doesn't have as much of the nutrients that I know my body needs. I don't feel as good after eating them. And then they also, because they're just so much sodium and sugars, even with the added protein, they make me feel so bloated and every single time that I've had those Cheerios or a bowl of that cereal, my body weight spikes up two or three pounds within one day. So I got to finish up that box because I got it.

  (46:52)

  I'm trying to level it out by adding it to some skier yogurt, which is Icelandic yogurt, very similar to Greek yogurt instead of having it just with milk, that helps me to fill up with more protein and it seems to keep me from getting super, super bloated. I still get a litle bit of bloated. I still get kind of where my body retains a lot of water, but it's better than having a bowl and a half of cereal with milk. So once that box is done, I am not going to be buying more. It does help to have protein bars ready to grab and go for the mornings where I'm really busy, but something I would like to try for this week is making some smoothies or making a breakfast casserole and making it so that I can just grab and go and eat it really quickly after heating it up in the mornings.

  (47:46)

  I tend to have not very much of an appetite in the morning. So eating something kind of heavy is really hard on my system, which is why I typically will just do like a protein bar in cereal, but in the past having a smoothie in the morning was a great workaround for me to be able to get the nutrition that I needed without feeling like I'm having to eat something heavy and then losing my appetite. So when I go to the grocery store later, I'm going to grab some bananas and some frozen blueberries and I will start making smoothies in the morning as part of my breakfast. The challenge with this will be to stay on top of making sure that I clean the blender immediately because in the past what I've done is I'll just like use it and then I'll put it in the sink and then not actually wash it.

  (48:41)

  And then with my ADHD, if it's not washed, then I won't use it and then I won't make my breakfast and then it sounds ridiculous. I know, but that's just, I know myself and I know my pattern. So I'll have to make sure that I really get into that habit of washing it right after I use it. Even if there's like leftover, I'm going to pour the leftover into like a jar and put that jar in the refrigerator and then immediately clean the blender. It's so much easier to clean right after you've used it anyway, rather than like letting it sit and get that stuff caked in. So that's my plan and I'm going to continue to eat the tacos with the black beans. I did this week get some low fat cheese to have with the tacos and it's unfortunately not as tasty as the full fat cheddar cheese that I used in the first week and since I was successful in getting into a calorie deficit in the first week, I think once this cheese is done after I've gone through it, I'm probably just going to go back to regular full fat cheddar cheese because the tacos are feeling a little sad.

  (49:46)

  I think what I'll do to like try to add more flavor is like add some taco seasoning to the beans and then maybe get some salsa to add to the tacos. But yeah, they're kind of bland this week and that low fat cheese is making me sad. I'm also continuing to do my tofu and egg ramen bowls because that's something that I can really quickly put together, very easily throw together and I can also make it more protein by adding more egg if I need to. That meal works really well for me. It's very fast. As long as I wash the pan immediately after cooking the eggs, then it's good. It's a fail safe system for making sure that I get some nutrition in. I will say though that when I do have the ramen, I do tend to bloat a little bit more. I tend to hold more water because it's just a higher sodium food.

  (50:40)

  So if I have that for dinner the night before, when I weigh in the next morning, I just have to know that I'm going to probably weigh in a pound or two heavier than I normally would just because my body is retaining that water and I'm fine with that because again, we're looking for general trends over time here and I'm in this for the long haul so I'm not worried about that as long as I'm tracking my calories and I'm staying to my actual calorie goal and I'm also hitting my protein as well. So I'll let you know how it goes in the next vlog at the end of next week when I do my reflection. I hope that you're enjoying this series so far. I'm enjoying making it. It's definitely been a great motivator for me to stay on track and I feel really accountable to you and I'm really also enjoying going through the process that my clients go through because it's giving me more of a view of what it's like for them and helping me to go ahead and actually prepare some more educational materials to address common concerns that might come up and questions that might come up.

  (51:48)

  But yeah, I'm enjoying it so far. I'm still pretty happy and I'm really happy with the results.

  (51:56)

  Thank you so much for watching or listening to this episode of The Coaching Corner Podcast. Again, I'm Jayd Harrison AKA Jaydigains. I've been a personal trainer for over 10 years and I'm so excited to be sharing this part of my fitness journey with you as I go through my Fat Loss Transformation program to get lean and toned. If you yourself would like to join me in a fat loss journey, I am taking on clients right now. You can apply for my online coaching program in the link that is below this video if you're watching on YouTube or in the show notes. You can also check out my socials. I'm on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, just look up my handle, Jaydigains, J-A-Y-D-I-G-A-I-N-S. And I'll see you in the next episode. In the meantime, make sure that you are prioritizing your self-care. Make sure you're eating your veggies, eating your protein and staying active and I will see you soon.

Progress Photos and Why I Changed My Approach

This week I switched up how I'm taking progress photos. Instead of an outfit that covered most of my hips, I changed into a bathing suit so I could actually track the definition starting to show in that area — especially since I store a lot of body fat in my hips and upper legs. I also added flexing shots (front double bicep, side bicep, back, triceps) because, like a lot of women, my muscle definition doesn't really show unless I'm actively flexing. I'm proud of the muscle I've built over the past two years, and I'm excited to watch it emerge as the fat layer on top of it decreases.

The DoorDash Weight Spike (and Why It's Not What You Think)

Here's the part I want to normalize: my weight jumped to 142 after a weekend treat day that included DoorDash and, embarrassingly, an impulse-bought box of "protein" cereal that turned out to barely have any protein in it (and uses pea protein, which makes me incredibly bloated). That combination of sodium and carbs sent my water retention through the roof.

This is such an important lesson for anyone tracking their progress: a two-pound jump on the scale after a salty, high-carb meal is not two pounds of fat gained. It's water. Within a few days of getting back to my normal routine and hydrating well, my weight came back down — and by midweek I'd actually broken below 140 for the first time, officially down a pound since I started.

Training Around an Injury

I strained a muscle in my hip/quad the week before, so I made the call to turn one of my leg days into a mobility and stability session instead of pushing through pain. This included a lot of dynamic stretching, balance work, and core activation before easing back into light leg press and lunges. By the next leg day, I was able to get back to back squats — just lighter and with a restricted range of motion to protect my knee.

This is a principle I teach my clients constantly: sometimes you need to deload an exercise rather than skip it entirely. Moving through a lighter, more controlled version of a movement often helps loosen things up rather than forcing rest. Listening to my body here meant I avoided making the injury worse while still staying consistent with training.

Calories, Recovery, and Real Talk About Cereal

I'm aiming for 1,800 calories a day on average, though I've been leaning closer to 1,600–1,800 most days and thinking about nudging my deficit slightly to speed up progress — while staying mindful of recovery, since going too low can make workouts harder to bounce back from.

My biggest recurring challenge this week wasn't motivation — it was meal prep. When I don't have food ready to go, I default to convenience foods (hi, cereal), and that pattern showed up more than once. My plan going forward includes prepping smoothies for low-appetite mornings and keeping protein bars on hand, while phasing out the cereal that's been spiking my water retention and bloat every time I have it.

The Bigger Picture

Two weeks in, the takeaway is simple: progress isn't linear, treat days are allowed, and the daily number on the scale tells you far less than the trend over four to six weeks. I'm staying consistent with training, paying attention to recovery, and making small, sustainable adjustments rather than overhauling everything at once.

If you're working through your own fat loss journey and want support that's evidence-based and shame-free, I'm currently accepting new clients into my coaching program — you can apply for a free consultation through the link in my show notes or on my website.

Links:

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Ep 90 | My Fat Loss Journey End of Week 1 Check In

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One week in, and I'm already learning things — some expected, some genuinely surprising. Here's my full Week 2 end-of-week reflection from my six-month fat loss journey.

If you missed the first episode, you can catch up here. And if you're ready to start your own fat loss journey, my Fat Loss Transformation Program is open — sign up here!

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):

  Okay. So it's been one week since I started my Fat Loss journey and overall I had a really good week and I'm really happy with the progress that I've made so far. So let's take a moment to do my end of week reflection. Welcome to the Coaching Corner Podcast. My name is Jayd Harrison. I'm a personal trainer and I created this podcast to share with you tips and strategies as well as inspiration to build a body that you love without shame and without burnout. Today's episode is the second installation in my Fat Loss Vlog series. I'm going to be sharing my week by week check-ins as I go through my six month fat loss journey. My goal with this journey is to reduce my body fat percentage while maintaining muscle or building muscle if I can so that I can achieve a more lean physique that shows off all of the muscle that I've built so far in the last two years.

  (01:06)

  This is the second installation into the series. So if you missed the first one, you can go back and watch or listen to it. And the link for that is in the show notes or in the description of the video below. Now real quick, before we get into the episode, if you are looking to burn fat and keep it off for good, I would love to have you join me in this journey. You can find the link from my Fat Loss Transformation program in the link below this video if you're watching on YouTube, or you can also find it in the show notes if you're listening to the podcast. If you're watching this on YouTube, make sure that you hit like on the video and that you subscribe to my channel so you always get the latest episodes and other videos that I release throughout the week.

  (01:44)

  If you're listening to the episode, make sure to follow the show so you always get the latest episodes delivered right to your device. Without further ado, let's get into my week two end of week reflection.

  (02:01)

  So the first week of the Fat Loss Transformation is all about getting our starting point and our bearings. So one of the things that I was tasked to do was to begin tracking everything that I eat and drink using the ABC Trainerize app. In this first week, I wasn't really necessarily trying to change anything about what I was eating. The goal was to try and get a sense of what my body was used to getting in terms of energy and protein. So every day I tracked everything that I ate and drank in the ABC Trainerize app. And today we're going to take a look at how many calories I'm eating on average. Another thing that I did over this past week was I did daily weigh-ins where I stepped on the scale. Now doing the weigh-ins while also tracking everything that I was eating and drinking allowed me to get some real data and numbers around how much energy I'm taking in and also how that is impacting my body weight.

  (02:59)

  Body weight is something that tends to fluctuate for most people. You might see your body weight go up or down three to five pounds even within a single day or within 24 hours. And a lot of that has to do with how much water weight you're holding. So if you're only tracking your weight once a week, you might end up getting not as accurate of a view of like what your body weight is actually doing because maybe the day before you ate a lot of carbohydrates or maybe like you had some really salty food that will make your body retain more water and so you will weigh in heavier. But when you do a daily check-in and you check your weight stepping on the scale, keeping everything the same at the same time of day, wearing roughly the same thing or the same amount of clothing, this really gives you a better, more accurate sense of how your body weight is trending.

  (03:49)

  So we're going to compare the numbers of how many calories on average I'm eating every day and we're going to compare that to what my body weight is doing on average. Now the goal here would be for us to try and figure out what my maintenance level of calories is. That is the amount of energy that I need to eat for my body weight to stay the same. Once I know what my maintenance level of calories is, this allows me to plan for what my deficit might look like and how I might reduce my calories to get my body trending downwards to burn some fat. And finally, the other main task for week one was to get into my new exercise routine. So one thing to keep in mind is that if you want to burn fat, you need your body burning more calories than how many calories you take in on average.

  (04:36)

  So one way that you can get your body into a calorie deficit is by increasing the amount of activity that you do every day. The more that you move your body, then you burn more calories. So it's not always just about reducing what you eat. If you increase the amounts of energy that your body is spending, you can get yourself into a calorie deficit without necessarily having to reduce how much you're eating so, so much. So we have to keep that in mind as well when we are looking at the numbers of how many calories I'm eating every day and how my body weight is responding because the exercise routine is also going to have an impact on that. So as an advanced exerciser, my routine is going to look a little bit different from how it might look for someone who's just starting with exercise.

  (05:22)

  I already have a very active lifestyle. I'm on my feet every day for a couple hours a day teaching clients. I already have kind of an exercise routine, although I wasn't doing resistance training as often as I would have liked before. So one thing that I changed about my exercise routine in this last week was I just added more because I have the time now, right? So I did a lot more cardio by walking my dog. I tried to walk my dog 20 to 30 minutes every day and then once a week we're going on a big long walk of 45 minutes to an hour on one of the greenways here in the trangle of North Carolina. And then in addition to the cardio and getting some more steps in, I wanted to get into my new four day workout routine where I'm alternating between doing upper body and lower body training.

  (06:09)

  Now this is different from someone who maybe is just beginning with fitness. Normally I start people with a two to three day workout program where they're doing resistance training for their entire body for each day of training. For me as an advanced exerciser, I need more stimulus to my muscles to keep them strong and to get them to grow. I have split out my workouts to upper body and lower body focused days, which allow me to get the stimulus that I need to keep my muscles strong and to combat the muscle loss that is a little bit inevitable when you're in a calorie deficit. So we'll take a look at how my workouts went this week as well. So before we do all of this, let's make sure that we hit our end of week reflection. So at the end of every week of the program, there's an electronic form that my clients fill out to answer a few questions to let me know how they're doing, what they're learning and what obstacles they faced in the first week of the program.

  (07:03)

  So let's fill that out now. Okay. So the first question is, what did you learn this week? Did you notice anything surprising about your eating habits, your energy levels, your emotions or your mindset, what patterns started to emerge? One thing that I did notice as I was tracking my food in the ABC Trainerize app is that just as I suspected I was under eating on a lot of days before. When I wasn't really paying as much attention to what I was eating, I did have a lot of days where I undershoot my calories. That pattern emerged within the first two days of tracking and I noticed, especially on day two, I didn't really put a whole lot of thought into what I was going to eat. And then I also got distracted by work and life. So at the end of the day, I ended up going to bed without actually having eaten dinner and I ended up waking up in the middle of the night really hungry, really warm and just like wide awake.

  (08:09)

  So that was something that I was sort of subconsciously aware of, but it wasn't quite at the forefront of my attention. And it's a really familiar pattern that a lot of people experience. If you have a really irregular eating pattern where you're not really planning out your meals and you don't really know when you're going to eat, this can often lead to overeating, which is definitely what happens for some people. It also can lead to undereating and both of these habits are really not great for fat loss and you might think, "Oh, well, if you're under eating, doesn't that mean that you're going to be like losing weight?" No, not necessarily. Because one, if you're chronically under eating, your body is going to adapt to whatever amount of calories it's used to getting and eventually reaches a point where you're not actually burning calories the way that you think you are because your body has slowed down your metabolism because it knows that it doesn't know when you're going to actually eat enough calories.

  (09:05)

  So it slows everything down. So by eating irregularly or massively undershooting your calories, like how many calories your body actually needs over an extended period of time, this can actually cause your metabolism to slow down where your body doesn't burn as many calories and you hang on to fat. Of course, overeating means that you'll be taking in more calories than what your body's burning and that also will cause you to accumulate fat. So neither of these things are good for fat loss or just for health. So I recognized pretty soon that I needed to be more intentional and plan out what I was going to eat and make sure that I was doing it. And so even though the goal of the first week of tracking isn't necessarily to change anything that you do when you are just tracking what you're eating and drinking, that was an adjustment that I did decide to make and I became more intentional after day two or three about making sure that I was eating as much as I needed to, that I was eating three or four meals a day to make sure that my body had the fuel that it needed.

  (10:13)

  And the reason I made this adjustment was because I knew that I was going to be exercising more and I really didn't want my workouts to feel like bad. When I don't have enough calories or protein in my body when I work out, I feel awful during my workouts and then I also have a really hard time recovering. So I went ahead and made that adjustment of making sure that I was being intentional about planning what I was going to eat and making sure that I ate it. And that's definitely a different behavior than what I was doing before. I did notice though that it kind of seems like I'm already in the calorie deficit that I want to be and I want to maintain over the next six months because when I did my daily weigh-ins, I did see a trend of my body weight going down very, very slowly from the beginning of the week to where I am now.

  (11:01)

  My goal in setting out in this program was to lose about a half a pound per week. I started out the week weighing in at 141 and then by today my body weight was tracking and averaging out to about 140.5. And so I may not necessarily even need to change anything about what I'm eating right now. And in looking at the actual nutritional content of the food that I was eating, I was getting a pretty good, decent amount of protein at every meal, but I was being very intentional about it and I think more intentional than I was before I started tracking. I made sure that I added an egg or two to my meals to make sure that I was adding some more protein, but my meals themselves were pretty lean, plenty of protein and I was getting vegetables most of the time that was in the form of beans, although I did make some lentils and chickpeas that I'm going to be having this week.

  (11:59)

  But yeah, I actually think that there's not really much that I need to change about how I'm eating at this point. I did kind of already make the changes that I was thinking I needed to make. So I think we're probably just going to stay at the current calorie intake that I am at and just make sure that I'm staying intentional about eating four times a day, making sure that each meal is at least 25 grams of protein and the meals are about 500 to 700 calories each. The one thing that I might do if I wanted to accelerate my fat loss by going from a half a pound a week to maybe a pound per week is I might need to cut out the hot chocolate from the coffee that I have. So I drink a lot of coffee. I drink three or four coffees a day and I add a tablespoon of hot chocolate mix to that because it's like my little treat.

  (12:57)

  I have a sweet tooth so I just know from living with myself that I'm going to need something sweet. I'm going to need a sweet treat every day and my sweet treat has been my coffee and so I really don't want to give that up because that's kind of my ritual that helps me reset and take a break from life, but it is something that I'm willing to consider changing. I don't think I'm necessarily going to stop adding chocolate to my coffee because that's a habit that I really like. But if I wanted to reduce the number of calories that I'm eating every day enough to burn an extra half pound per week, the tablespoon of that hot chocolate is adding 87 calories to my daily intake and that three times a day is about 260 calories. 250 calories is the amount that I would want to drop for my daily intake in order to burn an extra half pound of fat.

  (14:05)

  So that is something I'm thinking about either cutting out or maybe I make my own hot chocolate mix using cocoa powder and then like a zero calorie sweetener like monk fruit. At the moment, what I'm doing is working, but like I said, if it's something that I want to accelerate, if I want to move a litle bit faster in my fat loss, then that's something that I'm willing to do. It's kind of like on the horizon or something that's like a tool that I'm keeping in my back pocket. What do you find most challenging? I am surprised that I didn't actually find it challenging to track what I was eating. I got to a really nice routine. The ABC Trainerize app makes it really simple and easy to track your calories. I have a food scale that I use to measure my food when I eat.

  (14:55)

  It makes it so, so easy to just very quickly see how much I'm eating. So I track the ounces of everything that I eat. So if I'm going to pour myself a bowl of cereal, I'll put the bowl on the scale and then I'll set it to track how much cereal goes in there and then enter that into the ABC Trainerize app and then I'll reset it and then pour it in the milk and then record how much of that is. It's so simple, so fast. Another thing that I really like about the ABC Trainerize app is that it allows you to scan the barcode of any packaged foods that you're eating. So this really makes it so simple. So I didn't really have any problems actually entering the foods that I was eating. I think it helps that I tend to eat the same rotation of foods.

  (15:40)

  I think it's a little bit harder for people who eat very different things all the time and that is something that is a struggle for some of my clients when they first start working with me. This is an adjustment that they really have trouble making because they're used to eating a bunch of different things all the time and not really thinking about it. But if you're trying to make changes to your body, you do have to become more systematic. You do have to become more conscious of what you're eating. You do have to pay attention more and that is itself, that's the hard thing for a lot of people. It's not the measuring and it's not the tracking itself. It's the, oh, now I have to actually think about what I'm eating and be intentional and plan it. And if you're not used to that, it can be really challenging.

  (16:22)

  I've been doing this for a really long time. I've gone through different phases of my fitness journey where I've tracked and then I've gone through periods where I haven't tracked and it's very easy for me to switch between the two modes. And so far I haven't really found anything super, duper challenging at this point. All the adjustments that I've made have been easy and have actually led to me feeling better because like I'm not going hungry like I was before I'm maintaining focus, I'm maintaining my energy levels and I'm also getting more exercise, which is really great for my ADHD brain. The more that I move, the more level and regulated I feel. So that's it for the end of week reflection.

  (17:04)

  So like I mentioned before, one of my main tasks in getting more active this week was to go on more walks with my dog every day. So on most of the days I was able to hit this amount of activity. It's a lot easier for me to take him on longer walks over the weekend. So I took him on a big long walk on one of the Greenways on Friday of last week and he and I both had a lot of fun. It was so beautiful and just so good for my mental health to be out walking around a lake and with all of the trees and he did a really good job of not being really reactive when he saw other dogs. I think we both benefited a lot from that and I think we're both benefiting a lot from just our daily walks.

  (17:50)

  We're going for a little bit longer than what we were doing before and I'm letting him get all of the sniffs in. It's got to be good for his body as well as for mine and we're both a lot more relaxed when we come back from our walks and I feel like I'm able to focus. So this is having the benefit of helping me to burn more calories, but I'm noticing a big mental health and just like clarity effect from going on these walks. For my first upper body day, I did a press and push focus day. Because my primary goal with resistance training is to be strong and I really enjoy power lifting I've organized my workouts around movement patterns. So my press in my pull day is to help me develop that overhead pressing motion and my bench press. And then I also had some accessories to help support those movements.

  (18:41)

  I've started adding in some Arnold presses at the beginning of my press days just because it's so good at loosening up my shoulders. I have that common issue that a lot of people have, which is because I sit in front of a computer for part of my work. My shoulders tend to be kind of rounded forward and if I go into trying to do heavier bench presses and my shoulders are kind of like this, that spells pain for my shoulder and I can strain a muscle or get an even worse injury. So when I take the time to do exercises that involve external rotation at the beginning of my workout and go ahead and just do my overhead pressing exercises, this helps me to perform the bench press part of my workout so much easier with so much less pain and I didn't feel my shoulder at all during this workout.

  (19:34)

  I did a little five by five with 95 pounds on the bench press, which is a nice little high volume format that I'm enjoying right now with my big lifts. After I finished my bench press, then I did some shoulders and tricep accessories starting with some reverse flies for the back of my shoulders because this helps to stabilize my shoulders and strengthens the muscles that hold my shoulders back in an external rotation. And then after I did my reverse flies, I did some tricep dips. Now I haven't really done tricep dips in a while, so I wasn't sure what level of resistance I should app, so I kept my knees bent. What this does is it makes it so that you have les of your body weight in your hands and so you're not having to lift as much of your body weight. I realized that this was not enough resistance because I had to go to 25 reps before I felt the burn in my triceps.

  (20:27)

  So after I rested in the second set, I extended my legs to put more of my body weight back in my hands and this was a much better level of resistance and I felt the burn and I only needed to go to about 15 reps to get the stimulus to my muscles. I felt really good after my first upper body day because I had fueled myself properly and I felt really excited and focused for this fat loss journey that I'm on because I'm really trying to maintain that muscle if not build that muscle. Leg day, I hate to say it, but I made a little bit of a mistake. I don't know where my head was at. I think I was just tired and so I ended up skipping the dynamic stretches, which I usually do at the beginning of every workout. Dynamic stretches is something that I have all my clients do when I train them in person and when I design their workout plan, but for whatever reason I just didn't do them.

  (21:16)

  I just forgot. And so I jumped into my squats and I felt my hip felt really tight and I thought, I'll just keep going, which is you should never do that. Never push through pain or discomfort. You should always address it, right? I thought it would loosen up and it didn't. And so I did my entire leg day. I didn't have really any pain, but that tightness in my hip began to kind of radiate down through my quadricep, my thigh and kind of into my knee and I was able to do all of the workout fine, but that night I had some extra inflammation in my thigh that ended up making my knee feel really, really tight that night and the next day. So don't do that's not smart. Don't do that. You should always be listening to your body and always do your dynamic stretches, especially like leg swings.

  (22:09)

  That's the one that always helps me to loosen up my hips. Because I sit the way that I sit while I'm working, I almost always end up with tightness in my hip and I have to spend time on it at the beginning of my workouts, especially my squat days to make sure that I can perform these exercises without really straining a muscle or straining the ligaments. Overall, despite that, the workout felt really good. It was very challenging. I did my heel elevated Smith machine squats. I love doing these because they allow me to get a really deep knee bend to stretch out my quadriceps so they get a lot of activation. This exercise is, I think, one of the main reasons why my muscles have grown so much in the last year because being able to do these deep knee bends like this has really been so good for my quadriceps.

  (22:59)

  I followed these up with some bulgarian split squats, which is another really good exercise for developing overall strength and building muscle throughout your legs. I'm in a stability endurance block right now, so doing some balance training is a good idea. It's always going to be part of my workouts and I just use the Smith machine to elevate my back leg on these. I was feeling pretty tired after this because I was lifting kind of heavy and doing some high volume. So for accessories, I just did hip abduction on the abduction abduction machine for my hip abductors or my gluteus medius and my gluteus minimus. And then I also did the abduction for my inner thighs. We sometimes call this the good girl, bad girl machine because you are practicing opening up your legs and closing your legs against resistance. Like I said, I walked out of the gym feeling really good, although I did feel like, "Ooh, my knee is kind of tight." It didn't feel hurting, like I didn't feel like pain, but it was tight.

  (24:00)

  So that's how I know I kind of pushed it a little bit too hard and I really should have warmed up and made sure that my muscles were properly able to elongate fully before doing all of those heavier heel elevated squats and the Bulgarian split squats. So I will be careful of that next time. My third workout day is a back focused day. It's a pulling day. I do rows and I do pull ups. I also added in some Romanian deadlifts and deficit deadlifts here because I really wanted to challenge the posterior chain since it is a back day and I also wasn't really sure if I was going to be able to do another leg day this week because my knee was still feeling kind of tight a couple of days after my previous leg day. And it's also like not a bad thing to practice Romanian deadlifts on a back day because it's really great for training your core stability and your spinal erectors as well as your lats in addition to your glutes and hamstrings.

  (24:57)

  So I started with some pendly rows, which are barbell rows where you start each rep from the platform. This is really great for helping you to train your spinal erectors and your core stability and your grip strength. After I finished with the penly rows, I did some Romanian deadlifts and these felt really strong. I added some weight after doing a warmup set and I just felt really good about these and I noticed in the mirror that my arm definition was looking really solid and it's getting me kind of excited because I can't wait to burn some more fat so I can see those muscles a little bit more. I did end up actually adding some elevation to my legs because I didn't feel like I was getting enough of a deep stretch in my glutes and hamstrings at the bottom of the movement. So I did my last set from an elevated position and I'll be doing them with deficits moving forward for the rest of this program.

  (25:51)

  After I finished up those movements, I went over to the assisted pull-up machine. I love this machine so much because it's so great at helping you to train the movement of pull-ups if you're not quite ready yet to do full body weight pull-ups. I'm doing narrow grip or neutral grip pull-ups here because it just allows you to get a deeper stretch in your lats at the bottom of the movement. I did notice with this machine though, I think I need to add like a little pad or something to the knee pad because I wasn't able to get my elbows as far down as I would like when I'm at the top of the movement. So I'm going to have to track down a booster seat or I don't know, maybe like fold up a towel or something to give myself a little bit more of a boost here.

  (26:36)

  Most gym machines are designed for men who are at average height. So being a 5'3" woman, it's not uncommon to find that the machines don't quite get the range of motion that you need. So feel free to like use booster seats if you need to, which I will next time. By booster seat, I just mean like a thick pad. I could have taken like a thick exercise mat and folded it up and used that to give me just a little bit more of a lift so that at the top of the movement I could get my elbows down a little bit more. The dumbbell rack room was really crowded. I was a little bit surprised at this because it was a Friday and it was like late morning, but I guess because it's summertime and kids are out of school and the college kids are all back, they're all working out at this time and I didn't want to take my camera and set up in that crowded area because I really do try to not have anybody else in the view of the camera when I'm working out in my public gym.

  (27:35)

  So decided to do my last accessories in this little cable machine area because it was a little bit more private and to be honest for the exercises that I'm doing, it's probably better for me to use a cable machine anyway because you get a constant stimulus to the muscles. Yo get constant resistance through the entire range of motion, which is a little bit different from when you're using dumbbells. Dumbbells have kind of a different amount of tension that your muscles get depending on where you are in the movement and how long of a lever your arm creates. So all in all, it ended up being for the best. So again, I did some reverse flies focusing on my external shoulder rotating muscles because I really want to make sure that I'm developing those and keeping them strong. But I used the machine for that today.

  (28:23)

  So it was slightly different stimulus from what I did on my push day. And I also did it from a standing position so that I could really focus on challenging my core and my legs to stay stable in that hip hing position. And then I did some bicep curls with the cable machine, which really gave me a good stimulus to my biceps. And then after that, because I had such a great pump in my arms, I decided to practice some of my bodybuilding posing. So I did a little bit of front relaxed pose, some double front biceps and I felt like my muscles were looking really good. I can't wait to see what they look like once we burn some fat and shrink wrap those guys. Overall, I'm really excited. So today is like day seven of my first week so I haven't actually gone through my full resistance routine and I've put it off a little bit because I want to just be very careful with my legs since I did kind of strain it in my last leg day.

  (29:20)

  I'm going to go to the gym today later on and see about doing some leg exercises. I may deload just to be careful so we'll see. I'll include some footage for that in next week's check-in. Overall, I'm feeling really excited and I'm feeling really happy about my progress so far. It's really cool to have already lost a half a pound while eating more than when I was eating before. As I said in the last episode, I kind of suspected that that would be the case and that's often the case for a lot of the people who come to work with me because if you're under eating, it tends to make your body hold onto fat. So it's really cool To be able to eat more while losing weight. I feel really good during my workouts as well, but I definitely learned my lesson about skipping dynamic stretches.

  (30:10)

  I will not be doing that again. So yeah, that is my week two check-in. So this coming week my goal is to keep tracking. I'm going to continue to eat 1,800 calories on average. I'm going to keep tracking it, keep measuring what I'm eating. I'm going to keep stepping on the scale every day. And this week in the resistance training, I'm going to try to match what I did this past week and see if maybe I can push a few more reps on each exercise or at least on one or two exercises for each set.

  (30:45)

  Thank you so much for going with me on this journey. I'm really excited to be sharing it with you. If you enjoyed this video, if you're watching on YouTube, make sure that you like it and that you subscribe to my channels. You always get the latest episodes as soon as they drop. If you're listening to the podcast, thank you so much. Make sure that you follow the show so you always get the latest episodes delivered right to your device. If you have any questions about your own fitness journey or things that you want to share, please feel free to leave them in the comments below the YouTube video. If you're listening to the podcast, the link for the YouTube video will be in the show notes. And once again, if you are looking for a coach who can help you in your fat loss journey, I would love to have you join me on my fat loss transformation.

  (31:28)

  You can apply to work with me in the link that is below this video on YouTube or in the show notes. And that's it for today's episode. I hope that you enjoyed it and I'll see you in the next one. In the meantime, I hope that you're taking good care of yourself. Make sure that you are drinking plenty of water and that you're eating your protein and your vegetables and being nice to yourself and I will see you soon.

What Week 1 Was Actually About

The first week of my Fat Loss Transformation Program isn't about restriction or dramatic changes. It's about gathering data. The two main tasks: track everything you eat and drink, and do daily weigh-ins. Together, these give you a real picture of what your body is used to getting — and how it's responding.

I use the ABC Trainerize app for tracking, and I step on the scale at the same time every day, wearing roughly the same thing. Here's why that matters: body weight can fluctuate 3–5 pounds in a single day based on water retention, sodium, carb intake, and more. Weighing in once a week gives you a snapshot that might not reflect reality. Daily weigh-ins give you a trend — and that's what actually tells the story.

The goal of this first week was to find my maintenance calories — the amount I need to eat for my weight to hold steady. From there, I can calculate what a sustainable deficit looks like.

The Surprising Thing I Discovered

I suspected I was undereating before I started tracking. One look at the data confirmed it.

Day two was the clearest example: I got distracted by work, didn't plan my meals, and ended up going to bed without eating dinner. I woke up in the middle of the night hungry, overheated, and wide awake — a really familiar pattern for a lot of people.

Here's what I want you to understand about chronic undereating: it doesn't automatically mean fat loss. When your body doesn't know when its next meal is coming, it adapts by slowing your metabolism down. It holds onto fat as a protective measure. So irregular eating or massively undershooting your calories over time can actually work against fat loss goals — not for them.

By day two or three, I decided to get intentional. Even though the goal of week one is just to observe, I started planning three to four meals a day and making sure I actually ate them — especially since I was adding more exercise to my routine. Training on an empty tank feels awful, and recovery suffers too.

What the Numbers Showed

After a week of daily weigh-ins alongside tracking, my average weight moved from 141 lbs down to about 140.5 lbs. Slow, steady, exactly what I'm aiming for — about a half pound per week.

And here's the thing: I was eating more than I was before I started tracking.

This is something I see with clients constantly. When you're undereating irregularly, your body holds. When you start fueling consistently, your metabolism wakes back up — and fat loss follows. Cool to experience it firsthand again.

My meals were already pretty solid: each one hitting around 25g of protein, plenty of vegetables (lots of beans, lentils, chickpeas), and 500–700 calories per meal. I added an egg or two here and there to bump protein, but nothing dramatic.

At this point, I don't think I need to change much. I'm going to stay at ~1,800 calories/day and keep the same structure.

The one lever I'm keeping in my back pocket: I drink three to four coffees a day, each with a tablespoon of hot chocolate mix. That's about 260 extra calories per day. If I want to accelerate from half a pound to a pound per week, swapping that for cocoa powder and a zero-calorie sweetener like monk fruit would get me there. I'm not making that change yet — that coffee ritual is genuinely important to me — but it's there if I need it.

How Training Went

My exercise routine as an advanced lifter looks a little different from where I'd start a beginner. I'm doing a 4-day upper/lower split rather than full-body days, which gives my muscles the stimulus they need to stay strong during a deficit.

Upper Body Day 1 (Push/Press): Started with Arnold presses to open up my shoulders — essential for me since sitting at a desk rounds my shoulders forward. Moved into a 5x5 bench press at 95 lbs, then reverse flies (for external shoulder rotation), and tricep dips. I underestimated how much I'd regressed on dips — had to extend my legs mid-set to add enough resistance to actually feel the burn.

Leg Day: I made a classic mistake: skipped my dynamic warm-up. I knew my hip was tight, thought it would loosen up, kept going anyway. It didn't loosen up. By that night, the inflammation had worked its way from my hip down through my quad and into my knee. Nothing serious, but it was tight for a couple of days.

Lesson relearned: always do your dynamic stretches. Especially hip swings on squat days. This is non-negotiable for me because of how I sit while working. I tell my clients this. I should have listened to myself.

The workout itself was solid — heel-elevated Smith machine squats for deep quad activation, Bulgarian split squats for overall leg development, and hip abduction work. But I paid for skipping the warm-up.

Back Day (Pull): Pendlay rows, Romanian deadlifts (added a deficit on my last set and loved it — I'll be doing all of them from a deficit going forward), and assisted pull-ups on the machine. One note for my fellow shorter women: I'm 5'3" and most gym machines are built for average-height men. I need to add a thick folded mat to the knee pad on the pull-up machine to get my elbows fully down at the top. Don't be afraid to modify the equipment to fit your body.

Finished with cable reverse flies and bicep curls — and okay, I also practiced some bodybuilding posing because I had a great pump and I was feeling myself. No regrets.

What's Next for Week 2

• Continue tracking at ~1,800 calories/day

• Keep daily weigh-ins

• Match last week's training, aiming to push one or two more reps per set

• Do my dynamic warm-up every single time

That's it for Week 2. The big takeaway so far: eating more consistently is what's moving the needle, not eating less. Data over assumptions, always.

If you're working on your own fat loss goals and want a coach in your corner, my Fat Loss Transformation Program is linked below. Come join me:

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Ep 89 | Start Here: The Only 5 Pieces of Equipment You Need to Build a Home Gym

Youtube | Spotify | Apple | Google | Amazon

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You don't need a fancy setup to build real strength at home — just these five essentials.

A lot of people assume that working out at home means either making do with nothing or spending a fortune turning a spare room into a full gym. Neither is true. After more than a decade of personal training, I've found that a small, intentional collection of equipment is all you need to build a solid foundation of strength and muscle — whether you're brand new to fitness or a seasoned lifter who just prefers to train at home.

This is the first post in my home gym starter series, focused specifically on beginners and anyone working with limited space. Here are the five pieces of equipment I recommend to every client starting out.

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):
  

  Most people think that if they want to work out at home, they have to build out a really fancy home gym using a ton of equipment and spending a lot of money and taking up a lot of space. But the truth is that you can work out consistently at home with very minimal equipment, but there are some pieces of equipment that are going to be really important for you to have. And so I'm going to share those with you today. Hey there. I'm Jayd Harrison AKA Jaydigains. Welcome to the Coaching Corner Podcast. I've been a personal trainer for over 10 years and I've created this podcast to share with you tips and strategies to help you build a body that you love without shame and without burnout. Today's episode is going to be centered around what pieces of equipment you should have when you're just starting your home gym.

  (00:55)
  And if you are a beginner to fitness, these five pieces of equipment alone are going to be enough to help you start your fitness journey, build a solid foundation of strength and muscle toning. And even for intermediate and advanced exercisers, these are must-haves for your home gym. Keep in mind that I'm going to provide links for all of the equipment that I recommend throughout this episode. So if you're watching this video on YouTube, you'll see the linked equipment within the video itself, but you can also find the links in the description of the video. If you're listening to the podcast episode, you'll find the links for the equipment in the show notes. And before we get into the episode, make sure that you like this video if you're watching on YouTube and subscribe to the channel so that you always get the latest episodes as soon as they drop.

  (01:43)
  And if you are listening to this podcast, make sure to follow the show so that every new episode gets delivered right to your device. And if you are looking for an online personal trainer who can help you to make sustainable gains, whether you're working for fat loss, muscle building, or you want to get to that next PR, apply for my personal training program. You can find the link for that in the show notes or in the description of the video below. And without further ado, let's get into the episode.

  (02:14)
  A lot of people prefer to work out at home for a lot of different reasons. Maybe you are not quite ready to join a gym or maybe you're just an introvert and you don't want to be around other people, or maybe you like the flexibility of having equipment at your house so that you can work out whenever you get a moment. This is definitely the case for a lot of my personal training clients, especially my clients who are stay at home moms. Having some gym equipment in their home allows them to sneak in some exercise when the babies are napping or when the kids are at daycare and between household tasks. And let's be honest, gym memberships can be kind of expensive. And in this economy, if you can work out at home and stay consistent and make gains, save a little bit of money, that's a win, but it can be kind of overwhelming when you start looking at gym equipment to fill out your home gym.

  (03:08)
  And so that's why I've started this series. I want to give you kind of a starter guide from beginning to end of what I recommend as a personal trainer you start to add to your home gym. Now today's episode is all going to be focused on people who are just getting started on their fitness journey or people who like to do body weight training using very little equipment. And if you have very little space available in your apartment or in your house for your gym equipment, the equipment that I'm going to talk about in this episode is going to be perfect for you. So let's get into it. My number one piece of equipment that you should absolutely have in your home gym is an exercise mat, preferably two. So I usually recommend having a yoga mat, which is a thin mat that's a little bit grippy and also an exercise mat that's a little bit thicker.

  (03:59)
  I myself have multiple exercise mats because I train people out of my home gym and I also work out in a variety of styles myself. When I'm doing floor work for my core, doing exercises like crunches or planks, I like to have a little bit more cushion underneath my joints because if you've ever tried to do crunches on a bare floor or a really thin mat, your spine is going to be ruised. So that's where I like to have a thicker exercise mat. If you're doing exercises from a quadruped position where you're on your hands and your knees, having a nice thick exercise mat underneath your knees can help to take away some of the discomfort that you might find if you try to do these exercises from a thinner yoga mat. Now I do also recommend having a thinner yoga mat because exercises where you have to balance are going to be really, really hard on a thick foam mat because that thickness adds instability.

  (04:58)
  So if you try to stand on one leg or if you try to stand in an uneven stance like a lunge or a warry or one, two or three, it's going to be a lot harder for you to practice that position from a thick exercise mat than from a thin yoga mat. Depending on the size of the mat that you choose, it's not going to take up very much space. Ideally, you want to get something that is going to cover basically your height. So if you're 5'3" like me, you want to get a yoga mat or an exercise mat that is at least five feet to three inches long. And you can do a little bit longer if you like. So as long as you have the floor space for yourself to be able to lay down on the floor and then take your hands out to either side of you, that's about the amount of space that's required for this piece of equipment and it doesn't have to be permanently that way as well because when you're finished using your exercise mat, you can just roll it up and tuck it away.

  (05:52)
  You can put it under a bed or you can put it in the corner of a room. If you want to save even more space, you could literally stack both of the exercise mats on top of each other and roll them up together. The reason why this is my number one piece of equipment is because the exercise mat, the yoga mat are the piece of equipment that's really best for practicing the fundamental exercises of building core strength and stability, especially if you are a beginner to fitness, you need to make sure that you are developing your core strength. That is the strength of the muscles in your torso and in your back, your abdominals, your obliques, your spinal erectors. And the types of exercises that we do to train these muscles are mainly floor exercises, things like crunches, planks, side planks, bird dogs, dead bugs.

  (06:43)
  These are just a few examples of the types of exercises that my clients do to build core strength and stability. I also do core training at the beginning of every training session, especially when I'm lifting heavy because I want to make sure that my core is stable and fired up and locked in. Balance training exercises are just as important because they also help you to develop core stability and core strength while also building up endurance and strength in the muscles throughout the rest of your body like your legs and your arms. Many of these exercises don't require any equipment other than an exercise mat. So that is my recommended piece of equipment, number one. The second piece of equipment that I recommend you have in your home gym is a foam roller. Now this is a piece of equipment that a lot of people don't really know a whole lot about and maybe don't even know how to use, but as a personal trainer, it is a must have piece of equipment.

  (07:35)
  You can use a foam roller at the beginning of your workout to basically roll over and massage the muscles that you're going to be using in your workout. This helps to get some blood flow there and it also helps to relieve tightness and tension in the muscles. A lot of times when my clients come to work with me, we need to use the foam roller at the beginning of their sessions because they often have something that's tight that's really hard to address through stretching alone. By adding some pressure to the muscle group that's really tight, this helps it to loosen up so that my clients can exercise with a full range of motion. If you've ever had a crick in your neck or in your back from sleeping in a weird way, you know it's really hard to exercise with that. But oftentimes when my clients come into the gym and they've got a crick in their neck, I use the foam roller to put pressure on the traps and on the back and that relieves the tension and they're able to exercise without discomfort.

  (08:29)
  I also will sometimes use the foam roller in the middle of the workout if I'm doing an exercise, especially like squats and I feel a muscle group tighten up and get really tense, this often happens with my quadriceps and my hip muscles and if they get tight while I'm trying to perform squats, for example, I'll actually experience some knee pain. And so I will perform a set and then if I feel some tightness or I felt like my knee was really tight, I'll stop and during my rest period foam roll over the foam roller on my quadriceps and then I feel much better after that. Now this also does not take up very much floor space. You can store it right next to your rolled up mats or if you want to save even more space, you could literally roll it up in your exercise mats so that you only have one roll of equipment and then you can tuck that away in the corner or under your furniture or wherever.

  (09:18)
  Now my third recommended piece of equipment is mini bands, specifically the fit simplify elastic mini bands. I have been using this brand of resistance bands for probably 15 years and the reason why I love mini bands in particular is because one, they take up very little space. They come in a little bag, you can roll these bands up and they basically fit into the amount of space that you could hold in your hand. So you can store them away very easily. They don't take up space. I keep mine in the front pocket of my gym bag. Some of my clients will keep them in a little drawer in their home gym area. Resistance bands are really helpful because they allow you to perform pole based exercises like rows or pulled downs that are really hard to practice without equipment. You need something to pull if you want to develop your back strength, if you want to develop the pull motion.

  (10:14)
  Also, there are some exercises like monster walks or clamshells that really are best done with mini bands to add resistance. They're pretty versatile as well because you can also use them to add resistance to exercises that you might have been doing with just your body weight, like squats or lunges. You can even use them to secure them underneath your feet and perform deadlifts. So they're very versatile and they unlock movement patterns that wouldn't otherwise be available to you if you were just exercising with a exercise mat and a foam roller. The other thing that I really like specifically about the Fit Simplify minibands is that they are labeled according to the level of resistance that they have. So there's extra light, light, medium, heavy, and extra heavy. And if you're tracking what you do for your workouts and writing down what you do and what resistance level you're using, this allows you to see your progress over time as you get stronger.

  (11:08)
  So you may start with the extra light band, which I call the number one band, and then work your way up to where you can perform with the medium band or the number three band and you can record that in your workout log or if you're one of my clients, you can record it in the ABC Trainerize app and we can see you getting stronger over time as you use heavier and heavier bands. Likewise, the number four piece of equipment that I recommend that you have in your home gym are handlebands or tube bands, specifically tube and handlebands that come with some kind of an anchor. Like the mini bands, these allow you to perform pulling based exercises, but they allow you to do a wider variety of exercises and you can use both arms going at the same time rather than having to secure one end of the band with one hand and then pull with the other hand the tube bands when they are secured to a door or around your feet or around a squat rack, they allow you to work both arms at the same time and you also can get a bigger range of motion using these larger bands.

  (12:12)
  If you're trying to follow along with a workout program that requires cable machines as equipment, using the handle tube bands allows you to basically do the same exercise as you would with a cable machine. All you have to do is just make sure that the band is secured at the level that it would be for the cable machine. So you can do pull downs with this piece of equipment, you can do rows, you can also do some of my favorite core training exercises like the wood chops and external shoulder rotation exercises for healthy shoulders like pal off presses, pal off presses and raises. I do also recommend that you look specifically for a brand of tube bands that is labeled with a specific amount of weight. Now with that said, I should note that the amount of resistance that a band is labeled with, for instance, say you have a band that's labeled as 50 pounds, using that band for your rows or for your pull downs is not really going to be the equivalent of lifting 50 pounds of weight using a cable machine or using actual weights.

  (13:22)
  And often you'll find that if you get bands from one brand and then you get another set of bands from a different brand, if both are labeled with a certain amount of weight, there can be a huge difference between what the 50 pound band feels like for one brand versus the other. I have a client who has multiple sets of tube resistance bands that are labeled with a certain amount of weight and 150 pound band feels like the 100 pound band of another set of bands. Take the label of the amount of resistance that they give with a grain of salt. And again, the purpose of having those labels is so that you can see progress on how you're getting stronger because when you start doing an exercise for the first time, you do want to use a lighter band and then as you get stronger, you can use a heavier band over time.

  (14:13)
  And if you're writing your workouts down, you'll be able to se progress as you get heavier and heavier, but eventually you're going to reach a point where the resistance bands are not going to give you the amount of resistance that you need to keep your muscles challenged and to keep getting stronger. Eventually, if your goal is to build muscle and get strong, you're going to need to use weights, but you don't have to go out and purchase a big old squat rack, a barbell and plates or machines to keep your body advancing. When it's time for you to start doing heavier exercises, I recommend getting a set of adjustable dumbbells. Adjustable dumbbells come in a variety of different formats. I personally use spin lock dumbbells because these are pretty sturdy. They last forever and they're relatively inexpensive. Sometimes my clients will get power blocks, which use a completely different system for adding and taking weight off.

  (15:19)
  My experience with the power blocks is that they tend to be kind of unstable and shaky and they do also malfunction. Some exercises are really hard to do with the power blocks like goblet squats or lap pullovers. I like the sturdiness of the spin lock dumbbells because once the spin lock is secured, that weight isn't going anywhere. It's not going to wobble. And if it does, it means I just need to tighten it a litle bit more. And it also doesn't really take up that much space either. You can just keep the handles and the plates stacked near wherever it is that you keep your other equipment, or you can get a tree that you can hang the weights on. This is pretty convenient and also takes up very little space. The dumbbells are going to unlock so many more exercises for you and are also going to allow you to use more resistance than what you would be able to use with bands alone.

  (16:11)
  You'll be able to perform weighted exercises like goblet squats or Romanian deadlifts. You'll be able to start practicing heavier rows and overhead press. And as you get stronger, you don't have to have a whole big set of dumbbells from five pounds to 50 pounds. You can just add on another plate to the handle. Now these five pieces of equipment alone are awesome for helping you to build muscle and build strength. And I have clients who have been working out at home with me using my programming for years using just these pieces of equipment and they're making amazing gains, building muscle, burning fat. So that goes to show you, you do not need to have a big fancy home gym. If you want to make the most of this equipment, I recommend getting into a structured training program, one that is progressive and walks you step by step through building strength from the ground up.

  (17:06)
  And that is something that I provide in my programming for my clients. So if you are looking for some programming that works, if you want to work with a coach who can help you to build a body that you love without shame and without burnout, with all of the guidance that you need and how to exercise and how to eat to achieve your goals, I can help you. You can apply to work with me in the link that is in the show notes of this episode or in the description of the video below if you're watching on YouTube.

  (17:39)
  I hope that you found this episode helpful and I'd love to hear what questions you have and I'd also love to hear about what equipment that you have in your home gym that you absolutely love and recommend. You can leave them in the comments of the YouTube video. If you're listening to this podcast, you can find the link to the video of this episode in the show notes. Thank you so much for watching or listening. Once again, I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. If you'd like to follow me on my socials, you can find me on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Twitch. My handle is Jaydigains. That's J-A-Y-D-I-G-A- I-N-S. And if you are interested in learning more about the programs and services that I offer, you can also go to my website, which is jaydigains.com. I will see you in the next episode of the Coaching Corner Podcast.

  (18:27)
  In the meantime, make sure that you are taking good care of yourself. Eat your veggies, eat your protein, drink your water, and I will see you soon.

The Only 5 Pieces of Equipment You Need to Start Your Home Gym

1. An Exercise Mat (Preferably Two)

This is my non-negotiable number one. Specifically, I recommend having both a thick exercise mat and a thinner yoga mat — and yes, there's a reason for both.

The thick mat is your best friend for floor work: crunches, planks, side planks, bird dogs, dead bugs. Your spine will thank you. It also makes quadruped exercises (hands and knees) much more comfortable on hard floors.

The thin yoga mat is for balance work — lunges, single-leg stands, warrior poses. A thick foam surface adds instability that will make balance training significantly harder and less effective.

Storage is a non-issue. Both mats roll up, stack together, and tuck under a bed or into a corner. The only floor space required is roughly your own height plus arm-width — and only when you're actually using them.

2. A Foam Roller

Most people have heard of foam rollers but aren't quite sure what to do with them. Here's the short version: it's self-myofascial release, and it's a game-changer for keeping your body feeling good enough to train consistently.

I use the foam roller with almost every client at the start of a session. It's especially useful for breaking up tightness that stretching alone won't touch — a crick in the neck, tight hip flexors, quads that cramp up mid-squat. When I roll out my quads between sets of squats, I notice an immediate reduction in knee discomfort.

You can also use it mid-workout whenever a muscle group starts to tighten up. Roll it out during a rest period and continue training.

Storage hack: roll your foam roller inside your stacked exercise mats. One bundle, one spot in the corner.

3. Mini Resistance Bands

Mini bands are wildly underrated and absurdly convenient. My personal go-to is the Fit Simplify elastic mini bands — I've been using them for about 15 years. The whole set fits in the palm of your hand and easily slides into a gym bag pocket or a small drawer.

What makes mini bands essential is that they unlock pulling movements — rows, pull-downs, and exercises like clamshells and monster walks that really can't be done without them. They also add resistance to bodyweight exercises like squats and lunges, and you can loop them under your feet to mimic a deadlift pattern.

The Fit Simplify set is labeled by resistance level (extra light through extra heavy), which makes it easy to track progress in your workout log. When you graduate from the light band to the medium band, that's a measurable strength gain worth celebrating.

4. Tube Bands with Handles and an Anchor

Think of these as the upgrade to mini bands. Tube bands with handles let you work both arms simultaneously and give you a fuller range of motion — making them a solid stand-in for a cable machine.

With these and a door anchor, you can do:

• Pull-downs and rows

• Wood chops

• Pallof presses and variations

• External shoulder rotation exercises

One important note: the weight labels on tube bands are not standardized. A "50 lb" band from one brand may feel very different from a "50 lb" band from another. Use the labels as relative guides for tracking your own progress, not as comparisons to actual free weights or cable stacks.

5. Adjustable Dumbbells

At some point, bands won't be enough. If your goal is continued muscle growth and strength, you'll eventually need weights. But you don't need a full rack — you need one pair of adjustable dumbbells.

My preference is spin lock dumbbells. They're affordable, durable, and stable. Once that lock is tight, the weight isn't going anywhere. I've had less success with selectorized options like PowerBlocks, which can feel wobbly and limit certain exercises (goblet squats, lat pullovers).

Adjustable dumbbells open up Romanian deadlifts, goblet squats, overhead presses, and heavier rows. And as you get stronger, you just add another plate — no need to buy a whole new set.

Putting It All Together

I have clients who have been training with these five pieces of equipment for years and are making real, measurable gains — building muscle, losing fat, getting stronger. You don't need more than this to start. You need a program that's progressive and builds on itself over time.

If you're looking for structured programming and coaching that's evidence-based, shame-free, and built around your actual life, you can apply to work with me at jaydigains.com or find the link in the show notes of the Coaching Corner Podcast episode this post is based on.

Have a piece of home gym equipment you swear by? Drop it in the comments — I'd love to hear what's working for you.

Links:

• Watch on Youtube

• My Home Gym Recommended Equipment (Amazon Storefront)

• Apply for 1-on-1 Coaching

• Social Links

• Featured Equipment:

  • Gaiam Yoga Mat

  • Exercise Mat

  • Foam Roller

  • Mini Bands

  • Tube Handle Bands

  • Adjustable Spin Lock Dumbbells

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Ep 88 | My Fat Loss Journey Part 1: Starting Snapshot

Youtube | Spotify | Apple | Google | Amazon

---

I'm Starting My Own Fat Loss Journey — And I'm Bringing You Along

After over a decade of coaching clients through fat loss, it's my turn.

I've spent years designing and refining my Fat Loss Transformation Program for my personal training clients. I've watched people burn fat, build muscle, and completely transform their relationship with their bodies using this program. And now I'm going through it myself — all six months of it — and documenting the entire process right here.

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):
  

  Hey there, I'm Jayd Harrison and today I'm starting my fat loss journey. Over the next six months, I'm going to be vlogging my weekly check-ins as I go through the same program that I designed for my personal training clients. I've been a personal trainer for over a decade and I designed this program, my fat loss transformation program, to help my clients to burn fat and keep it off for good while also building muscle and improving their health. And now it's my turn. Hey there. Welcome to the Coaching Corner Podcast. I'm personal trainer Jayd Harrison. I've been a personal trainer for over 10 years and I've created this podcast to share tips and strategies and inspiration to help you to build a body that you love without shame and without burnout. In today's episode, I'm launching the first episode of a six month series where I'm going to be covering my personal fat loss journey.

  (00:59)
  I'm going to be sharing with you my process of going through my fat loss transformation program, which is the same program that I use for my personal training clients. My goal with this program is to reduce my body fat percentage while maintaining the amount of muscle that I've built over the last two years. I want to see if I can even build more muscle while I'm in this fat loss phase. So I'm going really slow and I'm giving myself a really long time to achieve my goal so that I can stay in a very modest calorie deficit while prioritizing burning fat while also building muscle with my resistance training. So I hope that you enjoy this process and you find it inspirational or entertaining. And if you would like to join me and go on your own fat loss journey, you can apply to work with me in the link that's below this video if you're watching on YouTube or in the show notes of the podcast episode.

  (01:50)
  This program is open to all levels. So if you are just starting on your fitness journey, this is a great way to die in the water and get started with the guidance of a professional who's also going through the process as well. And if you are more intermediate and advanced, don't worry. I will give you workouts that challenge you at your level using whatever equipment that you have. And without further ado, let's get into the first part of my six month Fat Loss journey.

  (02:21)
  So the first part of the Fat Loss Transformation program is what I call the starting snapshot. This is where I'm going to sit down and I'm going to go through a series of questions and answer them honestly. And this is going to help me to get a sense of what my starting point is. And this will be really important to compare to the weekly reflections that I do moving forward to see how my routine changes, how my habits change, how my lifestyle changes, how I feel changes over time. Once my clients submit the snapshot reflection questionnaire, then they get an invite to my training app. And my training app is where I deliver their workouts and their meal plan and nutrition guidance. Then we'll actually use the training app to take progress photos and record our starting body weight, body fat percentage if you have it, and then body measurements.

  (03:13)
  It's also where I'm going to track my day-to-day calorie intake as part of the nutrition snapshot, which is the assignment for week one. So let's go through the questions now. Okay. So for the first question is, how would you rate your current fitness level? Beginner, intermediate, advanced. I'd say advanced because I've been working out for over 20 years. How many days a week do you currently exercise? Okay. So my current programming, I've been getting two to three resistance training workouts a week, but then I also tend to walk my dog let's say three or four times a week for like 30 minutes. So we'll say four days. What types of exercise do you currently enjoy or engage in? Check all that apply. Weight training, of course. I love cardio. Yoga, Pilates. It's okay. High intensity interval training, love. Walking. What's your usual intensity level during your workouts?

  (04:09)
  Well, I'd say depends on the workout, right? So we'll say hi for the resistance training. I maybe need to update that question because I almost always only do moderate intensity steady state cardio. I never really do high intensity interval training anymore. Resistance training is always really hard. I always work really hard during resistance training because I love it. What's your main goal with this program? I'd say my main goal with this program is I would like to get my body fat percentage down to 22%. So right now I'm about 141 pounds and I'm thinking that that probably will take me to about 135 or maybe 130 pounds. So I want to lose fat, but it's not so important for me to lose weight. I'm not super attached to a specific number on the scale because I know that body composition is way more important than body weight.

  (05:02)
  If I stay at 141 pounds, but my body fat percentage goes down and my percentage of muscle goes up, that is a win for me. So improve body composition, body fat, 22%. Do you currently track your food intake? I do not. Like I said, I have not actually had the capacity to track my food. You don't really have to track your food all the time. Once you learn how to eat healthy, and especially if you're like me and you tend to eat the same thing all the time, you get a really good intuitive sense of what the nutritional content of the food that you're eating is and you can more or less meet your nutritional needs. So I have not, but that is something I'm looking forward to getting back into as part of this program so I can get a sense of what my intake is.

  (05:51)
  I have a suspicion that often I tend to undereat, which is one of the reasons why I think my body is holding onto body fat because it's kind of staying in this sort of emergency mode. And so we'll figure that out as I start tracking what I eat and get a sense of what my intake is. How would you describe your current eating habits? Oh, that's a tricky one. I'd say like I do have regular meals. Let's say irregular because especially lately it hasn't been so regular. How many meals do you typically eat per day? Three to four. I'm a snacky girl. I like to eat small meals, like snacks and eat frequently. Do you follow any specific diet or eating plan? Yeah, I have been mainly pescatarian. I'm going to be so for real with you. I have really had it with meat and I haven't really had meat for a while now because I hate cooking with it and I very rarely enjoy the taste of it.

  (06:48)
  I know that it's a really good source of protein so I may start to add it back in, but I just really can't stand it. But I just really don't like cooking with meat. But I will, we'll see after we start tracking what I'm eating. I might have to add it back in, but we'll see if you mark yes. I'm going to say mostly pescatarian. I do prefer a mostly pescatarian or vegetarian diet. I'm okay with eating like canned tuna. I'm okay with fish. I don't mind cooking with that. It's the poultry and beef is expensive. I can't eat pork because I'm allergic. How confident are you in understanding nutrition portion sizes? Very confident. Are there any specific foods you struggle to include or avoid in your diet? I'm allergic to pork and peanuts. Could definitely eat more protein and veggies. Do you have a sweet tooth or cravings for specific foods?

  (07:44)
  Fuck yeah, girl. You know I do. I have hot chocolate mixed into my coffee like three or four times a day. I love sweets, dude. But I do notice that, especially on those days where I undereat and I don't prioritize actually getting like a good square meal three, four times a day. I tend to have wild cravings for specifically barbecue chips, that seems to be like my brain will go to that when I know that I'm like in a low calorie intake and my body is just like, "Give us some food." I crave barbecue chips a lot and I crave barbecue chips when I'm on my period as well. Do you have food allergies or intolerances? Yes, pork and peanuts. I hate chicken. I will eat it if it's like really mixed with stuff and you can barely taste it. People are always like, "Chicken doesn't have a flavor." Yes, it does.

  (08:33)
  Yes it does. It does. It's gross. So I try to avoid it unless it's like it's got to be like in a casserole or like a quesadilla, but like lots of spices and lots of flavor, lots of cheese. There's got to be a lot of things going on to distract me from the flavor of the chicken because I just don't like it. And I recognize it's probably going to be something that I'm going to have to get over as I have to increase my protein intake, but we'll see. Have you followed a structured workout plan before? Hell yeah. I have worked with so many coaches over the years. Like I said, I've been working out for like over 20 years and I've worked with coaches in boxing. I've worked with weight training coaches. I've worked with mixed martial arts coaches. I've worked with a lot of coaches and I'm a big fan of coaching.

  (09:15)
  I really do think that it's such a powerful thing. Have you followed a diet plan or fat loss programs in the past? I'd say yeah, because there are periods where I'm trying to cut fat in the past and I've tracked what I've eaten. I've had a specific calorie goal. Yeah. What is your experience with previous fitness or diet programs? I love fitness. I'm very fortunate that I personally have had really positive experiences with fitness and with nutrition. I've had amazing coaches. I've had amazing colleagues and friends that I've worked with over the years and I know that that's not everybody's experience. A lot of people have sort of like negative experiences with trainers or coaches or fitness. I have a very positive association with fitness. What do you think has prevented you from reaching your fitness goals in the past? Lack of time. Yeah, lack of time.

  (10:05)
  I've been so busy in the last two years working on my new coaching programs. So I'd say lack of time. I definitely would like to be working out more and I would like to be spending more time actually being mindful of meal planning and taking better care of my nutrition. Do you have any specific goals or aspirations that aren't mentioned above? I would like to maintain or increase the amount of muscle I have while decreasing body fat percentage. What exercise equipment do I have access to? All the things. All the things. Yoga mat, mini bands, super bands, tube bands, dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells, squat rack, flat bench, incline bench, foam roller, cable machine and other. I have a full gym that I go to. I have several full gyms that I go to. Do you wear a fitness tracking device? Okay. So I have not been wearing my Apple watch for the past six months maybe.

  (11:07)
  And for no other reason than that, I went to my brother's house for Christmas and then I packed my watch, I packed my charger and then I just didn't unpack my watch and my charger because ADHD I left it in my bag and it's been in my bag for six months. So that's going to be one of the things that I want to do. I want to get more data because I'm a data girly. I really like to know like how many steps I did and what was my heart rate when I was doing exercise. So I'm going to prioritize plugging that back in and I'm going to start wearing my Apple watch again and that is some of the data that I'll be sharing with you in the blog. So Apple watch. Thanks for submitting your starting snapshot. Head back to your program and move on to the next lesson.

  (11:47)
  Sweet. Okay. So that's the questionnaire. Now we have to take my measurements, step on the scale and also take my starting progres photos. So I have a smart scale that I really, really like. It's from Weight Gurus and it has an app on my phone and the thing about this scale that I really like is that it not only takes my body weight, but it also estimates my body fat percentage. It uses like most smart scales bioelectrical impedance analysis. They essentially shoot an electrical signal from one side of your body to the other. And the idea is that electricity moves faster through water than through fat. And so using your other bio data like your height, your weight, your sex, et cetera, it compares how fast that electrical signal goes through your body from one foot to the other and it gives you an estimation of how much of your body weight percentage is body fat versus muscle mass.

  (12:46)
  Now I do have to say with bioelectrical impedance analysis machines, whether you're using a smart scale or one of those like handheld Omron machines, there's a lot of variables that can skew the number and make it inaccurate. So it's important that whenever you're stepping on this kind of a scale or if you're using another type of machine that uses bioelectrical impedance analysis, you need to make sure that you're keeping all of the factors and variables more or less consistent, meaning you're measuring yourself at the same time every day under the same conditions because there are conditions like the humidity in the air, how sweaty you are, how dehydrated you are. All of these can impact how that electrical signal moves through your body. So what I'm going to be doing is I'm going to be taking my measurement as soon as I wake up in the morning right after I pee, before I take my dog out for his walk or drink coffee, because this is a more or less pretty consistent state, right?

  (13:47)
  There's no humidity in the air because I haven't showered yet and I also am stepping on the scale before I've had anything to eat or drink. I've already emptied my bladder so this is a way that I can keep the measurement consistent and over time I'm going to be comparing the numbers to themselves. Now even as I try to keep everything consistent, it doesn't mean that what the numbers that the scale gives me are going to be super duper accurate. What we want to look for is trends over time. Over time, keeping all of these factors consistent, I want to see whatever the estimation of my body fat percentage is. I want to see that number trending down over time nice and slowly. So when I stepped on the scale this morning it came out to be 141 pounds and it estimated that my body fat percentage is 28% and muscle mass is 30%.

  (14:40)
  And so now what I'm going to do is I'm going to enter this into my ABC Trainerize app so that I have that data and I'm going to take my measurements. To take my measurements, I'm using this telescopic tape measure that I really like because it makes measuring yourself a lot easier. It's generally pretty hard to measure yourself by yourself. It's better if you can have someone else do it for you, but this makes it a lot easier. So my neck circumference ended up being 12.75 inches. Next is the shoulders. So I tried my best to take the tape measure around my shoulders and make it as straight align as I possibly could. But like I said, it's just so much easier if you can get someone else to help you. And my shoulder circumference came out to 14.2 inches. So I entered that in my ABC Trainerize app.

  (15:29)
  And next is the chest, which is incredibly hard to measure by yourself. But again, this little telescopic tape measure makes it so much easier. Now I'm going above my boobs here because I'm not trying to measure my boob growth. I'm specifically trying to measure the growth of my PAX muscles. I set them right above my boobs and try to make sure that it's as straight a line underneath my armpits as possible across my back. And the circumference here ended up being 34.2 inches. Next up I measured my waist. So here I'm using the midpoint of my belly, although I think I probably should have gone around and specifically measured the biggest part of my belly, which is more that area right by my belly button. So today I think I'm going to remeasure that so that I have the widest part of my belly measured because that's the part that I want to see reduce the most.

  (16:22)
  But for now I just went with the smallest part of my waist and that ended up being 27.7 inches. And then I did my hips. With this, you want to go around the widest point possible and that ended up being 40 inches. And next up is my left side thigh. I'm measuring around the widest part of my thigh here and trying to stand normally and that ended up being 23 and a half inches and then I measured my left calf again around the thickest part and that ended up being 14 and a half inches. Next up, I'm going to measure my left side bicep right around the middle part of the bicep with my arm down and relaxed and that ended up being 12 inches. So I recorded that in ABC Trainerize and then finally my left side forearm, which ended up being nine and a half inches.

  (17:14)
  And then now I'm going to move over to the right side of my body starting with my right side calf, which ended up being 14 inches. So I have a little bit of a difference of a half an inch between my left and my right side, and then I'm going to measure my thigh on my right side as well and that ended up coming out to 24 inches. So another about half an inch difference between my left and my right side. Then my right bicep, which ended up being 11 and a half inches, again, a little half an inch difference and then finally my right side forearm, which ended up being nine and a half, which is the same. I also made sure to include the body fat percentage estimation in ABC Trainerize when I logged it in and then next up we have my progress photos.

  (17:57)
  This is the part that everybody hates, especially here in the beginning. It's so vulnerable and nerve wracking to stand in front of a camera and take a picture of yourself wearing very little and looking at your body from head to toe from the front, the side, the back, and the other side. But I had to tell myself what I tell my clients, which is remember that this is the starting point and these progress photos are so, so, so important because as we burn fat and as I approach my goal body composition, it's going to be so motivating to take a look back and compare my progress photos of the future to what they are today because especially when I hit that three month mark or that four month mark when I've been doing this for a long time, it's very easy to lose motivation at that point.

  (18:51)
  And by that point, looking back at your progres photos from four months ago to now can help you to get a sense of, look, I did something. I did that. I'm making progress even though it feels slow, even though it feels excruciating. So it is a really important part of helping you to be motivated later on, even though it may not be quite as motivating to do your progress photos in the very beginning. In fact, you may find it really cringe or you might just be like, "Oh my God, I don't want to look at my body." That's totally normal. I would say most people, if not everybody that I've ever worked with feels this way about the progress photos, but if you can get yourself to do them and get past that feeling, it can be so helpful later on. So with that said, let's take a look at my progress photos.

  (19:44)
  So with these, you want to be similar to when you step on the scale. You want to be keeping as many of the factors consistent as possible. You want to wear the same outfit every time you take your progress photos. You want to make sure that you're taking them in the same place with the same lighting so that you can really see the differences from one month to another. And when you take them, you want to make sure that they're like level with your chest or with your face and you want to make sure that your whole body is in frame. So here I am from the front showing from head to toe and then turning to this side and taking my arms out in front of me so that you can see the belly and the full profile and then from the back relaxed and then from the other side.

  (20:29)
  Okay. So now we have my starting snapshot completed more or less. There is one more step that I need to do, which is track everything that I eat and drink over the next week to get a sense of what my current calorie intake is. We have to do that before we can make any changes to my diet because we want to see what my body is already used to eating every day. So that's going to be one of my main tasks for the first week of my body fat transformation.

  (21:00)
  Thank you so much for watching or listening to this very first episode of my brand new series on my Fat Loss Transformation journey. I hope that you found it fun to listen to, maybe inspirational, and maybe you want to share a little bit about your own fitness journey. You can leave comments on the YouTube video, which is linked in the show notes if you are listening to the podcast episode. If you enjoyed it, make sure that you like the video and subscribe to my channel so you always get the latest episodes and other videos that I put out. And if you're listening to the podcast and you liked it, make sure to follow the show so you always get the latest episodes delivered to your device as soon as they drop. And don't forget that if you would like to work side by side with me on your own fitness journey, I am accepting clients into my Fat Loss Transformation program.

  (21:45)
  You can find more information for that and sign up for the program and the link that's below in the description of this video or in the show notes of the episode. Wherever you are, I hope you have a good rest of your day. Make sure that you're taking care of yourself. Drink some water, eat some veggies, eat your protein, get your steps in and I will see you soon.

This isn't a "watch me get shredded in 90 days" situation. This is a slow, intentional, evidence-based fat loss journey, and I want to show you exactly what that looks like from the very beginning.

Why I'm Doing This

My goal is to reduce my body fat percentage to around 22%. Right now I'm sitting at approximately 141 pounds with an estimated body fat of 28%, which means my target is less about a number on the scale and more about body composition. If I stay at 141 pounds but my body fat percentage drops and my muscle percentage rises, that is an absolute win in my book.

I'm also giving myself a long runway — six full months — so that I can stay in a modest calorie deficit rather than slashing my intake and risking muscle loss. I've spent the last two years building muscle, and I'm not about to throw that away chasing faster results. The goal is fat loss with muscle retention. Ideally, muscle gain.

What the Starting Snapshot Is (And Why It Matters)

Every client who enters my Fat Loss Transformation Program starts with what I call a starting snapshot. Before we change anything, we need to know where we're starting from. That means going through a detailed intake questionnaire, stepping on the scale, taking body measurements, and — yes — taking progress photos.

The starting snapshot isn't just administrative busywork. It becomes one of the most motivating tools you have later in the program, especially around the three or four month mark when progress can start to feel slow and invisible. Having concrete data and photos from day one gives you something real to compare against, and that comparison is often the thing that keeps people going.

My Starting Stats

Here's where I'm at as of day one:

• Body weight: 141 lbs

• Estimated body fat: 28% (via bioelectrical impedance analysis)

• Goal body fat: 22%

For measurements, I used a telescopic tape measure and logged everything into my ABC Trainerize app:

• Neck: 12.75"

• Shoulders: 14.2"

• Chest: 34.2"

• Waist: 27.7"

• Hips: 40"

• Left thigh: 23.5" / Right thigh: 24"

• Left calf: 14.5" / Right calf: 14"

• Left bicep: 12" / Right bicep: 11.5"

• Left forearm: 9.5" / Right forearm: 9.5"

A quick note on the smart scale: I use a Weight Gurus scale that estimates body fat via bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). BIA isn't perfectly accurate — hydration levels, humidity, time of day, and other variables can all affect the reading. What matters isn't the absolute number; it's the trend over time. To keep my measurements as consistent as possible, I weigh in every morning immediately after waking up, after using the bathroom, and before eating, drinking, or walking the dog.

Where My Nutrition Actually Stands (Honest Edition)

Here's the real talk portion of this post.

I have not been tracking my food. At all. I eat mostly pescatarian — I genuinely can't stand cooking chicken or beef, pork is off the table due to an allergy, and I do fine with fish and canned tuna. I tend to eat three to four small meals a day, and I suspect I'm frequently undereating, which may actually be part of why my body has been holding onto fat. When your body thinks it's in an energy emergency, it adapts accordingly.

I also have a serious sweet tooth. Hot-chocolate-in-my-coffee, multiple times a day. And when I'm really under-eating, my brain goes straight to barbecue chips. Classic low-calorie craving spiral.

None of this is me beating myself up — it's just an honest picture of where I'm starting. And that's exactly the point of the starting snapshot: no judgment, just data.

Week One Assignment: The Nutrition Snapshot

Before I change anything about how I eat, I need to actually know what I'm eating. So week one's assignment is simple: track everything I consume for seven days using the Trainerize app. No dietary changes yet — just observation.

This baseline data will tell me what my body is currently used to taking in, which is essential before setting any calorie targets. You can't build a smart nutrition plan without knowing your starting point, and making changes before you have that data is just guesswork.

Progress Photos: The Part Everyone Dreads

I'm not going to pretend taking progress photos is comfortable, because it's not — even for a personal trainer who's been working out for over 20 years. Standing in front of a camera in minimal clothing and photographing yourself from every angle is vulnerable and a little cringe-inducing, and that's completely normal.

But here's what I tell my clients, and what I had to remind myself: these photos are a gift to your future self. Four months from now, when progress feels slow and motivation is lagging, being able to look back at where you started is one of the most powerful tools you have. The discomfort of taking them now is absolutely worth it.

The key to useful progress photos is consistency: same outfit, same location, same lighting, same angles every time. Front, side, back, other side. That's it.

What's Coming Next

Over the next six months, I'll be checking in weekly right here and on The Coaching Corner Podcast, sharing my data, my process, what's working, and what's hard. This is the same program my clients go through, and I think there's real value in seeing it from the inside — not from the coach's perspective, but from the participant's.

If you want to follow along, make sure you're subscribed to the podcast and the YouTube channel so you don't miss a check-in.

And if you want to do this alongside me — if you're ready to start your own fat loss journey with structured programming, nutrition guidance, and real coaching support — I'm currently accepting new clients into the Fat Loss Transformation Program. You can find all the details and apply at the link below.

Let's get to work.

Links:

• Watch on Youtube

• Fat Loss Transformation Coaching Program

• Social Links

• Product Links:*

  • Weight Gurus Smart Scale

  • Telescopic Measuring Tape

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Ep 87 | Is Functional Training Better Than Bodybuilding?

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If you've scrolled through any fitness content on social media or youtube, you've probably come across the term "functional fitness." Or maybe someone at your gym made a comment that made you feel like what you're doing isn't "real" training. Or maybe you're just genuinely curious what the term means and whether it should change how you train.

In this episode of the coaching corner podcast, I’m breaking down what functional fitness means, how to train functionally, and whether or not you should be concerned about including functional training in your workout routine.

• Transcript

Where "Functional Fitness" Actually Came From

The concept of functional training has its roots in physical therapy and rehabilitation. The original question was simple and practical: can this person do the things that daily life requires of them?

For a physical therapist working with an elderly patient recovering from hip surgery, or someone rehabbing a knee injury, "functional" means training movements that transferred directly to real life — getting up off the floor, climbing stairs, carrying groceries, or reaching overhead without pain.

In that context, the distinction that matters is movement patterns vs. muscle isolation.

Traditional bodybuilding-style training often focuses on isolating individual muscles — a leg extension machine targets the quads in a way that doesn't require your body to coordinate multiple muscle groups. Bicep curls isolate the elbow joint to train the biceps muscles without having to coordinate the shoulder and other joints in motion.

Training with a focus on movement patterns often centers around compound exercises that mimic movements of everyday life—squats are a movement you perform whenever you get up from or sit down on a chair or the toilet. Bending over to pick something up from the floor includes the hip hinge and pulling movement patterns. Training these movement patterns in your workouts can help you to perform these everyday movements with better posture and reduce your risk of injury.

So functional training, in its original form, meant: train the patterns your body actually uses. Squat, hinge, push, pull, carry, torso rotation. Those are the foundational movement patterns that show up in daily life, and building strength in those patterns builds capacity that transfers outside the gym.

That's a genuinely useful framework — and it's one worth understanding.

How It Became an Ideology

Here's where things got complicated.

As functional fitness concepts moved out of rehab settings and into mainstream gym culture — largely through the rise of CrossFit in the 2000s and the explosion of wellness content online — the term picked up a lot of ideological baggage it didn't start with.

The implicit (and sometimes very explicit) narrative became: compound, "natural" movements = serious, purposeful, real training. Machines and isolation exercises = vain, shallow, gym-bro nonsense.

Functional training got positioned as the antidote to bodybuilding. And bodybuilding — training with the goal of changing how your body looks — started to carry a whiff of something suspect. Like it was somehow less legitimate than training for performance.

If you've ever felt a bit embarrassed about wanting to build bigger glutes or sculpt your shoulders, this cultural framing is probably part of why. There's a deeply embedded idea in fitness spaces that training for aesthetics is shallow, and training for "function" is noble. And a lot of people have internalized that without realizing it.

The truth is that this trend is really one of the latest manifestations of the toxic urge for people to draw arbitrary lines to position themselves as being a member of an “in group” that they deem “better” than others (who they view as on the outside). People love to feel special and look down their noses at others, and the marketing for this trend capitalizes on that urge.

For some people, feeling like they’re part of a special “better” group is their prime motivator for training. I’m not personally a fan of this style of motivation for a couple reasons:

For one, this mindset is not rooted in self-love, whereas I believe exercise and eating healthy should be an act of self-care. We nurture our bodies with exercise and nutrition out of love and gratitude for everything our bodies do for us.

Instead, this way of thinking is rooted in shame. There’s a long history of shame-based tactics being used in the fitness industry (fat shaming, skinny shaming, etc). Thinking this way, where you look down on other people because of how they choose to train, not only makes you an asshole, but it will eventually sabotage your own gains. Because shame always turns inward. If you shame others, you likely will shame yourself—which will sabotage your motivation, making it harder for you to stay consistent, and will likely steer you away from training styles that can actually benefit your body.

Because here’s the thing:

Both isolation training and movement-pattern training are functional.

The Part the Marketing Leaves Out

Here's what the functional fitness discourse tends to gloss over: for healthy people, all strength training is functional.

When you build stronger legs through a combination of squats, Romanian deadlifts, and yes, leg press and leg extensions — your knees become more stable, your daily movement becomes easier, your risk of injury goes down. The muscle you build doing isolation work is real muscle. It supports your joints. It improves your metabolism. It makes you more resilient.

Perfect example: One of my clients recently transitioned into a block of training where we’re including a lot of isolation exercises for the muscles in her hips and legs. She’s doing hip abduction and adduction exercises with the machines, as well as leg extensions and curls. I recently added heavy leg presses back into her program after a few months away. And this is what she said in the notes of her workout:

Adding in the isolation work to target her glutes and all the muscles around her hips helped her to feel stronger, more stable, and more coordinated while doing her compound exercise on the leg press.

Isolation exercise aren’t just about aesthetics—although there’s absolutely nothing wrong with training for aesthetics. I often use isolation exercises to help my clients increase their mind-muscle connection, especially for those pesky muscles in the shoulders and hips that are important helpers during compound exercises but are notoriously difficult to connect with (e.g., the external shoulder rotators, rear delts, and gluteus medius). In these cases, the isolation exercises serve the function of helping my clients to improve their proprioception (i.e. mind-muscle connection), which further serves to help them to do their “functional” movement pattern with more control, coordination, and lower risk of injury.

Side note: like I said above, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with doing bodybuilding training for aesthetics. If trying to build a big booty gets you to the gym and exercising, I call that a win. As a personal trainer, my main concern is that people are exercising and taking care of their bodies. I don’t care what motivates them to get there, as long as it’s a healthy mindset that keeps you consistent. If you want big juicy shoulders, I love that for you. If you just want to be able to carry all the groceries in one trip, I love that for you too. If it gets you in the gym building muscle and improving your heart health without hating yourself, then go for it.

But here’s the thing: the research doesn't support the idea that “functional training” is categorically superior to bodybuilding-style training for people who aren't rehabbing an injury. And even then—the physical therapists in the office that I work in still use isolation exercises to help their rehab clients build strength and improve coordination.

So all in all, in my professional opinion, it’s a silly distinction to make calling compound exercises functional and treating them as though they’re superior to isolation exercises. Both have their place in developing a well-rounded physique and functional strength.

The more useful question isn't "is this exercise functional?" It's "does my program address my actual needs?"

Someone with a desk job who sits for eight hours a day and has developed anterior pelvic tilt probably does need more posterior chain work and hip mobility work — not because machines are evil, but because their body has developed specific imbalances that a well-designed program should address. That's a different thing from "isolation exercises are bad."

Isolation exercises are also one of the primary ways to address muscular imbalances that often pop up during “functional” compound movements. Years ago I dealt with a lot of instability in my knees when I was practicing back squats. A good buddy of mine asked, “how often do you train your hamstrings?” The answer to his question was, “um, never.” At that point I was basically just doing compound exercises, focusing on powerlifting. He could tell from looking at my legs that my quadriceps were way more developed than my hamstrings because my body at that point was very glute dominant. So during deadlifts and squats, my glutes and quadriceps were doing the lion’s share of the work for the movement—meanwhile my weak hamstrings were just squeaking along barely making it by.

Once I started doing leg curls as part of my weekly routine—BOOM! My knees got so much more stable and I started being able to lift more weight.

I can think of tons of examples in my own fitness journey and that of my clients where isolation exercises helped improve movement patterns and decrease joint pain during training.

Aesthetics and Function Are Not Opposites

This is the reframe I want you to carry with you: training for how you look and training for how you feel are not in conflict.

Building muscle — real, intentional hypertrophy work — is one of the most functional things you can do for your long-term health. Muscle mass is directly tied to metabolic health, insulin sensitivity, bone density, joint stability, and longevity. The things that make your body look strong are largely the same things that make your body be strong.

This is actually the philosophy at the core of the Body Sculpt Program. It's a 24-week progressive hypertrophy program built around both compound and isolation work, because both matter. Compound lifts build the foundation — they train movement patterns, develop coordination, and recruit multiple muscle groups at once. Isolation work fills in the gaps, addresses imbalances, and allows you to develop specific areas with intention. Together, they build a body that is genuinely strong, resilient, and capable — and yes, one that reflects that in how it looks.

If you've been going to the gym consistently and feel like something is missing — like you're working hard but not quite getting the results you want, or like you don't fully trust that what you're doing is right for your body — that's exactly the gap a structured, thoughtful program is designed to close. Apply to work with me by clicking the button below:

So Is Your Workout "Functional"?

Probably, yes. If you're moving, building strength, and training consistently, your workout is doing something real and valuable.

The more useful question to ask is whether your program is designed well enough to get you where you actually want to go. Are you progressing over time? Is it addressing your specific body and its specific needs? Do you have a structure you trust, or are you piecing things together and hoping for the best?

Those are the questions worth sitting with — and they're the ones a well-built program answers for you.

Links:

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Ep 86 | Still Stuck at the Same Weight? Here's Why

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If you've been going to the gym consistently and eating healthy—but you're still stuck at the same weight and it seems nothing is changing—this episode is for you!

I see it all the time with new clients. They come to me frustrated, convinced something is wrong with them. They don’t understand why their body isn’t changing, even though they’re working hard and doing everything “right.”

I’ve been there too! Many years ago, before I began my journey as a personal trainer, I was doing all the classes at the gym, dieting, doing tons of cardio—yet I still had this stubborn belly fat that I couldn’t get rid of. Looking back after over a decade of experience as a personal trainer, there are a few things I wish I could tell my younger self to help her get on track.

So today I’m going to share with you the tips that I wish I had known back then. So that you can get results faster and finally get past that plateau.

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):
  

  If you are going to the gym consistently at least two, three times a week and you're hitting a lot of cardio and you're also eating healthy, like making sure you're eating vegetables, you're eating protein and you've been doing all of this and yet your body isn't changing, you are not broken, you are not alone. In fact, you're actually ahead of where most people start with me when they sign up to work with me as their personal fitness coach because you have built a solid foundation and you're actually the ideal type of person that I like to work with because you've already done the groundwork of getting into a routine of focusing on exercising and you're already paying attention to what you're eating. So at this point it really is just a matter of making little tweaks to get you moving in the right direction. But hitting plateaus where you feel like your body isn't changing very much or maybe you're looking at the scale and the number has not changed at all for a while, this is totally normal.

  (01:06)
  It is a natural part of the lifestyle of the life cycle of getting in shape. Everyone and I do mean everyone hits a plateau from time to time regardless of whether they're beginners, intermediate or advanced exercisers. Plateaus happen for a number of reasons and usually it's not because you're doing anything wrong or there's something wrong with you. Most of the time it's because your body has adapted to whatever exercise and nutrition routine you've been on for a while. A lot of people think, "Oh, I want to get in shape, so I need to go for runs. I need to do a ton of cardio." That's where I was when I was in my early 20s. I thought the key to achieving my dream physique of looking tone was to just go to the gym, take a bunch of group fitness classes every week and spend hours and hours and hours with my heart rate up because I thought that I was burning fat and that did work initially because I was doing more than what my body was used to.

  (02:09)
  So for the first couple of months, I did see significant changes and then I hit that dreaded plateau. And I was like, "Oh no, maybe I'm doing something wrong. Maybe I need to exercise more." So I started adding in higher intensity exercise and I started going to the gym even more. And before I knew it, I was working out six days a week, sometimes seven days a week with very little rest. And what ended up happening is that I got injured. I ended up with these nagging aches and pains and tendonitis in my calves from all of the running, all of the cardio that I was doing. And I ended up having to spend hundreds of dollars in physical therapy to deal with that. At the same time, I was a group fitness instructor, so I was also teaching classes and looking back now as a personal trainer, having gone through so much more education on what the body needs in order to build muscle and burn fat and what is the appropriate amount of exercise for a body to do every week, I just want to shake my past self and say, "Girl, you are doing way too much.

  (03:17)
  You need to calm down." I was doing way more than what my body could actually realistically keep up with, which is why I was getting injured and which was also why I wasn't burning fat.

  (03:39)
  Hey there. Welcome to the Coaching Corner Podcast. I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. I've been a personal trainer for over 10 years and I've created this podcast to share with you some tips and strategies that you can use to build a body that you love without shame and without burnout. In today's episode, I'm going to be sharing some of the things that I wish I could go back and tell my younger self when I was first starting on my fitness journey and I hit my first plateau because if you are like me, you probably are already doing all the right things. You're going to the gym, you're eating healthy and yet your body is not changing. And before we get into the episode, make sure that you like this video if you're watching on YouTube and subscribe to the channel and hit the bell to get notified whenever I drop new videos.

  (04:29)
  If you are listening to this podcast, thank you so much. Make sure that you follow the show so you always get notified whenever new episodes drop. Now, if you are looking for an online fitness coach who can help you to break past your plateaus and start making progress, apply to work with me in the link that is below in the description of this video or in the show notes. And without further ado, let's get into the episode.

  (05:00)
  So on the one hand, your body is going to adapt to whatever level of exercise you get if you don't change anything after a certain point. Now people will hit plateaus anywhere between six weeks to two months of training and doing the same thing. This is especially true if all you're doing is cardio. And by cardio, I mean any kind of exercise that keeps you moving for an extended period of time where you don't rest, you keep your heart rate elevated the whole time. I was doing a lot of cardio, so I was getting my body moving a ton. My body was burning a lot of calories. But after a few months of this level of activity, my body adapted and it no longer was burning the same number of calories that it was burning before. Now part of what happened was that I also wasn't doing resistance training, which is the number one tweak that I usually have to make with new clients when they first start to work with me is we need to add in a structured strength training routine because especially if you have burned a lot of fat, remember that when you're in a calorie deficit, your body is going to break down whatever tissue it can to access the energy there that you're not getting through your food.

  (06:13)
  And that includes your muscle, especially if you want a really steep calorie deficit. If you're eating a very small amount of calories for an extended period of time, your body's going to break down your muscle and your muscle is one of the main drivers of your metabolism. So as you lose muscle, your metabolism slows down, which means that you are burning fewer calories every day, even when you exercise. But the best way that you can combat this loss of muscle tissue is by doing strength training. So that's the first tweak that I would have my younger self make. I would have her add in a structured strength training program where specifically we're working on building muscle to help boost the metabolism and also to give her that defined and toned look that she's after. So if that's the case with your fitness routine, if you are doing a lot of cardio-based exercise but you're not doing strength training, I would suggest getting into a strength training routine.

  (07:12)
  Now, if you're attending group fitness classes, it's likely that you are familiar with strength training movements and a lot of group fitness classes will use strength training movements, but one thing you need to keep in mind is that group fitness classes often are designed with cardio in mind. Their goal is to keep you moving consistently for the duration of the class, whereas traditional strength training that yields the best muscle growth is structured completely differently, especially if you are at that intermediate level and you've hit a plateau, you need to do traditional structured strength training where you're doing a consistent routine doing two to three or four different workouts every week, keeping it consistent and using the same exercises. And every time you go to repeat a workout, you try to do more repetitions or use more weight progressively each week as you continue to go on.

  (08:11)
  And within the structure of a strength training workout, you should be alternating between periods of intense effort where you are doing bicep curls or squats trying to get the muscles burning to the point where they're really close to failing and then you rest. You rest for 30 to 60, maybe even 90 seconds depending on the exercise. Sometimes you might do super sets where you alternate between two different exercises, but there will be rest periods and there aren't always necessarily rest periods within a group fitness class. So if you think about the group fitness classes that you've been to or that you've been going to and you know that you are moving more or less the entire time, even if you're doing squats, even if you're doing pushups, then the most benefit that your body is getting from that class is likely just cardiovascular. You might be burning a lot of calories as well more than what you would in a traditional strength training workout, but in terms of helping your muscles to grow stronger or helping them to build, there's very limited amount of that type of growth that you're going to get within the context of a group fitness class.

  (09:24)
  So my younger self, I was doing a ton of classes and I was working with dumbbells and I thought I was building strength, but I hit a plateau because I wasn't doing a consistent routine where I was systematically adding more reps or adding more weight to the same exercises over a progressive period of six to 12 weeks. Now this is super important because if you do a ton of cardio and especially when you're in a calorie deficit, your body breaks down muscle in addition to the fat that you burn. So it's really important that you're doing resistance training at least two or three times a week. This tweak alone helped me to really start seeing major differences in my body. Building muscle also helped to address a lot of the nagging aches and pains that I was experiencing because for the level of activity that I was doing with all of the boxing and teaching classes and running, I just didn't have the muscle and the connective tissue strength to be able to support that level of activity.

  (10:28)
  But once I started doing consistent strength training, I was able to actually do my normal level of activity, which was a lot without getting injured as much or without experiencing so much tendonitis. I just wish that I had started doing consistent resistance training sooner. Maybe I could have avoided those injuries and maybe I could have achieved my physique goals faster. So if you've never followed a structured resistance training program, I would highly recommend getting into some kind of program. When I start working with new clients, that is the first thing that I build for them is their weekly workout routine. You don't necessarily need a whole gym to start building muscle. So you can do body weight exercises like wall sits or pushups and planks, build up your core strength. And then if you have access to weights, start to incorporate resistance training using weights or resistance bands.

  (11:26)
  Another mistake that I was making when I was younger, and maybe you're making this too, is that I thought I was eating healthy and that that would be enough for me to reach my physicals, but eating healthy is not the same as eating in a way that supports a specific fitness goal. When you have a specific fitnes goal like losing 15 pounds of fat or building founds of muscle, you need to really be dialed in to how much energy and how much protein in particular you are eating every day because that'll give you a sense of what might be going on and causing your plateau. A lot of times when people come to me and they want to work on fat loss and I have them track their calories, one of two things is usually going on. One is that they are not eating enough calories to get their body burning fat.

  (12:16)
  Yes, when we want to burn fat, usually that means that we want to be in a calorie deficit, but you can be in too low of a calorie deficit or you can be in a calorie deficit for so long to the point where your body slows down its functions so that it's not burning as many calories as it was before. And it's doing this to keep you alive because if you just continue to burn a ton and ton of calories more than what you're eating every day, eventually you burn through your fat stores and you die. So your body is trying to fight that. So if you've been in a steep calorie deficit for a long period of time, your body has likely slowed down and gotten to the point where it's not burning as many calories as it used to. So with these people, I usually will do what's called a reverse diet and I will have them gradually bring up their calories by adding about 50 to 100 calories per day over the course of a week by having them add between 50 and a hundred calories at a time over the course of a week and letting their body get used to increasing calories.

  (13:22)
  And what this often does is surprisingly people will find that, "Oh my gosh, I'm eating more, but the scale is suddenly going down or my clothes are fitting looser and it's because they've revved up their metabolism." Once you start reintroducing more energy into your diet, your body will respond by revving up all of its systems so that you get back to burning an appropriate amount of calories every day. Now, if your goal is to build muscle and you're not eating enough calories, then yeah, that's likely why you've hit your plateau and you're not seeing more muscle growth. Muscle is calorie expensive. It's expensive. It takes a lot of energy to build. It takes a lot of energy to maintain and it takes a lot of more energy to exercise with big muscle. So if you haven't been giving your body a sufficient amount of calories, then yeah, your muscle growth is going to be slow.

  (14:17)
  And this is one reason why intermediate to advanced exercisers often cycle between periods where they focus on muscle building and then they focus on fat loss because it's very slow and difficult to do both at the same time when you're not a beginner. Now sometimes what happens though is especially with people who are trying to burn fat and they are doing a ton of cardio, they're working out a bunch, they don't realize that they're actually eating more than they thought because this is what happens. When you start doing workouts and you start exercising, especially if you're doing a lot of cardio, especially if you're doing like high intensity cardio as well, you are going to be hungry. You're going to feel like you need to eat more. Sometimes you might even have intense cravings for sugary or high calorie foods because your body is reading, "Oh, we are burning calories.

  (15:10)
  We're spending a lot of energy." So subconsciously it's going to be like, "Well, we need to take in more energy." And so sometimes even though your calorie burn is higher and you're really active, you don't realize that you also are eating more. So you may be eating right at your maintenance level where you need to be is actually eating less than what your body is burning to burn fat. So sometimes that happens as well. Now you don't know which is the case if you're not tracking what you eat or if you're not following a meal plan. And so that's why the tweak number two that I would tell my younger self and I would tell you if you were one of my clients is start tracking your calories. Start tracking your calories, figure out how much energy you're taking in every day and then weigh that against a calculation of what your total daily energy expenditure is, how many calories is your body actually burning and you might find that you may be undershooting how many calories your body needs or you may be eating more than what your body needs in order to reach your specific fitness goal.

  (16:17)
  Now number three, another thing I wish I could tell my past self is to start working with a coach sooner. I put this off and resisted it for such a long time because I'm really a very frugal person and I didn't want to spend the money on a coach. However, by doing it on my own, what I ended up doing was making it so I didn't reach my goals for a really long time, much longer than it would have taken me if I had just worked with a coach. And then especially because I ended up with these nagging injuries and aches and pains, I ended up spending that money anyway on physical therapy and going to the doctor for all of the things that my body ended up having as a result of me overdoing it because I didn't have the guidance of an expert on how much exercise was appropriate for my body and effective for reaching my goals.

  (17:14)
  Once I did start working with a coach, then I started making progress and I wasn't working out as much as I had been before, but my body was actually moving in the direction that I wanted it to, which was kind of crazy for me to experience at the time. I really struggled with the concept of I have to exercise less and at that point I also needed to eat more, which I would never have steered myself towards if I hadn't been working with a coach. So that was the solution for me and I wouldn't have done that on my own. So if I could, I would go back and tell my past self, go ahead and start working with that coach now because it's going to help prevent you from getting injury. It's actually going to save you money and you're going to reach your goals a lot faster than you will on your own.

  (18:04)
  And then one more thing that I think is important for us to acknowledge when we're talking about plateaus is sometimes when we feel like we've hit a plateau, it may be that we are making progress, but we have an unrealistic timeline for how long it actually takes to achieve a transformation. Changing your body composition takes time, but one of the reasons why people tend to abandon a plan that's actually working is because they think that it should be working faster and that they should reach their goal a lot sooner than what is actually feasible or practical. And I think that this is due in large part to the way that fitness is marketed and also social media. So when you see transformation programs that are sold in 30 day packages, it can give you this sense that you should be able to reach your fitness goal and have your dream physique within a month and that is really unrealistic for most people.

  (19:05)
  If you want to burn 20 pounds of fat and you want to do it in a way that's sustainable that you're going to be able to keep for long term, you need to plan for months of working towards that goal. For fat loss, a sustainable and healthy rate to expect is to burn between half a pound to a pound of fat per week. This is the rate of fat loss that's recommended by the Mayo Clinic in alignment with the NHS guidelines and supported by a metaanalysis that was done by the British Journal of Nutrition. When you aim to go at a rate of between a half a pound and a pound of fat loss per week, this is slow enough that you are less likely to break down muscle tissue and especially when you are doing resistance training and you're on a structured training program, you are more likely to be able to combat muscle loss that usually happens when you're in a calorie deficit.

  (19:59)
  It's also not too steep of a calorie deficit where you're burning fat really, really quickly and in danger of burning out or having all of that weight come back once you stop your calorie deficit. So with this nice slow steady rate of burning a half a pound to a pound of fat per week, then you can expect to lose between 12 and 25 pounds of fat over the course of six months without necessarily losing muscle or slowing down your metabolism. Now muscle building happens a lot slower. For people who are beginners, if you are doing a structured resistance training program and you are eating enough protein and calories and you're getting enough effective rest, you can expect to build between one and two pounds of muscle per month, which is pretty rapid muscle gains, but it gets slower the longer you go on and the more advanced that you get as an exerciser.

  (20:58)
  Intermediate exercisers and advanced exercisers can expect at most a half a pound of muscle build per month. As you get closer and closer to your genetic potential of being super well trained and what your body is built for, then your muscle gains get even slower. So if your goal is to put on a lot of muscle, just know that it's going to be a long journey. It's going to be months not weeks, certainly not 30 days. So whether your goal is fat loss or muscle gains or maybe you want to do both, just keep in mind that it is a long journey and you get there by being consistent over the long haul, doing really intense bouts where you're doing tons and tons of cardio, doing tons of group fitness classes and then you get burned out or injured and you fall off the wagon and then you're out for weeks or months and then you try again.

  (21:52)
  This cycle of yo-yo on and off again fitness is not going to help you to move forward and that may be one reason why you're at a plateau. If you're on again, off again with your fitness, that's what your body's going to reflect. But if you get into a routine that you can stay consistent on where you're not in too drastic of a calorie deficit that you lose your metabolism essentially and lose muscle and if you're able to stay consistent on your resistance training and you're watching what you eat, specifically how many calories and how many grams of protein you're eating, then you are much more likely to reach your goals and you're likely to reach them a lot faster than you would if you were to do that hardcore five, six days a week of cardio. Now that's not to say that you shouldn't do cardio or that you need to necessarily reduce the amount of exercise that you're already getting, but you do need to know that after a certain point, more is not more, your body needs time to recover and rest days are important.

  (22:56)
  As hard as you train, as long as you train in the gym or whether you're working out at home, you need to balance that out with enough effective rest because it's when you're resting that your body actually recovers and builds muscle. Let me know if any of this applies to you and if you have any questions on how to tweak your routine, you can leave your questions or your comments in the comments below this video if you're watching on YouTube. If you're listening to the podcast, you can follow the link that is in the show notes to leave comments on the YouTube video as well. And keep in mind that I am accepting new clients into my online coaching program. So if you would like a little bit more specific and personal guidance on how to tweak your exercise routine or how to tweak your nutrition, let me know.

  (23:46)
  You can apply to work with me in the link that is below this video or in the show notes if you're listening.

  (23:57)
  And that's it for today's episode. I hope that you found this helpful. Thank you so much for watching or listening. If you did find it helpful, make sure to leave a like on the video and maybe share it with a friend who might need to hear it as well. If you'd like to interact with me online, I'm @Jaydigains everywhere. That's J-A-Y-D-I-G-A-I-N-S. And if you would like more information on the products and services that I offer, you can go to my website, which is jaydigains.com. I'll see you in the next episode. In the meantime, make sure that you're taking good care of yourself. Stay hydrated, get up and active, do your resistance training and I will see you soon.

Here's what I want you to hear right away: you are not broken. You are not doing it wrong. You are actually closer to your goals than you think. What you need isn't more effort—it's a few specific tweaks.

Tweak #1. Add a strength training program.

Cardio and group fitness classes have real value. They improve cardiovascular health, burn calories, and help build the habit of exercise. But the body is an adaptation machine. Whatever you consistently demand of it, it will eventually become efficient at—which means over time, the same workouts produce less and less metabolic stimulus. That's not failure. That's just biology.

To keep your metabolism elevated and continue changing your body composition, you need to build muscle. And to build muscle effectively, you need a progressive, systematic strength training program—not occasional resistance work woven into a cardio class.

This doesn't require a full gym—especially in the beginning. I've built programs for clients training at home with resistance bands and a mat, and for clients in fully equipped commercial gyms. What matters is the programming: exercises that progressively challenge your muscles over time, allowing them to grow and strengthen. Muscle is what gives your body that defined, toned look. It's also what keeps your metabolism running higher, even at rest.

If you've never followed a structured strength program, this is likely the single biggest lever available to you right now.

Tweak #2. Figure out your actual calorie intake.

Eating healthy is not the same as eating in a way that supports your specific goal. This distinction matters a ton, but it's not something most people have been taught.

When clients come to me saying they're eating well but not losing fat, I almost always find one of two things when we actually look at the numbers: they're eating right at their maintenance calories (often because increased exercise has increased hunger, which is completely normal), or they're under-eating and not giving their muscles enough fuel to grow. Both scenarios stall progress, just in different ways.

Tracking your food intake—even temporarily—removes the guesswork. You find out where you actually are relative to your goal. Protein intake is especially common to underestimate; most people eating a general "healthy" diet are still significantly under the amount needed to support muscle building and fat loss simultaneously.

If you've been plateaued for a while and you're not tracking, start this week. A few days of data will tell you more than months of guessing.

Tweak #3. Work with a coach.

This is the one I resisted the longest in my own journey, and it's the one I wish I'd acted on sooner.

On my own, I could stay consistent for maybe three or four weeks at a time before something derailed me. It wasn't until I worked with a coach that I was able to string together genuine, lasting consistency—the kind of consistency where your effort actually compounds into results.

Coaching accelerates the process in ways that are hard to quantify until you experience them. It's not just having a program. It's having someone remove the daily decision-making, adjust your plan when life throws things at you, and hold you accountable in a way that's genuinely supportive rather than shame-based. The result isn't just faster physical progress—it's a completely different relationship with the process.

One more thing…

Let's get real for a second. One thing that you might be doing is expecting too much too soon.

Changing your body composition takes time. But one of the main reasons people abandon a plan that's actually working is that they have unrealistic expectations about how much time it takes to see visible results.

Fitness marketing and social media have is largely to blame for this. When you see transformation programs sold in 30-day windows, it distorts what a real, sustainable, lasting change looks like. And people who buy into these programs often end up in an on-again off-again relationship with their fitness because they don’t put in the amount of time it actually takes to change their bodies.

So let's look at what the science actually says.

For fat loss, a healthy, sustainable rate you can expect is approximately 0.5 to 1 pound per week. This is the range recommended by the Mayo Clinic, aligned with NHS guidance, and supported by a meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Nutrition (which found that gradual weight loss at this rate produces greater reductions in fat mass and better preservation of lean muscle compared to rapid weight loss). Losing fat faster than this typically leads to muscle loss — which slows your metabolism. At a healthy, sustainable pace of 0.5 to 1 pound per week, you can expect to lose roughly 12 to 25 pounds of fat over six months without losing the muscle you're actively building.

Muscle building follows its own timeline. Based on the widely cited Aragon and McDonald natural muscle-gain models, a beginner to intermediate lifter following a structured program can expect to gain approximately 1 to 2 pounds (0.7-0.9 kg) of muscle per month, as long as they’re eating enough protein and calories. At six months, that's 6 to 12 pounds of lean muscle—which is a meaningful, visible change in how your body looks and performs. More experienced lifters will gain more slowly (about 0.4-0.5 lb / 0.2-0.25 kg per month), which is a normal feature of a well-adapted, well-trained body approaching its genetic potential.

What this means practically: a genuine, science-backed transformation takes months, not weeks. Six months of consistent work puts you in a position to look and feel fundamentally different. The people I've seen make the most dramatic changes aren't the ones who trained the hardest in month one — they're the ones who were still showing up in month five.

Understanding the timeline doesn't make the journey slower. It makes it survivable. It keeps you from quitting in month two because you expected month-six results.

Putting It Together

If any of what we talked about today applies to you, now you have a few strategies to try and get your body back on track:

✅ Add structured strength training.

✅ Get eyes on your nutrition so you know your actual numbers.

✅ Consider whether having support from a coach might be the missing piece that lets your hard work finally land.

These are the three things I build every coaching relationship around, because they're the three things that actually move the needle—especially when someone has plateaued despite doing the work.

If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and start seeing real, lasting results, I'd love to help! Check out the link below to apply to work with me—and let's figure out what tweaks you need to make together:

Links:

• Watch on Youtube

• Apply for 1-on-1 Coaching

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Ep 85 | Fitness Matters More Now Than Ever

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---

If you've been struggling to maintain your healthy eating habits or exercise routine lately, I want to start by saying this clearly: that makes complete sense.

We're living through extraordinary times. With the looming threat of fascism and state violence against civilians in our country, many of us are experiencing very real emotional stress, anxiety, and a sense of being overwhelmed. There's nothing wrong with you if getting to the gym feels impossible when you're doom-scrolling news updates. There's nothing broken about you if you're reaching for comfort foods when the world feels like it's on fire.

Your nervous system is responding exactly as it should to a genuine threat environment.

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):
  

  Right now, your fitness journey is not only a necessity, but it can be a very powerful survival strategy because when everything else is out of your control, when you're experiencing high stress from your environment, what many psychologists and therapists suggest is that you focus on the things that you can control and the things that you can make progress on a very short-term basis when the big picture is overwhelming. Focusing on small wins that you can make within your own body, within your own life can be very powerful in giving you a sense of progress and moving forward. And that in turn can give you the confidence that you need to be a good community member and resist in a powerful way in your role. And one of the most powerful things that you can control is how you treat your body.

  (01:07)
  Welcome to The Coaching Corner podcast. I'm Jayd Harrison. I've been a personal trainer for over 10 years, and I've created this podcast to help you to build a body that you love without shame and without burnout. It's been a while since I've posted to the podcast and there's a good reason for that. If you are living in the United States during 2026, you'll know that this past year has been really hard. We are living in extraordinary times with the looming threat of fascism and state violence against civilians in our country. Many of my clients have really been struggling to feel motivated and stay consistent in their exercise plans. I've been pouring a lot of my focus and attention on developing new coaching programs to meet my clients where they're at in this moment and creating these programs has taken almost all of my focus in addition to the time that I've just needed to deal with and process what's happening in my country.

  (02:11)
  Now, I'm saying all of this because the truth is that fitness is political. Self-care is political, and the mission of my business is to help people to be better and get better at taking care of their bodies and taking care of themselves. But the truth is that it's very hard, if not impossible, to make lifestyle changes, to eat better and exercise more when the very idea of safety in your community is at threat. And for many of us, that threat is a lot closer than others. If you're paying attention to what's happening with the iced detentions and violence against civilians and immigrants in this country and are horrified, dysregulated, and having a really hard time taking care of yourself. Yeah, that makes sense. See, our systems, our nervous systems are built to deal with a hierarchy of needs, and your feeling of safety in your environment is one of the primary foundational needs that has to be in place and addressed for you to be able to make the meaningful changes that you want to make.

  (03:29)
  And also a lot of the ideas that you set out with if you wanted to start a fitness journey because you wanted to look better in a bikini. For many people that just kind of seems like not as important anymore. Who cares how I look like in a bikini when people are being gunned down in the streets, right? So what I want to present here in this podcast over the next few weeks is a framework for us to think about our fitness as resistance, to think about our fitness as a form of self-care. And self-care is radical. And when we prioritize taking care of ourselves and taking care of each other and our communities, that is a very powerful form of resistance. But I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that it's going to be easy. Your nervous system is in threat mode and it's a responding exactly as it should to a genuinely threatening environment.

  (04:31)
  But that's not the end of the story. You absolutely can make health and fitness gains even in these uncertain times. And in fact, it may be one of the best ways that you can push back against this authoritarian regime. Valuing yourself and valuing your body and your health is one of the number one forms of resistance against fascism. And by taking care of your body, taking care of your health, you are actually making yourself stronger so that you can show up better for your community and show up better for the people that you love. Self-care is not a luxury that we only work on during peace times in times like the ones that we're living in right now. It is essential. So that's what we're going to talk about in this episode, and we're going to continue this conversation over the next couple of weeks and how you can better take care of your body with everything that's going on right now. And I want to give you some motivation and a different way to think about your fitness that empowers you to continue seeking your fitness goals while also being kind to yourself and understanding what your nervous system is doing with these threats in our environment. So without further ado, let's get started with the first episode back to the coaching corner of 2026.

  (06:09)
  The first thing we need to talk about as part of this conversation is recognizing the fact that our nervous systems, our capacity for behavior change, our willpower, our motivation, these are not just infinite resources that we can just draw from or just power our way through When we're feeling low, your nervous system responds to the environment that you are in. And when that environment feels threatening, that lowers your capacity for devoting time and energy and willpower towards other things that aren't just purely for survival. You may be feeling totally shut down or maybe you're feeling super anxious. Your nervous system may be activated over and over and over again. Every time that you check your social media feed the news or depending on where you live, when you step outside and you see federal agents on the street armed with guns pointing at civilians, many people are waking up and looking at the news and looking around their communities and thinking, this is not what I thought America was.

  (07:15)
  And this can create a major crisis in your psychology and can make you question everything about who you believe yourself to be, your community, your family. There's a lot of trauma happening right now, and that means that your nervous system is being activated again and again and again. We are experiencing an ongoing traumatic vent and that has very real impact on our nervous systems, and that impacts in turn our ability to make behavior changes. And the old things that might have motivated you to get in shape, like you want to look better in a bikini or you want to look hot naked, you might find that those things are not important to you anymore because right now what's at the primary focus for many of us is just basic survival. So if you have been finding it hard to show up for your workouts or hard to meal prep, it might be that goal that you had in mind, your underlying why is no longer important to you, but that's not the end of the story.

  (08:23)
  But before we move on, I just want to validate that what you are experiencing is very real nervous system dysregulation and it is going to be hard to make behavior changes. And it is especially going to be hard when the underlying why of why you started your fitness journey or what you were working for previously is no longer motivating you to keep showing up. It makes sense, but the paradox here is that when you are experiencing an ongoing traumatic event like the one that we're experiencing here in the United States is that self-care is actually even more important now than it was before. It is not just a luxury or something that you do when you have the privilege and time. It actually right now is a necessity right now. Your fitness journey is not only a necessity, but it can be a very powerful survival strategy because when everything else is out of your control, when you're experiencing high stress from your environment, what many psychologists and therapists suggest is that you focus on the things that you can control and the things that you can make progress on a very short term basis when the big picture is overwhelming.

  (09:43)
  Focusing on small wins that you can make within your own body, within your own life can be very powerful in giving you a sense of progress and moving forward. And that in turn can give you the confidence that you need to be a good community member and resist in a powerful way in your role. And one of the most powerful things that you can control is how you treat your body, how much exercise you give yourself, and how you feed yourself. You've probably heard the phrase you can't pour from an empty cup, and by now it is a cliche, but it rings true, especially during these times. If you want to show up for community and you want to take action, getting strong, getting healthy is one of the best things you can do to be able to do that better. So if you want to maintain your capacity for resilience and resistance, you have to take care of yourself first.

  (10:42)
  So not only is this going to help you to be able to be there for your community, but it's also psychologically going to help relieve some of the stress of what we're experiencing because fitness can give you some quick wins. I'm not talking about necessarily your aesthetic changes because those do happen very slowly over time, and it does take a long time for you to notice visible muscle growth. However, there are some things that do change pretty quickly and advance pretty quickly. When you're consistent on your fitness journey, especially when you are in the beginning or when you are coming back from a long time away from the gym, one of the fastest things that you'll see improve is your cardiovascular fitness. Your heart gets much more efficient at pumping blood to your muscles. You'll notice that after just a few days or a few weeks of consistently training your cardiovascular system, you'll be able to climb stairs without getting out of breath.

  (11:39)
  Strength gains also happen pretty quickly as well. You can see pretty significant strength gains on a week by week basis. When you do the same workout routine and you try to add in more reps or use a little bit more or a little bit more weight over time, especially in the first six months to a year of consistent training, you're usually able to add on more reps and more weight if not every week, every other week. You'll also experience better movement quality, better coordination, and better balance. So being able to move better is not only going to allow you to go to these marches and be an active participant in your community, but you'll also be able to do so with less risk of injury and less chronic pain. And finally, getting into a consistent fitness routine will also help to improve your sleep quality.

  (12:33)
  And remember that your sleep is really important for helping your body and your mind to recover, regulate your hormones and get your nervous system where it needs to be so that you can take meaningful action from a calm and regulated place. So getting consistent on a fitness routine will help to improve all of these areas of your life, which in turn can help you to show up better for yourself, for your loved ones and for your community. And the same thing applies to nutrition. Even when you make small changes to how you eat, like boosting the amount of protein that you eat every day or trying to eat more vegetables or more fruit and whole grains or trying to drink more water, all of these have pretty quick turnaround in how they make you feel and in your health, for example, when you're eating more whole foods or following the healthy plate model, you get more stable energy, fewer energy crashes throughout the day.

  (13:31)
  It also will give you better mental clarity, which is so important for helping you to mentally cope with process and deal with everything that we're experiencing. Remember, your brain runs on glucose and nutrients, so when you give your brain the nutrients that it needs, it's going to be able to run all of its functions without setting your nervous system off and getting you back into a dysregulated state, which is going to just make processing and dealing with everything that we're experiencing a lot harder. So both nutrition and exercise are really powerful tools for helping you to regulate your nervous system and regulate your moods, which will help you to think more clearly, process what's going on and make better decisions. When you prioritize taking care of yourself through exercise and healthy eating, you help to set up positive feedback loops that strengthen themselves and make it easier and easier over time for you to continue to take better and better care of yourself, which in turn will help you to be more and more effective in your personal resistance efforts.

  (14:38)
  When you exercise, when you drink more water, when you eat better, you have more energy. When you have more energy, you're better able to manage stress. When you manage your stress better, you're able to sleep better and sleeping better helps you to regulate your nervous system and regulate your moods, which gives you better capacity for stress and also makes it easier for you to do the things that help to give you more energy like exercising and eating healthy. The more and more that you invest yourself, your time and your attention into these things, the easier and easier it gets to stick to them over time. And the inverse is also true. The more that you continue to neglect your body and neglect your self-care, this makes it harder and harder for you to do your self-care activities. And it also negatively impacts how effective you are in your resistance efforts.

  (15:30)
  You have less energy to go to marches and protests. You're more likely to experience depressive episodes because you're not regulating your nervous system. And when you're in a depressive episode, you're not able to take as much action as you might otherwise to exercise your rights and empower yourself. Now, I'm not saying that eating vegetables and exercising is going to solve fascism, but you have to remember that you are one person that exists in our community and our society. And when each person takes better care of themselves and makes themselves stronger and more resilient and more resilient to stress, then that makes us as a people stronger, as a collective and more capable of resistance, effective resistance against the threats that we're facing, eating better and exercising in combination with community action and community care is how we get through this thing. So if you're feeling in a rut about your fitness and your self-care in the face of everything we're facing here in 2026, that makes sense.

  (16:38)
  I want to first validate that it makes sense that you feel that way. Your nervous system is dealing with a lot right now, but you might find that reframing your approach towards your self-care and towards your fitness as an act of resistance can help you to get back on track and actually give your fitness journey even more meaning. And second, I want to encourage you to start small with manageable baby steps. Don't try to overhaul your entire life right now because your nervous system frankly can't handle that much change. Start with what is the easiest change that you can make to move the needle forward on your health that might be committing to drinking more water or committing to getting up and moving your body, turning on some music and dancing or just shaking things out, doing some yoga. Do something that is doable and manageable for you even if it's small, because those small wins, they help you to gain confidence and they do add up over time.

  (17:41)
  You do not need to jump right into going to the gym for five to six hours a week. Really focus on what is doable for you right now. Your goal is not perfection. Our goal is to try to take better and better care of ourselves every day better than what we did yesterday. And also just give yourself some compassion. There are going to be times where you do need to rest because we are processing a lot and there is an ongoing trauma happening right now. And when our nervous systems are activated and heightened and we get lots of cortisol and adrenaline, exercise can help with that, but also so can rest. So when your body needs rest, get good at recognizing when that it needs to happen and allow yourself to take that rest without guilt, because rest is when our bodies do regulate themselves.

  (18:34)
  That's when your body turns the nutrients that you eat into muscle. That's when you regulate your hormones. So if you need to rest more right now, that's also okay. That's part of your self-care, which is also part of your resistance. Remember, fascism really relies on you not valuing yourself, and it really preys on people who are feeling really insecure and powerless and then gives them an easy answer and someone to blame for why they feel that way. So taking care of yourself and empowering yourself, valuing yourself, and doing this in combination with being an active member of your community is one of the best things that you can do to make yourself resilient against fascism. But it also is going to make it so that you're going to be much better able to help your community during this time, and it will also help you personally on a psychological level, cope with and process the things that are happening. So focus on what you can control and you can control what goes into your body and how you move and how you exercise. Build your resilience, one workout at a time, one healthy snack at a time, one choice of resistance at a time. And remember that I'm here to help.

  (19:57)
  Thank you so much for watching or listening to this episode of The Coaching Corner podcast. I recognize that the tone of this episode is pretty different from past episodes, but like I said, we are living in extraordinary times, and I want to remind everyone that fitness is political. And the reality is that there is and has been always a fitness to alt-right pipeline, which is one of the reasons why we are where we are today. Many people have been radicalized towards supporting fascism and participating in fascism through fitness content on social media. And as someone who cares about human rights and as someone who cares about other people, I find it my responsibility as a coach as well, and a member of my community to stand as a point of resistance in this realm. So if that's your vibe, I'd love to have you as part of my community hanging out here in the comments on YouTube or in my Twitch streams when I'm live on Twitch throughout the weeks.

  (21:01)
  And if you want a little bit more one-on-one help with your personal fitness journey, I do have doors open for my brand new coaching programs, fat Loss Transformation, and Body Sculpt Transformation. So you can apply for one-on-one coaching by clicking on the link that is below this video or in the show notes if you're listening to this podcast episode. Both of these programs are structured in a way to help you to step by step work towards your fitness goals, whether that's burning fats or getting strong. So apply for coaching by checking out the link below, and I will see you in the next episode. Thank you again so much for watching or listening. In the meantime, make sure that you're taking care of yourself. Drink your water, eat your veggies, stick to your workout plan, and I will see you soon.

We Don't Exist in a Vacuum

Our capacity for behavior change, our willpower, our motivation - these aren't infinite resources that we can just willpower our way into accessing regardless of circumstances. We are biological beings with nervous systems that respond to our environment, and right now, that environment is genuinely stressful and threatening for many people.

So first: I see you. I validate what you're experiencing. This is hard, and it's okay that it's hard.

The Paradox: Why Self-Care Matters More Now

But here's what I also want to talk about, and it might seem paradoxical: this is precisely when taking care of yourself becomes most crucial - not as a luxury, but as a survival strategy.

When everything feels out of control, when the big picture is overwhelming and frightening, we need to anchor ourselves to the things we can control. And one of the most powerful things within your control is how you care for your body and mind.

You've probably heard the phrase "you can't pour from an empty cup." It's become a bit of a cliché, but it's true. If you want to show up for your community, if you want to be able to take action, if you want to support others, if you want to maintain your capacity for resistance and resilience - you need to take care of yourself first.

Quick Wins and the Power of Control

During times of extreme stress and uncertainty, focusing on things that give you quick wins is crucial for maintaining mental health and resilience. And this is where fitness and nutrition actually become incredibly valuable tools.

Let me be clear: I'm not talking about aesthetic changes. I'm not talking about weight loss or getting a six-pack. I'm talking about functional, felt improvements that happen relatively quickly when you start or return to consistent training.

The Quick Results of Training

Here's what's amazing about the human body: it responds to training stimulus fast. Within weeks - sometimes even days - you can experience:

Cardiovascular improvements: Your heart gets more efficient at pumping blood. You'll notice you can climb stairs without getting winded, or play with your kids without feeling exhausted.

Strength gains: Especially if you're new or returning to training, you'll see strength improvements week by week. That weight that felt heavy last week feels manageable this week. That's real, measurable progress.

Better movement quality: Your balance improves. Your coordination gets sharper. Movement that felt awkward or uncomfortable becomes smoother.

Improved proprioception: You become more aware of your body in space, more connected to how you move.

Enhanced sleep quality: Regular movement helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle, which directly impacts every other aspect of your health and resilience.

These aren't hypotheticals. These are changes that happen on a week-by-week basis when you engage in consistent training. And in a world where so much feels out of control, being able to point to concrete, measurable progress - "last week I could do 5 push-ups, this week I can do 8" - provides a sense of agency and accomplishment that is psychologically powerful.

Nutrition and Mental Resilience

The same principle applies to nutrition. When you fuel your body with adequate nutrition - enough protein, enough vegetables, enough variety - you will feel the difference relatively quickly:

More stable energy: No more afternoon crashes that leave you unable to focus or function.

Better mental clarity: Your brain runs on glucose and nutrients. Feed it well, and your thinking becomes clearer.

Improved nervous system regulation: When you're not riding a blood sugar roller coaster, your nervous system can find more stable ground. You're less reactive, better able to handle stress.

Better mood regulation: The gut-brain connection is real. What you eat directly impacts your neurotransmitter production and mood stability.

You don't have to eat "perfectly" - and honestly, I don't even believe in perfect eating. But making intentional choices to nourish your body, even in small ways, creates a foundation for everything else.

The Circle of Care

Here's how this all connects: when you take care of yourself through movement and nutrition, you create a positive feedback loop.

You have more energy → you're better able to manage stress → you sleep better → you have better mental clarity → you're more capable of taking action on the things that matter → you're better able to care for others → you reinforce your sense of agency and control.

The inverse is also true. When you neglect self-care because you feel like you don't have time or because you're too overwhelmed:

You have less energy → stress feels more overwhelming → sleep suffers → mental fog sets in → you feel less capable → you withdraw → you lose your sense of agency.

I'm not saying that eating vegetables and doing squats will solve fascism. But I am saying that taking care of yourself makes you more resilient, more capable, and better equipped to handle whatever comes.

Practical Application: Start Small

So what does this look like in practice, especially when you're already overwhelmed?

Start small. Start manageable.

You don't need to commit to five days a week in the gym. You don't need to overhaul your entire diet. You need to identify one or two things you can do consistently that will give you quick wins.

Maybe that's:

• A 20-minute walk three times a week

• Adding protein to breakfast

• A 15-minute strength session twice a week

• Drinking enough water

• Going to bed 30 minutes earlier

Pick something small enough that it feels achievable even on hard days, and consistent enough that you'll see results within a few weeks.

The goal isn't perfection. The goal is building a foundation of self-care that supports your resilience, your capacity for action, and your ability to show up - for yourself and for others.

Moving Forward

These are hard times. I'm not going to minimize that or pretend that self-care is a substitute for collective action and systemic change.

But I also know that sustainable resistance requires sustainable people. You matter. Your health matters. Your capacity to move through the world with energy and clarity and strength - that matters.

So if you've been struggling, please hear this: it's okay to start small. It's okay to meet yourself where you are. And it's okay - it's necessary - to prioritize taking care of yourself.

Focus on what you can control. Celebrate the quick wins. Build your resilience one workout, one meal, one choice at a time.

You can do this. And I'm here to help.

Links:

• Watch on Youtube

• Apply for 1-on-1 Coaching

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Ep 84 | How to Navigate the Holidays on a Fitness Journey (Without Losing Your Mind)

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Let's be real: the holidays can be stressful when you're trying to stay on track with your fitness goals. Between shorter days, endless treats in the break room, and social obligations where you have zero control over the menu, it's easy to feel like everything is working against you.

If you're worried about losing progress or gaining weight during the holiday season, you're not alone. As a personal trainer with over 10 years of experience, I have this conversation with every single one of my clients this time of year. And I'm here to tell you: you can navigate this season without derailing your progress or driving yourself crazy.

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):
  

  There's a lot of stress and anxiety that a lot of people have around the holidays because there's a lot kind of working against you if you are trying to lose weight in particular, if you're trying to burn fat, the wintertime can sometimes just be really hard for doing that. The days are shorter, it gets darker sooner, so we naturally feel more tired and it's harder to get up and go to the gym after work if you work out after work or before work because it's dark before and after work. And then with the holidays, there's all kinds of yummy treats around. So what happens with a lot of people during this time of year is that they tend to exercise less and they tend to eat more. And what that means is a little bit of weight gain or a lot of bit of weight gain depending on how controlled you are about it, whether that's happened to you in the past or if that's happening to you now or you're afraid of that happening to you in the future.

  (00:56)
  I wanted to take a few moments as a personal trainer to give you some of my professional tips for how I encourage my clients to navigate the holidays so that they can stay on track with their fitness goals and also navigate if they do end up gaining weight or not moving forward as quickly as they would like in their fitness journey. So today's episode is all about how to navigate the holidays on a fitness journey, and I'm going to give you some tips for navigating all of the unique challenges that this time of year brings for people who are on a fitness journey. And I'm also going to give you some words of wisdom and encouragement, what I tell my clients to help them to navigate this season emotionally and mentally.

  (01:52)
  Welcome to the Coaching Corner podcast. I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. I've been a personal trainer for over 10 years and I've created this podcast to share with you tips for eating better, getting strong and burning fat without shame and without burnout. In today's episode, we're going to talk about how to navigate the holidays when you're on a fitness journey. This is a time of year where a lot of people get anxious about losing their gains, losing progress, or going backwards. As a personal trainer, I have to have this conversation with all of my clients around this time of year to help them to go into the holidays feeling less anxious and more confident in their fitness progress. Before we get into the episode, make sure to like this video if you're watching on YouTube, and if you are listening to this podcast, make sure to follow the channel so that you always get the latest episodes delivered right to your device. And without further ado, let's get into the episode.

  (02:52)
  It's totally normal to feel some anxiety around this time of year. I know a lot of people are like, oh, it's the holidays, it's the best time of the year. And I mean, that's not really true for everyone, including myself. I personally just really hate this time of year for various reasons. Things have happened around this time of year in my personal life that I got to deal with and memories, deaths in the family, problems that I've had with people who are close to me, and this time of year is when a lot of that stuff tends to come up. And so that emotional pressure also puts a lot of pressure on me and my personal fitness journey as well. So my number one piece of advice for heading into the holiday season is to know yourself. You want to go into this season really aware of the things that are going to make it difficult for you so that you're not caught by surprise because there are things going on right now that are unique challenges and they're going to put pressure on your system.

  (04:05)
  So you need to know what specific challenges affect you and how they tend to affect you for the holiday season. Here in the United States, in the northern hemisphere, it's cold. The days are shorter and there's holiday treats. Everybody's bringing in cookies and snacks and treats for Christmas, for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanza, all kinds of holidays are happening this time of year, new Year's Eve. So there's a lot of social obligations you might have for holiday parties at work or friends or with family, which means that you're not going to have total control over what you're eating all the time or what food is available or what food is in front of you all the time, which if you have been on a fitness journey, especially if you've been on a fat loss journey and you're used to meal prepping, meal planning and planning out what you eat, tracking what you eat this time of year is going to be really challenging because you're not always going to have, you're not going to know ahead of time what food is going to be available at this Christmas party or this holiday party or what people are going to bring and what people are going to bring to work.

  (05:21)
  A lot of times the break room will have cookies in it or something like that this time of year, right? And that's going to be a unique challenge that you have to be aware of how it might affect you. Are you the type of person that if you see food, you're going to eat it? If it's put in front of you, are you going to eat it? This is going to be a challenge for you and an opportunity maybe for you to work on developing that discipline and doing some work around that habit of not being able to resist food that's put in front of you. So the treats are a main issue, and if you know that you have a particular sensitivity to that, then you're going to have to go into this season with a plan in place for how you're going to navigate that so you're not caught off guard, right?

  (06:13)
  So know yourself, know how the different parts of this season are going to affect you. A lot of people are affected by seasonal depression when the days get shorter and there's more darkness, a lot of people have a lot of trouble feeling motivated to go to the gym and excerpt a lot of energy. You might be feeling more tired. That's a totally normal thing to experience this time of year, right? And you may also be experiencing some sadness this time of year is a reminder sometimes of people who we love who may have passed that we normally would see this time of year. So know yourself and know how you tend to deal with or be affected by the various factors that are in play at this time of year. And then number two is to have a plan in place for how you're going to navigate those challenges.

  (07:09)
  For instance, if you know that you're going to be going to some holiday parties and there's going to be probably alcohol, lots of sweet treats, and you're likely to consume a lot of calories, then you need to prepare for that ahead of time, decide how you're going to navigate it. If you're trying to burn fat, if you're trying to stick to a certain number of calories, there are a couple of different strategies that you can use to stick with your calorie goal when you're going to be going to a holiday party or you're going to have extra treats around. One is that you just make sure that you eat ahead of time something that's really protein dense and maybe low calorie ahead of time before the party. So you're going into the party not hungry and you're already full of protein and the things that your body needs.

  (08:05)
  That way if you do end up eating some treats, you're probably not going to eat as much and you're probably not going to have as many calories and you're going to get fuller faster because you already have some protein dense food in your stomach, right? If you know that you're going to have a hard time working out after you get home from work because it's dark outside and going from your home to the gym, right? If you know that's going to be really hard for you to get up off the couch once you get home, then you might need to change your workout routine where you're going directly to the gym before you ever go home. That way you don't have that downtime of getting cozy at home and then having to force yourself to leave. Or you may have to change your workout schedule so that you're working out before work or maybe on your lunch break when you still have energy.

  (08:59)
  So you want to have a plan in place for how you're going to navigate the challenges that are unique to you that you might experience during this time of year. Another strategy, if you're going into a holiday party for instance, is a lot of times there's a spread of food at these things and where maybe it's at a restaurant or something, and you can still kind of choose better foods that are going to put less calories on your plate and less calories in your system, making sure that you're choosing food items. Basically keep the healthy plate model in your mind and try to select foods from the spread that more or less line up with the healthy plate model. As a reminder, the healthy plate model, basically you divide your plate in half and on half of the plate you fill up with vegetables or some kind of vegetable heavy dish, and then on a fourth of your plate, you fill it up with something that's rich in protein, a protein dense food, ideally low calorie.

  (10:02)
  And then on the remaining quarter of the plate is where you have your starchy grains, your starchy vegetables, and so if you follow that kind of model for how much of each type of food you're selecting, then you can reduce the amount of calories that you're taking in at that holiday party. So you can go into the holiday party strategically thinking about the healthy plate model. So when you're choosing foods that you're going to eat structured as the healthy plate model, because that will allow you to stay within your goals or help you to stay more closely aligned to your goals, you're likely not going to be able to track everything, right? When you go into social gatherings like this, you're not going to be able to track everything. You're not going to be able to track it super accurately. So you have to know that going into it, that you're going to have to guesstimate and just try to approximate the healthy plate model or approximate close to what you would eat to hit your calorie goals.

  (10:57)
  But one thing I do want to caution you against is what a lot of people will do. This can work, this can work, but it also can backfire. Sometimes people will just starve all day to save calories for their holiday party, and this might work, it could work for you, but it could also really badly backfire. The hungrier you are going into the function, the more likely you are to overeat and overconsume. So that's why I typically recommend make sure that you eat before the party, especially something that's protein dense and low in calorie. That way you're less likely to overconsume because you're not feeling quite so hungry. And then also make sure that you're eating protein throughout the day and especially early in the day, protein is a natural appetite suppressor, and it's what your body needs anyway to help you build muscle and burn fat more effectively and set boundaries for yourself.

  (11:55)
  If someone pressures you to eat or drink something, remember that you can say no and no is a complete sentence. There's going to be a lot of social pressure depending on the social situation or how your family is, and know that you're an adult and you can make decisions for yourself about what you eat. You're allowed to not eat the stuff that's at that party or that gathering. You do not have to eat everything you don't. If someone wants to pressure you because they spent all this time on making this pie or whatever, that's not your fault, right? They chose to do that. They chose to make that food, and you can decide to have something small, you can have a little bit of it, but if they pressure you to have more, you're allowed to say no. It's not your responsibility to make that person feel better for the time that they spent, that they chose to spend on making these foods that maybe don't align with your plan, right?

  (13:01)
  You're allowed to say no. So you're allowed to set boundaries for yourself. So go into that with that. So know yourself number one, but then also have a plan in place for how you're going to navigate the unique challenges. But then number three, give yourself some grace. Really be realistic about your expectations. Sometimes people will go into the holiday season and just know that you know what? I'm likely going to eat more right now and I'm going to likely not exercise as much, and that's okay. That's part of the plan. A lot of people use the holiday season as an opportunity to really bulk and use the extra calories to build muscle where they'll work out harder. They might not do as many workouts because they might not want to put as much time into it, but the workouts that they do do are harder, and they really focus on burning out their muscles and put those extra calories to use.

  (14:01)
  So sometimes you got to go into it knowing with everything I have going on, it's likely that I'm going to gain a little bit of weight, but when the seasons start to change, I have a plan in place for how I'm going to phase maybe into a fat loss phase and maybe cut back a little bit. Know that going into the holiday season, you are allowed to just give yourself permission to relax a little bit and enjoy the holidays. You don't need to be in a fat loss phase forever. I don't think that you should be in a fat loss phase forever and be really restrictive of your calories forever. You shouldn't be living like that year round every year. At the end of the day, we're human beings. We are animals, and we are cyclical beings. We have seasons of life just like any other creature.

  (14:50)
  And just like other creatures, you may have to accept the fact that there's going to be certain times of the year where your body fat percentage might be higher. And then there's other times of the year where your body fat percentage might be lower, and that's okay, and that's healthy. You can still be fit and also put on a little bit of weight. If you do end up putting on a little bit of weight, it's not that big of a deal because you can just work it off. As soon as the seasons change and you don't have as many demands on your time or your energy, it is okay for you to have a season where you're a little bit heavier. In fact, that's what a lot of gym growers do. They plan to bulk in the winter and then they cut in the spring, and then they're lean during the summer and the fall, and then they bulk in the winter.

  (15:42)
  And so that knowing yourself and your capacity going into the holiday season, the amount of discipline that it might take for you to continue to eat exactly amount of calories for fat loss and the amount of exercise that you would need to stick to, just be realistic about it. Don't set yourself up for failure by setting goals for yourself during the season, knowing that it's going to be really hard for you to stick to those. You may be able to grid it out and be fine. I know plenty of people who do, but at the same time, you're allowed to enjoy some time eating a little bit more, enjoy your treats. You don't have to go crazy because remember, your body reflects what you do most of the time. The 80 20 rule is a thing. So if most of the time you're eating according to the healthy plate model, you're eating the amount of calories that your body needs for maintenance or for fat loss, taking a break, a diet break, or having a treat today or a treat week or a treat two weeks, is not going to have the amount of impact that you think it will and set you back so far.

  (16:57)
  Because a lot of people have this fear that if they do go off plan and enjoy the holidays, that they're going to end up right back where they started from the very beginning, and that fear starts to set in. But that's not the case, especially if you've been on this journey for a while. If you have set up the habits, if you've established them, if you've had it going strong for a couple of months, taking a little bit of time off for the holidays to enjoy some extra calories, some treats, maybe drink a little bit of alcohol, eat a little bit more sugar, it's not going to undo an entire year's worth of progress. So trust your body to bounce back after you enjoy the holidays if that's a choice that you make. Right? And keep in mind though that I'm a personal trainer and I am accepting clients.

  (17:46)
  So if you want a little bit of help navigating this season and also getting back on track once the holiday season is over, you can check out my Fat Loss Transformation coaching program. I'm accepting clients for both the 90 day version or three month version and the six month version. And during this program, I'm going to help you to learn how many calories your body needs to eat and order to burn fat and keep it off for good. I'm also going to help you to build a healthy exercise routine that works for you. And I'm going to teach you how to change your routines around food and around exercise according to the season of your life that you're in. I have a client right now who's in the program who met her fat loss goal halfway through, and we adjusted her amount of calories that she's eating and her exercise plan because she met her fat loss goal and now we're focusing on building muscle, and she's eating a little bit more.

  (18:40)
  And she had a little bit of anxiety going into that because she's like, oh my gosh, I'm going to end up where I started. I'm eating more. But she was able to work through that and stick to her goals with my help. So that's something that I do, and I am taking on clients. So feel free to apply to work one-on-one with me because that's open and it's available to you. So I hope that you found this discussion helpful. Please don't sweat it if you do end up having a treat day or having a few extra calories here and there over the course of the holidays, because you're not going to lose all of your progress. But if it's something that you're concerned about first, know yourself and know what unique struggles you have, and make a plan for how you're going to navigate that. And don't forget that I'm here to help you if you need some help with that.

  (19:32)
  Thank you so much for watching or listening to this episode of The Coaching Corner podcast. Again, I'm Jayd Harrison, A-K-A-J-D Gaines. I hope that you found this episode helpful, and if you did, make sure to leave like on the video if you're watching on YouTube, and subscribe to my channel. If you're listening to the podcast, make sure to follow the channel so you get the newest episodes as soon as they drop. If you're interested in working with me or checking out my products and services, head to my website, Jaydigains.com. That's J-A-Y-D-I-G-A-I-N-S.com. Check out my membership site with exclusive tips and downloadable meal plans, recipes and training programs. Links for all of that are in the show notes or in the video description below. If you're watching on YouTube, and you can also find more information for them on my website, Jaydigains.com. I'll see you in the next episode. In the meantime, take good care of yourself, make sure that you are drinking your water, eating your veggies, eating your protein, and prioritize your self-care, and I will see you soon.

Why the Holidays Are Actually Challenging (And It's Not Just You)

Here's what's working against you right now. The days are shorter and it gets dark earlier, so we naturally feel more tired. It's harder to get to the gym when it's dark before and after work. There are treats everywhere—coworkers bringing in cookies, holiday parties with open bars and dessert tables, family gatherings where saying no feels impossible.

What happens? Most people exercise less and eat more during this season. That combination can lead to weight gain, and the anxiety about that weight gain can make everything feel even harder.

But here's the thing: seasonal changes affect everyone. If you're feeling less motivated or struggling more than usual, that's completely normal. You're not failing—you're human.

My Three-Step Strategy for Holiday Fitness Success

Step 1: Know Yourself

Before you do anything else, take some time to think about what specifically challenges you during this season. Are you affected by seasonal depression when the days get shorter? Do you have a hard time saying no when treats are put in front of you? Do family gatherings trigger emotional eating?

For me personally, I struggle during the holidays because of some difficult memories and family stuff that comes up this time of year. That emotional pressure affects my fitness journey too. So I've learned to anticipate it and plan accordingly.

Understanding your specific triggers means you won't be caught off guard. You'll know what's coming and you can prepare for it.

Step 2: Make a Plan for Your Unique Challenges

Once you know what challenges you'll face, create specific strategies to navigate them.

If you're going to holiday parties: Don't starve yourself all day to "save calories." This usually backfires badly. The hungrier you go into a party, the more likely you are to overconsume. Instead, eat a protein-dense, low-calorie meal before you go. You'll be less likely to overeat because you're already satisfied.

If you struggle with workout motivation when it's dark: Change your routine. Go directly to the gym after work without stopping home first (because once you're on that couch, you're not getting back up). Or switch to morning workouts or lunchtime sessions when you still have energy.

If you can't track your food at social gatherings: Use the healthy plate model as your guide. Fill half your plate with vegetables, a quarter with protein, and a quarter with starchy grains or vegetables. This helps you stay aligned with your goals even when you can't track precisely.

If people pressure you to eat or drink: Remember that "no" is a complete sentence. You're an adult. You can make your own decisions. If someone spent hours making a pie, that was their choice—you're not responsible for managing their feelings by eating food that doesn't align with your plan. You can politely decline or have just a small portion.

Step 3: Give Yourself Grace (Seriously)

Here's what I need you to understand: you don't have to be in a fat loss phase forever. You shouldn't be restricting your calories year-round. We're human beings, we're animals, and we are cyclical creatures. Just like other animals, there are seasons where your body fat percentage might be a little higher, and that's okay. That's healthy.

Many serious gym-goers actually plan to bulk in the winter and cut in the spring. They use the extra calories from holiday eating to build muscle, then lean out when the seasons change. You can do the same—or you can simply accept that this is a maintenance season, not a fat loss season.

The 80/20 rule applies here. If you've been eating well and exercising consistently most of the time, taking a break for a treat day, a treat week, or even two weeks is not going to undo all your progress. Your body reflects what you do most of the time, not what you do occasionally.

I know there's this fear that if you go off plan during the holidays, you'll end up right back where you started. But that's not how it works, especially if you've been consistent for months. Your habits are established. Your body will bounce back. Trust the process.

The Bottom Line

You have options this holiday season:

You can stick to your fitness plan with the strategies I've outlined above. You can intentionally use this time to bulk and build muscle with those extra calories. Or you can give yourself permission to relax a little, enjoy the season, and get back on track in January.

All of these are valid choices. What matters is that you make a conscious decision rather than letting the season happen to you, and that you don't beat yourself up no matter what you choose.

Need Some Help?

If you want support navigating this season (or getting back on track after the holidays), I'm currently accepting clients for my Fat Loss Transformation program. I offer both a 90-day and 6-month version, and I'll help you learn exactly how many calories your body needs, build an exercise routine that actually works for your life, and adjust your approach based on the season you're in.

I recently had a client who met her fat loss goal halfway through the program. We adjusted her calories and exercise plan to focus on building muscle instead, and she was able to work through the anxiety of eating more with my guidance. That's the kind of personalized support I provide.

You can find more information and apply to work with me at jaydigains.com.

Final Thoughts

Don't sweat it if you have a few extra treats or indulgent meals over the holidays. You're not going to lose all your progress. But if you want to stay more on track, know yourself, make a plan, and remember that you're allowed to set boundaries and make choices that support your goals.

Take good care of yourself this season. Drink your water, eat your veggies, get your protein, and prioritize your self-care.

Links:

• Watch on Youtube

• Apply for 1-on-1 Coaching

• Gains Club Membership

• Get My Workout App

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Ep 83 | What You Need to Know Before Going on GLP-1s for Weight Loss

Youtube | Spotify | Apple | Google | Amazon

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You've probably seen celebrities and influencers losing dramatic amounts of weight on Ozempic and other GLP-1 medications. Maybe you've even considered trying them yourself. Several of my clients and their family members are currently using GLP-1s, and I'll be honest with you—these medications can be incredibly effective for weight loss.

But here's what concerns me as a coach: I'm seeing too many people make the same critical mistakes that set them up to regain all the weight they lost, and sometimes even more. If you're thinking about going on a GLP-1 but you don't plan on changing anything else about your lifestyle, you need to hear this.

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):

  You probably have seen tons of celebrities have gone on. Ozempic lost a lot of weight really, really quickly, and many gym goers as well are on GLP-1s. Several of my clients and their spouses or family members are on GLP-1s, and they can be very effective for weight loss. And the way that these medications work is they reduce your appetite and what we call food noise or cravings, where you have less preoccupation with food, you don't feel like eating as much, but they come with significant risks and downsides that I think a lot of people don't consider when they first go on these medications or when they start thinking about these medications. If you're thinking about going on this drug, but you don't want to do anything else, you need to consider the fact that if you ever go off of this drug, you're very likely to regain all of the weight back that you lost.

  (01:05)

  Welcome to the Coaching Corner podcast. I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. I've been a personal trainer for over 10 years, and I've created this podcast to share with you tips so that you can burn fat, get strong and eat better without shame and without burnout. In today's episode, we're going to be talking all about GLP-1s, which are a really popular drug that many people are using for weight loss. You've probably seen advertisements for GLP-1s, and you may be thinking that this might be a good fit for you if you are wanting to lose weight. There are some things that you need to take into consideration when you are thinking about going on a GLP-1 to ensure that you're going to lose the weight that you want to lose, but also keep it off for good and not damage your metabolism. So in today's episode, I'm going to share with you some of the considerations that you need to take so that if you do decide to use a GLP-1 to help you lose weight, you'll be able to actually have long-term success and not have all of that weight come right back as soon as you go off the drug.

  (02:10)

  Now, before we get into this episode, make sure that you like this video if you're watching on YouTube and subscribe to my channel so that you always get the latest videos as soon as they drop. And if you're listening to this podcast, thank you so much. Make sure that you follow the show so you always get the latest episodes delivered right to your device. And without further ado, let's get into the episode and talk about the things you need to think about when considering going on a GLP-1.

  (02:38)

  I will say from the outset, as a personal trainer, I'm not opposed to people using GLP-1s to help them reach their fat loss goals. I know a lot of people that struggle with fat loss for a variety of reasons. Fat loss is not just, oh, a moral failing because you eat too much or you are lazy. We know now from decades of science and research on the topic that metabolism, fat storage, fat loss, the impact of your thyroid and your hormones on your ability to burn fat or to store fat. There are a lot of moving pieces when it comes to fat loss, and that's why a lot of people struggle to burn fat or to maintain a healthy body weight. So I do have clients who are on GLP-1s who have success in reaching their fat loss goals. And so it can be a really helpful tool, but that is the key takeaway from this episode is that it is one of several tools that you need to be using at the same time if you want to achieve your fat loss goal and keep it off for good, because what I have seen for a lot of people, one of some of the biggest mistakes that a lot of people make when using these drugs is they use them without also addressing their eating habits.

  (04:02)

  And they don't exercise, they don't build muscle, they don't do resistance training, and they don't change their movement patterns. So what typically happens is they have a certain amount of success on this drug. They end up slowing down their metabolism because this drug also causes them to break down muscle, which is one of the main drivers of your metabolism. And because they haven't changed their food behaviors, as soon as they go off the medication, they start rapidly gaining weight again. And so when you use this tool by itself and you think it's going to be like this magic bullet that's going to magically get you to your fat loss goal, if you don't do the other things that are important for fat loss and for sustainable fat loss, you're going to find yourself in a world of hurt. I see the same problems with GLP-1s that I see with people who go on and off fat diets, right?

  (04:59)

  You put yourself at risk of that yo-yo on again off again, fat loss when you just go on a GLP-1 and you don't try to do anything else about how you eat, what your eating habits are, your relationship with food, and you don't change anything about your exercise. And in fact, you can actually make your metabolism worse in the long run by losing muscle mass when you're on these type of drug and you're not doing resistance training when you go off, your body's going to burn fewer calories, which is going to make it harder for you to burn fat and keep it off. And in fact, you may end up gaining back all of the weight that you had when you started and gaining even more than what you started with. So that's the danger, but it doesn't have to end up that way.

  (05:49)

  But if you do decide to go on a GLP-1 and you talk about it with your doctor, a really responsible doctor is going to encourage you to also exercise, to work out, especially prioritizing resistance training when you go on a GLP-1. And they're also going to encourage you to clean up your eating habits, eat healthier and address if you have a mental health issue towards food, you need to be working on that as well because if those things don't change, you're going to, yes, probably see rapid fat loss, but it's not going to be sustainable and you may end up finding yourself having to be on this medication for a really long time. And the truth is that we don't actually have long-term studies showing the long-term effects of being on this drug for fat loss and how it might in the long-term affect your body for being on it for long-term, right?

  (06:46)

  We have studies showing the benefits and what the long-term effects are of using these types of drugs for type two diabetes, but when it comes to fat loss and the effects on your metabolism, there's not a lot of science around that yet. And so it's risky, right? It's risky. So you kind of signing up to be a Guinea pig if you plan on being on these drugs for a really long time. So let's back up a little bit and talk about what these drugs are, what GLP-1s are, how they work and their efficacy, their effectiveness for fat loss, because they really are very effective. And so that's why I can't say that I don't recommend it, but it is definitely a conversation you need to have with your doctor. And you also need to take into consideration your willingness and your ability and your capacity to address those other things, exercise and how you eat and your relationship with food.

  (07:50)

  So let's talk about how they actually work, right? So one GLP-1s, they mimic the natural GLP-1 hormone that regulates blood sugar and your appetite. This is a hormone that your body naturally produces called glucagon, like peptide one, and your body already secretes this hormone, but GLP-1s just increase the amount of it that you have in your body. Now, the GLP-1 that you take is a synthetic version of that hormone, but it acts in the exact same way, so it makes you have less of an appetite. You're not quite as interested in eating, you don't experience as much food noise, which is like that preoccupation with food where you're thinking about food a lot or cravings. Your cravings get reduced at the same time. It also slows down your digestion, it slow gastric emptying is what we call it. So you end up feeling fuller longer.

  (08:48)

  You don't need to eat as much when you do eat and you feel satisfied when you're full. And then you have longer periods between when you eat that you feel full and you don't feel like you need to eat again quite as soon. And the different medications that are GLP-1s are things like ozempic and wegovy and manjaro, ze bound. And these medications were originally developed for helping people to manage their type two diabetes. But now the FDA has approved them for weight management and that's why they're being prescribed for weight management. So with the appetite suppression and the slowing down of your digestive tract, this can be life-changing. For a lot of people who struggle with really a preoccupation with food who have really intense cravings or they think about food or they're obsessed with food, this can help to break the cycle of compulsive emotional eating, using food to help you feel better.

  (09:53)

  A lot of people who have those types of experiences end up having a lot of success breaking that cycle when they go on a GLP-1, but it's not magic, it's just essentially appetite suppression through medication. So having your appetite suppressed can be super helpful, but if you don't at the same time address your food behaviors, how you eat, how you exercise, then as soon as you stop taking this medicine and your appetite comes back and the food doesn't stay in your system for quite as long, then your old behaviors are going to come right back. You'll have just as hard of a time resisting compulsive eating, emotional eating, binging. Those things will come right back, and that's what a lot of the people that I have talked to as clients or as gym goers, that's what they say they experience. So my recommendation as a coach is to work on your food behaviors and your exercise behaviors.

  (10:59)

  Use the opportunity of you having that suppressed appetite where you're not thinking about food all of the time to change your habits, use that time to build healthy habits, change your relationship and your approach towards food, how you see food, work with a coach, work with a therapist, work with your doctor, work with a dietician to develop healthy habits in terms of how you eat and how you exercise. That way when it comes time for you to go off of these medications and wean off of them, you already have healthy habits that are established that you can continue to carry on when you have that appetite back and when your appetite suppression isn't happening anymore. Do you see what I mean? It's really hard for a lot of people where this can be. So life-changing is I've worked with tons of people who've hired me for fat loss, who are very overweight, who have a lifelong difficult relationship with food.

  (12:01)

  Usually there's some kind of childhood trauma or some kind of traumatic event where food was kind of the main comfort for them. And so their relationship with food is that food becomes their main way that they regulate their nervous system when they're feeling stressed, bored, angry, emotional or dysregulated, right? Food is the thing that comforts them the most, but when you have appetite suppression, it's not as comforting. It doesn't hit quite like it did before. And so that can help to kind of remove the pressure if you're trying to break that habit. Reducing your appetite can help you to break that habit and be more effective at it. It's a lot harder to break that habit when your appetite is so high and you have this mental habit of thinking about food all of the time. And so if you don't take that time to build those habits and that appetite comes back, you're going to go right back to the old behaviors.

  (13:03)

  And that's why so many people end up gaining all of that weight back. They start gaining weight as soon as they go off these medications, and sometimes they gain even more weight because if they didn't, especially if they didn't exercise or eat enough protein while they were on this medication, it's likely that the amount of muscle that they've lost while on the medication will be significant to the point where it slows down how many calories their body burns. So remember, fat loss is all about your body needs to be burning more energy than what you're taking in through the food that you eat. And your muscle is one of the main drivers of your metabolism. The more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns every day, even on the days that you don't work out. So if you lose muscle, if you break down muscle, then your body burns less energy, your body burns fewer calories, which means that when you go to eat like you were before you went on this medication, your body's going to store even more of that energy as fat.

  (14:04)

  You want to make sure that you're using the opportunity of being on this medication if you do choose to go on it. If you and your doctor decide, let's do this, you need to use that time to learn how to eat better and to change your relationship with food, you need to get into an exercise routine where you are taking care of your body and actively combating the loss of muscle. That usually happens when people go on these drugs. But I get it. I do. I get it. And I want to take a second to acknowledge how you might be feeling if you're thinking about going on one of these GLP-1 drugs. It can be so frustrating when you have been struggling to lose weight for. So a lot of times the people who want to go on these drugs, they've tried a lot of different things in the past and they've had limited success.

  (15:00)

  Maybe they've tried to do an exercise routine or tried to change their eating habits and nothing stuck. Or maybe they have an on, again, off again, relationship with the gym or an on, again, off again, relationship with healthy eating. And it may feel like, oh, this is finally something that's going to work in the long run. But I just want to caution you away from that magical thinking because this is just another of those tools that you could just kind of repeat the process for you that cycle. You could just be continuing the cycle of on again, off again fat loss, right? Where you'll see significant fat loss being on this drug, but as soon as you go off of it, you're going to be right back where you started. Maybe you. So it's not going to fix that pattern, but it can make it helpful or it can make it easier for you to establish new, healthier patterns because you're not having to fight against your feelings and that food noise and preoccupation with food that usually drives you to overeat or eat emotionally or eat as a stem if you're neurodivergent emotional board eating.

  (16:12)

  So it can be helpful. And for that reason, I can't say as a coach, that I don't like this drug or that I think it's bad. But I do want you to go into, if you're thinking about going on this medication, I do want you to go into it realistically with a realistic expectation of what it's going to do for you and how you can go into it responsibly to ensure that you are going to actually successfully burn that fat and keep it off for good. And if you do decide to go on this medication and you want a little bit of help in terms of getting into an exercise routine and learning how to eat healthy, I am also accepting clients into my Fat Loss transformation program where I will teach you how to build those healthy habits that will help you sustain your fat loss if you're on this medication and keep that fat off for good.

  (17:13)

  My Fat Loss Transformation program covers how to eat healthy, how to eat the right amount of calories, how to take in the amount of energy that your body needs to not store fat and to burn fat. And there's also a customized exercise program. I'm going to teach you how to exercise, how to move, and how to take better care of your body so that when you inevitably decide to go off of this medication, you have all the healthy habits in place to help you sustain that fat loss for good. So the link for applying to work with me will be also in the show notes and the video description below. I also have a bunch of downloadable resources available on my website in my Gaines Club membership site, which includes downloadable workout plans. I have a bunch of recipes, meal plans there, and exclusive training tips, fat loss tips, and nutrition tips.

  (18:07)

  So that is available on my website. You can go to my website and click on membership to check out the Gaines Club because that has, if you want to do it yourself, but you just want a little bit of guidance, I have a bunch of downloadable resources there for my members. So you can sign up there and then if you want something that's in between personal training and do it yourself, I also have a workout app. I'm on the A BC Trainer Rise app, and I update that every month and put programs up there. Right now, there's several different programs for resistance training and cardio and stretching and mobility work for exercises of all levels, regardless of whether you're a beginner or intermediate or advanced, and regardless of what kind of equipment you have. So you can check out my app as well. So there's lots of resources for you, but I do encourage you to get started with one of them, whether you decide to do it yourself with the downloads in the membership site, or you want the phased workout plans on my training app, or if you want to work with me one-on-one for more accountability, all of that is available to you.

  (19:16)

  So I would encourage you to check those things out. And also what I would encourage you to do is try to get started on those things first. If you want to go on a GLP-1, but you're not sure, make sure that you check off the boxes to make sure that you're already setting yourself up for success and fat loss with my programs. You'll learn how to eat better. You'll learn how to eat the amount of calories that your body needs. You'll also learn how to exercise the way that you need. And so if you do that first, you may actually start to gain some success in burning fat and keeping it off to the point where you may not even have to go on a GLP-1. So that's the other consideration that I have as a personal trainer is like, what have you tried first?

  (20:00)

  Have you actually tried to stick to a consistent training program or a consistent healthy eating plan? What have you tried first? And if you're not already trying to eat healthy, trying to eat within your calories a good calorie goal, if you're not already exercising and on a resistance training program, do those things first. Okay? That would be my ideal situation as a personal trainer, because then whether you actually need to go on this medication or not, you know what I mean? And then if you feel like you're doing all those things and you're still kind of not seeing the success that you want to see, or you're not seeing the weight go away the way that you would like, then you could talk to your doctor about going on a GLP-1, right? It's not the only thing that's going to get you, there are a lot of other tools that you can use without going on this drug, but if you are going on the drug, you're still going to need to use these other tools. So that's my recommendations. I hope that you find that helpful. I'm happy to answer any questions. If you do have questions, leave them in the comments below the YouTube video if you're watching on YouTube, or you can get in touch with me in the ABC Trainer Eyes app if you're one of my subscribers, and you can also chat with me while I'm live on my Twitch channel, Twitch tv slash JD Gains.

  (21:26)

  Thank you so much for watching this episode of The Coaching Corner podcast. Again, I'm Jayd Harrison. If you liked this episode and you found it helpful, make sure to like the video on YouTube and subscribe to my channels. So you always get more episodes of The Coaching Corner podcast and the other videos that I drop. And if you are listening to this podcast, make sure to follow the show so you always get the latest episodes delivered right to your device. If you're interested in one of my products or services, check out my website. That's Jaydigains.com, J-A-Y-D-I-G-A-I-N-S.com. And keep in mind that you can follow me on social media. I'm Jaydigains everywhere. I'll see you in the next episode. In the meantime, make sure that you're taking good care of yourself. Drink your water, eat your veggies, eat your protein, and take care, and I will see you soon.

I'm Not Against GLP-1s (But There's a Catch)

Let me start by saying I'm not opposed to people using GLP-1 medications to reach their fat loss goals. As someone who's been training clients for over 10 years, I know that fat loss isn't a moral failing or just a matter of willpower. Decades of research have shown us that metabolism, fat storage, hormones, and thyroid function all play complex roles in your ability to lose weight and maintain a healthy body weight.

The key word here is "tool." GLP-1s are one tool in your toolbox—not a magic solution that works in isolation. And if you use this tool without addressing your eating habits, building muscle through resistance training, and changing your movement patterns, you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

How GLP-1 Medications Actually Work

GLP-1 medications like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound mimic a natural hormone your body already produces called glucagon-like peptide-1. This hormone regulates blood sugar and appetite. When you take a GLP-1 medication, you're essentially increasing the amount of this hormone in your body, which creates several effects.

First, these medications significantly reduce your appetite and what we call "food noise"—that constant preoccupation with food and cravings. You're just less interested in eating. Second, they slow down gastric emptying, which means food stays in your stomach longer. You feel fuller for longer periods, you don't need to eat as much, and you have longer stretches between meals where you feel satisfied.

For people who struggle with intense cravings, emotional eating, or constant thoughts about food, this can be genuinely life-changing. It can help break the cycle of compulsive eating and give you space to work on your relationship with food.

The Problem Everyone's Ignoring

Here's where most people go wrong: they think the medication alone will solve everything. They lose weight rapidly while on the drug, but they're not exercising, not building muscle, not addressing their eating behaviors or their relationship with food. Then when they go off the medication—and most people don't plan to stay on it forever—their appetite comes roaring back, and so do all their old habits.

The result? They rapidly regain all the weight they lost, and sometimes gain even more. Sound familiar? It's the same pattern I see with fad diets—that frustrating yo-yo cycle of losing and regaining weight.

But there's an even bigger problem. When you lose weight on a GLP-1 without doing resistance training or eating enough protein, you lose significant muscle mass along with the fat. Since muscle is one of the main drivers of your metabolism, losing muscle means your body burns fewer calories each day. So when you go off the medication and start eating normally again, your slower metabolism makes it even easier to regain weight—and harder to lose it again.

What We Don't Know About Long-Term Use

We have solid research on using these medications long-term for type 2 diabetes management. But when it comes to using them specifically for fat loss and their long-term effects on metabolism? The research is limited. If you're planning to stay on these drugs for years, you're essentially signing up to be a guinea pig. That doesn't mean it's necessarily dangerous, but it's a reality you should consider.

The Right Way to Use GLP-1 Medications

If you decide to go on a GLP-1 after talking with your doctor, here's what you absolutely need to do at the same time: use the appetite suppression as an opportunity to build sustainable healthy habits.

While you're not constantly thinking about food and your cravings are reduced, that's your window to change your relationship with food. Work with a coach, therapist, dietitian, or your doctor to develop healthy eating patterns. Learn what appropriate portions look like. Understand how to fuel your body properly. Address any emotional or psychological issues you have with food.

At the same time, get into a consistent exercise routine that prioritizes resistance training. This is crucial for maintaining your muscle mass while you lose weight. The more muscle you preserve or even build while on the medication, the better your metabolism will function when you eventually go off it.

A responsible doctor will encourage both of these things. If your doctor is just handing you a prescription without talking about exercise and nutrition, that's a red flag.

I Understand the Frustration

I want to take a moment to acknowledge how you might be feeling if you're considering GLP-1s. Maybe you've tried multiple diets and exercise programs with limited success. Maybe you have an on-again, off-again relationship with the gym or healthy eating. It's incredibly frustrating, and I get why a medication that promises rapid weight loss sounds appealing.

But I want to caution you against magical thinking. This isn't going to fix the underlying patterns that led to weight gain in the first place. It can, however, make it easier to establish new patterns because you won't be fighting against constant hunger and food preoccupation.

For many of my clients who struggle with using food as their primary way to regulate their nervous system—often tied to childhood trauma or stressful life events—the appetite suppression can be a game-changer. When food doesn't provide the same comfort it used to, it becomes easier to break those habits and develop healthier coping mechanisms. But only if you're actively working on building those new habits while the medication gives you that breathing room.

My Recommendation: Try Other Tools First

Before you commit to a GLP-1, I'd encourage you to honestly assess what you've tried first. Have you actually stuck to a consistent resistance training program? Have you worked with a coach or followed a structured nutrition plan? Have you given sustainable methods a real chance?

If you haven't exhausted those options yet, start there. You might find that with proper guidance on training and nutrition, you can reach your goals without medication. And if you do still decide a GLP-1 is right for you, you'll already have the healthy habits in place that will help you maintain your results.

If you've tried everything and feel stuck, or if you're already on a GLP-1 and want to make sure you're setting yourself up for long-term success, that's exactly what my Fat Loss Transformation program is designed for. I'll teach you how to build sustainable eating habits, how to structure your training to preserve muscle mass, and how to create a healthy relationship with food that lasts beyond any medication.

I also offer resources for every level of support—from DIY options in my Gains Club membership (with downloadable workout plans, recipes, and meal plans) to structured programming on my ABC Trainerize app, to one-on-one coaching for maximum accountability.

The Bottom Line

GLP-1 medications can be an effective tool for weight loss, but they're not a magic bullet. If you use them without also addressing your eating habits, building muscle through resistance training, and working on your relationship with food, you're very likely to regain the weight when you stop the medication.

Use the appetite suppression as an opportunity—a window of time when you can more easily build the sustainable habits that will serve you for life. That's how you achieve lasting fat loss, whether you're on medication or not.

Have questions about GLP-1s or fat loss in general? Drop them in the comments or connect with me on my Twitch channel, in the ABC Trainerize app, or on social media @jaydigains.

Links:

• Watch on Youtube

• Apply for 1-on-1 Coaching

• Gains Club Membership

• Get My Workout App

Subscribe for Updates ✉️

Sign up to get notified whenever new episodes drop. Opt in for more tips on training, fat loss, and nutrition by filling out the form below:

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Fill out the fields below:

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Ep 82 | How Hard Should You Train in Heavy Lifting? (Part 3)

Youtube | Spotify | Apple | Google | Amazon

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Training maximal strength with squats, bench press, deadlifts, overhead press, pull-ups, and other compound lifts is an excellent way to take your training to the next level after you've been building muscle for a while. But as you transition into heavier lifts, you'll notice that approaching muscle failure feels completely different from high-volume training. Understanding what to expect helps you properly judge how hard you're challenging yourself in heavy lifting sessions.

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):

  Training maximal strength in sets of squats, bench deadlift, overhead press, pull-ups, and other compound lifts where you're lifting a lot of weight is a great way for you to take your training to the next level after you have been building muscle and lifting for a while. As you transition into heavier lifts in your workouts, you'll notice that the level of fatigue that you feel as you're approaching muscle failure feels very different from the way that you felt when you were approaching muscle failure during your high volume training, and it's important that you have an awareness that it's going to feel different as you transition into heavier lifts so you know what to expect and you can properly judge how hard you're challenging yourself in your heavy lifting sessions.

  (01:01)

  Welcome to the Coaching Corner podcast. I'm Jayd Harrison. I've been a personal trainer for over 10 years and I've created this podcast to share some tips and tricks with you so that you can make gains, get strong and achieve your fitness goals without shame and without burnout. In today's episode, we're going to be talking about how it feels to challenge yourself properly during heavy lifting blocks of training. Now, this is the last part of my three-part discussion on how hard you should train during your workouts. In the previous two episodes, we talked about how to gauge your level of challenge during cardiovascular training, and in the last one we talked about how to gauge your level of effort in high volume or hypertrophy focused resistance training. Now, I will say that heavy lifting is not something that you should be trying to do if you have less than at least six months of experience lifting.

  (01:57)

  I actually recommend that you spend a good year or two years learning how to lift properly in a high volume range before you start to attempt heavier lifts. But when you do go to transition to lifting heavier weights, there are a lot of differences that you'll notice and we're going to talk about those in this episode. Now, before we get into the episode, make sure to like this video and subscribe to the channel if you're watching on YouTube. That way you never miss new videos as they drop. If you are listening to this podcast episode, thank you so much. Make sure that you follow the show so you always get the latest episodes delivered right to your device. Without further ado, let's talk about how to properly challenge yourself and gauge how much you're challenging yourself in your heavy lifting resistance training workouts.

  (02:50)

  Training heavy lifts or high intensity usually involves lifting really heavy weight for very small sets of reps between 1, 2, 3, or at most six reps per set, so you're going to be lifting a lot more weight than what you normally would be lifting in the high volume training. This is a great way for people who are intermediate lifters to take their training to the next level and push their bodies to maximize their gains and improve the strength and coordination of their bodies. It helps to train your nervous system for maximal force output, which can be really helpful, especially in performing sports where you may need to do quick bursts of powerful movements. I noticed years ago after I started powerlifting that when I returned back to boxing and mixed martial arts, my punches were a lot more powerful and efficient. My kicks were also a lot harder and faster.

  (03:56)

  Maximal strength development with heavy lifting is also a really solid foundation for power training, which is the type of training in Olympic lifts like cleans and presses as well as snatches. So if you want to be able to generate a lot of power, developing your maximal strength is one of the foundations that leads to that. And like I said before, it is important that you have a solid foundation of one to two years of consistent lifting experience before you begin to lift heavy loads. Part of that is because you need to make sure that you have good technique because bad technique with heavy loads is a recipe for injury. Now when you do go to start training with heavier loads, you'll notice that pushing yourself with heavier loads and lower numbers of reps and each set will feel a lot differently than what it felt like to push yourself in high volume training.

  (04:55)

  In high volume training, when you're focused on hypertrophy, you're performing a much lighter weight with a higher number of reps to the point where you feel the muscles burning as they fatigue that burning sensation that you feel is the lactic acid building up in your muscles as your muscles go through their energy stores and then you end the set when you feel those muscles burning and you feel like you can only do one, two, or three more reps. Well, when you are lifting heavy, you don't often get that same burning sensation and that's because you're not asking your muscles to perform for as long of a time period like in a large set of eight to 12 or as much as 10 to 20 reps. Instead, you're lifting a higher, more concentrated load of weight in a small amount of time. So the name of the game when it comes to heavy lifting is a huge burst of energy where you are trying to engage as much of the muscles as possible at once to move big weight versus when you are lifting higher volume training, you are burning through your muscles energy stores and you don't necessarily need to have the entire muscle fired up at the beginning of a set.

  (06:09)

  You're able to kind of distribute the effort of the exercise among different groups of muscle fibers throughout the time of each set. So you may have one group of muscle fibers or motor units that are firing up at the beginning of the set as they get tired, a second group of motor units activates to keep the movement going while the other motor units can rest. And then when those motor units get exhausted, then we move on to the next group of motor units, and that's how your muscles are able to work for such a long period of time because it's using one part of the muscle, then the other, then another, then another. When you're doing heavy lifts, you are asking your muscle units to work all together at the same time, which is going to allow you to push more weight, but it's not going to feel the same as it was when you were lifting those higher volume loads.

  (07:06)

  You're not going to typically get that lactic acid buildup because you're not exhausting the muscles in the same way that you were when you were doing high volume training. Instead, when you're pushing yourself during heavy lifts, you'll likely notice that the weight itself is going to start off feeling a lot heavier than it did during your high volume sets. As you continue to perform reps of that exercise, you'll notice that the weight begins to slow down. It gets harder and harder for you to press the weight up or to pull the weight up as you perform more reps to the point where you're really only able to do 1, 2, 3 at most six reps of the exercise before you have to rest because your muscles just aren't doing it anymore. So you'll notice that the weight slows down and if you do actually get to muscle failure that looks like the weight just doesn't move, the bar isn't going back up.

  (08:05)

  So it's not uncommon to be a little bit surprised and caught off guard by muscle failure when you're lifting heavy because your body doesn't give you the same cues that it did as you approached muscle failure during your high volume sets, and that's totally okay. As you get more experienced with lifting heavy, you will get better at reading your body's signs that you're approaching muscle failure or form failure, but here are a few things that you can watch out for to ensure that you're lifting and pushing yourself to the right amount while also respecting your body's cues to avoid and reduce the risk of injury. So again, you're not likely going to experience the same burning sensation in the working muscles that you did in your high volume sets. The set is likely going to end before you start to get of those metabolic byproducts of larger sets of exercises.

  (08:59)

  The weight will feel massively heavy from the very first rep, and there's likely not going to be much of a distinction in how the weight feels from the first rep to the last rep, whereas with high volume training or muscle building training, the weight begins to feel heavier and heavier towards the end of the set as you approach muscle failure, but you will likely see the bar speed slow down significantly as you approach muscle failure. Now, this is not always the case. There are definitely exceptions to this rule. I have plenty of clients and friends who while lifting heavy, don't really show much of a sign of slowing down before their muscles fail and they're not able to move the bar. And while it's really not necessary for you to push yourself to the point where you can't move the bar anymore and you fail the lift, this is often what happens and it's more likely to happen during heavy lifting sets.

  (09:54)

  So you are more likely to experience muscle failure or fail the lift on your last rep in heavy lifting than you did when you were in high volume training. But I just want to note here that failing the last rep of your set or failing the attempt is not actually a failure. We call it failure, but it doesn't mean that you as the lifter are a failure. Muscle failure is just something that happens when the weight is just too heavy and heavier than what our bodies can lift at the time. And this could be due to our muscles being tired or it can be due to many other factors. There are many reasons why the bar doesn't move. Okay? So experiencing failure on a last rep or in an attempt to lift a heavy weight is very common and it's not a failure. Okay? I just want to point that out and you are going to experience it from time to time.

  (10:51)

  If you are practicing heavy lifts, there are a couple of key indicators that can let you know that you are approaching form or muscle failure when you're lifting heavy and you will just get better at sensing these things the more that you practice. So one of course noticing that the bar speed is changing. If you are one of those people that experiences this, that can be a good clear sign and indicator that it's time to end your set. If you start to see the bar slowing down significantly, you do want to practice ending your set before your muscles or before your form fails, just so that you can reduce your risk of injury. We don't want to be performing reps with imperfect technique or changing how we are standing or lifting in some way just to get the bar to move. Only practice good technique reps.

  (11:40)

  And once that bar starts to slow down, that's when you need to end your set just to keep things safe. As you get more practice, you may also start to sense when your form is going to fail. You might start to be thinking, I don't know if I can do this next rep with good form or good technique. So that's sometimes an indicator, especially as you get more practiced and more experienced that you are working where you need to be working. You may also feel like every fiber of your muscles is firing, but you just can't generate any more force. But a lot of times failure does happen quite suddenly when all of a sudden you just simply can't move the bar, not necessarily from accumulated muscle burn or any other indicators that you might sense in your body. So as you can see, heavy lifting requires a lot of mental focus.

  (12:31)

  It is a lot of physical and mental demand on your body and from your mind to be able to push or pull heavy sets. Having a little bit of fear and good level of respect for the weight is normal, and a lot of times when I'm doing heavy sets, I'll even doubt to myself, can I really move that weight? Can I really do that? That is also a normal thing to experience with heavy lifting, and a lot of times you just really don't know that you can't do a weight until you try it, and that's what heavy lifting is all about. And the difference here when you're thinking about your rate of perceived exertion or reps in reserve, it's just so much harder to gauge with heavy lifting than with muscle building, and that's because the gap between, I could maybe do one more versus I definitely cannot do another rep is so small and that window closes really quickly and abruptly sometimes, so please don't be hard on yourself if you fail a lift or you fail a rep.

  (13:33)

  But I do want to stress the importance of having safeties up and having a spotter if you are going to be practicing heavier lifts because failing a lift is very common when you're doing heavy lifts and you want to make sure that if you do fail the lift, you can do so safely without causing injury to yourself. So when you're doing bench press, make sure that you have the safety bars up or whatever safeties you're using at the level where if you needed to bail from the lift, you could get out from underneath the bar. Same thing when you're doing squats. Make sure that you have safeties up to the point where if you needed to bail, you could drop the weight and do so without ruining your floor or injuring yourself. Form breakdown also happens a lot faster when you're lifting heavy, so you want to be very mindful of your body's positioning and be ready to notice when you do anything different that might sacrifice some of your technique and your form.

  (14:32)

  As soon as you have to start doing something differently to make the weight move, I recommend ending the set. You want to practice each rep of every set, especially when you're heavy lifting with good technique. And just like with the other styles of training, there are a few red flags that you want to look out for when you are heavy. One sharp pain, especially in the joints, any acute pain is a bad sign, and if you feel that or experience that either in your joints or somewhere else, you need to end your set immediately. You may be using too much weight or it's just more than what you can handle today or there may be something wrong with your technique. Either way, you should not ever push through sharp acute pain if you feel any popping, clicking or grinding of your joints, that is also a red flag that you need to stop.

  (15:24)

  You need to reassess your technique and make some changes about either your technique or how much weight you're trying to lift. These can be often indicators that there's some kind of an injury going on or there's an injury that might happen if you keep going. Any weird nerve sensations like shooting pain or numbness or tingling is also a red flag that you need to stop dizziness, vision changes, feeling lightheaded or losing vision. These are all other signs that you are pushing way too much and you're putting yourself in danger, so you want to back off if that's something that you experience. And again, any chest pain or difficulty breathing is another red flag sign that you need to stop and seek medical attention. Now, there's other signs that you may be pushing too hard and need to back off, but it's probably okay for you to continue training.

  (16:14)

  One is just missing reps frequently. If it's happening very frequently that you're failing a lift, it may be that you are training with way too much weight or you may be trying to do too many reps. You should not be failing your lifts frequently. It is something that will happen from time to time. It's a normal part of learning how to lift heavy, but if it's happening often that's a sign that something needs to change either in your technique or maybe you need to reduce the weight or maybe try to attempt fewer reps and continue to build yourself up to the point where you can properly lift that weight with that number of reps without experiencing failure. If you're finding that your technique is deteriorating significantly on the last rep of an exercise, that means you are pushing too hard. You need to end your set much earlier or maybe reduce the weight.

  (17:03)

  And if you're feeling any extreme fatigue after your training sessions, you can't do anything the rest of the day. All you want to do is bed rot and eat snacks and watch tv. This is a sign that you are over training. You're pushing yourself past the point that's actually beneficial for your body. And if you have persistent joint soreness, not necessarily muscle soreness because that's a given, but joint soreness in particular is a red flag that you're pushing too hard and you need to back off. And if you start to dread your workouts and you're feeling like you just don't have the motivation to train and you're feeling like this for an extended period of time, this is a good sign that you are over-training and overdoing it and you need to back off. The signs that you're not pushing hard enough is that you are able to do your workouts and you feel like you didn't really challenge yourself or you don't feel any kind of fatigue or tiredness.

  (17:57)

  Your sets feel comfortable and controlled without any significant effort. That means that you need to go heavier or maybe add in a rep or two more to your sets if you don't feel the need to mentally lock in and focus before your heavy lifting set. That tells me that you're not actually lifting heavy and you're probably not lifting as heavy as you think you are, and if you feel like you could easily bust out more reps or do more weight, this is also a sign that you're not lifting heavy enough and also check the bar speed. A lot of times if you're able to perform a set with the same rate of motion every single rep without it slowing down for many people, this is also an indicator that you're not pushing yourself enough. Now, many heavy lifting programs will recommend that you lift based on a percentage of your one rep max.

  (18:51)

  Your one rep max is the maximal amount of weight that you can push or pull that weight with one repetition. Now, often people will estimate their one rep max based on their three rep max or their five rep max, although I don't recommend testing your maxes until you have been practicing heavier lifts for a good chunk of time, at least one or two blocks. For my clients, I usually have that be a block of between three and six weeks minimum. Once you have a solid couple of weeks, if not months of practice lifting at a heavier weight, then you can test your maxes and then use the results as a benchmark for how much you should be lifting moving forward. There are some pretty good recommendations for what percentage of your estimated one rep max or your true one rep max that you should be using for maximizing your strength gains and maximizing muscle gains in general.

  (19:50)

  For high volume training or muscle growth training or hypertrophy training, what we generally are going to be using is somewhere between 70 and 85% of your one rep max, and that can be your estimated one rep max based on your three rep max test or your true one rep max. If you have tested it when you're specifically trying to develop your muscular strength, we're going to be working with usually 85 to 95% of your one rep max, so you can use this as a benchmark for how to train more effectively moving forward after you have gotten an estimation of your maxes. This will ensure that you are training with the right weight regardless of whether you are trying to build muscle with high volume training or trying to build strength with heavy lifting. Now, because it is so hard to gauge how hard you're working when you're doing heavy lifts, I highly recommend that you record lifts.

  (20:48)

  Use a camera or use your phone to take video of yourself doing the lifts from the side, and if you have a second camera, take it from the front as well. And then after you perform a set, take a moment to review your technique and review your form and be mindful of any slowing down of the bar or any changes that you might make as you get tired or as you progress in each set. This gives you an opportunity to correct your technique and improve your strength gains and improve how much weight you're able to lift because you're getting that direct feedback and make sure that you are also taking your rest periods. Heavy lifting takes a big toll on your central nervous system. You're using a lot of energy in a short burst of time, so this is definitely one of those cases where you should not be trying to do other exercises between your sets and active recovery.

  (21:41)

  Let yourself rest and recover between your heavy lifting sets. Usually it takes 90 seconds to two minutes. For some people, it takes as much as five minutes to fully recover after a heavy lifting set. So take that time, hydrate, breathe, and let your system reset before you try to lift heavy again. And also just try not to chase failure. Once you get a sense of what it feels like as your form is starting to break down, or as you're approaching failure, learn how to end your set early before you fail. Because failure, although it does happen and it's very common to happen in heavy lifting, it's not necessarily something that we want to do because the risk of injury is just too high. You will over time get better at gauging when you are approaching that point, and I urge you to practice ending your set before you reach that point. So there you have it. This is a way for you to gauge your level of effort to make sure that you're challenging yourself enough in your heavy lifting sets.

  (22:49)

  Thank you so much for watching or listening to this episode of the Coaching Corner podcast. Again, I'm Jayd Harrison. If you're interested in working with me as your coach, whether you are looking to lift heavy or burn fat or build muscle, I am taking on new clients, so click the link that's in the show notes or in the video description below to apply for one-on-one coaching. I hope that you found this discussion helpful, and I'm curious to know what your thoughts are after listening to or watching this episode. Are there things that you've noticed in your own form and technique after you have been practicing heavy lifting, high volume training, or cardiovascular training? I'd also like to know what are the signs that you notice in your body when you are working at just the right intensity? Leave those in the comments of the YouTube videos. I will see you in the next episode. In the meantime, make sure you're taking good care of yourself. Eat your protein, eat your veggies, drink your water, and I will see you soon.

Who Should Be Lifting Heavy?

Heavy lifting isn't for beginners. I recommend having at least six months of lifting experience before attempting maximal strength work—ideally a full year or two learning proper form in higher volume ranges first. This foundation is crucial because bad technique with heavy loads is a recipe for injury.

What Makes Heavy Lifting Different?

Heavy lifting (also called high-intensity training) involves lifting very heavy weight for small sets of 1-6 reps per set. This approach is ideal for intermediate lifters looking to maximize their gains and improve their body's strength and coordination.

The benefits extend beyond the weight room:

• Improved nervous system efficiency for maximal force output

• Enhanced athletic performance in sports requiring powerful bursts

• Stronger foundation for power training like Olympic lifts

• Better overall force generation

After I started powerlifting years ago, I noticed my punches in boxing and mixed martial arts became significantly more powerful and efficient. My kicks were harder and faster too.

Why Heavy Lifting Feels So Different

The Muscle Fatigue Experience

During high-volume hypertrophy training (8-20 reps), you feel that familiar burning sensation as lactic acid builds up in your muscles. You end the set when your muscles are burning and you feel like you can only do 1-3 more reps.

Heavy lifting rarely produces that same burn. You're not asking muscles to perform for an extended period—instead, you're lifting a concentrated load in a short burst of time.

How Your Muscles Work Differently

High-Volume Training: Your muscles distribute effort among different groups of muscle fibers (motor units) throughout the set. One group fires, gets tired, then another group takes over while the first rests. This rotation allows muscles to work for longer periods.

Heavy Lifting: All motor units work together simultaneously, allowing you to push more weight. But the sensations are completely different—no lactic acid buildup, no gradual fatigue.

What to Expect During Heavy Sets

When pushing yourself during heavy lifts, here's what you'll likely experience:

1. The weight feels massively heavy from the first rep (unlike high-volume training where it gradually gets heavier)

2. Bar speed slows down significantly as you approach failure

3. Little distinction between how the first and last rep feel in terms of weight

4. Sudden muscle failure without much warning—the bar just stops moving

This last point can catch you off guard. Your body doesn't give the same cues as during high-volume training, which is why you're more likely to actually fail a lift during heavy training.

Important note: Failing a lift doesn't mean YOU are a failure. Muscle failure simply means the weight is too heavy for what your body can handle at that moment, whether due to fatigue or various other factors. It happens, and it's part of the learning process.

Key Indicators You're Approaching Failure

As you gain experience, watch for these signs:

• Bar speed changes dramatically (for those who experience this)

• Uncertainty about maintaining good form for another rep

• Every fiber firing but unable to generate more force

• Form beginning to break down or needing to adjust positioning to move the weight

The mental aspect is significant too. Having some fear and respect for the weight is normal. I often doubt myself—"Can I really move that weight?"—and honestly, sometimes you don't know until you try. That's what heavy lifting is about.

Why Rate of Perceived Exertion Is Harder to Gauge

The gap between "I could maybe do one more" and "I definitely cannot do another rep" is incredibly small with heavy lifting. That window closes quickly and abruptly. Don't be hard on yourself if you fail a lift—instead, focus on safety.

Critical Safety Measures

• Use safeties or a spotter for all heavy lifts

• Set safety bars at appropriate heights where you can bail safely

• Be ready to notice form breakdown and end the set immediately

• Practice only good technique reps—never sacrifice form to move weight

Red Flags: When to Stop Immediately

Some warning signs require you to end your set right away:

• Sharp pain, especially in joints

• Any popping, clicking, or grinding in joints

• Nerve sensations like shooting pain, numbness, or tingling

• Dizziness, vision changes, or lightheadedness

• Chest pain or difficulty breathing

Signs You're Pushing Too Hard

These indicators suggest you need to back off (but can continue training after adjustments):

• Missing reps frequently (occasional failure is normal; frequent failure isn't)

• Technique deteriorating significantly on last reps

• Extreme fatigue after sessions (can't function the rest of the day)

• Persistent joint soreness (muscle soreness is expected)

• Dreading workouts for an extended period

Signs You're Not Pushing Hard Enough

On the flip side, here's how you know you need to increase intensity:

• Sets feel comfortable and controlled without significant effort

• No sense of fatigue or challenge after workouts

• No need to mentally lock in before heavy sets (this focus is essential)

• Feeling like you could easily do more reps or weight

• Bar speed stays consistent throughout all reps (for most people)

Using Your One Rep Max as a Guide

Many heavy lifting programs base intensity on a percentage of your one rep max (1RM)—the maximum weight you can lift for one repetition.

Testing Your Maxes

Don't test your maxes immediately. Wait until you've practiced heavier lifts for at least one or two blocks (3-6 weeks minimum each). Once you have solid experience, you can test your maxes and use them as benchmarks.

Recommended Training Percentages

• Hypertrophy/Muscle Growth: 70-85% of 1RM

• Maximal Strength Development: 85-95% of 1RM

You can estimate your 1RM based on your 3-rep or 5-rep max, which is safer than testing a true 1RM when you're still building experience.

Practical Tips for Success

Record Your Lifts

Because gauging effort during heavy lifts is so challenging, I highly recommend recording yourself from the side (and front if possible). Review your technique after each set and watch for:

• Bar speed changes

• Form breakdown

• Adjustments you make as you fatigue

This immediate feedback helps you correct technique and improve your lifts.

Take Proper Rest Periods

Heavy lifting taxes your central nervous system significantly. You're using tremendous energy in a short burst, so:

• Don't do other exercises between sets (no active recovery)

• Rest 90 seconds to 2 minutes minimum (some people need up to 5 minutes)

• Hydrate and breathe during rest periods

• Let your system fully reset before the next set

Don't Chase Failure

Once you understand what approaching failure feels like, practice ending your set early. While failure happens and is common in heavy lifting, the injury risk is too high to make it a regular goal. Over time, you'll get better at recognizing that point and stopping before you reach it.

Final Thoughts

Heavy lifting is both physically and mentally demanding. It requires focus, respect for the weight, and awareness of your body's signals. As you gain experience, you'll become more attuned to these sensations and better able to push yourself safely and effectively.

Remember: proper technique always comes first. If you have to change how you're moving to make the weight budge, it's time to end your set. Quality reps build strength; compromised reps build injury risk.

Ready to take your training to the next level? Whether you're looking to lift heavy, burn fat, or build muscle, I'm taking on new clients for one-on-one coaching. Let's work together to help you reach your fitness goals without shame and without burnout.

Links:

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• 1-on-1 Coaching

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Ep 81 | How Hard Should You Push Yourself During Resistance Training?

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Many people make a common mistake when it comes to resistance training: they approach it the same way they do cardio. They focus on keeping their heart rate up, moving constantly from one set to the next without any real rest. While this approach isn't necessarily bad, it's not very effective for building muscle.

If your goal is to grow muscle and get stronger, keeping your heart rate elevated throughout your entire workout isn't the key. Instead, you need to understand what it actually feels like to challenge yourself effectively for muscle and strength gains.

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):
  

  Many people mistakenly think that they should push themselves in the same way in their resistance training workouts as they do when they're doing cardiovascular training. They make the mistake of thinking that the goal of resistance training is to keep the heart rate up so they will stay moving the entire time and not let their bodies have any true rest between sets of an exercise. Now, this way of working out is not necessarily bad, but it isn't very effective for helping you to grow muscle. Instead, it lends itself more towards cardiovascular fitness and burning lots of calories. But if your goal is to build muscle and get strong, keeping your heart rate up during your resistance training workouts is not necessarily going to help you. So let's take a look at what it feels like for you to challenge yourself effectively to towards building muscle and building strength in your resistance training workouts.

  (01:09)
  Welcome to the Coaching Corner podcast. I'm Jayd Harrison, aka Jaydigains. I've been a personal trainer for over 10 years and I've created this podcast to share with you tips and tricks to make the most out of your workouts and improve your fitness without shame and without burnout. In today's episode, we're going to be talking about how to judge how hard you're working in your workouts to make sure that you are pushing yourself enough to make gains while also avoiding pushing yourself to the point where you're at risk of injury or burnout. We're talking specifically about resistance training here, whereas in the previous discussion we talked about cardiovascular training. So if you are interested in learning how to pace yourself and challenge yourself just right in cardiovascular training, I highly suggest that you check out the previous episode of the Coaching Corner podcast. And before we get into the episode, make sure to like this video if you're watching on YouTube and subscribe to my channel so you always get the latest videos whenever they drop. And if you are listening to this podcast, thank you so much. Make sure that you follow the show so that you always get the latest episodes delivered right to your device. Without further ado, let's get into the episode.

  (02:23)
  We've previously talked about how to pace yourself and ensure that you're challenging yourself in your cardiovascular workouts. Today we're going to talk about how to judge how hard you're working and make sure that you're challenging yourself enough during your resistance training. In resistance training, our goal is to improve the strength or the size or the power that our muscles are able to generate, and this means that we have to take an approach that's slightly different from how we train our cardiovascular system. For the most effective way to do resistance training, you should be alternating between periods of intense bursts of effort with periods of rest where you're allowing your heart rate to come back down towards resting so that you can recharge your muscles and go for another set, pushing yourself with the amount of reps or the amount of weight or the amount of time that's needed to trigger muscle gains.

  (03:23)
  Now there are a couple of different styles of resistance training. Usually we start with high volume or hypertrophy focused training. High volume or hypertrophy focused training is lifting or performing resistance training with the goal of building muscle. This type of resistance training usually looks like performing an exercise for between eight and 12 repetitions before resting for 30 seconds to two minutes, and then repeating an exercise for eight to 12 reps. Again, and you'll repeat this usually for somewhere between two and four, sometimes five sets of an exercise. High volume training is the foundation for muscle building and muscle fitness training. It's what beginners should focus on when they're first getting started on their fitness journey. And it's also what more intermediate and advanced exercisers should do very frequently to continue to push themselves towards making muscle gain so that they can get stronger and perform better in their sports.

  (04:24)
  If you are on a fat loss journey, doing high volume training has a lot of benefits as well. Not only does it help you to build muscle, which helps to boost your metabolism, but doing high volume training itself earns more calories than heavier lifting sessions with fewer reps. It's generally a pretty safe way to train and it's a great way for you to learn your muscles as well. When you're doing high volume or muscle building training, one of the key markers that you're pushing yourself as much as you should is what a lot of people call a burning sensation in the target muscles. So for example, when you're doing bicep curls, the target muscle group or the working muscle here is the biceps muscles. And if you are using the right amount of weight performing eight to 12 reps, or what I usually recommend for my clients, which is 10 to 15 reps or maybe sometimes even as much as 20 reps, you should feel the biceps burning by the end of your set.

  (05:26)
  And usually I like for my clients to feel that burning happening in at least three of the repetitions and you continue to let the muscles burn as they get tired until the point where you feel like you can't do any more in a way that keeps good technique and when you feel like you could maybe only do one or two more repetitions before your muscles give out completely. Our goal with high volume training is to approach muscle failure. You don't necessarily have to go all the way to muscle failure unless you are assigned an amrap set as many reps as possible. Most of the time it's going to be good for you to leave one or two repetitions left in reserve and stop when you feel like you could only do one or two more. This will help you to avoid a risk of injury and to ensure that your body can properly recover after your workouts and what this feels like to approach muscle failure.

  (06:23)
  A lot of times people say that they feel a burning sensation in the working muscles and you know that you are doing it right. If you feel that burning happening in the last three to five repetitions of your set and then you end your set rest and then try again, the weight often will feel increasingly heavy as the set progresses and you'll find that you're not able to move as quickly like your reps are slowing down, your rate of motion is slowing down. This is something that you'll also experience if you're challenging yourself enough. You may also experience the feeling of your muscles getting fatigued and even what a lot of people call a pump, which is the feeling when your muscles get a rush of blood to them and they may actually look more swollen as well and you'll feel that rush of blood to your muscles often at the end of a really good set or in the rest period following an effective set.

  (07:22)
  You may find that your heart starts beating really fast and that you have to breathe faster towards the end of the set or during your rest period. As you recover at the end of the set mentally, you'll find that you really got to focus on finishing out the set towards the end. It's really hard for you to have your mind wandering on other things, especially as your muscles get really tired towards the end of the set. And when you think about the level of difficulty that you had while pushing towards the end of your set, you should have felt like that was challenging, but not that was easy and not that's impossible. You want to feel like you got a good challenge. A great way for you to monitor how hard you're working in your high volume resistance training workouts is to use the reps and reserve strategy.

  (08:12)
  So reps and reserve means that you're ending your set when you feel like you could only do a certain number of reps before your muscles give out and fail completely. Generally speaking, I often have my clients end their set when they feel like they could do only one or two more repetitions when we're really trying to build muscle, we might just end it when there's only one rep left in the tank. Sometimes we may go to where they have no more reps in the tank, especially if I'm trying to get a sense of how many reps they really can do because it is often hard for people to gauge how many reps they have left, especially if you are just starting on your fitness journey. It may be difficult for you to sense how many reps you have in reserve at the end of your set, and if that's the case, I encourage you to do an AMRAP set using whatever weight that you're using and perform as many reps as possible using the same rate of motion, usually about two seconds up, two seconds down in the exercise and go until your form breaks down or your muscles give out and you're not able to perform another rep.

  (09:23)
  The number of reps that you're able to do in an AMRAP set should give you a good idea of how many reps you'll have in reserve when you go to repeat that exercise using that weight or a similar weight. If you are deloading or reloading coming back from a period of time off from the gym, I'll usually recommend that you leave three reps and reserve at the end of your sets because you're likely going to be sore from your first workout back or your first workout ever. So you don't necessarily need to push quite as hard as people who have been training consistently for at least a few weeks. So if you're feeling sick, you're taking a deload or you're just getting back into it, feel free to leave three reps in reserve. Another way that you can gauge how hard you're working is to use a rate of perceived exertion.

  (10:15)
  With my clients, I usually use a scale of one to 10 where I'll ask them How hard was that on a scale of one to 10, one being super easy, barely any work at all, and 10 being maximal effort, oh my God, I couldn't do anymore. In general, what I like for my clients to do is shoot for an RPE seven or eight, sometimes nine. If we're doing an AMRAP set, that's going to be an RPE 10. A lot of times people will use reps and reserve and RPE interchangeably. So for example, if they are working at an RPE seven, that means that they have three reps in reserve. An RP eight means that they have two reps in reserve. RPE nine means one rep in reserve and RPE 10 would be zero reps in reserve. So if you are working at an RPE seven, eight or nine when you're doing your high volume resistance training, you should feel those working muscles burning again for bicep curls, that's going to be your biceps muscles.

  (11:16)
  But if you're doing squats, you should feel that burning primarily in your quadriceps muscles, in your thighs, and you may also feel it in your glutes and hamstrings when you're doing r DLS or good mornings, you should feel the glutes and the hamstrings starting to burn as they get tired. I encourage you to use your high volume training as an opportunity to get more familiar with your muscles when you're doing a high volume training set, practice naming and really paying attention to the muscles that you feel working. And if you feel any muscles stretching, practice identifying those as well because when you learn your muscles, it will help you with your proprioception or your mind muscle connection, which means that you will be better able to perform exercises with good technique and minimize your risk of injury while maximizing your gains. Now, when you're pushing yourself in your resistance training workouts, it's normal for you to feel some burning in the working muscles, and that's often the goal.

  (12:16)
  But a couple of red flags that you should look out for that are signs that you need to stop are sharp pains, especially in the joints. Acute pain is something we never want to push through. Burning is fine, but acute sharp pain is usually a sign that there's something wrong either with your technique or maybe you're using too much weight or maybe you just have an injury that you need to work around. So stop immediately if you feel any kind of sharp pain, especially in your joints. Also, if you are experiencing a form breakdown, you're not able to keep the same good technique through the entire set of an exercise. This is a sign that you need to stop. Do not continue to practice the exercise and perform bad reps with bad form because all this does is reinforces bad technique, which will put you at an increased risk of injury.

  (13:12)
  So if you're not performing the exercise with good technique or you're not able to perform the exercise with good technique, you should stop immediately. Reduce your weight, fix your form and reach out to me if you have any questions. Another thing that you should watch out for is any dizziness or nausea that you may feel between your sets. This is usually a sign that you're overdoing it and pushing yourself way too hard. You do not need to push yourself to the point where you feel like you're going to pass out in order to make muscle gains. And if you feel any extreme exhaustion like you just can't do any other exercises after you have done your set, that's also a sign that maybe you pushed it a little bit too hard. You should always feel like you have energy at the end of your workouts.

  (13:58)
  Leave some energy in the tank because your body's going to need that energy to make the repairs to your muscle that will help you to get stronger. You'll know that you're not pushing yourself enough if you feel like your sets are easy throughout the entire workout. If you don't have any muscle burn or any fatigue setting in, that's also a sign that you're not pushing yourself enough if you're not breathing harder by the end of a set, that's also a sign that you're not pushing yourself enough. And if you're finishing your workout and you feel like you just didn't really work, that's also a sign that you're not pushing yourself enough. So keep in mind that some muscle discomfort is important for you to push yourself, feel the burn, feel your muscles fatiguing and feel like you have to exert some effort. You have to work.

  (14:44)
  That's what we're doing when we're working out. That's what it takes for us to build muscle. We have to challenge it in order for it to get stronger. But at the same time, you don't have to push yourself to the point where you're feeling sharp pain, you're not able to perform the exercise with good technique or you're just exhausting yourself. You want to strike that sweet spot of an RPE seven, eight or nine, leaving one, two or three reps in reserve at the end of every set, and then taking your rest periods to recharge your muscles so that you can push yourself as much as you need to stimulate muscle growth. Follow these guidelines and your muscle building workouts, and I guarantee you, you will make gains. In the next episode, we're going to talk about what it feels like to push yourself in high intensity or heavy lifting resistance training. This is a style of training that's more advanced, and I don't recommend attempting heavy lifting unless you have been already doing high volume training for six months at least. But when you do go to start practicing heavier lifts, you're going to have to change your expectations of what it feels like to challenge yourself at a higher intensity of lifting. We'll talk all about that in the next episode.

  (16:06)
  Thank you so much for watching or listening to this episode of the Coaching Corner podcast. Again, I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. If you found this episode helpful, make sure to like the video on YouTube and subscribe to the channel so you always get the latest videos as soon as they drop. And if you are listening to this podcast, thank you so much. Make sure that you follow the show so you always get the latest episodes delivered right to your device. If you are interested in working with me one-on-one for coaching, check out the link that's in the show notes or the description of the video below. I am currently onboarding new clients, so fill out the form and apply work with me today. I'll see you in the next episode. In the meantime, make sure that you're taking good care of yourself. Eat your veggies, eat your protein, and drink some water, and I will see you soon.

Understanding Effective Resistance Training

To improve muscle strength, size, and power, you need to take a different approach than cardiovascular training. The most effective resistance training alternates between intense bursts of effort and periods of rest. These rest periods allow your heart rate to come back down so you can recharge your muscles and push yourself again with the right amount of reps, weight, or time needed to trigger muscle growth.

High Volume Training: The Foundation for Muscle Building

High volume training, also called hypertrophy-focused training, is the cornerstone of muscle building. This approach typically involves:

• Performing 8-12 repetitions of an exercise (I often recommend 10-15 reps, sometimes up to 20)

• Resting for 30 seconds to 2 minutes between sets

• Completing 2-5 sets of each exercise

This style of training is perfect for beginners just starting their fitness journey, but it's also essential for intermediate and advanced exercisers who want to continue making muscle gains.

Benefits of high volume training for fat loss: Not only does it help build muscle (which boosts your metabolism), but high volume training burns more calories than heavier lifting sessions with fewer reps. It's generally safe and helps you learn your muscles better.

What Should Muscle Building Feel Like?

When you're doing high volume training correctly, you should experience several key sensations:

The burning sensation: This is one of the most important markers. For example, when doing bicep curls, you should feel your biceps burning by the end of your set. This burning should happen during at least the last 3-5 repetitions.

Progressive fatigue: The weight should feel increasingly heavy as your set progresses. Your reps will slow down, and your rate of motion will decrease.

The pump: You'll feel a rush of blood to your working muscles. They may even look more swollen, especially at the end of a set or during your rest period.

Increased heart rate and breathing: By the end of your set or during rest, your heart will beat faster and you'll need to breathe more rapidly.

Mental focus: Towards the end of your set, you'll need to really concentrate on finishing. Your mind can't wander—you have to focus on the work.

Challenge level: The set should feel challenging, but not easy and not impossible. You want that sweet spot.

Using Reps in Reserve (RIR)

One of the best ways to monitor your intensity is the reps in reserve strategy. This means ending your set when you feel like you could only do a certain number of additional reps before your muscles completely fail.

General guidelines:

• Building muscle: End when you could do only 1-2 more reps

• Deloading or returning from time off: Leave 3 reps in reserve

• Testing your limits: Occasionally do AMRAP (as many reps as possible) sets to gauge your true capacity

If you're new to fitness, it may be difficult to sense how many reps you have left. In that case, do an AMRAP set with your chosen weight, maintaining good form at about 2 seconds up, 2 seconds down. Go until your form breaks down or your muscles give out. This will give you a baseline for future sets.

The Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) Scale

I use a 1-10 scale with my clients:

• 1 = Super easy, barely any work

• 10 = Maximal effort, couldn't do any more

For muscle building, aim for an RPE of 7-9:

• RPE 7 = 3 reps in reserve

• RPE 8 = 2 reps in reserve

• RPE 9 = 1 rep in reserve

• RPE 10 = 0 reps in reserve (AMRAP sets)

At these intensity levels, you should feel your working muscles burning. For squats, that's primarily your quadriceps, possibly your glutes and hamstrings. For RDLs or good mornings, you'll feel it in your glutes and hamstrings.

Building Your Mind-Muscle Connection

Use high volume training as an opportunity to get familiar with your muscles. During each set, practice naming and paying attention to the muscles you feel working. If you feel any muscles stretching, identify those too.

This awareness—called proprioception or mind-muscle connection—will help you perform exercises with better technique, minimize injury risk, and maximize your gains.

Red Flags: When to Stop Immediately

While burning in your working muscles is normal and expected, watch out for these warning signs:

Sharp pain, especially in joints: Acute pain is never something to push through. This indicates a problem with your technique, too much weight, or a potential injury that needs attention.

Form breakdown: If you can't maintain good technique throughout the entire set, stop immediately. Practicing bad reps with poor form only reinforces bad technique and increases injury risk.

Dizziness or nausea: This means you're overdoing it. You don't need to push yourself to the point of passing out to make gains.

Extreme exhaustion: If you feel like you can't do any other exercises after your set, you've pushed too hard. You should always finish workouts with energy in the tank—your body needs that energy to repair your muscles and help you get stronger.

Signs You're Not Pushing Hard Enough

On the flip side, you'll know you're not challenging yourself enough if:

• Your sets feel easy throughout the entire workout

• You don't experience any muscle burn or fatigue

• You're not breathing harder by the end of sets

• You finish your workout feeling like you didn't really work

Remember: some muscle discomfort is important. Feel the burn, feel your muscles fatiguing, and feel like you have to exert effort. That's what working out means—that's what it takes to build muscle. You have to challenge your muscles for them to get stronger.

Finding Your Sweet Spot

The key to effective resistance training is striking the right balance:

• Aim for an RPE of 7-9

• Leave 1-3 reps in reserve at the end of every set

• Take your rest periods to recharge your muscles

• Push enough to stimulate muscle growth without exhausting yourself

Follow these guidelines in your muscle building workouts, and I guarantee you'll make gains.

What's Next?

In the next episode, I'll cover what it feels like to push yourself in high-intensity or heavy lifting resistance training. This is a more advanced style of training that I don't recommend attempting unless you've been doing high volume training for at least six months. When you do start practicing heavier lifts, you'll need to adjust your expectations about what it feels like to challenge yourself at higher intensities.

Ready to take your training to the next level? I'm currently onboarding new clients for one-on-one coaching. Check the link in the show notes to apply and work with me today.

Links:

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Ep 80 | How Hard Should You Train Cardio?

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One of the most common struggles in fitness is knowing whether you're pushing hard enough in your workouts or if you're pushing too hard. This uncertainty can lead to plateaus when you're not challenging yourself enough, or worse, overtraining and injury when you're pushing beyond what your body can handle.

Today, I want to demystify what it actually looks and feels like to challenge yourself appropriately in cardiovascular training so you can make consistent progress without burnout.

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):

  Something that we often talk about is how it's so important for you to challenge yourself in your workouts in order to continue to make progress, but it can sometimes be a little confusing to know what that exactly means. What does it actually feel like to challenge yourself in your workouts? Now, this is an important question to consider, especially because if you don't challenge yourself enough in your workouts, you'll likely see a plateau in your progress at the same time. A lot of people have a tendency to challenge themselves too much by pushing too hard, working too hard, and risking over-training or injury in their workouts. So what I want to do today is open up a discussion on what it actually looks like and feels like to challenge yourself in just the right amount in your workouts to continue to make progress by burning fat, building muscle, and getting stronger.

  (01:07)
  Welcome to the Coaching Corner podcast. My name is Jayd Harrison. I'm a personal trainer and I've created this podcast to share with you tips and tricks to improve your fitness without shame and without burnout. In today's episode, I'm going to start a three part discussion on what it looks and feels like to challenge yourself in your workouts depending on the style of training that you're doing. Now, this discussion is going to be broken up into three main parts because there are three main differences in how it looks and how it feels to challenge yourself in three different areas of exercise. I'm going to go over what it looks like and feels like to challenge yourself in cardiovascular training as well as what it looks like in the two main styles of resistance training that I use with my clients high volume training or hypertrophy training and strength training or heavy lifting.

  (02:00)
  Now, keep in mind that these episodes are going to be small excerpts from the lessons that I give to my one-on-one coaching clients, and right now I am onboarding new clients into my 90 day fat loss transformation program. So if you are looking to lose weight, burn fat and keep it off for good, consider working with me. Use the link that is in the video description below if you're watching on YouTube or in the show notes if you're listening to the podcast. And before we get into the episode, please make sure to like this video if you're watching on YouTube and subscribe to my channel so you never miss new videos. And if you are listening to this podcast, thanks so much. Make sure that you follow the show so you always get the latest episodes delivered right to your device. Without further ado, let's get into to today's discussion of what it looks and feels like to challenge yourself in cardiovascular training.

  (02:57)
  Let's get into what it looks and feels like to challenge yourself in cardiovascular training. Now, cardiovascular training is a style of training that's focused specifically on training your cardiovascular system that is your heart and your lungs ability to get oxygen to your muscles. Now, this is a really important system not just for your fitness but for your overall health, and it is important to train our hearts to keep them healthy. So during a cardiovascular focused workout, your goal is going to be to get your heart pumping and to keep it pumping at a slightly higher rate than what you normally have when you are sitting at rest, working or just relaxing. Most people don't really need to do more than between 150 to 300 minutes of cardiovascular exercise every week. That's what the American Heart Association recommends for people to maintain the health of their hearts and their cardiovascular systems.

  (03:55)
  This could be five days a week of doing between 30 and 60 minutes of cardiovascular exercise. Cardiovascular exercise is any type of activity that keeps your heart rate up for a sustained period of time, at least five minutes. It usually involves repetitive motions, specifically using your bigger muscles in your legs, but really any sustained activity for any of the muscles in your body can get your heart rate up and count as cardiovascular exercise. And there's two main types of cardiovascular exercise that you need to be aware of. One is moderate intensity and the other is high intensity. Most people are fine to just do between 150 and 300 minutes of moderate intensity exercise every week. Moderate intensity activity is anything that gets your heart rate up to between 50 and 70% of your max heart rate and your max heart rate is something that is going to be different depending on your age.

  (04:55)
  So for a 30-year-old, a moderate intensity heart rate would be between 95 and 162 beats per minute. So when you're exercising, you can use a heart rate tracker or fitness tracker device like an Apple Watch or Fitbit, or you can use a heart rate monitor or you can even track your heart rate manually by finding your pulse at your wrist or at your neck to make sure that while you're exercising, your heart is beating in the right number of beats per minute. An easier way for you to check whether you're working at a moderate intensity is to use the talking test. When you are doing moderate intensity exercise, you should be able to talk. Although you are breathing faster, you should not be able to sing though. Great examples of exercises that count as moderate intensity activity are going for a brisk walk where you're walking at least 2.5 miles per hour.

  (05:47)
  Dancing like ballroom or social dancing are great moderate intensity exercises as well. Riding a bike at a slow rate of 10 miles per hour or slower also counts here. Many activities of daily living like gardening, doing yard work or tidying up your house also count as moderate intensity exercise. Now let's talk about what it actually feels like when you are working at that moderate intensity exercise. Again, you can use the talking test and the singing test to make sure that you are working where you need to work, but there are other sensations that you can keep an eye out for to ensure that you're working as hard as you need to be and not over training. So you may experience physical sensations like you're breathing noticeably harder than you would if you were at rest, but you should still be able to maintain a full conversation with full sentences, although you may have to breathe more frequently than you would if you were resting.

  (06:36)
  Your heart rate should be elevated but steady where you're aware that your heart is beating faster but you're not alarmed by it. You will likely also experience a very light sweating or a slight increase in your body temperature, especially after five to 10 minutes, your muscles will likely feel engaged and warm but not burning or straining. You should feel like you could sustain whatever activity it is that you're doing for 30 to 60 plus minutes. Mentally, you'll likely feel like what you're doing is challenging but also manageable. The activity that you're doing might require some focus to maintain your pace, but your mind can still wander and you can still think about and talk about other things. You might also feel a sense of like, I'm working but you don't feel desperate. For the work to end, I usually recommend most people just focus on doing moderate intensity cardio and keeping their exercise moderate for the most part because it's not so stressful on your body as doing high intensity training, and you often can do other things while you're doing your moderate intensity activity.

  (07:41)
  This is the type of activity that a lot of people can do while they're working. If they have a standing desk and a walking pad or a stationary bike that they can sit at while they work, you should be able to do other things while you're doing moderate intensity activity and you usually won't have much difficulty in recovering after a moderate intensity cardio session. It's also really easy to incorporate moderate intensity cardiovascular training with other training programs as well. So if you do resistance training, you could do moderate intensity cardio before or after your training session without either being impacted too much. Now if you're short on time, but you also are a more intermediate or advanced exerciser, you can try high intensity or vigorous exercise. The American Heart Association classifies this as any kind of exercise that gets your heart rate between 70 and 85% of your max heart rate for a 30-year-old that's between 133 and 161 beats per minute.

  (08:38)
  During vigorous exercise or high intensity cardio, you'll get warm and you'll begin to sweat and you'll be breathing a lot faster. If you try to talk for more than a sentence or two, you will get out of breath. So it's very hard for you to talk. The high intensity or vigorous exercise is really efficient for burning calories and improving the fitness of your cardiovascular system, which is why for each minute a vigorous or high intensity exercise or mixed high intensity and moderate intensity exercise, each one minute actually counts twice as two minutes towards your 150 to 300 minute weekly goal of exercise. So you can spend less time doing a higher intensity or a vigorous type of exercise, and it will count twice towards your weekly minute goal. So for example, if you did 15 minutes of high intensity interval training, that actually counts the same as 30 minutes of moderate intensity interval training.

  (09:35)
  Now, high intensity or vigorous training is a lot of wear and tear on your body, so you don't really want to be doing this all the time, and you certainly want to be aware of how your body recovers after doing high intensity training. A lot of people experience difficulty recovering from high intensity training because it can often put a lot of strain on the joints and on the muscles. So I generally don't recommend doing high intensity cardio training more than two or three times a week. So if you're interested in trying high intensity training, I suggest introducing it gradually to your weekly exercise routine, starting with just once a week or twice a week at most, and then keeping the rest of your cardiovascular training at a moderate intensity, and then also really monitor how your body recovers after doing high intensity training. If you're experiencing joint pain or you get lots of minor aches and pains that are just kind of recurring and not going away, this may be an indicator that you're doing too much and you need to step back a little bit.

  (10:39)
  So some good examples of high intensity or vigorous exercise are things like high intensity interval training where you alternate between doing vigorous bouts of exercise for a period of time and then alternating that with either lighter intensity exercise or rest. Good example of that would be a Tabata, which is an eight rounds of 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off of doing an exercise. There are lots of different ways that you can incorporate high intensity interval training, but in essence, you're alternating between bursts of intense activity and rest or lower intensity activity. A lot of circuit training is also high intensity cardio as well. Even if you're doing resistance training exercises like pushups and squats with circuit training, the goal is to keep your heart rate elevated, so you're going to be moving really quickly between these different exercises with the goal of keeping your heart rate up while challenging different muscles and movement patterns.

  (11:36)
  Running and sprinting are also good examples of high intensity cardio. So is vigorous aerobic dancing, playing a sport like tennis or soccer, riding a bike or cycling for 10 miles per hour or faster jumping rope or hiking uphill or while wearing a heavy backpack, you'll know that you're working at a high intensity if you're wearing a heart rate monitor or a fitness tracker, or if you're tracking manually and you check the number of beats per minute of your heart rate, again, for high intensity or vigorous activity, that's 70 to 85% of your max heart rate, which for an average 30-year-old is going to be somewhere between 133 and 161 beats per minute. Now, what this actually feels like is physically, you'll notice that you're breathing heavily. You can still speak, but it's got to be in short phrases and you can't talk for very long.

  (12:27)
  You'll notice that your heart is pounding noticeably in your chest, but it shouldn't be at a pace where it's really alarming. You'll notice significant sweating often pretty quickly within minutes, and you may also notice that your muscles start burning, especially the muscles that are working. You might experience a strong desire to stop, especially towards the end of an interval, and you will feel like you can only sustain your pace for short bursts of time. A high intensity or vigorous exercise often requires a lot of mental grit and self-talk to push through and keep going, or you may require your coach to tell you Don't give up, keep going, keep pushing. It's hard to think about anything except for the exercise that you're doing, and you might experience mental relief when your interval ends. It feels genuinely challenging in the moment, but your recovery comes relatively quickly during your rest periods and at the end of the workout.

  (13:25)
  Now, a few red flags that you should watch out for when you're doing any type of cardiovascular exercise. These are red flags that you're working way too hard or that there is something wrong and you are at risk of injury or getting sick. One is if you feel any chest pain or pressure, and this is distinct from feeling your heart pumping in your chest, okay? You want to pay attention to that because that could be an indicator of something going wrong. You also should not feel any dizziness or lightheadedness or feeling faint. Any nausea or vomiting is also a red flag that you're pushing it too hard. Any pain in your jaw, your neck or your arm, especially on the left side of your body, is a huge red flag and could be potential cardiac symptoms, so pay attention to those as well. Any severe shortness of breath that doesn't improve even after you slow down is also another red flag.

  (14:17)
  Any irregular heartbeat or heart palpitations is also a sign of something being wrong. So if you notice any skipping beats or fluttering, that's a red flag or any sharp joint or muscle pain is also a sign that you should slow down or stop. Now, dull fatigue and burning in the muscles is totally normal, and I think that you can tell the difference between a dull burning sensation of the muscles as they get tired versus that type of sharp pain that you feel when you're experiencing an injury. We never want to push through acute pain if you start to feel signs of confusion or an inability to focus, that's also a red flag. If you experience any of these things, you need to stop the exercise immediately and get some medical attention. Other signs that you need to slow down, and you're probably overdoing it, are experiencing your form completely breaking down.

  (15:09)
  You're not able to perform a squat with good technique or you're not able to hold the plank or the pushup or whatever exercise it is with good technique and good alignment. This is a sign that you're overdoing it and you need to slow down or stop. If you're having difficulty recovering during your rest periods between your high intensity intervals, this means that you're likely pushing it too hard and you need to slow down. And if you're also experiencing extreme fatigue that lasts for hours after the workouts, that's also a sign that you're overdoing it and you need to step back. If you are feeling worse and not energized, especially after weeks of a new block of training, this is a sign that the intensity is way too high and you need to back off. So the key thing to take away here when it comes to training effectively in your cardiovascular workouts is that discomfort is a part of challenging yourself.

  (16:00)
  So there are certain uncomfortable feelings that you're going to feel that are necessary as part of challenging yourself and improving your cardiovascular fitness, but you don't need to push yourself to the point of extreme discomfort, pain or risk of injury or illness to make progress. Pain and warning signs like feeling nauseous or dizzy or confused, or having an inability to focus. These are all red flags that you're pushing it way too hard. Remember, you don't need to push it that hard in order to make progress and keep in mind that the risk of over-training far outweighs any potential benefits that you might get from pushing yourself too much, because if you end up getting injured or sick in a way, that means that you're not able to actually stay consistent on your workout plan because you need to take a break that is going to harm your progress in the long term. So you don't need to push yourself to that point. However, in order to keep making progress, you do need to push yourself and challenge yourself within reason. So these are some of the things that you can listen to your body on while you're doing your cardiovascular training to make sure that you're working at just the right level and getting just the right amount of challenge to keep making progress, to keep burning calories and improving your overall fitness level.

  (17:27)
  Thank you so much for watching or listening to this episode of The Coaching Corner podcast. In the next episode, we're going to dive into the different ways that it looks and feels to challenge yourself in resistance training workouts. Now, this is distinct from the way that it feels to challenge yourself in cardio workouts, so we'll dive deeper into that next time. In the meantime, make sure to like this video if you found it helpful, and make sure to also subscribe to my channel on YouTube. Do you never miss new videos as they drop? If you're listening to this podcast, thank you so much. Make sure that you've also followed the show so you always get the latest episodes delivered right to your device. I'll see you in the next episode where we will talk about what it looks and feels like to challenge yourself in resistance training. In the meantime, make sure that you take care of yourself, eat your veggies, eat your protein, drink water, and I will see you soon.

Understanding Cardiovascular Training

Cardiovascular training focuses specifically on training your heart and lungs' ability to deliver oxygen to your muscles. This isn't just important for fitness—it's crucial for your overall health and longevity.

During a cardio workout, your goal is to elevate your heart rate above its resting level and maintain that elevated rate throughout your session. The good news? Most people only need between 150 to 300 minutes of cardiovascular exercise per week to maintain heart health, according to the American Heart Association. That breaks down to just 30 to 60 minutes of activity, five days a week.

Cardiovascular exercise includes any sustained activity that keeps your heart rate elevated for at least five minutes. While this typically involves repetitive motions using your larger leg muscles, any sustained movement can count as cardio.

The Two Types of Cardio Intensity

Moderate Intensity Cardio

Most people can meet their cardiovascular health needs through moderate intensity exercise alone. This type of training gets your heart rate between 50% and 70% of your maximum heart rate.

For a 30-year-old, that's approximately 95 to 162 beats per minute.

The Talk Test: A simple way to gauge moderate intensity is whether you can talk but not sing. You should be breathing faster than normal but still able to maintain full conversations with complete sentences.

Examples of moderate intensity exercise include:

• Brisk walking at 2.5 miles per hour or faster

• Ballroom or social dancing

• Cycling at 10 miles per hour or slower

• Gardening and yard work

• Household cleaning and tidying

What moderate intensity actually feels like:

Physically, you'll notice you're breathing noticeably harder than at rest, but you can still hold full conversations. Your heart rate will be elevated but steady—you're aware it's beating faster, but it's not alarming. You'll experience light sweating or a slight temperature increase after five to ten minutes. Your muscles will feel engaged and warm, but they shouldn't be burning or straining.

The key indicator? You should feel like you could sustain the activity for 30 to 60 minutes or longer.

Mentally, moderate intensity feels challenging but manageable. The activity requires some focus to maintain your pace, but your mind can still wander. You might think about other things or have conversations. You're working, but you don't feel desperate for it to end.

Why I recommend moderate intensity for most people:

Moderate cardio isn't overly stressful on your body, which means you can often multitask during these sessions. Many people do moderate intensity cardio while working at a standing desk with a walking pad or stationary bike. Recovery is typically straightforward, and you can easily incorporate these sessions before or after resistance training without either workout suffering.

High Intensity Cardio

If you're short on time or you're a more intermediate to advanced exerciser, high intensity or vigorous exercise can be an efficient option. This style of training elevates your heart rate to 70% to 85% of your maximum.

For a 30-year-old, that's approximately 133 to 161 beats per minute.

The major benefit? High intensity exercise counts double toward your weekly minute goal. Fifteen minutes of high intensity interval training equals 30 minutes of moderate intensity training.

Examples of high intensity exercise include:

• High intensity interval training (HIIT) like Tabata workouts

• Circuit training with minimal rest

• Running and sprinting

• Vigorous aerobic dancing

• Sports like tennis or soccer

• Cycling at 10 miles per hour or faster

• Jumping rope

• Hiking uphill or with a heavy backpack

What high intensity actually feels like:

Physically, you'll be breathing heavily. You can still speak, but only in short phrases—you won't be able to talk for long. Your heart will be pounding noticeably in your chest, though it shouldn't feel alarming. You'll experience significant sweating, often within minutes. Your muscles will start burning, especially the ones you're actively using. You'll feel a strong desire to stop, particularly toward the end of intervals, and you'll only be able to sustain the pace for short bursts.

Mentally, high intensity training requires serious grit and self-talk to push through. It's difficult to think about anything except the exercise itself. You'll experience mental relief when intervals end. The workout feels genuinely challenging in the moment, but recovery comes relatively quickly during rest periods and after the session ends.

Important considerations for high intensity training:

High intensity workouts create significant wear and tear on your body. I generally don't recommend doing this type of training more than two to three times per week. Many people struggle with recovery because high intensity cardio can strain joints and muscles.

If you want to try high intensity training, introduce it gradually—start with just once or twice a week maximum. Keep the rest of your cardiovascular training at moderate intensity. Monitor how your body recovers carefully. Recurring joint pain or minor aches that don't resolve may indicate you're doing too much and need to scale back.

Red Flags: When You're Pushing Too Hard

Certain warning signs indicate you're working dangerously hard or something is wrong. Stop immediately and seek medical attention if you experience:

• Chest pain or pressure (distinct from feeling your heart pumping)

• Dizziness, lightheadedness, or feeling faint

• Nausea or vomiting

• Pain in your jaw, neck, or arm, especially on the left side

• Severe shortness of breath that doesn't improve when you slow down

• Irregular heartbeat or heart palpitations (skipping beats or fluttering)

• Sharp joint or muscle pain (dull fatigue and burning is normal)

• Confusion or inability to focus

Other signs you need to slow down:

• Your form is completely breaking down—you can't perform exercises with proper technique

• You're having difficulty recovering during rest periods between high intensity intervals

• You experience extreme fatigue lasting hours after workouts

• You feel worse, not energized, especially after weeks of a new training block

The Bottom Line

Discomfort is part of challenging yourself and improving your cardiovascular fitness. However, you don't need to push yourself to the point of extreme discomfort, pain, or risk of injury to make progress.

Pain and warning signs like nausea, dizziness, confusion, or inability to focus are red flags that you're pushing too hard. The risk of overtraining far outweighs any potential benefits because getting injured or sick will force you to take a break, ultimately harming your long-term progress.

That said, to keep making progress, you do need to challenge yourself within reason. Use the sensations and guidelines I've outlined to gauge whether you're working at the right level—getting just enough challenge to improve your fitness, burn calories, and build a healthier cardiovascular system without crossing into dangerous territory.

In my next post, we'll explore what it looks and feels like to challenge yourself in resistance training workouts, which requires a completely different approach than cardiovascular exercise.

Looking to lose weight, burn fat, and keep it off for good? I'm currently onboarding new clients into my 90-day fat loss transformation program. Learn more about one-on-one coaching or join my Gains Club membership for ongoing support and guidance.

Links:

• Watch on Youtube

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• American Heart Association Recommendations for Exercise

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Ep 79 | 5 Common Fat Loss Mistakes (And How to Fix Them)

Youtube | Spotify | Apple | Google | Amazon

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As a personal trainer, I've worked with countless clients on their fat loss journeys. While many people come to me having already tried various approaches, I consistently see the same mistakes holding them back from reaching their goals. Today, I'm sharing the five most common fat loss mistakes I encounter—and more importantly, how to fix them.

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):

  As a personal trainer, the majority of my clients come to me because they want to burn fat, and they usually have tried a bunch of things before they come to me to burn fat on their own with varying levels of success. And oftentimes, there are a lot of things that they're doing right and that they're on the right track in. But then there's also a lot of key areas where people tend to make mistakes. And so today what I want to share with you is five of the most common mistakes that I see people making in their fat loss journeys. And I'm going to share with you how I as a coach, work with my clients to fix these mistakes so that they can get back on track in their fat loss.

  (00:48)

  Welcome to the Coaching Corner podcast. I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. I've been a personal trainer for over 10 years, and I've created this podcast to share with you some tips and tricks to get in shape, get lean, get strong without shame and without burnout. In today's episode, I'm going to share with you five common mistakes that people make in their fat loss journeys. And I'm also going to share with you some tips for how to get back on track and fix these mistakes so you can make progress in your fat loss. And before we get into the episode, keep in mind that I am enrolling clients right now into my 90 day fat loss transformation program. So if you want a little bit more guidance and structure around your fat loss journey so that you can lose up to 25 pounds in three months, click on the link that is below this video or in the show notes and check out the program today. Also, make sure to like this video if you're watching on YouTube and subscribe to my channel so you never miss a new video. And if you are listening to this podcast, thank you so much. Make sure to follow the show so you get the latest episodes always delivered right to your device. And without further ado, let's get into the episode.

  (02:01)

  As a personal trainer, there are five main mistakes that I see people making when they first come to work with me on their fat loss. And making these mistakes can easily sabotage your fat loss progress, causing you to hit a plateau and stop making progress, or it could even cause you to start gaining fat again. The number one mistake that I see a lot of people making when they're on a fat loss journey is they are way too aggressive with their calorie deficit. Now, it's true that in order to burn fat, you do need to be in a calorie deficit, which means that your body is burning more energy or more calories than what you're taking in through the food that you eat. So you may be thinking, oh, if I just eat less than I should be able to burn more calories, and the lower I go in my calorie consumption, the less that I eat, the more fat I will burn.

  (02:53)

  And yes, that does make sense in theory, but in practice, this type of tactic usually backfires because severe calorie restriction can increase your hunger levels and make it harder for you to actually stick to your calorie deficit. When you go super low in your calorie intake, your body will up the cravings that you have, especially for high sugar, high calorie foods. And because you have less energy in your body and less energy going to your brain, it gets a lot harder to resist these cravings. And so you may find yourself splurging and going overboard really often because it's just really hard on your mental health to stay in such a low calorie deficit and you're also fighting against your body's biology. Your body is built to prevent you from starving to death. And so when you go super, super low and your calories that sends off alarms and your body and your body and your brain are going to fight against you.

  (03:55)

  So even though you may want to eat a lower calorie intake, your body may override you and make it really hard for you to stick to that plan and it could backfire to the point where you actually start gaining weight because when you splurge, you massively overshoot your calories and go into a calorie surplus to the point where you're actually eating more calories overall than what your body is burning. Another way that going too low in your calories can backfire is that it can cause a breakdown in your muscle tissue, especially when you are in a really low calorie intake. Your body doesn't just break down fat and burn fat to make up for the energy that it isn't getting through your food. It also breaks down other tissues, including your muscle, and your muscle is one of the main drivers of your metabolism. So as your muscle breaks down, your total calorie burn every day will go down as well, so you'll have less energy overall.

  (04:52)

  And when you do get active in exercise, you will burn fewer calories because you just don't have as much of the engines, namely your muscle burning calories like before. So overall, this can make it so that even if you eat a calorie deficit because your body isn't burning as many calories as it used to be before, you're not actually in as much of a calorie deficit as you think because you have reduced the total amount of energy that your body burns. And remember being in a calorie deficit is about making sure that your body is burning more calories than what you're taking in. So going too low can actually get your body to burn fewer calories, which is the opposite of what we want when we're trying to burn fat. So just keep in mind that you do not need to go into a really super deep calorie deficit.

  (05:42)

  A moderate deficit of between 300 and 500 calories below your maintenance level of calories is enough to make sustainable fat loss progress. It takes 3,500 calories to burn one pound of fat, so spread that out over a week with a 500 calorie deficit every day, eating 500 calories below what your body normally burns and you can burn a pound of fat a week, but going lower than this, you risk losing muscle tissue and getting the mental health backlash that might cause you to splurge and overshoot your calories while also reducing the number of calories that your body burns every day. So be careful about going too low in your calorie deficit, and if you do decide to go into a really steep calorie deficit, be low 500 calories below your maintenance, then make sure that you have a clear cutoff point. You don't want to be super low in your calories for an extended period of time, which is another mistake that a lot of people make when they go into their calorie deficit.

  (06:46)

  They think, oh, I'm going to just be eating 1000 calories below my maintenance level of calories indefinitely. When I'm coaching my clients in a fat loss phase, I usually have an end point in mind that we are going to be cutting calories for no more than 12 weeks at a time. The deeper the calorie deficit, the shorter amount of time that we will be eating that amount of calories. So if I have a client who's doing a 750 calorie deficit or eating 1000 calories below their maintenance, I'm usually not going to have them be at that level of calories for longer than six weeks because it's just so difficult to maintain long-term and also tends to lead to muscle loss and a fat loss plateau. The second common mistake that I see a lot of people make when they are trying to burn fat is that in their exercise they do a ton of cardio, but they don't really do any strength training.

  (07:40)

  Now, cardio is a really great style of exercise to do for getting your body to burn a lot of calories In a cardio session. You can get your body to burn as much as 300 to 500 calories in 30 minutes depending on the type of exercise you're doing and how fast you're moving, how hard you're working. So if you want to increase the amount of calories that your body is burning within a workout, you should do some cardio for sure, but don't forget that your muscle is one of the main drivers of your metabolism. So it's really important that you are building muscle to one, prevent the breakdown of muscle tissue. That happens naturally whenever you're in a calorie deficit because remember, your body doesn't just burn fat. It also breaks down muscle when you are eating fewer calories than what your body is spending doing strength training can help prevent your body from breaking down muscle tissue, and it can even help you to build more muscle tissue, which will help your body to burn more calories every day, even on the days that you don't work out.

  (08:38)

  And you don't have to do a super crazy intense strength training program doing something as simple as once or twice a week of a total body routine where you hit all of the major muscle groups, push them to muscle fatigue with compound exercises that hit multiple groups at same time, that is enough to help you to prevent muscle loss and to build muscle and rev up your metabolism. Remember that more muscle means that your body's going to burn more calories, which means that it'd be easier for you to burn more fat without necessarily having to eat less. And also remember that strength training is what creates that toned look that most people are after because most people that come to me for personal training say they don't just want to be skinny, they want to look fit, they want to look toned, and strength training is what's going to get you there, so make sure that you're incorporating strength training into your total fat loss plan.

  (09:31)

  Number three, another mistake that people often make in their fat loss journeys is that they're not tracking what they're eating or measuring their portions. They're just kind of eyeballing it and not being mindful of the amount of cooking oils or butter that they're adding when they're preparing their food. And they're also just making a lot of assumptions about how many calories are in the food that they're eating. But when you actually take a second to track what you eat, you become more aware of how many calories are in the foods that you're choosing. The first thing that I do with my fat loss transformation clients is I have them start tracking everything that they eat and drink. And the first week of our program, this helps them to build some of that awareness around how many calories are in the foods that they're eating every day.

  (10:17)

  Then we are able to make decisions about what kinds of foods we maybe need to reduce or substitute in order to help get them on track towards their fat loss goal. But even if you're tracking your food, if you're not measuring it, if you're just eyeballing it, it's very easy to overconsume calories, especially when it comes to cooking oil and butter that you might be adding to your foods. One tablespoon of olive oil is about 120 calories. So if you're just dumping oil over your vegetables or in the pan, you could easily accumulate 300 to 500 calories in just one meal because of the added oils. So this is why tracking is so important, even if you just do it for a little while to develop some self-awareness around how many calories are actually in the foods that you're eating. Even some really healthy foods have higher amounts of calories in them than you would probably think.

  (11:12)

  For example, avocados, nuts and seeds, these are foods that are very calorie dense, although they are healthy and they're very good for you, they have a lot of vitamins and minerals and fiber that your body needs. A lot of people will snack on these things without measuring or tracking it and not realize that they're adding another 300 to 500 calories to their daily intake because they're just snacking on almonds or they're snacking on guacamole with chips. So become more aware of exactly how much energy you're putting into your body because any unused energy that you take in through the food that you eat, even when you're eating healthy foods, is likely going to get stored as fat. Number four, another common mistake people make in their eating is that they're not eating enough protein. This is an incredibly common problem. A couple of years ago, I had a client, we'll call her Serena, and Serena is a vegan.

  (12:07)

  And a lot of times I do find that vegans and vegetarians do particularly struggle to eat enough protein. That's not always the case. And there are plenty of people who are not vegan and vegetarian who struggle to get in protein as well, but she in particular was having a lot of trouble sticking to her calorie number that we had decided on for her fat loss plan. She was finding that she was having a ton of cravings for super sugary or super salty snack foods, and these cravings were like period cravings or pregnancy cravings, like very intense, very difficult to resist, which meant that she was a lot of times splurging and overshooting her calories. So we took a look at her tracking and it turned out that she was really undershooting her protein intake. If you are low on your protein intake, it can actually cause your body to crave more sugary foods.

  (13:01)

  As soon as I had her start eating more nuts and seeds and beans, which are good vegan sources of protein, her cravings went down and so did her weight. So in general, shoot for eating enough protein every day. A good rule of thumb to shoot for is 0.8 grams of protein per pound of your body weight. If you have a lot of excess body fat, I wouldn't measure your protein intake by your body weight and instead would base it on your height, so you should shoot for one gram of protein per centimeter of your height. Now the amount of protein that you need, maybe more or slightly less so you'll want to kind of listen to your body and track what you eat, making sure that you're paying attention to how much protein you're eating, and then see how you're feeling after you have been eating a certain amount of protein for a week or two, and then make adjustments from there.

  (13:55)

  Eating enough protein is a great strategy for helping you to burn fat protein in general. It makes you feel more full when you eat it, and it keeps you feeling fuller for longer, so you're less likely to experience cravings or the temptation to splurge or eat between meals, and especially if you are choosing lean sources of protein, then you're also likely going to be taking in fewer calories than you would if you were eating a really high carbohydrate dense meal or snack. In practice. For most people, this looks like shooting for at least 25 grams of protein in every meal that you eat and whenever you're going to have a snack. I generally recommend my clients try to choose snacks that have at least 10 grams of protein in them, which is a good minimal amount of protein, but your body likely needs more, especially if you're exercising and your body needs more protein, especially when you are in a fat loss phase to help prevent the breakdown of your muscle.

  (14:55)

  And now number five. Another really common mistake that people make in their fat loss is that they expect linear progress. Fat loss is never linear. I've never worked with a client who's experienced a straight down progression of their fat loss over time, especially if you have a big fat loss goal, expect your fat loss and your weight loss to happen in spurts or cycles. There are going to be periods where you're not going to see the scale moving very much, and it doesn't necessarily mean that you're not making progress, especially if you're building muscle at the same time that you're trying to burn fat, which is what I recommend. It's not uncommon to see a weight loss plateau when your body is recomposition, meaning you're burning fat and building muscle at the same time. When this happens, it's really important that you continue to stay the course.

  (15:54)

  A lot of people, when they see the scale stop moving, they panic and they spiral and they give up. But that is the worst thing that you can do when you hit a weight loss plateau. What you need to do is stay the course, continue to reach your daily calorie goal and continue to reach your daily protein goal while sticking to your exercise plan. If you think you've hit a weight loss plateau, give it two or three weeks because sometimes the plateaus are only going to last for a couple of days or maybe for a week. And if you stick to the plan, you'll start to see the scale go down again. At the same time, you should also be taking your measurements, especially the measurements around your belly and your hips, because a lot of times when the scale isn't moving, my clients notice that they're still losing inches or centimeters around their waist because their body is still burning fat even though the scale isn't showing it.

  (16:52)

  So make sure you're also keeping an eye on other markers of fat loss progress, like your clothes fitting more loosely or the number of inches or centimeters around your belly going down. Try to avoid putting too much importance on the number on the scale because it's just one measurement of your progress. And also keep in mind that your body weight is going to fluctuate not just because of how much fat you have, but also according to how much water your body is retaining. If you have a day where you eat a lot of carbohydrate rich foods or sodium rich foods, your body's going to naturally retain more water. If you are female and you are on your period or you're about to start your period, your body is going to hold onto more water as well. So you may see your body weight spike up or plateau and stay the same during different points of your cycle.

  (17:44)

  So I want to challenge you to stay the course. If you've hit a plateau or you you've hit a plateau, give it two or three weeks to make sure that you actually have hit a plateau and make sure that you're also taking your other measurements and paying attention to how your clothes are fitting. Now, if you continue to stay at the same weight for two or three weeks or more, and then you're also not seeing your measurements go down, and also you're not noticing any progress in the gym, like you're building more muscle or you're able to do more weight or more reps on different exercises. If you're not noticing any of these changes, then yeah, you might have actually hit a plateau. And in that case, we need to step back, assess what you're doing, assess the plan, and assess the data of what the scale says and what your measurements say, and then make a decision on what we're going to do to help get your body back on track.

  (18:34)

  Now, if you need help with this, I am taking on new clients to my 90 day fat loss transformation program, and people who have just started on their fat loss journey and people who've been on it for a while are welcome to join this program. You will learn so much about your body and about how to burn fat effectively and keep that fat off for good. So check out the link for that in the show notes or in the video description below if you're interested and getting some accountability, some structure and some guidance so that you can avoid these and other mistakes that are very common on a fat loss journey.

  (19:15)

  Thank you so much for watching or listening to this episode of The Coaching Corner podcast. Again, I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. Make sure to follow me on my socials. I am Jaydigains everywhere. That's J-A-Y-D-I-G-A-I-N-S. If you're interested in working with me, check out my website. That's Jaydigains.com. Let me know what you think about this episode in the comments below the YouTube video, and also let me know if you have any questions or things that you would like me to discuss on the next episode of the Coaching Corner podcast. I'll see you then. In the meantime, make sure that you're taking good care of yourself. Eat your veggies, eat your protein, and drink your water, and I will see you soon.

Mistake #1: Being Too Aggressive with Your Calorie Deficit

Yes, you need to be in a calorie deficit to lose fat. But going too low with your calories almost always backfires.

When you severely restrict calories, your body fights back. Hunger levels spike, cravings intensify (especially for high-sugar, high-calorie foods), and your willpower weakens because your brain has less energy to resist temptation. You might find yourself splurging so often that you actually end up in a calorie surplus overall, defeating the entire purpose.

There's another problem: extreme calorie restriction causes muscle breakdown. Since muscle is a primary driver of your metabolism, losing muscle means your body burns fewer calories each day. You end up burning less energy even during exercise, making it harder to maintain the deficit you think you're creating.

The fix: Aim for a moderate deficit of 300-500 calories below your maintenance level. This is enough to lose about a pound of fat per week (remember, it takes 3,500 calories to burn one pound of fat). If you do go below 500 calories, have a clear endpoint—I typically keep clients in deep deficits for no more than six weeks, and standard cuts for no more than 12 weeks at a time.

Mistake #2: All Cardio, No Strength Training

Cardio is excellent for burning calories—you can burn 300-500 calories in just 30 minutes depending on intensity. But here's what many people miss: cardio alone won't give you the results you're after.

When you're in a calorie deficit, your body doesn't just burn fat—it also breaks down muscle tissue. Without strength training, you'll lose the very muscle that keeps your metabolism running high. Plus, strength training is what creates that toned, fit look most people want.

The fix: Incorporate strength training at least once or twice a week. You don't need anything crazy—a total body routine hitting all major muscle groups with compound exercises taken to muscle fatigue is enough to preserve muscle and even build new tissue. More muscle means your body burns more calories every day, even on rest days.

Mistake #3: Not Tracking Food or Measuring Portions

Eyeballing portions and making assumptions about calorie content is a recipe for stalled progress. This is especially true for cooking oils and butter—just one tablespoon of olive oil contains about 120 calories, meaning you could easily add 300-500 calories to a single meal without realizing it.

Even healthy foods can be surprisingly calorie-dense. Avocados, nuts, and seeds are nutritious and packed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber, but snacking on these without measuring can add hundreds of unexpected calories to your day.

The fix: Start tracking everything you eat and drink, at least for a few weeks. This builds awareness around the actual calorie content of your food choices. Measure your portions, especially oils, nuts, seeds, and other calorie-dense foods. Once you develop this awareness, you can make informed decisions about what to reduce or substitute.

Mistake #4: Not Eating Enough Protein

Low protein intake is incredibly common, and it sabotages fat loss in multiple ways.

I once worked with a vegan client (we'll call her Serena) who struggled intensely with cravings—the kind that felt like period or pregnancy cravings, impossible to resist. She kept overshooting her calorie goals because of these cravings for sugary and salty snacks. When we examined her food tracking, we discovered she was severely under-eating protein. Once she increased her intake with nuts, seeds, and beans, her cravings decreased dramatically, and so did her weight.

Protein keeps you fuller longer, reduces cravings, and helps prevent muscle breakdown during fat loss. If you're choosing lean protein sources, you're also likely consuming fewer calories than you would from high-carb meals or snacks.

The fix: Aim for 0.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight. If you carry significant excess body fat, base it on your height instead—about one gram per centimeter. In practice, this means targeting at least 25 grams of protein per meal and choosing snacks with at least 10 grams of protein. Track your intake for a week or two and adjust based on how you feel.

Mistake #5: Expecting Linear Progress

This might be the most important point: fat loss is never linear. I've never had a client experience a straight downward progression on the scale, especially when building muscle simultaneously.

You'll experience plateaus—sometimes for days, sometimes for a week or more. This doesn't necessarily mean you're not making progress. If you're building muscle while burning fat (which you should be), the scale might not budge even though your body composition is improving.

Your weight also fluctuates based on water retention. Eating more carbs or sodium? You'll retain more water. About to start your period? More water retention. These fluctuations are normal and temporary.

The fix: Stay the course. If you hit a plateau, give it two to three weeks before making changes. Continue hitting your calorie and protein goals while sticking to your exercise plan. Most plateaus resolve on their own.

Track more than just the scale: measure your waist and hips, pay attention to how your clothes fit, and notice your strength improvements in the gym. Often, my clients lose inches around their waist even when the scale isn't moving.

If you're still stuck after three weeks with no progress in any measurements or strength gains, then it's time to reassess your plan and make adjustments.

Final Thoughts

Avoiding these five mistakes can mean the difference between a frustrating fat loss experience and a successful transformation. Remember: sustainable fat loss comes from moderate deficits, balanced training that includes strength work, mindful nutrition tracking, adequate protein intake, and patience with the process.

Your body is complex, and progress isn't always visible on the scale. Trust the process, stay consistent, and give yourself grace when things don't go perfectly. That's how lasting change happens.

If you need help navigating your fat loss journey and want accountability, structure, and guidance to avoid these common pitfalls, check out my 90-day fat loss transformation program. Whether you're just starting out or have been at it for a while, you'll learn how to burn fat effectively and keep it off for good.

Links:

• Watch on Youtube

• Fat Loss Transformation Coaching Program

• Livestreams on Twitch

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Ep 78 | 5 Errors to Fix in Your Squat Technique to Build More Muscle and Reduce Risk of Injury

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Squats are one of the most important exercises you can practice for building total body strength and developing powerful leg muscles. However, this compound movement is also incredibly complex, involving multiple joints moving simultaneously, which creates plenty of opportunities for error.

The good news? When you master proper squat technique and fix these common mistakes, you'll unlock massive gains from this foundational exercise.

Why Squat Technique Matters

The squat is an essential movement pattern to master for safe and effective training. Whether you're performing bodyweight squats, goblet squats, or barbell back squats, the fundamental pattern remains the same: a controlled sitting motion from a standing position.

Poor technique doesn't just limit your results—it significantly increases your risk of injury. Let's dive into the five most common squat mistakes I see in my coaching practice and how to fix them.

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):
  

  Squats are one of the most important exercises that you can practice for helping you build total body strength and particularly building muscle in the legs. But this is also a really complex exercise. There are multiple joints and motion at the same time, and there's a lot going on, so there's a lot of room for error, but if you can master the squat and fix these errors and perform it well, you will get massive gains from performing this exercise. Hey there. Welcome to the Coaching Corner podcast. I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. I've been a personal trainer for over 10 years and I've created this podcast to share with you tips and tricks to help you get strong and lean without shame and without burnout. In today's episode, I'm going to share with you five common mistakes that people make while performing their squats and how to fix them.

  (01:00)
  Now, before we get into the episode, make sure to like this video if you are watching on YouTube and subscribe to the channel so that you never miss a new episode or other coaching tutorial videos that I drop. If you're listening to this episode, thank you so much. Make sure to follow the show so you always get the latest episodes delivered right to your device. And also keep in mind that right now I am welcoming a few new students into my 90 day fat loss transformation program. This coaching program will help you to lose up to 25 pounds in 90 days. I'll give you a customized training program as well as a custom meal plan and help you to get on track towards sustainable fat loss so you can lose that weight and keep it off for good. For more information, click the link that is in the show notes or in the video description below, and without further ado, let's get into the episode.

  (01:54)
  The squat is one of the most important movement patterns for you to master for safe and effective exercise technique. Now, there's many different variations of the squat depending on your stance and what type of equipment you're using to add resistance regardless of the weight or resistance that you're using. The squat essentially involves you performing a sitting down motion from a standing position. A really common error that I notice a lot of beginners make when they are learning the squat and practicing the squat and their workouts is that they move way too fast. The squat is a pretty complicated exercise, and it's really important that while you're performing this exercise, you are paying close attention to the positioning of your body and the engagement of your muscles and the stretch of your muscles at every point of the squat. So I want to encourage you to slow down and practice slow tempo reps to work on your squat technique.

  (02:56)
  My favorite tempo to practice good squat technique is to spend four seconds going down into the bottom of the squat, pausing for two seconds at the bottom, and then one second to stand up. Slowing down as you lower down into the squat allows you to really plug your mind into your muscles and pay attention to how fast or slow your joints are bending and making sure that everything is going and stopping at the same time. When you move in a really fast uncontrolled way, it's very difficult for you to assess whether you are moving with good technique. It's also very easy to injure yourself because you're not properly engaged. These fast and uncontrolled movements, especially when you have weight, are a recipe for injuring yourself, either pulling a muscle in your back, hurting your knee, hurting your hips or your ankles or something else. So slow down your movements and really focus on identifying the muscles that are working, identifying the muscles that you feel stretching and ensuring that you're keeping your torso rigid throughout the entire range of motion and that your body is in the right position and that you're keeping your balance throughout the entire range of motion.

  (04:10)
  Ideally, you should be able to stop and pause at every single point of the squat if you're not able to do that, but that means that there's something going on with your technique or with your body positioning that's not really healthy, so slow it down and really focus on your form. This is also going to help you to build more muscle too, because the more time that we spend with the muscles under tension, especially as they're elongating in the way that the quadriceps, the glutes, and the hamstrings are, as you lower down into the squat, that is going to yield much more muscle growth and strength gains than going super duper fast up and down in your squat. Now, one common error that a lot of people make when they're learning how to perform a squat is that they don't properly brace their core. It's so important to brace your core by engaging all of the muscles in your torso to maintain your back in alignment through the entire range of motion.

  (05:05)
  While you're performing the squat, we don't want to see any motion in the spine. There should be no flexion or extension, and your spine should stay essentially in the same position as from the top of the movement to the bottom of the movement. Now, if you don't properly brace your core, what you'll likely see is that as you perform the squat, your torso may move in some way. Very commonly I see people drop their chest and their shoulders down to the point where they're rounding their spine forward on the way down into the squat and at the bottom of the squat, and then when they come back up, they have to do spinal extension to straighten themselves back up and lift their chest up. Now, this puts a lot of strain on the muscles in your back and it can lead to a pulled muscle or even an injured disc.

  (05:51)
  We don't want any motion at all in the spine while you're performing the squat. Another common error that people make is that they overly tilt their hips to the point where they're hyperextending their spine and almost like they're doing a back bend as they push their hips back behind them. This movement in the spine can also injure the muscles in the back or one of your discs. You should practice holding your torso in the same rigid position just like you were holding your body in a plank or in the way that you hold your body rigid. When you're doing your anti rotational core and balance training, like when you're doing a dead bug or a bird dog, the way that you have to really engage your abdominals, your obliques, your spinal erectors, your lats, and your external shoulder rotator muscles, all of that has to stay fired up to keep your torso from moving.

  (06:43)
  That's the engagement that we want to see in your core while you're performing squats as well. A common form of spinal movement that you might see is what's called butt wink. Butt wink is when your hips tilt under and then come back up at the bottom of the squat as you lower down into the bottom of the squat, and then they tilt back up. As you start to stand back up. This movement in the lumbar spine puts a lot of strain on those muscles in your lower back and on your spine. This type of movement in the spine is often due to tightness in your hips and in your hamstrings, so you'll need to work on your hip and hamstring mobility to prevent your butt from winking under at the bottom of your squat. In general, I recommend stopping the squat before your butt starts to wink, even if that means that you can't get your thighs parallel to the floor.

  (07:35)
  Now, another common error that can hurt your back is allowing your hips to shoot up faster than your chest comes up out of the bottom of the squat. Ideally, whenever you're descending to the bottom of the squat and when you're coming back up, all of your joints and your whole body should be moving at the exact same rate. Your hips, your knees, your ankles should be bending at the same time and stopping at the same time, and then when they come back up, your ankles, your knees and your hips should all be extending at the same time as well. But what sometimes happens for people who tend to have more strength in their glutes and in their hamstrings versus in their quadriceps is that they will shoot their hips up and then perform kind of a hip hinge to bring their hips back forward out of the bottom of the squat, and this looks more like they're doing a good morning. This is usually a sign that your quadriceps are not properly engaging to help get you up out of the bottom of the squat. So we need to do a little bit more targeted work on developing the strength and engagement of your quadriceps. You also want to think about standing up nice and tall to come up out of the squat rather than lifting your butt. So there you have it, a couple of technique errors to watch out for and how to address them.

  (08:58)
  Thank you so much for watching this episode of The Coaching Corner Podcast. Again, I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. I hope that you enjoyed this episode that you found it helpful, and let me know if you have any questions. You can leave them in the comments below this video if you're watching on YouTube. And again, make sure to like this video if you found it helpful, and make sure to subscribe to the channel so you always get the latest episodes and other videos that I drop throughout the week. If you're listening to this episode, thank you again so much. Make sure to follow the show so that you get the next episode delivered right to your device. And don't forget that I am currently enrolling five to six new clients in my 90 day fat loss transformation program, so if you are ready to lose that weight and keep it off for good, if you are tired of starting over again and again on your fat loss journey, I am here to help and I can't wait to share this program with you. Sign up in the link, in the show notes or in the video description below. I'll see you in the next episode. In the meantime, make sure to take care of yourself, drink some water, eat your protein, eat your veggies, and I will see you soon.

Mistake #1: Moving Too Fast

This is perhaps the most common error I notice among beginners. The squat is a complicated exercise that requires careful attention to body positioning, muscle engagement, and stretch throughout the entire range of motion.

The Fix: Slow down and practice tempo squats. I recommend a 4-2-1 tempo:

• 4 seconds lowering down into the squat

• 2 seconds pausing at the bottom

• 1 second standing back up

Slowing down allows you to connect your mind to your muscles and ensure all your joints are moving in sync. Fast, uncontrolled movements make it nearly impossible to assess your technique and create a recipe for injury—whether it's a pulled muscle in your back, or strain on your knees, hips, or ankles.

An added benefit? More time under tension, especially during the lowering phase, leads to greater muscle growth and strength gains in your quadriceps, glutes, and hamstrings.

Pro tip: You should be able to pause at any point during the squat. If you can't, something is off with your technique or positioning.

Mistake #2: Not Bracing Your Core Properly

Many people fail to engage their core effectively during squats, which compromises spinal stability and increases injury risk.

The Fix: Brace your core by engaging all the muscles in your torso—your abdominals, obliques, spinal erectors, lats, and external shoulder rotators. Think of maintaining the same rigid torso position you would during a plank, dead bug, or bird dog exercise.

Your spine should remain in the same position from the top to the bottom of the movement. There should be no flexion, extension, or lateral movement.

Common errors include:

• Rounding forward: Dropping your chest and shoulders, causing your spine to round on the way down

• Hyperextending: Excessively tilting your hips and arching your lower back like a back bend

Both of these patterns put tremendous strain on your back muscles and discs, potentially leading to serious injury.

Mistake #3: The Dreaded "Butt Wink"

"Butt wink" occurs when your hips tilt under at the bottom of the squat, causing your lumbar spine to round, then tilt back up as you stand. This movement places significant strain on your lower back muscles and spine.

The Fix: Butt wink is often caused by tightness in your hips and hamstrings. Work on improving mobility in these areas through dedicated stretching and mobility exercises.

In the meantime, stop your squat descent before your butt starts to wink—even if that means you can't get your thighs parallel to the floor. Better to squat to a safe depth with proper form than to go deeper with compromised positioning.

Mistake #4: Hips Rising Faster Than Your Chest

This error typically happens to people who have stronger glutes and hamstrings relative to their quadriceps. The pattern looks like this: as you come up from the bottom of the squat, your hips shoot up first, then you perform a hip hinge to bring your torso upright. It essentially turns into a "good morning" exercise.

The Fix: All your joints should move at the same rate throughout the entire squat. Your hips, knees, and ankles should:

• Bend at the same time

• Stop at the same time

• Extend at the same time

If your hips are shooting up first, it's a sign that your quadriceps aren't engaging properly. You'll need to incorporate more targeted quad work to develop strength and improve muscle activation.

Mental cue: Think about standing up nice and tall, rather than lifting your butt.

Mistake #5: Inconsistent Joint Movement

This relates closely to the previous mistake but deserves its own attention. Ideally, your entire body should move as one coordinated unit during the squat.

The Fix: When descending and ascending, focus on moving all joints simultaneously and at the same speed. Your ankles, knees, and hips should work in harmony throughout the entire range of motion.

Practicing slow tempo squats (see Mistake #1) will help you develop this coordination and body awareness.

Your Squat Checklist

Before your next squat session, remember these key points:

✓ Slow down your tempo—especially on the descent
✓ Brace your entire core throughout the movement
✓ Keep your spine in a neutral, rigid position
✓ Stop before any butt wink occurs
✓ Move all joints at the same rate
✓ Think "stand up tall" rather than "lift your hips"

Mastering the squat takes time and practice, but the payoff is enormous. This single exercise builds strength, muscle, and athleticism like few others can. Focus on quality over quantity, and you'll see incredible results while staying injury-free.

Ready to take your training to the next level? Focus on these technique fundamentals, stay consistent, and watch your strength soar.

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Ep 77 | Part 2: How to De-Shame Your Fitness Journey and Build a Healthier Relationship with Food

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If you've ever caught yourself saying "I'm so bad" after eating something, or beating yourself up for missing a workout, I want you to know—you're not alone, and there's actually a much better way to approach all of this.

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):

  If you don't like the way that you are behaving towards food or towards fitness, yes, you want to notice that you want to make changes, but shaming yourself and beating yourself up is not the most effective way to get you to make those changes. Hey there. Welcome to the Coaching Corner podcast. I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. I've been a personal trainer for over 10 years and I've created this podcast to share with you some tips and tricks to help you to get strong and get lean without shame and without burnout. In today's episode, we're picking back up on the discussion on how to desham your relationship with fitness and with food. In the last episode, we went over several different strategies that you can use to help detach shame from how you approach your body, your fitness and food. And in today's episode, I'm going to share a few more tips to take it a little bit further.

  (01:04)

  Now, this is just one of many of the types of lessons that I give to my fat loss transformation clients in my 90 day fat loss transformation program. So if you want a little bit more guidance and help on your fat loss journey, check out the link to the fat loss transformation program that's in the show notes or in the video description below if you're watching on YouTube. And also, don't forget to like this video if you are watching on YouTube and subscribe to the channel so you always get the latest videos as soon as they drop. If you're listening to this podcast episode, thank you so much. Make sure that you follow the show so you never miss an episode. And without further ado, let's talk more about how to desham your relationship with fitness and with food.

  (01:53)

  For many of us, the way that we see ourselves and the way that we see our fitness level and the way that we approach food is something that brings a lot of shame. Many people try to use shame as a motivating force to help them to change their behavior. So maybe you've done this before where you've noticed that you haven't been making the best food choices and choosing the most nutritious foods. So you start beating yourself up and saying things to yourself in your head or out loud like I'm so bad, or I was so bad, or I ate something so bad, and you may take it even further and be super duper mean to yourself. This is super common and it's a learned behavior, and it's also a really ineffective way to motivate yourself to actually make the changes that you want to make.

  (02:45)

  Humans and other animals are much more motivated through methods of positive psychology versus negative psychology. So a punishment and shame-based way of altering behavior is not as effective, it's not as efficient, and it just feels really bad in comparison to a more positive psychological approach that puts the focus and the emphasis on the desired behaviors and also puts an emphasis on trying to understand what kinds of factors lead to the not desired behaviors. So we want to take a look at our health and at our behaviors as a whole system. Then there's many things that influence how we behave and how we think and how we feel. So if you don't like the way that you are behaving towards food or towards fitness, yes, you want to notice that you want to make changes, but shaming yourself and beating yourself up is not the most effective way to get you to make those changes.

  (03:53)

  Instead, I want you to try to adopt a growth mindset. One that says, I may not be where I want to be, but I am in the process of learning how to do better and I'm practicing being better. So adopting a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset one that says, I am bad or I am just destined to this is just my body and this is how it's going to be, right? A fixed mindset, a defeatist mindset, a nihilistic mindset is not going to help you to make those changes. You kind of have to see yourself sort of like as a pet or a child that you're trying to raise. It's kind of like reparenting yourself, teaching yourself and learning how to see food differently and how to move differently and how to see yourself and your body differently and you're not going to be perfect at it, but you don't have to be right.

  (04:51)

  You can make big changes in your body without being 100% perfect. Your body reflects what you do most of the time. So when you do little shifts here and there to your behavior to move the needle forward, those little shifts add up over time. Over time, as you get better and better at practicing the food behaviors and the exercise behaviors that you want to see, you get better at doing them more consistently, and then that is what your body will eventually reflect. So one way to take a positive psychological approach in this process is to really place an emphasis on your progress and on your consistency. It is easy to analyze yourself and pick apart your performance or pick apart all of the things that you see that are negative. That's the easiest thing in the world to do. It is also one of the most destructive things that you can do, especially when you're in the beginning phases of trying to learn a new skill or trying to learn a new way of doing things.

  (05:56)

  You have to give yourself space and grace to mess up because it's part of the process. As a side note, I did give an entire podcast episode on how to reframe your relationship with failure in terms of your fitness and in life. And if this is something you struggle with, you probably would benefit a lot from going back and listening to that episode. That's episode 74. It's called Why Failure is Actually Your Friend, even when it Doesn't feel like it. I'll link that in the show notes and in the video description below. So again, it's more important that you focus your attention on the progress and the gains that you're making as you're trying to make changes in your life, and also focus on trying to stay consistent. Note that consistency does not mean perfection. Your body reflects what you do most of the time.

  (06:48)

  So I mean 60% of the time if you make the right food choices 60% of the time, if you get up and you move, that's what your body is going to reflect. And if you do more than 60%, then your body's going to reflect that even more. So think more about trying to get your numbers up and get the frequency up of when you make the choices that you're trying to make to change your relationship with food and to change your food behaviors or to change your fitness behaviors. Think about trying to get to the point where you're doing that most of the time and then when you mess up or you miss the mark, don't sweat it. It's part of the process and it's not what your body is going to reflect anyway. So that's what I want you to do when you're looking at your performance across the board, when you're trying to eat more vegetables, when you're trying to eat more protein or stick to a certain number of calories, whatever the goal is that you've set for yourself at the end of every week, I want you to take a look back and reflect on how you did.

  (07:47)

  If you met that goal most of the time, or if you met that goal more often than you did in the previous week, that is what I want you to put your focus on. That's where you should focus your attention, not on your mistakes and what went wrong, what you need to place more importance on is what you did right, and look at the factors around what happened that allowed you to more consistently make the right choice. We don't want to just focus on what went wrong and what caused things to go wrong, although that is important, but you also want to place as much emphasis if not more, on when you were able to actually meet the mark and what factors might have contributed to that so that you can replicate it in the future. Now, another mindset that's going to help you out a lot in changing your relationship with fitness and des shaming it is to redefine what being on track means.

  (08:42)

  Again, being on track does not mean perfect. It doesn't mean that you never splurge or that you never binge or that you never eat. Treat foods, in fact, like we talked about in the last episode, I think that it's actually good to plan for enjoying treat foods and going off plan or off track every once in a while to help keep yourself motivated and to boost your metabolism. There's nothing wrong with taking a diet break, especially if it's within a short contained time period or if it's just once in a while thing. As long as it doesn't become your habit or what you do most of the time, a little splurge here and there is not a big deal. It doesn't mean that you're off track either. And also keep in mind that if your definition of success or being on track is impossible because you have this expectation of never splurging or never going off plan, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

  (09:41)

  You're setting yourself up for feeling like a failure. You need to give yourself more flexibility. And when you splurge every once in a while, you can tell yourself that's part of the plan and then it can do my body some good and related to that, another thing that can help you is to give yourself permission to be human. As humans, we are never going to be perfect and we don't really have to be perfect to survive and to thrive and live meaningful, joyful lives. Carrying around an expectation of perfection is just going to keep you stuck and miserable because think about it, when you start beating yourself up for not being perfect, do you actually really feel super motivated to try again or get back on track? Most of the time? For most people, it just makes you feel like crap. It's not inspiring, and it also just puts a cloud over the entire endeavor.

  (10:39)

  I would so much rather you give yourself some leniency and expect to make mistakes because that's what it is to be human and to flow with that as part of the natural state of things, hitting bumps along the way, making mistakes. These are all part of our growth process and our failures, like I talked about in that episode on failure, are really crucial data points for us. They can teach us things about ourselves, about our weaknesses, about things we have to work on that we wouldn't learn otherwise unless we bumped up against some kind of failure. And also, you're not a machine. You're going to have events that are going to pop up and they're not going to fit within your perfect plan of how you're going to eat and exercise. You're going to have holidays, social gatherings with friends or with family or just interruptions to your schedule.

  (11:36)

  You might get sick, you might have to take some time off, and things will not be exactly how you wanted them or how you planned them to be. But keeping that flexibility in mind of being able to go with the flow and just try to make the best choice among the choices that are available to you is such a better way of going about things and will keep you more motivated than getting really frustrated or shaming yourself because things didn't go exactly how you wanted them to go. Cultivating that kind of mental flexibility will not only help you to stay motivated in your fitness, but it's going to help you in a lot of different aspects of your life. And finally, one more thing that I want you to take away from this discussion on shaming your relationship to food and to fitness is I want you to start to get into the habit of noticing When you start to get onto that shame spiral, noticing that it's happening and then planning to interrupt the shame spiral is one of the most important skills that you can master on your fitness journey and in life in general.

  (12:41)

  So you really want to be mindful and paying attention to the things that you tell yourself in your mind. When you start to have those self shaming thoughts creep in, like, I have no self-control. I'm so bad, I'm never going to reach my goal. When you start to hear those things or when you notice that you're telling yourself those things, you need to step back, notice that it's happening first, and then name it. Say, this is the shame spiral, or I'm on the shame spiral right now. Identify what it is because that is one step towards giving you some power over that shame spiral. Notice it, name it, and then interrupt it. So one really great way that you can interrupt and correct the shame spiral is to take whatever you're hearing and flip it into something that is more of a growth oriented statement.

  (13:34)

  So if you notice yourself saying something like, I have no self-control, that's a fixed mindset statement. It's like a judgment on your character, and there's no room for change or growth. And the more that you tell yourself things like that, the more you begin to believe it, which makes it hard for your system to make any changes. So instead, you want to correct that statement, follow it up by saying, I'm learning self-control. I'm growing in this area. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to X, Y, z, whatever the thing is that you're beating yourself up about. When you reframe it in this way, you actually give yourself room for growth and for change, and your mind, your nervous system, they hear that and they set you up for that growth. So try to practice reframing the negative self-talk in a way that allows for room of growth.

  (14:36)

  So great ways to do that are to say things like, I'm still learning. Fill in the blank. A lot of the shame spiral negative self-talk comes in the form of I am statements where you tell yourself that you are something and you describe yourself with all of these negative adjectives. When you notice that you're saying those kinds of things to yourself, that is a key indicator where you can stop, you interrupt it and say, oh, that's the shame spiral. And then you want to immediately follow it up, but consciously either in your head or out loud rephrasing what you just said to yourself in a growth oriented mindset way. So instead of saying, I am fill in the blank, you could say, I'm learning to X, Y, Z, whatever the verb associated with that thing is. You can also say, I struggled with whatever the thing is, which rephrases it in a way that's like, this is not defining who I am.

  (15:37)

  The fact that I had this issue doesn't say anything about me as a person, but it also indicates that I'm actively in a process of engaging with this thing. So I've struggled with or I struggled with is another reframe that can help you to go from a fixed mindset, shame spiral to a growth oriented mindset. You also want to be careful about projections of the future. When you say things like, I'll always be fill in the blank, or I will never fill in the blank. Those are often the types of statements that you'll say to yourself when you're on the shame spiral. And instead you can say, I'm working on fill in the blank. I'm still learning to master fill in the blank. So there's a lot of different ways that you can reframe how you speak to yourself in a way that isn't defining who you are based on your undesired behaviors or your undesired habits, right?

  (16:41)

  Your habits and your behaviors are the result of many, many factors, and many of them are not necessarily within your own control, but you do have the power to change your behavior. But it does take becoming mindful of the factors that contribute to it, but also it involves you adopting a growth mindset where you practice believing that you can change, that you can grow, and you can strengthen your ability to change and to grow by recognizing when you start talking to yourself with a fixed mindset and practice the growth mindset and practice statements of a growth mindset. So that's what I have for you today, a follow-up discussion on how to desham your relationship with food and desham your fitness. Now, there's still so much more that we can talk about and go into, which I do with my training clients who are part of my coaching programs.

  (17:38)

  If you're specifically looking to burn fat, I highly recommend that you check out my 90 day fat loss transformation program where I'll help you to lose up to 25 pounds in 90 days in a way that is safe growth mindset and positive psychology oriented, so that you can burn that fat and keep it off for good and not hate yourself in the process. So check out the information for that in the link in the show notes or in the video description below. Now, I'm just taking on a few more clients here, so if you're interested in this program, I recommend signing up today because those slots are going quickly.

  (18:20)

  Thank you so much for watching or listening to this episode of The Coaching Corner podcast. Again, I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains, and also check out my socials. I'm Jaydigains everywhere. That's J-A-Y-D-I-G-A-I-N-S. Join me while I'm live on my Twitch channel or check out my other videos on my YouTube channel. And make sure to subscribe if you're watching here on YouTube or follow the show. If you're listening to the episode, I'll see you in the next episode. In the meantime, make sure that you take care of yourself. Notice those shame spirals when they happen, and practice a growth mindset. If you have any questions or strategies that you would like me to cover or talk about, leave them in the comments below this video on YouTube, and I'll see you next time. In the meantime, make sure that you eat your veggies, eat your protein, drink some water, and take good care of yourself, and I'll see you soon.

Let's Talk About Why Shame Doesn't Actually Work

Here's the thing: so many of us have learned to use shame as our go-to motivator. We think if we're hard enough on ourselves, we'll finally change. But honestly? That's just not how our brains work.

When you tell yourself "I have no self-control" or "I'm so bad," you're not lighting a fire under yourself—you're actually creating resistance. Instead of feeling motivated, you end up feeling defeated and stuck. And let me tell you, that approach is exhausting and it just doesn't work long-term.

Humans—all of us—respond so much better to encouragement than punishment. That's just how we're wired.

What If You Talked to Yourself Like Someone You Love?

I want you to try something different. Instead of the harsh criticism, try adopting what I call a growth mindset. It sounds like this: "I may not be where I want to be yet, but I'm learning. I'm practicing. I'm getting better."

Think about it this way—if you were teaching a child or training a puppy, you wouldn't expect them to get everything perfect right away, right? You'd be patient. You'd celebrate the small wins. You'd understand that mistakes are part of learning.

That's exactly how you need to approach yourself. You're basically reparenting yourself, learning new ways to think about food, movement, and your body. And guess what? You don't have to be perfect at it. You can make huge changes in your body without being perfect even once.

Here's the Truth About Consistency (It's Not What You Think)

Ready for some really good news? Your body reflects what you do most of the time, not all of the time.

Let that sink in for a second.

If you make good food choices 60% of the time and move your body regularly, that's what your body is going to show. And if you do better than 60%? Even better. But those occasional slip-ups, the pizza nights, the missed workouts—they're not ruining everything. They're just part of being human, and they're not what defines your results.

So when you mess up (and you will, because we all do), don't spiral. It's literally part of the process.

Flip Your Focus to What's Going Right

I know it's so easy to pick apart everything you did wrong. Our brains are kind of wired to do that. But here's what I want you to do instead:

At the end of each week, look back and ask yourself:

• What did I do well this week?

• When did I make the choice I wanted to make?

• What helped me succeed in those moments?

If you met your goal more often this week than last week, that's amazing! That's progress. That's what deserves your attention, not the one time you ate the whole bag of chips.

Yes, it's worth understanding what went wrong too. But give at least as much attention—honestly, even more—to what went right. Because that's what you want to do more of.

Let's Redefine "On Track"

Can we be real about something? Being "on track" doesn't mean being perfect. It doesn't mean you never enjoy treats or never take a break.

In fact, here's a secret: planning for occasional splurges or taking diet breaks can actually help you stay motivated and even boost your metabolism. There's nothing wrong with enjoying yourself every once in a while, as long as it doesn't become your everyday habit.

If you've defined success as "never eating anything fun ever again," you're setting yourself up to feel like a failure. And that's just not fair to you. Give yourself some flexibility. When you do splurge, remind yourself it's actually part of the plan—because it should be.

You're Human, Not a Robot

I need you to hear this: you will never be perfect, and that's completely okay. You don't need to be perfect to be healthy, happy, or successful.

Life is going to happen. Holidays will come up. Friends will invite you out. Your schedule will get disrupted. You'll get sick. Things won't go according to plan—and that's just how life works for everyone.

The secret isn't having the perfect plan. It's being flexible enough to roll with whatever comes your way and make the best choice you can in the moment. That flexibility? It's going to help you not just with fitness, but with everything in life.

The Game-Changing Shame Spiral Interrupt

Okay, this is one of the most important things I'm going to share with you. Learning to catch yourself in a shame spiral and interrupt it is literally life-changing.

Here's how it works:

Notice What You're Telling Yourself

Start paying attention to your inner dialogue. When you catch thoughts like "I have no self-control" or "I'll never reach my goal," just notice them.

Name What's Happening

When you recognize that negative self-talk, call it what it is. Say to yourself, "Oh, there's the shame spiral again." Just naming it takes away some of its power.

Flip the Script

This is where the magic happens. Take that negative thought and turn it into something that leaves room for growth.

Here are some examples:

When you think: "I have no self-control"
Try instead: "I'm learning self-control. I'm getting better at this."

When you think: "I am lazy" (or any other harsh label)
Try instead: "I've struggled with consistency, but I'm working on it."

When you think: "I'll never reach my goal"
Try instead: "I'm still learning to master this. I'm a work in progress."

See the difference? One version shuts you down. The other opens the door to change.

Why This Reframing Thing Actually Works

When you talk to yourself with growth-oriented language, you're literally telling your brain that change is possible. The more you practice these reframes, the more you'll start to believe them. And when you believe you can change, your whole system gets on board to support those changes.

Look, I'm not saying your habits and behaviors are completely in your control—there are tons of factors that influence how we act. But you absolutely have the power to shift your behavior. It starts with paying attention to those patterns and practicing this growth mindset approach.

The Bottom Line

Here's what I want you to remember: deshaming your fitness journey doesn't mean giving up on your goals or lowering your standards. It means being smart about how you motivate yourself. It means recognizing that you're a human being who's learning and growing, not a broken machine that needs fixing.

The next time you feel that shame spiral starting, take a breath. Notice it, name it, and flip it into something kinder. Give yourself credit for showing up, for trying, for learning. That's what actually creates change—not the beating yourself up part.

Your fitness journey should make your life better, not fill it with shame and misery. You deserve to feel good about taking care of yourself. And with these tools, you absolutely can create the changes you want while actually being kind to yourself along the way.

Links:

• Watch on Youtube

• Fat Loss Transformation Coaching Program

• Livestreams on Twitch

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Ep 76 | 3 Ways to De-Shame Your Fitness Journey and Build a Healthier Relationship with Food

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If you consistently feel shame around how you eat, how you train, or how you live, that's a problem. But here's the good news: it's a problem that can be fixed. You can change your relationship with yourself and de-shame your fitness journey.

The Hidden Obstacle in Your Fitness Journey

Many people struggle with intense feelings of guilt and shame when they experience setbacks in their diet or workouts. Whether it's binging, splurging, or missing a workout, that shame can eat away at your confidence and derail your entire fitness journey.

I see this pattern constantly with my clients. Someone will message me saying, "I feel so bad. I ate a whole packet of crackers over two days, and now my weight is up." The stress and guilt they feel isn't really about the crackers—it's about something much deeper.

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):

  If you have this consistent pattern of feeling shame around how you eat or how you train, or just how you live, that's a problem. And it is a problem that can be fixed. You can change your relationship with yourself and you can desham your fitness. Hey there. Welcome to the Coaching Corner podcast. I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. I've been a personal trainer for over 10 years and I've created this podcast to help you to get in shape, get strong, get lean without shame, and without burnout. In today's episode, I'm going to share with you a conversation that I had with my Twitch chat while I was live on my Twitch channel. Now, while I was live, I was talking to my community about some really commonly experienced feelings that I see in my clients as well as in my community members. Many people struggle with feelings of guilt and shame when they experience a setback in their diet or in their workouts, or if they find themselves splurging and eating a bunch or binging a bunch.

  (01:09)

  And this shame that you feel after you have experienced a bingeing episode or a splurging episode can really eat away at your confidence to stay consistent with your fat loss journey and with your fitness journey. So in today's episode, I'm going to share some of my tips and strategies to help my clients and myself to get back on track and get off the shame spiral when we go through periods where we go off plan so that we can make sure that these off plan instances remain just a blip on the radar instead of becoming our patterns. I'm also going to help ease your mind with a couple of reframes that you can use to help calm your nervous system when you're feeling worked up about going off plan. Now, before we get into the episode, make sure to like this video if you're watching on YouTube and subscribe to the channel so you always get the latest episodes.

  (02:05)

  If you are listening to this podcast, thank you so much. Make sure that you follow the channel so that every time there's a new episode, it gets delivered right to your device. And keep in mind that right now I'm enrolling new students into my fat loss transformation program. This 90 day coaching program is the best way for you to learn all the basics and get on track towards burning fat and keeping it off for good. Over the course of three months, I'm going to help you to clean up your diet, get into a consistent exercise routine that works for you and your body, and you can lose up to 25 pounds over the course of this program. For more information, check out the link in the show notes or in the description of the video below. And for more information on my other coaching programs and services, head to my website Jaydigains.com. That's J-A-Y-D-I-G-A-I-N s.com. And without further ado, let's get the episode.

  (03:05)

  I have clients sometimes who will be like, oh man, I feel so bad. I feel so stressed because I splurged. And one client said the other day, I ate a whole packet of crackers into in two days she saw her weight go up the day after she ate that whole packet of crackers, and she was really stressing because she saw the weight go up. And she also felt really, really guilty about eating that packet of crackers. And at that point in time, there really wasn't much that I could say as her coach to calm her mind because what she was dealing with was an emotional trigger and maybe even a trauma trigger. And that's where for a lot of people, their fitness, their fat loss, it lives in an emotional side of their brain that's deeply tied with shame and deeply tied into their self-perception.

  (03:58)

  So whereas I can talk about things and I can teach about things and I can make a billion podcast episodes about how to desham your relationship with food, how to desham your fitness journey, and you can listen to them and you can understand what I'm saying, and you can be like, oh, that makes so much sense. But if you haven't done the emotional side of things, if you haven't done the emotional therapeutic work to kind of tease shame apart from how you see yourself, your body, how you see food, how you see fitness and exercise, then there's no workout in the world. There's no diet in the world that's going to save you from feeling that way. There's work that you have to do beyond just eating better and just exercising better if you want to tackle that horrible feeling that you have when you think about how much you splurged last weekend or how bad you feel because you missed a workout, because you could be in the best shape in the world, you could be ready to step on a bodybuilding stage and win, and you would still feel that shame and that horrible feeling if you perceive yourself to have messed up like you messed up on a workout or you messed up on your diet.

  (05:25)

  And that's because there's a habit of thought and there's also those emotional triggers are still there unless you work through them. So what I do as a coach is I do try to help people to address the aspect of their fitness, which is let, let's help you get in shapes, learn how to exercise. Let's get you into a good exercise routine, and I'll teach you how to eat better and I'll get you into a better eating routine. But if we don't also address the emotional of things of how you see yourself and your relationship with food, your relationship with your body, if you don't do work on that at the same time with a therapist or by doing shadow work, then you're going to still feel like no matter how good of shape you get into, and that is the unfortunate reality. Unfortunate or maybe fortunate, I don't know.

  (06:21)

  I think that that's actually kind of a beautiful thing because no matter what, none of us can dismiss the importance of personal growth. None of us can dismiss the importance of doing things like shadow work or going to therapy and working on ourselves. There's no shortcut to that. There's no workout, there's no diet that is going to be a shortcut to you liking yourself better, okay? No matter what your body looks like, whether you lose 50 pounds or not, right? You still have to do that emotional work and that inner work of examining your thoughts, examining your habits, examining your behaviors and working on them, reframing how you see yourself, reframing how you relate to food, and reframing how you relate to your workouts. And that takes constant effort, but it's very doable. And the upside of it, I think, of doing that kind of work is that you can begin to like yourself and you can begin to experience less shame around your body, around food, around your workouts before you've even reached your fitness goal.

  (07:35)

  You can develop a better relationship with yourself and feel better in much less time than it takes for you to lose all of that weight and build the amount of muscle that you want to build because changing those thoughts, those thought habits, if you set aside time to work on it and to learn what you need to learn and start practicing strategies to reframe how you think, if you stay consistent, you can actually change your relationship with yourself. And at the same time, that will actually take you even further and make it much easier for you to achieve your fitness goals. Once you improve your relationship with yourself, how you see yourself, how you see food, how you see exercise, it is so much easier to stay consistent on a healthy diet and stay consistent on a fitness routine. So you have to do both.

  (08:29)

  And that's something that a lot of personal trainers will not tell you because a lot of personal trainers, they're just there. You show up, you do the workout, hopefully it works for you. Or you show up to a bootcamp class and they give you a killer workout, you feel like you're going to die. Maybe you throw up and you leave feeling temporarily, yeah, I did something, and you feel like a temporary sense of I did something good, but in the long term, it doesn't actually change your body as much as you want it to, and you still have that poor relationship with yourself whenever you binge, whenever you go off your diet plan, you feel really, really badly. So if you don't take time to kind of rethink that, then you're just going to keep hitting the same obstacles and you're going to keep feeling like, but there are ways that you can address it, which we can talk about.

  (09:18)

  I put together a little guide for how to desham your relationship with food because the food thing is, I think where people experience shame the most. That's where I see it the most, where people are like, oh, I was so bad. I ate something bad. And then they beat themselves up and then they have a hard time showing up for their workouts, and then they just spiral out of control and just throw the whole thing away. Or they'll be like, I'll start next week and just the whole week is a wash. You've probably experienced something like that before. I think that's a really common pattern a lot of people have experienced. If you have this consistent pattern of feeling shame around how you eat or how you train or just how you live, that's a problem. And it is a problem that can be fixed.

  (10:06)

  You can change your relationship with yourself and you can desham your fitness. Before I get into my tips for how to desham your fitness and desham your relationship with food and your body, I do have to say the best, most ideal place for you to work on those things is with a certified licensed therapist, someone who can diagnose you and help you work on the things that are specifically your issues. Someone who is trauma informed, someone who has certifications and training on dealing with eating disorders, someone who has certifications and training on shame disorders. You want to work with a therapist because they have so much knowledge and so many tools to help you work through those things. Okay? It's something that I'm happy that therapy is much more common these days. It seems like more people are open to it, but it really is something that I kind of wish.

  (11:07)

  So growing up, for example, in my family, so much shame. My family culture is so shame based. And as a little girl, I learned that pretty quickly and learned how to shame myself and shame other people as a behavior, as a thought process, as a way of seeing the world, as a way of relating to the world and as a way of relating to myself. I internalized that really early on, and I had just the most horrible anxiety and horrible self-esteem in my childhood and in my teens, and that was part of my family culture. It's part of our larger culture too, especially for girls. But men too experience this when they're young. Our culture in the United States is very shame-based, and I think a lot of it has to do with our cultural and religious roots. And shame is a really powerful emotion that makes it easy to control you. If I want to sell you something and I can convince you to be ashamed of something about yourself, and then I can sell you the solution, you're so much more likely to actually buy the solution from me if I can make you feel ashamed of yourself.

  (12:31)

  The beauty industry is a perfect example of this. How many diet pills are there? How much skincare products are there? There's so many beauty products that are just totally frivolous and unnecessary. Now, a lot of skincare for medical reasons is really good, but there's just, you know what I'm talking about, those frivolous above and beyond what's necessary beauty products that just really, the marketing is all about keeping you ashamed of how you look. You need to look better. So by this thing, that's how our capitalism works. That's how our economy works. A lot of our economy, a lot of our society is built on shame and keeping us feeling ashamed, keeping us in jobs that suck our soul out of our body and kill us because we're so ashamed. We would be so ashamed to not have money or to not be able to buy the things, to be able to keep up with the Joneses type of situation.

  (13:33)

  So there's shame everywhere in our culture and we internalize it even at super young ages. And then if you grow up in a really fundamentalist like religious family, then that's compounded. You add in the religious shame side of things. When I was younger, I struggled with an eating disorder just as almost all of the other women in my family did because I had a lot of shame around my body and my relationship with food was very emotional. It was, oh, I would eat food to comfort myself because of the anxiety that I felt, but then I would feel ashamed of how much food I ate, and then I would go through a period of time of starving myself. And that was a recurrent cycle for me for much of my teenage and early adult life. And it wasn't until I started going to therapy and really unraveling a lot of the shame that I felt about myself and started healing that shame and started cultivating a better relationship with myself that that pattern got better.

  (14:44)

  And I think that that's a really common issue for a lot of people who struggle to stay consistent on their fat loss or their fitness. And again, it was really seeing therapists and seeing counselors, seeing life coaches who helped change my relationship with myself, which ultimately allowed me to tackle the behaviors that were causing poor health outcomes for myself. And now, I wouldn't say that my relationship with myself is perfect. I still have work to do, but I have so much of a healthier relationship with myself, and I do such a better job of feeding myself well, feeding myself regularly, and I don't feel as, I mean from time to time, I guess I'll feel a little guilty. Sometimes I'll feel a little bit of shame, but it is very, very rare now. And when it does happen, I have good tools to step back and be like, wait a second.

  (15:40)

  There's no need for me to feel this shame because I have my first aid kit strategies that I can use when that shame starts to creep up. So I wanted to share with you guys some strategies and some tips and thoughts to reframe how you see yourself and how you see your relationship with food and how you see food in particular so that you can begin the process of shaming your relationship with food if that's something that you struggle with. But again, the best thing to do is to work with a therapist and a dietician who specializes in eating disorders. You may be struggling with one without realizing it because what you probably are dealing with is a poor relationship with food, a very shame-based relationship with food. But it is something that you can work on and it's something that you can change. And this is what I tell my clients to help them to desham their relationship with food.

  (16:39)

  Number one of the best ways that you can kind desham your relationship with food and also calm down. When you have these kinds of instances where you've splurge or you go off plan, it's easy to think that you are going to lose all of your gains. And it's almost like the fear is that you are going to get set back all the way to where you started. When I talk my clients through trying to get at what's the root of what is causing them anxiety when they experience these types of things, I keep asking why we keep digging deeper. And what I found is that at the root of a lot of this is a fear of going back to being the person that they were before they started their journey. They're afraid of becoming that person again or relapsing into that person again, who they were before they started exercising, before they started eating better.

  (17:34)

  And if that's something that like you struggle with, I want to remind you, you are not the same person that you were when you started this journey. You are never going to be that person again. Even if you do end up gaining some weight, right? Even if something happens, you are never going to be that person because who you are as a person is more than just how often you exercise or how you eat, right? There are habits of thought. There are habits of your day-to-day life. Your whole lifestyle has likely completely transformed from the time that you started this journey until now. If you have lost a lot of weight or you have radically changed your body, it's because you have changed yourself. You have changed your lifestyle, and the habits that build up a lifestyle are very resilient, and it's hard to change all of them at once.

  (18:32)

  One weekend off plan or splurging on some crackers or some ice cream is not going to undo and unravel all of the little habits and changes that you've made in your life to support you getting to where you are now. So just try to remind yourself and really begin to practice believing. I'm never going back. I'm never going to be that person again, because you're not. It would be very, very hard for you. Your whole life would have to change, and you would have to change a lot about how you think and how you live your day-to-day life to go back to being that person. But even if you did, you would still not be that person because now you have the knowledge and the experience of having built that lifestyle and having built those habits more. Now you have done things differently. You're never going to be that person again.

  (19:27)

  Number two, another thing that can help you. If you're dealing with a lot of shame or you're struggling with how you feel around having splurged or gone off plan, one thing I would challenge you to do is remove the moral language from food. And food behaviors a lot of times absorb and get into this habit of seeing foods or behaviors toward food as good or bad, but there's nothing moral. There's nothing inherently moral about food. Your body is an organism, and food is energy, food is fuel, and we have all kinds of automatic systems in our brains and in our bodies that are geared towards keeping us alive. So during times of stress in the wild, what kinds of things would cause stress for people who are hunter gatherers, which humans have been for the majority of our existence as a species, the kinds of things that would cause a stress in the wild are things like having to run for our life from some kind of threat or having to find food.

  (20:36)

  Those are the main stressors for people in the wild. And so we by nature have these systems in place that cause us to want to eat more or want to eat comfort foods, which typically tend to be higher calorie when we're stressed. That's a system that serves a biological function. It's not something to be ashamed of because it works. It does its job. Even though your body doesn't know that you live in captivity, your body doesn't know that you live in a society where food is more available and high calorie food is more available. Your body was built for the wild. And so when you get stressed, your body's thinking, oh, we might not have food available, or I need some more energy because we're going to be having to travel a long distance to find food again. Or I'm going to have to run for my life away from some saber-tooth tiger that's stalking me.

  (21:34)

  So that stress to eating system is a system that serves a function. It's not because your body is bad or that you are bad, just that system is kind of mismatched for the setting that you live in. So try to remove the moral language around food and around food behaviors, because a lot of the food behaviors that we have, a lot of the behaviors that we have in period that maybe we find undesirable, a lot of times they're rooted in, at one point they were a solution to a problem, a solution that worked. And so our brains and our bodies formed a shortcut. So we don't even think about it like, oh, well, for our ancestors, unlike I'm stressed probably because there's not food around, so I feel stressed, therefore, I need to eat. And that becomes a shortcut that keeps you alive if you're in the wild. So try to see those types of things as like morally neutral, neutral, every behavior is a solution to a problem, but sometimes the solutions to problems that worked at one point, they no longer serve us, and when they no longer serve us, then we have to kind of take a look at how we can update our behavior, modify our behavior, modify our environment to help support the behaviors that we want to see.

  (23:03)

  But there's nothing wrong with eating. There's nothing wrong with you for liking to eat yummy food, right? Your body, your system is built for that, okay? It's not like a bad thing. So try to remind yourself that there's nothing inherently moral about food or about food behaviors. So another thing number three that I want to encourage you to do if you're starting to feel kind of on a spiral around having gone off plan, is to zoom out and see the big picture. One little time of going off plan, even if you eat a whole tub of ice cream, is not really going to have the impact that you think it will. It's not going to undo the months, weeks, years of work that you have done to get to where you are now. Try to zoom out and look at your behavior overall, because that's what your body is going to reflect.

  (24:00)

  Your body will reflect what you do most of the time. So even if you go off plan, even if you splurge here and there, if most of the time you're following your plan, you're eating the way that you need to eat, you're exercising the way that you need to exercise, that's what your body is going to reflect. Okay? And another thing that I want to kind of encourage you with is sometimes splurging or feeling that intense need to splurge is itself a solution to a problem that your body and your brain are automatically solving. If you've been going for a really long time in a calorie deficit that takes a lot of energy, it's hard mentally and physically to be in a calorie deficit for a long period of time, and it wears on your brain, it wears on your metabolism as well. So sometimes when you take a little diet break, even if it's unplanned, this can actually serve you in the long run because it gives you that relief from the stress of being in a calorie deficit.

  (25:04)

  You scratch the itch for your brain, which is like, I need some comfort food. Give me a break from having to be super disciplined all the time. So sometimes it can give you that mental break so that you can get back on track in your normal planned diet and be able to stick to it because you had a little bit of a mental break. It also can help to resensitize your body to your calorie deficit. If you've been in a calorie deficit for a really long time, your body adapts to that and can slow down your body system so that they're not spending as much energy because your body is like, oh, we are not getting a lot of food. We need to be on low power mode. So sometimes splurging and having a day or a weekend where you eat more, it can actually help to reset your metabolism so that when you do go back into your calorie deficit, your body is less likely to slow everything down and stay in that low power mode.

  (26:03)

  Zoom out and think about how long have I actually been in a calorie deficit if it's been more than six weeks, that craving, that desire to go off plan and splurge is likely your body and your brain saying, Hey, I'm starving. Help. And if you don't listen to it, it sometimes will override you, and then you'll find yourself 12:00 AM standing in front of the freezer eating a pint of ice cream with a spoon. And the thing is, again, you want to think of it not as a moral thing, not this bad thing or this good thing. That's your body's systems overriding and saying, this bitch is not feeding us. We're going to take matters into our own hands. We got to solve this problem. So sometimes it's not necessarily actually a bad thing. Sometimes it's something your body needs.

  (26:59)

  So understand that the splurges can actually serve you, okay? And you also want to practice some self-compassion instead of self-criticism. Next up, another thing that can help if you are freaking out is recognize the difference between a little slipup, a little splurge that's just like this one-off thing versus a slide, right? It's the difference between a slip and a slide. A slip is like a slip up of a little blip, a little blip on the radar. One out of one day, out of several weeks you've splurge and you go off plan. A slide would be, okay, I splurged on Saturday, then I splurged on Sunday. Now it's been a couple of weeks and I haven't stopped. When it becomes a habit and it starts to become the thing that you do more often than not, that's where we need to pay attention. Not necessarily to judge yourself or shame yourself, but be like, this is where we maybe need to start taking some action to change this behavior.

  (28:12)

  But if it's just one little thing, one little splurge here and there, you binge a little bit over the weekend, but you get right back on track, that's not a big deal. It really isn't because remember, your body's going to reflect what you do most of the time. It's the difference between, I had dessert at the Cheesecake Factory when I went out on a date last Saturday night, versus I've gone to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch every single day for the last month and gotten a slice of cheesecake and eaten it every single day. So that's where it's like this habitual thing where it's like recurring and now it's becoming what you do most of the time. That's where we need to maybe shift gears, take a look at our environment, take a look at our behaviors, and make a plan for how we're going to make some changes.

  (29:01)

  You do want to build in some internal flexibility for yourself, because like I said, sometimes those off plans splurges can actually be beneficial for you mentally and metabolically. And a lot of times what people will do is actually build in those little splurges or build in those treat days, those treat meals and build them into their diet plan in order to keep them mentally able to stay consistent with their plan so they actually have planned diet breaks or planned treat days where they let themselves be. Because once again, it's what you do most of the time. That really is what your body is going to reflect. And knowing that some very wise gym goers will go ahead and actually plan for their splurges to treat themselves that way they can relieve the stress, the mental stress of being in a calorie deficit and being so disciplined all the time.

  (30:01)

  And it also helps metabolically to keep their metabolism revved up so that they're not going into that low power mode. I'm a sweetss girl. I love to eat sweets, and so I just factor in sweetss to my diet plan. When I'm tracking my calories, it's the first thing that I plug into my macros app. I plan on eating a bowl of sugary cereal because I want to treat, and then I plan the rest of the day around it. Or if I'm going to go see the babies, if I'm going to go see my brother's kids, then I'm just going to plan. That's going to be a diet break. That whole weekend is going to be a diet break. I'm going to be with the kids, we're going to be baking cookies, we're going to be baking muffins. We're also going to be going outside and playing a bunch, and I don't want to have to worry about what I'm eating.

  (30:46)

  And so I just plan to be flexible, and then when I get back, I've got it out of my system, and then I get back on my diet plan. So I have that internal flexibility built into my plan, and that's something you can do as well. I think there's so many other points, but I think that this episode has gotten long enough, and I think what we probably could do is have a part two where we talk a little bit more about other strategies or other ways to reframe your relationship with food, because I don't want to keep you guys too long, and I also have to get my own workout in. So I think that we probably saved the rest of this for a second episode, a second part. But the main gist to take away here is like I'm telling you, as a coach, if you've gone off plan and you've splurged, it's not a big frigging deal. It's not, relax, stop it. You're fine. You're fine. You're seriously fine. If you have already lost a bunch of weight, you've done all of the work, one little splurge here and there is fine. You're going to be okay. I promise you're going to be okay, especially if you have a plan of action for how you're going to prevent that from becoming your habitual thing, or especially if you've built some flexibility into your schedule where you can allow for yourself to do that. So we'll talk more about that in a future episode.

  (32:10)

  Thank you so much for watching this episode of The Coaching Corner Podcast. Again, I'm Jayd Harrison. I hope that you enjoyed this episode that you found it helpful, and make sure to subscribe to my channel if you're watching on YouTube or follow the channel if you're listening to the podcast, so that you can get notified as soon as part two drops. In the coming second part of this episode, we're going to go into even more detail on strategies that you can use to help reframe your fat loss journey and reframe when you have instances where you go off plan. My goal with these episodes is to empower you with some strategies that you can use to help calm your system when you start to feel panicked about messing up so that you can stay on track and build a better relationship with yourself, with food and with your body. So more on that to come very soon. In the meantime, make sure that you take good care of yourself, eat plenty of protein, eat your veggies, drink your water, and prioritize your self-care, and I will see you again soon.

Why Workouts and Diets Alone Won't Fix Everything

Here's what most personal trainers won't tell you: there's no workout or diet plan in the world that will save you from these feelings if you haven't addressed the emotional side of things.

You could be in the best shape of your life, ready to step on a bodybuilding stage, and you would still feel that horrible shame if you perceived yourself to have "messed up." That's because these feelings stem from habits of thought and emotional triggers that remain untouched unless you actively work through them.

Your fitness and fat loss journey lives in an emotional part of your brain that's deeply tied to shame and self-perception. Until you do the emotional therapeutic work to separate shame from how you see yourself, your body, food, and exercise, you'll keep hitting the same obstacles.

The Beautiful Truth About Personal Growth

None of us can shortcut the importance of personal growth. There's no workout or diet that will make you like yourself better. Whether you lose 50 pounds or not, you still have to do that inner work of examining your thoughts, habits, and behaviors.

But here's the upside: you can begin to like yourself and experience less shame around your body, food, and workouts before you've even reached your fitness goal. Changing those thought patterns takes much less time than losing all that weight or building the muscle you want to build.

And here's the real magic: once you improve your relationship with yourself, it becomes so much easier to stay consistent with healthy eating and exercise. You have to do both—the physical work and the emotional work.

Understanding Our Shame-Based Culture

Shame is everywhere in our culture. We internalize it at incredibly young ages. If you grew up in a fundamentalist religious family, it's often compounded even further.

Our economy and society are built on shame. The beauty industry is a perfect example—keeping us ashamed of how we look makes us much more likely to buy products. Our capitalist system thrives on keeping us feeling inadequate.

I struggled with an eating disorder as a teenager and young adult, as did almost all the women in my family. It stemmed from shame around my body and an emotional relationship with food—eating to comfort my anxiety, then feeling ashamed of how much I ate, then starving myself. This cycle repeated for years.

It wasn't until I started going to therapy and really unraveling that shame that the pattern improved. And I want to be clear: the best place to work on these issues is with a certified, licensed therapist—someone trauma-informed who specializes in eating disorders and shame.

Practical Strategies to De-Shame Your Relationship with Food

While therapy is ideal, here are some strategies I share with my clients to help them start reframing their relationship with food:

1. Remember: You're Never Going Back

At the root of much of this anxiety is a fear of becoming the person you were before you started your journey. But here's the truth: you are never going to be that person again.

Even if you gain some weight, you're not the same person. Your lifestyle has transformed. The habits that build up a lifestyle are resilient and hard to change all at once. One weekend off plan or splurging on crackers isn't going to undo all the little habits and changes you've made.

You now have the knowledge and experience of having built this lifestyle. You're never going back.

2. Remove the Moral Language from Food

Challenge yourself to stop seeing foods or eating behaviors as "good" or "bad." There's nothing inherently moral about food.

Your body is an organism. Food is energy and fuel. We have automatic systems designed to keep us alive. When you're stressed, your body thinks you might need extra energy—maybe to run from danger or because food might be scarce. That stress-to-eating response served a biological function for our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

That system isn't "bad," and neither are you. It's just mismatched for our modern environment where high-calorie food is abundantly available.

Every behavior is a solution to a problem. Sometimes solutions that worked at one point no longer serve us, and we need to update our approach. But there's nothing wrong with you for liking yummy food—your system is built for that.

3. Zoom Out and See the Big Picture

One instance of going off plan—even eating a whole tub of ice cream—won't have the impact you think it will. It won't undo months or years of work.

Your body reflects what you do most of the time. If you're following your plan most of the time, that's what your body will show, even with occasional splurges.

Sometimes splurging is actually your body and brain solving a problem. If you've been in a calorie deficit for a long time, it takes mental and physical energy. Sometimes an unplanned diet break can:

• Give you mental relief from constant discipline

• Scratch that itch for comfort food

• Help resensitize your body to your calorie deficit

• Reset your metabolism so it doesn't stay in "low power mode"

If you've been in a deficit for more than six weeks and you have intense cravings, that's your body saying, "Hey, I'm starving. Help." If you don't listen, it might override you—and you'll find yourself at midnight eating ice cream straight from the container.

That's not a moral failing. That's your body's systems taking over because you haven't been listening.

4. Recognize the Difference Between a Slip and a Slide

A slip is a one-off thing—one day out of several weeks where you splurge.

A slide is when it becomes habitual. You splurged Saturday, then Sunday, and now it's been weeks and you haven't stopped.

When it becomes what you do more often than not, that's when you need to take action—not to judge yourself, but to make a plan for change.

But one little splurge here and there? That's not a big deal. Really. It isn't.

5. Build in Internal Flexibility

Many successful gym-goers actually plan their splurges. They build in treat days or treat meals to relieve the mental stress of constant discipline and keep their metabolism revved up.

I'm a sweets girl. I love sugary cereal. So I factor it into my diet plan—it's the first thing I plug into my macro app. Then I plan the rest of my day around it.

When I visit my brother's kids, I plan for that whole weekend to be a diet break. We're going to bake cookies and muffins, play outside, and I don't want to worry about what I'm eating. I get it out of my system, then get back on my plan when I return.

That internal flexibility helps me stay consistent long-term.

The Bottom Line

If you've gone off plan and splurged, it's not a big deal. Relax. You're fine. Seriously, you're fine.

If you've already lost weight and done the work, one little splurge here and there is completely okay. You're going to be okay, especially if you have a plan to prevent it from becoming habitual or if you've built flexibility into your schedule.

Remember: changing your relationship with yourself and with food is possible. It takes work, but it's very doable. And the payoff is enormous—not just for your fitness goals, but for your entire life.

Looking for support on your fitness journey? Consider working with a coach who understands both the physical and emotional aspects of transformation. And remember: prioritize therapy if you're struggling with disordered eating or deep-seated shame. You deserve that support.

Links:

• Watch on Youtube

• Fat Loss Transformation Coaching Program

• Body Sculpt Coaching Program

• Livestreams on Twitch

Subscribe for Updates ✉️

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Ep 75 | Why Balance Training is the Missing Piece in Your Workout Routine

Youtube | Spotify | Apple | Google | Amazon

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When most people think about working out, they think about lifting weights, cardio, or maybe stretching after a long session. But there’s one type of training that’s often overlooked—and it could be the missing piece in your fitness routine: balance training.

Balance training is one of the most important (and underrated) styles of exercise you can incorporate into your weekly workouts. Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced exerciser, adding balance-focused movements can help improve your strength, stability, coordination, and overall athletic performance. It can even protect you from injuries both in and out of the gym.

In this post, we’ll break down:

• Why balance training matters for your health and fitness

• The three main types of balance training exercises

• Practical ways to incorporate them into your workouts

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):

  Balance training is one of the most important styles of training that you can incorporate into your weekly workout routines, but it is sadly a style of training that I don't actually see a lot of people using, but it is so effective in so many ways regardless of whether you're a beginner, intermediate, or a more advanced exerciser. Doing balanced training exercises can help improve so many aspects of your fitness, athleticism, and overall health. Welcome to the Coaching Corner podcast. I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. I've been a personal trainer for about 10 years, and I've created the Coaching Corner podcast to share with you tips and tricks to help you get lean and get strong without shame and without burnout. In today's episode, we're going to talk all about balance training exercises and why you should be incorporating them into your weekly workout routine to help reduce your risk of injury, improve your overall coordination and core strength, and get even more gains from the exercises that you're already doing.

  (01:12)

  We're going to cover why balance training is so important. I'm also going to tell you about the different types of balance training that there are, ranging from beginner friendly exercises to more advanced exercises, and then I'll end with some tips on how to incorporate balance training into your weekly workout routine. Now, before we get into the episode, make sure to like this video if you're watching on YouTube and subscribe to the channel so you always get the latest videos as soon as they drop. If you're listening to this podcast, thank you so much. Make sure to follow the channel so that you always get the latest episodes delivered right to your device. And don't forget that I am currently enrolling new clients into my fat loss transformation program and this 90 day program, I'm going to teach you how to eat and exercise in a way that helps you to get lean, burn fat, and keep it off for good. So whether you want to lose five pounds or 30 pounds, this coaching program is perfect for you. I'll give you a custom training program with workouts that are customized to your unique body, the exercise equipment that you have available, and I'll also give you a customized meal plan to help you to stay on track with a healthy diet. You can find more information on that in the link that is in the video description below if you're watching on YouTube or in the show notes. Without further ado, let's get into the episode.

  (02:37)

  Balance training exercises or stability training exercises are exercises that challenge your balance, that force you to really have to fight to keep your body in a certain position, whether that's standing on one leg, holding a plank, or performing an exercise on just one side of your body. These types of exercises are really effective for helping you to improve your core strength and also improve your overall mind muscle connection. That is your ability to control your muscles and how they contract and extend when you have good balance. This can translate over into much higher levels of strength and your big lifts like squats, bench deadlift, and overhead press. It can also help you to stay safe in your exercise technique and in your overall movement and mobility of everyday life. The better your balance is, the more easily you can catch your balance when you trip or bump into things because after all, as we get older, balance is one of the first things that begins to decline if you don't train it and strengthen your muscles.

  (03:42)

  So it's really important to develop your balance so that you can move about your everyday life more comfortably and with a reduced risk of injury and so that you can improve your overall gains stability and balance training exercises are also one of the most effective styles of training for improving your posture. So if you have a tendency to slouch while you're at work or you experience neck or shoulder pain or back pain when you're exercising because you have poor posture, doing balance training exercises is a great way to address that. So there's many reasons to do balance training. There's three main families of balance or stability training exercises. Number one is static balance exercises. These are exercises where you're not really moving very much and you're just focusing on holding your body in a fixed but unstable position. A really good example of that is just standing on one leg.

  (04:39)

  Many yoga poses are static balance exercises like holding a warrior one, warrior two or warrior three pose. Tree pose is also a good example of a single leg balance training exercise. The goal of all of these exercises is to hold your body in this position for an extended period of time. Now, just because you're not moving a whole lot doesn't mean that you're not working really hard. If you've ever done yoga or tried to hold one of these poses, you'll know that your muscles get really, really tired because they have to fight against gravity and they have to constantly fire up all around your body to keep you balanced in space. When I'm holding a balance training exercise, I like to think of my body as like a spaceship. So a spaceship or a space station has a lot of little thrusters that fire up to kind of adjust and keep the spaceship in position in space, and that's kind of what happens with your muscles when you're holding a static balancing pose.

  (05:39)

  All of the little muscles around your body kind of have to stay sort of fired up and then ready to really fire up if you start to fall one way. So for example, if you're standing on one leg and you start to fall over to the outside side of your body, your gluteus medias muscle is going to have to fire up on that side to bring your body back toward the center line of your body. On the other hand, if you start to fall to the other side, your adductor muscles are going to have to light up to push you back to the other side so you don't actually get any kind of rest. Your muscles are constantly fired up to a small degree and then they fire up a lot when you start to fall one way or another. So this is a great way for you to one, challenge your muscles without having to carry a lot of weight.

  (06:24)

  There's a pretty low risk of injury here because you're not going to be moving with a lot of weight in an uncontrolled position. You're literally just standing or holding a pose. So it's pretty gentle on your joints, but it can definitely kick your butt and be pretty challenging. Another type of balance training exercise is dynamic balance exercises. This involves having to maintain your balance while you're also moving in a controlled way. So a good example of this would be like the heel to toe walk like you're walking across a balance beam, but you also might do forward or walking lunges. I have my clients do a variety of different styles of lunges to lunge and then return to single leg balance or walking lunges where they might be taking really big steps in having to balance on one leg, walking planks, plank pushups or bear crawls, and different varieties of bear crawls are other really great dynamic balance exercises.

  (07:23)

  Now, this includes all of the benefits of the static balance training exercises, but you add an extra layer of difficulty by adding motion into the exercise. And then finally, we have the reactive balance training exercises. These are exercises where you have to react to some kind of stimulus that might throw you off. So say you're standing on one leg and eye as your trainer throw a medicine ball at you and you have to catch it and stay standing on one leg. There's also a variety of equipment that you can use to add an element of instability to exercises that you're already doing. For example, if you do planks or pushups, you might try using a bosu ball or a stability ball to add a degree of instability either under your feet or under your hands. Balance boards are also really helpful for challenging your balance while standing still, or performing exercises like squats or deadlifts.

  (08:23)

  Sometimes you can add an element of instability just by performing an exercise with your eyes closed or with one eye closed so that you're not able to use the visual data to balance yourself, and instead you have to tap into your muscles and how you feel to keep your body fixed in space. So there's lots of different types of balance training exercises. In general though, if you want to treat it as a way to progress, I would recommend beginning with your static exercises and then progressing to more dynamic challenge exercises for balance, and then using the reactive balance exercises as sort of an advanced level. Now, there's lots of different ways that you can incorporate balance training into your workouts. One, you can use it as part of your warmup or your core training, and many of my introductory blocks for my clients, I will include balance training at the beginning of their workout to help my clients to connect with their muscles and take that mind muscle connection with them into the harder part of the workout later on.

  (09:25)

  It's a great way to gently fire up all of the muscles in your body and get your mind connected to them and improve your coordination. This is a great option, especially for beginners. Now, you can also incorporate balance training as an active recovery between your strength sets or as a way to finish off the challenge to a muscle group after you have just worked it. So for example, if you've just completed a set of squats, you could immediately follow up with some kind of single leg balancing exercise like just standing on one foot for 15 seconds or doing some kind of a lunge to single leg balance for a few reps. This will help you to really fatigue those muscles and build muscle and will also help you to keep your heart rate up and improve your overall endurance through the course of the workout.

  (10:15)

  You can also use balance training exercises as progressions to advance exercises that you're already doing. This helps in a number of different ways. On the one hand, it allows you to increase the load on one side of your body without necessarily having to increase the amount of weight that you're holding. So for example, if you have been performing Romanian deadlifts and you have a limited amount of weight that you can work with, performing a single leg Romanian deadlift and shifting your weight over into one leg using the same amount of weight that you were using with both feet on the ground is a great way to increase the challenge to the muscles on the standing leg because the standing leg is now going to have to work against twice as much force without you necessarily having to hold twice as much weight. There are many exercises that you do with both feet on the floor or closed chained that you can switch over into a staggered stance or a balancing single leg stance.

  (11:16)

  You can try single leg squats, pistol squats, single leg deadlifts, or what I call drinking birds, which are single leg deadlifts where you reach the lifted leg back behind you for common upper body weight training exercises like chest presses. You can try performing these while laying back on a stability ball to keep your core fired up and make your lower body muscles have to work to keep you stable while the weight is in motion. Instead of performing a plank with your hands or your feet all on the floor, you could put your feet or your hands on a bosu ball or a stability ball or a balance board. This will level up the challenge and the difficulty of the exercise because your muscles never really get a break at any point in the set throughout the eccentric phase and the concentric phase of the exercise, all of your muscles have to stay somewhat fired up to keep you balanced in space so that you don't fall down so you can really fatigue those muscles, which can help to yield more hypertrophy, more muscle growth, more strength gains, and better coordination.

  (12:23)

  It also can help you to improve your technique in your regular exercises without the balance challenge. Another thing that these types of exercises really help with is the benefit of unilateral training. It's really not uncommon for most people to have a side of their body that is stronger or weaker than the other, and it doesn't necessarily even have to be the same side. Some people find that their right leg is stronger than their left leg, but their left arm is stronger than their right arm. So performing unilateral exercises or balance training exercises where you're putting more of your weight on one side or one side is having to do the work. This can help you to actually even out the imbalance of your strength. I recommend performing the exercise to the weaker side first and performing a set where you feel the weaker side muscles getting fatigued and stopping when you feel like you can only do one, two, or maybe three more repetitions, and then you perform the exact same number of repetitions with the exact same amount of weight on the stronger side, you'll notice that the stronger side doesn't get quite as tired, but that's the point.

  (13:27)

  By training this way, you actually can help catch the weaker side up to the point where they begin to have an equal amount of challenge for both sides of the exercise after you've been practicing this type of training for a few weeks or a few months. Now, you can also use balance training exercises as a dedicated finisher at the end of your workout. So for example, at the end of a chest day for a bodybuilding workout, after you've done some chest press, some flies, and all of these other variations of chest exercises, you might decide to hold a plank on a stability ball to challenge the chest muscles and the shoulder muscles to hold your position while they're already fatigued to finish them off and make sure you're walking out of the gym with pretty tired pecs by the end. You can also do just standalone balanced training exercise days.

  (14:19)

  A great option for that would just be to do a yoga workout where you practice holding various yoga poses. You can also use it as an entire sequence at the beginning or the end of your workout, like as a warmup or as a cool down. And finally, you can also integrate balance training exercises into your daily activities like standing on one leg while you brush your teeth. When you get up from the couch or sit down throughout the day, you could shift your weight over into one leg and practice doing that movement on one leg. Regardless of how you're integrating your balance training exercises, you will get a lot of benefit from doing them. So give some of these balanced training exercises a try by incorporating them into your personal weekly workout routine.

  (15:05)

  Thank you so much for watching or listening to this episode of The Coaching Corner podcast. Again, I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. Let me know in the comments below this video if you're watching on YouTube, what balance training exercises you are going to incorporate into your weekly workout routine, and let me know if you need any help or tips, and keep in mind that I do incorporate balance training exercises into all of my programs for my clients. And if you are interested in working with me, check out the links below for my coaching programs. Right now, I am accepting clients into my fat loss transformation program, but if you are looking at building some strength, building some muscle, I've got some coaching programs ready for that as well. Check out the links in the show notes or in the video description below. I'll see you in the next episode. In the meantime, make sure to eat your veggies, eat your protein, drink some water, prioritize your self-care, and I will see you soon.

Why Balance Training Matters

Think about the last time you tripped or stumbled—did you catch yourself quickly, or did you go down hard? Balance is what keeps you upright and moving smoothly. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the first things to decline as we age if we don’t actively train it.

Here’s what balance training can do for you:

• Reduce your risk of injury by strengthening stabilizer muscles.

• Improve coordination and mind-muscle connection, making your main lifts (squats, deadlifts, bench press, etc.) more powerful and efficient.

• Enhance posture, helping to ease back, neck, and shoulder discomfort.

• Level out strength imbalances between your right and left sides.

• Boost everyday mobility, making it easier to move with confidence in daily life.

And yes—balance training can even help you build more muscle. When stabilizer muscles stay “switched on” throughout an exercise, they increase the overall challenge to your body, which can mean better results from your workouts.

The Three Types of Balance Training

Not all balance work looks the same. You can progress through three main categories depending on your fitness level:

1. Static Balance

These exercises involve holding your body in a fixed but unstable position. Think standing on one leg, tree pose in yoga, or a plank.

Even though you’re not moving much, your muscles are firing constantly to keep you steady—kind of like little thrusters on a spaceship adjusting its position in space. This makes static balance surprisingly tough, while still being low-impact and joint-friendly.

2. Dynamic Balance

Here, you’re maintaining balance while moving in a controlled way. Examples include:

• Heel-to-toe walk (like walking a balance beam)

• Walking lunges

• Bear crawls or plank pushups

Dynamic balance builds on the benefits of static holds by adding motion, which makes it more challenging and functional.

3. Reactive Balance

This is the advanced level, where you respond to an outside stimulus that throws off your balance. For example:

• Standing on one leg while catching a medicine ball

• Doing pushups with hands or feet on a BOSU ball

• Using a balance board or stability ball during lifts

You can even challenge your balance simply by closing your eyes during an exercise—removing visual cues forces your muscles to do more of the work.

How to Incorporate Balance Training into Your Workouts

The best part? You don’t need to dedicate an entire workout to balance (though you can if you’d like). Here are some simple ways to fit it into your routine:

• Warm-up or Core Work: Add balance drills at the start of your session to wake up your stabilizers and improve mind-muscle connection.

• Between Strength Sets: Use them as active recovery between heavy lifts. For example, follow squats with a 15-second single-leg balance hold.

• Progressions: Turn regular exercises into balance challenges. Try single-leg deadlifts instead of Romanian deadlifts, or do pushups with your feet on a stability ball.

• Finishers: End your workout with balance holds like a stability-ball plank for an extra burn.

• Daily Life: Stand on one leg while brushing your teeth or practice sitting/standing with one leg engaged.

Balance training is endlessly adaptable—whether you’re just starting out or you’re ready for advanced challenges.

Final Thoughts

Balance training isn’t just for yogis or athletes—it’s a powerful tool for anyone who wants to move better, get stronger, and stay injury-free. From boosting your posture to unlocking more gains in the gym, it deserves a spot in your weekly routine.

Start small: add one or two balance exercises into your warmup or between sets. Progress to more dynamic and reactive movements over time. The results will surprise you.

So, what balance exercise are you going to try this week?

And if you’re ready for a structured plan that weaves balance, strength, and fat loss strategies together, check out my 90-day Fat Loss Transformation Program. You’ll get custom workouts, a meal plan tailored to your goals, and the accountability to finally get lean and strong—without shame or burnout.

Links:

• Watch on Youtube

• Fat Loss Transformation Coaching Program

• Body Sculpt Coaching Program

• Livestreams on Twitch

Subscribe for Updates ✉️

Sign up to get notified whenever new episodes drop. Opt in for more tips on training, fat loss, and nutrition by filling out the form below:

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Fill out the fields below:

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Ep 74 | Why Failure is Actually Your Friend (Even When It Doesn't Feel Like It)

Youtube | Spotify | Apple | Google | Amazon

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Let's talk about something we all deal with but rarely discuss openly: failure. And I get it—nobody likes to fail. It's uncomfortable, embarrassing, and honestly? It can really sting.

I used to have a terrible relationship with failure. The mere possibility of messing up would keep me from trying new things or going after bigger goals. Sound familiar? Our culture doesn't exactly help either. We're constantly shown highlight reels of success while the behind-the-scenes struggles get swept under the rug.

Here's what I've learned though: we've got failure all wrong. We tend to think "I failed at this, so I must be a failure as a person." But that's like saying "I got caught in the rain, so I must be made of sugar." It just doesn't add up!

The truth is, failure is one of your most valuable allies on the path to achieving anything meaningful. Those setbacks aren't detours—they're actually the stepping stones that lead you exactly where you want to go.

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):

  A lot of people think of failure as the opposite of success when it's actually a part of success. It is a building block towards success, okay? Every failure has something crucial that you can learn from. And when you walk away from your failures, because you're saying to yourself, oh, I might as well not even try, there is gold that you're walking away from. You're leaving money on the table because your failure has such a key lesson for you to learn. And if you learn it, you'll be able to unlock new levels of success. You'll be able to move more effectively, you'll be able to burn fat more effectively. You'll be able to build muscle more effectively. You'll be able to run your business better if you treat the failure like a treasure trove of new knowledge and insight that you didn't have before.

  (00:56)

  Hey there. Welcome to the Coaching Corner podcast. I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. I'm a personal trainer and I've created this podcast to help you to get lean, get strong without shame and without burnout. In today's episode, we are going to be talking about failure because as a personal trainer, what I've noticed is that failure is one of the number one difficulties that a lot of my clients face in staying consistent on their fitness journey. Whether you're experiencing failure in terms of missing a lift, not getting the same number of reps as you were hoping, or if you find it difficult or you're having obstacles in getting to the gym, doing your workouts, or doing your meal prep, failure is an opportunity for us to learn and grow. But many people have a pretty poor relationship with failure where they see it as a stop sign or an off ramp onto the shame spiral, which can really sabotage your progress on your fitness journey.

  (01:52)

  So today I'm going to share with you the message that I give to my clients whenever they deal with obstacles or failures to help them to rethink how they see their failure so that they can turn it into a launchpad for future success. And before we get into the episode, make sure to like this video if you're watching on YouTube and subscribe to the channel so that you never miss new episodes or videos. If you're listening to the podcast, make sure to follow the show so you always get the latest episodes delivered right to your device. And keep in mind that I am currently onboarding new clients in my fat loss transformation program and this 90 day program, I'm going to help you to burn fat and get strong in a way that's sustainable so you can see long-term results. So if you're ready to get toned, check out the link that is in the show notes or in the description of this video. You can also check out my website, Jaydigains.com. That's J-A-Y-D-I-G-A-N s.com to check out my other coaching programs and services. Without further ado, let's get into the episode.

  (02:58)

  If you want to change your life in some really meaningful way, like you want to get in shape or you want to start a business, be successful in your business, or if you want to learn a new skill, failure is going to happen. And I argue that it's an essential ingredient to success because you cannot reach great success in something really hard and complex without having failed a couple of times at least. And it's the failures that teach you the things that you need to know in order to be successful later down the road. And I think that one of the ways that being on a fitness journey can be a really great support and supplement to your personal growth journey is in how you have to change your relationship towards failure in the context of training. Because when you are trying to build muscle and get stronger, failure is an essential stepping stone towards that.

  (04:05)

  We have to train the muscles close to failure, if not to failure and order to get them to grow and get stronger. And the same thing is true in life. So I wanted to talk a little bit more about that today and go into the ways that we can maybe reframe how we think about failure in a way that doesn't sabotage our progress, but helps us to embrace it as a part of the journey and alchemize our failures, turning them into successes or key building blocks of our success, because that is what it takes in order to reach a big goal. Whether you're trying to lose 30 pounds or start a business and start getting your business to make a profit, or if you're trying to learn a big skill, learn how to paint really beautiful paintings. You have to trial and error and failure is a big part of that process.

  (05:03)

  I think a lot of people have a very poor relationship with failure. A lot of people, whenever they fail at something or something doesn't work out exactly the way that they were trying to have it work out. It can be very easy to take that failure and turn it inward and interpret it as meaning, oh, I'm a failure. This didn't work out. Therefore, I am fill in the blank, bad. I am a loser. I am a failure. I'm never going to get it. We learn to do that. We learn to internalize failures by the way that we're raised or how we get our educations. A lot of schools in the United States put so much pressure on students to perform 100% perfect, get a plus plus be good at all the things, your instruments, your sports, right? Like failure isn't an option. That kind of mindset is really deeply ingrained, I think in American culture.

  (06:13)

  And I mean not just American culture, it's not exclusive to American culture, but it is a big part of it. Some people's parents put a lot of pressure on their children to be perfect, and it makes it so that when you do fail or when you experience failure, you feel like you need to hide it or hide your flaws, hide your failings as though it's something shameful. I need to be perfect or I need to at least present myself as perfect. And I also blame social media for this too, because from the perspective as a fitness coach slash influencer, one of my big pet peeves about fitness on social media is a lot of the fitness influencers that you see, what you get on their pages is the highlights, right? You see them at their leanest before they're about to do a photo shoot or hop on stage.

  (07:15)

  You see them when they're strongest when they have been, they're at the tail end of a training block and now they're hitting a new pr. That's the kind of stuff that we post to social media our best. We're always putting our best face forward, our best foot forward, and there's a lot of pressure to do that. And people do get punished for their shortcomings and for their failures. Bullying, I think has a lot to do with it, which we experience in school. But I mean in the age of social media, cyber bullying is a thing. And so for whatever reason, at some point along the way, whether it was from one source or multiple sources, you probably learned that you need to hide your failures and your shortcomings as though they are something shameful that needs to be tucked away from the public eye. Otherwise you will be punished in some way, whether that's through bullying from your peers or punishment from your parents, you might lose privileges.

  (08:15)

  And this ingrains into us a fear of failure to the point where we begin to avoid things when they have a higher possibility of failure. We tend to more and more play it safe and just stick to what we know we can do well. But what I've noticed, and this is something that Angela Lee Duckworth talks about in her research on grit, which is students who are used to things coming easy to them, really, really struggle when they try something new and they don't get it immediately. So if you are neurodivergent in some way, you probably have experienced this where some things come super, super easy for you. If you were like me, maybe that was school and you maybe get used to things coming easily, and then you don't build up the tolerance for failure that normies get and normies have to work for it in the way that maybe people who were in the gifted program didn't have to work quite so hard.

  (09:26)

  So Angela Lee Duckworth in her book, she's now a psychologist and researcher, but she started as a math teacher. And what she noticed was that the students, there's this discrepancy right from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, the students who did really well at the beginning of the year in her math classes were not necessarily the students who did well at the end of the year. It was actually the students who were kind of in the middle who maybe struggled a little bit at the beginning of the year, who ended up having the best grades and the best performance at the end of the year. Whereas the kids who did really well initially tended to kind of start to decline towards the end of the year. And she was really curious about what is it that makes these students who didn't start out so well performed so much better towards the end?

  (10:21)

  What's different about them versus the kids that it was really easy for at the beginning? And what she found through her research, she ended up becoming a scientist to research this question. And what she came to discover was that what these kids had, the kids who started out not so well and then ended up doing really well was grit. They had this ability to tolerate failure and basically use it as a challenge to overcome versus where the kids who it was easy for in the beginning never learned how to overcome things, not going the way that they wanted them to for things to not come to them easy. So it's kind of like a skill or a muscle. It's a mental muscle to be able to tolerate failure and overcome it and use it to turn into a strength. And the students who at the end of the year outperformed the students who started really wealthy at the beginning of the year, it was their failures that set them up for being able to end the year on top because they learned from their failures, and that was the skill that they had that was different from the students, that it came easy to.

  (11:45)

  So it's this ability to turn your failures into reframing them into something that teaches you something, a springboard to launch you into the next phase rather than a stop sign. These students treated their failures as quests, right quests to go on an adventure, level up their skills so that they could come back to it and overcome it just like you would in a video game. So I think that if we want to develop a better relationship with failure, we have to change how we look at failure as not a stop sign. It's not a reflection back to us that says I'm a failure. The failure itself is a challenge. It's a challenge to be overcome. It's a puzzle to solve. It's an opportunity for you to look at what went wrong that caused this breakdown, and what needs to change in my strategy or in my mindset, or what skills do I need to acquire in order to be able to overcome this obstacle next time?

  (12:51)

  In acceptance and commitment therapy, what we're taught is to separate how we understand the way that our brains work and different types of thoughts. So there's thoughts that are like observations. They just, they're there, they're like facts. Your emotions, your mental state in general. That's just a thing. But then there's a second tier to your thoughts and how you think, which is the reaction to the first thing. And that is where most people get themselves into trouble and tend to spiral into anxiety. For example, I might have a day where I'm feeling kind of sad, and that is just how I feel. So that's like one level tier one. Now, what I might do is notice that I feel sad, observe that, and then as a second step start to beat myself up for feeling sad. Why are you sad? You have nothing to be sad about.

  (13:50)

  And then I start to stress myself out because I'm reacting to the situation in a way where I'm picking on myself. And that's where we get into trouble. And the same thing is true when we experienced failure. So if you experienced failure, like in the gym, say you miss a set, maybe you wanted to get 15 reps and you were only able to get to 13 before your muscles failed. So that's just the fact. The fact is that your muscles failed at 13 when you were trying to get to 15. Now, that fact alone is neutral. It means nothing. It just is. But what you decide it means to you, what it symbolizes to, you can make or break your ability to overcome that failure and turn it into success. So on the one hand, in the old way of thinking, you might be like, oh, I wasn't able to get to 15.

  (14:42)

  I'm such a failure. I'm so weak. Why do I even try? Why do I even show up at the gym? And then you might really trouble getting to the gym for the rest of the week. Maybe you decide to skip all of your workouts and you don't get stronger because that turns into a habit where you're skipping a lot of workouts, you're not training, you're not building strength. And guess what? You're never going to get 15. You're never going to get to 15 reps because you gave up because you decided that one failure means that you are a failure and that you should stop trying. So that's the old way of thinking that a lot of people struggle with, even people that I know who have been doing this for years and years and years, self-sabotage in the gym this way. Now, a new way of thinking, a reframe that you might try to practice is, okay, I wasn't able to make it to 15.

  (15:34)

  What are some of the things that might have caused me to not be able to perform that way? Have I slept enough? Did I sleep enough last night? Am I hydrated? Did I eat enough today? Am I recovered enough from my previous workouts? If you're a woman, am I about to start my period or am I having symptoms of perimenopause? If you have type one diabetes, is my blood sugar low? There are so many things that can cause you to not be able to keep your muscles pushing to a certain extent for a certain period of time or pushing a certain weight. There are many, many factors. And when you can identify what those factors are, then you have an opportunity to fix it. Sometimes it's just, I'm tired today, or for whatever reason it just didn't happen, but I'll try again. And next time I try, I'll make sure that I attend to all of those factors to set myself up for success.

  (16:32)

  So sometimes, well, I think I just need more muscle. Sometimes I'm just not there yet. I need to keep building, and then I'll be able to do that 15 reps, maybe I'm just not there yet and I just got to keep trying. Got to keep showing up. So when you think about it that way, guess what? You're likely going to show up for your workouts the rest of the week, and you're going to stick to that habit of showing up for your workouts and you're going to build muscle. And then eventually you'll build muscle to the point where 15 reps is easy. Like, oh, that was my stopping point a couple of weeks ago. But that was just like, that's easy. Now, what's next? So those two different pathways that you can go down when you experience a failure has just completely different results. Polar opposite results.

  (17:20)

  One says, oh, this means something about me as a person. Why even try? The other says, oh, what are all of the factors that contributed to me not being able to be successful here? And it's similar to business. I'll tell you this, something that I learned a couple of years ago that made a huge difference in how I run my business and makes me so much happier in my work now, and I'm so much better at taking care of myself in my business. And one of those things I from a business coach was when I'm not able to do something for my business that I wanted to achieve, maybe I set a benchmark, I set a goal, and I just consistently have not been able to hit that goal. Now, on the one hand, I could interpret that as well, maybe I'm just not cut out for this.

  (18:05)

  Maybe I should just give up and stop trying. But what one of my business coaches told me was like, if you're consistently not able to reach this goal, it doesn't mean that there's something wrong with you. It means that there's something wrong with your systems and you need to update your systems to set you up for success. So sometimes that's what we need to do as well in our fitness and in our life. Is everything in your environment is everything. The factors that are under your control, are they lining up in a way that supports you so that you can show up and perform your best? So those are the two different kind of ways that you can think about failure. And one I would say is more in align with a fixed mindset. The one that says you have somewhere within you a belief that you are a failure or that you're not going to be successful.

  (18:59)

  And if you've decided in your mind already that that's the case, then you're going to take any little hiccup along the way as evidence of that to further convince yourself that you should give up. And if you stay in that mindset, you're never going to reach your goal. But if you decide instead, okay, maybe I'm not where I need to be in order to reach my goal, but I can grow toward that. I can level up my skills, I can grow as a person, I can learn new things, and I can learn how to do new things, and I'm going to keep doing that until I've leveled up to the point where I can achieve my goal. So one is a fixed mindset where you've decided already this is just my limitations. And that's the mindset that sees failure as a stop and give up.

  (19:55)

  But a growth mindset where you treat yourself and your life as your own personal RPG treats, failures as opportunities to level up your skills, gain XP level up to the point where you can come back to this challenge and spank it. So that's the approach that I like for my clients to have towards failure because I mean, really think about it. What fricking good does having a fixed mindset do? Really, how does your life benefit when you carry around this core belief that you are a failure and that nothing that you do will ever work out seriously? What possible good outcome is there for that? You may be doing that to protect yourself from the shame of failure so that you don't have to feel the sting of failure, but you're still going to have to live with the sting of not believing in yourself, which I think is worse.

  (20:56)

  Sometimes you got to risk it for the biscuit, and you got to make peace with the fact that there's going to be failure and good. There should be. There should be failure. Great success is built on countless failures, and you have to be ready to embrace those failures to move forward, learn from them. They're your teachers. They're essential mentors, right? And they're a key part of your journey. And then you don't build muscle without making your muscle break down, without approaching muscle failure or going to muscle failure. You'll never know where your limits are, and you may not even be getting as many gains from the gym as you would be you. If you continue to play it safe and you don't challenge yourself, you never grow, you'll never get stronger. And it's the same thing in life. I want to challenge you to embrace failures as key crucial parts of your growth journey.

  (21:55)

  If you're trying to burn fat, if you're trying to get strong, if you're trying to achieve anything big, you're going to fail. It's going to happen. You can't prevent it, and nor should you prevent it, because it's the failures that show us where we need to grow. And there are opportunities for us to reflect, make the tweaks that need to happen in order for us to be successful. So I would challenge you to start thinking of failure in that way, but also to really become conscious of how you see yourself. Do you carry a fixed mindset where you have a core belief that nothing will work out for you? Or do you have a growth mindset? And a growth mindset is something that can be cultivated. You just have to practice it just like any other skill, just like a muscle, you have to use it to grow it and get it stronger.

  (22:50)

  And you want to work on practicing the growth mindset and reminding yourself instead of, oh, I'm bad at this. You practice saying things like, I'm getting better at this. I'm learning. I'm growing in this respect. I have things to learn in this respect. Change how you think of yourself and change how you think of areas where you have shortcomings and treat them like areas where you have more growth to do and start framing it that way. And I guarantee you, you will start to see more successes once you start embracing your failures and seeing them as launchpads for that growth. Yeah, so failure is a lot of people think of failure as the opposite of success when it's actually a part of success. It is a building block towards success, okay? Every failure has something crucial that you can learn from. And when you walk away from your failures, because you're saying to yourself, oh, I might as well not even try, there is gold that you're walking away from. You're leaving money on the table because your failure has such a key lesson for you to learn. And if you learn it, you'll be able to unlock new levels of success. You'll be able to move more effectively. You'll be able to burn fat more effectively. You'll be able to build muscle more effectively. You'll be able to run your business better, right? If you treat the failure as like a treasure trove of new knowledge and insight that you didn't have before.

  (24:22)

  Thank you so much for watching or listening to this episode of The Coaching Corner podcast. Again, I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. You can follow me on my socials. I am Jaydigains everywhere. And if you would like a little bit more help on your fitness journey, check out my coaching programs on my website. That's Jaydigains.com, and let me know what you think in the comments below this video if you're watching on YouTube. I'll see you soon in the next episode. In the meantime, make sure that you're eating your veggies, eat your protein, drink your water, and take care of yourself, and I will see you soon.

What the Gym Taught Me About Failing Forward

You know what's funny? The gym is probably the only place where we actively try to fail, and we celebrate it! Every time you lift weights until your muscles can't do another rep, you're literally training to failure—and it's the best thing you can do for getting stronger.

Here's what happens: when you push your muscles to their limit, tiny microscopic tears form in the muscle fibers. Sounds bad, right? But here's the magic—while you're sleeping, your body repairs those "failures" and makes the muscle even stronger than before. The weight that challenged you last week becomes your warm-up this week!

Think about it: everyone who can deadlift impressive weight once struggled with much lighter loads. But it was all those "failed" attempts with lighter weights that built them up to where they are now. Pretty cool, right?

Your Personal Failure Coach

Beyond building physical strength, failure is like having a really honest (sometimes brutally honest) personal coach. It shows you exactly where your weak spots are so you know what to work on next.

I love having my clients do fitness tests—like holding a plank until they can't anymore or doing as many push-ups as possible. Why? Because pushing to that breaking point gives us a roadmap for improvement.

Let's say you try to do a pull-up and... well, let's just say gravity wins. Instead of feeling defeated, you now have a clear action plan! Spend the next few weeks working on grip strength, building up your back and arms with exercises like pull-downs and dead hangs. A few months later, you'll surprise yourself by conquering that pull-up. Your "failure" literally showed you the way.

The Good Kind of Failure vs. The Not-So-Good Kind

Now, I have to be honest with you—not all failure is created equal. There's a big difference between productive failure and the kind that just leaves you spinning your wheels.

The good kind of failure happens when you:

• Try your best with proper preparation and safety in mind

• Actually learn something specific from what went wrong

• Adjust your approach based on what you discovered

• See the setback as valuable information, not a judgment on your worth

The not-so-helpful kind happens when you:

• Keep making the same mistakes without stopping to think about why

• Skip proper preparation or ignore safety (physical or otherwise)

• Let the failure define who you are instead of what you learned

• Give up instead of trying a different approach

Think about it like this: the entrepreneur who starts three businesses that don't work out but learns crucial lessons from each one? That's productive failure in action. The person who keeps making the same business mistakes over and over without reflection? They're stuck in the unproductive cycle.

Your Safe-to-Fail Toolkit

Smart athletes don't just jump into dangerous situations hoping for the best. They create safe environments where failure can teach them something without causing serious harm. They use spotters, start with manageable weights, and build up gradually.

You can absolutely apply this same approach to any goal in your life:

Get Your Spotters Ready: Find mentors, friends, or advisors who can offer perspective and support when things get tough. You don't have to figure everything out alone!

Start with Your "Training Wheels": Break your big scary goal into smaller, lower-stakes experiments. Want to start a business? Test your idea with a small pilot first. Looking to improve a relationship? Practice those difficult conversations in less intense situations.

Keep Your Learning Journal: After each setback, ask yourself: What specifically went wrong? What would I try differently next time? What assumptions turned out to be incorrect? Treat each experience like a scientist treats an experiment that didn't go as expected.

Level Up Gradually: As you get more comfortable and confident, slowly increase the difficulty and stakes of your challenges. Just like adding weight to the bar at the gym!

Here's the Thing

Failure isn't the enemy of success—it's actually success's best friend and teacher. Every meaningful thing you've achieved in your life was probably built on a foundation of failures that taught you exactly what you needed to know.

The real question isn't whether you'll fail (spoiler alert: you will, and that's totally normal). The question is whether you'll fail in a way that moves you forward.

So the next time you're facing the possibility of failure, take a deep breath and remember: just like your muscles grow strongest when they're challenged to their limits, so do you. Your failures aren't roadblocks—they're stepping stones to becoming the person you're meant to be.

You've got this! 💪

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Ep 73 | Fix Your Posture with These 5 Essential Pulling Exercises

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Combat desk slouch and strengthen your back with these trainer-approved movements

Do you find yourself slouching at your desk, hunched over your computer in what can only be described as a "cashew shape"? If you're nodding your head (hopefully with good posture), you're not alone. Poor posture from prolonged sitting is epidemic in our digital age, leading to back pain, neck pain, and shoulder discomfort that can affect both your work life and exercise performance.

The good news? You can fight back against bad posture with targeted pulling exercises that strengthen your back muscles and restore proper alignment. As a personal trainer, I've seen these movements transform my clients' posture and reduce their pain levels significantly.

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):

  Do you have a habit of slouching when you are sitting down at work? If so, you probably also experience back pain, neck pain, and shoulder pain, and one of the best ways that you can combat bad posture and poor alignment is to practice where called pulling exercises or poll based exercises. So let's take a look at some of my favorite polling exercises to use for my clients and to help myself to strengthen the back and improve posture. Welcome to the Coaching Corner podcast. I'm Jayd Harrison. I'm a personal trainer and I have created this podcast to help you to get lean, get strong without shame and without burnout. In today's episode, we're going to be going over a variety of exercises that you can do to develop your back strength, improve your posture, and reduce your neck and back pain. These exercises are listed in order of most beginner friendly to more advanced variations with heavier weights.

  (01:05)

  So if you would like to improve your posture and you would like to reduce your stiffness and pain in your neck and in your back, this is a great podcast episode to listen to. Before we get into the episode, make sure to like this video if you are watching on YouTube and subscribe to my channel so that you always get new videos whenever they drop. If you're listening to this podcast, thank you so much. Make sure that you follow the show so that you always get the latest episodes delivered right to your device. And keep in mind that I am currently onboarding new clients into my fat loss transformation program. In this 90 day program, I'm going to show you how to burn fat and keep it off for good. I'll give you a customized training program as well as a customized meal plan and step-by-step coaching and guidance along the way you are interested in this. Make sure to click the link that's in the show notes or in the video description below, or you can go to my website Jaydigains.com. That's J-A-Y-D-I-G-A-I-N-S.com. And without further ado, let's get into the episode.

  (02:13)

  When you are working at your computer for so long, it's very common to begin to hunch forward, and before you know it, you're sitting in kind of like a cashew shape. Now this is not only really bad posture, but it's also really bad for your health. When you're sitting like this, it puts a lot of strain on the muscles in your back, especially the spinal erector muscles as well as your trapezius and rhomboids. A lot of people also tend to round their shoulders forward while they're sitting like this, which can also weaken the back of the shoulders and make the front of your shoulders really tight. So when you go to do exercises like bench press or pushups or some kind of overhead press, you might experience shoulder pain because your body is just so used to being in a position of being rounded forward and out of alignment that when you go to perform other exercises, you may not realize that you're performing them out of alignment, which can cause pain and strain in the muscles.

  (03:11)

  So let's learn how to fix this posture so that you can build up your back, sit with a better posture and experience less pain and reduce your risk of injury while exercising. One of the best ways that you can combat bad posture and poor alignment is to practice what are called polling exercises or poll based exercises. So let's take a look at some of my favorite exercises to use for my clients and to help myself to strengthen the back and improve posture. Number one, the most beginner friendly pulling based exercise is a seated row, either with a cable machine or with a band. Performing this exercise from a seated position allows you to really focus on engaging the right muscles in your back. Whenever you're performing pulling based exercises, it's really important to sit with a nice tall posture with your shoulders stacked right over your hips and your head forward.

  (04:08)

  You also want to actively push your chest forward and draw your shoulders down away from your ears. When you pull the resistance back, you should pull it straight to your sternum while squeezing your armpits and pushing your chest forward. This is going to give you maximal engagement in all of those back muscles, the lattisimus, doci, the lower and mid trapezius muscles as well as your spinal erectors, and it's also a good idea to practice keeping your chest pushed forward even as you reach the weight back to the starting position. Practicing keeping this posture while the weight is in motion is a great way to train yourself to sit with a nice tall posture and keeping your body in alignment. This is really the best way for you to sit regardless of whether you're exercising or working at your computer, sitting with your shoulders stacked over your hips allows for your belly to make room for your diaphragm to expand so you can get nice deep breaths.

  (05:05)

  You're also placing a lot less strain on your lower back and spine. And when you feel like you're ready to advance this exercise, the next step would be to take out the bench or the seated position and perform this exercise from a standing position. This will force your core to work a little bit harder because after all, one of the most important things to developing good healthy posture is developing a strong core. So when you perform exercises that make you engage your core to stay stable, when you're performing the exercises from an unstable position that helps you to engage your core and better train that posture, you perform the exercise exactly the same, keeping your chest forward, your shoulders down, away from your ears, and trying to keep that alignment even as you reach the weight back forward. You can do this from a staggered stance position, which I find helps a lot with balance, or you can keep both of your feet together and lean back a little bit depending on the amount of weight that you're using.

  (06:07)

  Both of these exercises are incredibly beginner friendly, so I would start with them before graduating to more advanced and unstable variations. If you don't have access to a cable machine or to bands, you can also perform this exercise from an incline bench using dumbbells. Now, one thing that's really important here is that this exercise is focused on the lats. We call it a lat row. You want to avoid flaring your elbows out too much because that turns the exercise into a rear del row, which is important to practice as well. But here we really want to focus on getting those lats engaged. Once you've mastered the form for any of these variations of the lat row, then you can start to add some instability and different stances to make the exercise more difficult and to challenge your core strength. One of my favorite variations of this is the single arm row, which you can practice leaning on a bench because you have the weight loaded in only one hand.

  (07:04)

  This is going to force your core muscles to have to work harder, to stabilize you, to keep you in this position. When you are doing the single arm row from the bench like this, it's really important that you are actively pushing your hand into the bench and avoid sinking into the shoulder of the hand that's on the bench. You want your whole body to stay kind of active, to keep you stable here. Another important tip to keep in mind here is that when you pull that weight up, you're going to pull it toward your hip rather than just straight up and down. So the starting position of the exercise, the weight should be right below your shoulder, but then as you lift it up, it should come toward your hip and then move forward again as you reach the weight down toward the floor. Another variation of the single arm row that I really like using the bench is the modified gorilla row.

  (07:51)

  For this, you have both of your hands on two weights that are resting on the bench, and you'll alternate pulling the weight up in a lat row to either side. Because of the way that you're standing, the weight is going to come more toward the inside of your hip rather than the outside of the hip. One of my favorite ways to advance this exercise is to use kettlebells and bring the weights to the floor, which you can do once you have developed mobility in your hamstrings and the confidence in this exercise to be able to do it in this position. There's nothing wrong with starting with the weights on the bench. The gorilla row is one of my favorite exercises for practicing core stability as well, because as you're alternating lifting the weight up from one side to the other, your abdominals and your obliques have to engage to keep you in the same place and keep your torso rigid.

  (08:41)

  So again, this is another one that's really great for helping you to not only train your back muscles, but to also train your core, which is another part of having good posture. Then number five, one of my favorite variations of the row to practice once you have developed the strength as well as good hip hinge technique, is the barbell reverse grip row. This is one of the most difficult variations of the row, but it is so great for helping you to develop back strength in all of the muscles in your back, including your lats, your spinal erectors, your rear delts, and many other muscles have to work to stabilize you as well like your glutes and your hamstrings as well as your abdominals. But before you try this variation, you want to make sure that you are really good on your hip hinge technique, that you can perform R DLS or Romanian deadlifts with good technique, that you have the core strength to be able to maintain a good position throughout the exercise.

  (09:40)

  You want to be able to lift the weight up and back down without rounding your spine and losing engagement in your glutes or in your core. This is also one of the best exercises for helping you to develop grip strength, which is super important if you want to be able to lift heavy. Of course, in addition to LA rows, there are many other exercises that you should be practicing for developing your back strength, like back flies, rear dealt rows, where you keep your elbows a little bit more flared out to the side, to bias the rear delts as well as the other muscles in the back of your shoulders. But if you're short on time in the gym and you only have time for a few exercises, doing some variation of a lat row will do the trick for engaging and training and strengthening the muscles in your back if you have time to do other exercises.

  (10:27)

  This will go even further toward helping you to improve your posture. You can add in things like back flies from the incline bench, dumbbell wise from the incline bench as well, and lap pullovers. So give these exercises a try, and of course, as always, you want to make sure that you listen to your body. It's totally normal and it's actually a good thing if you feel the target muscles burning, but what we want to avoid is any kind of sharp pains, especially in your joints. If you have any questions about these or any other exercises, leave them in the comments below this video if you're watching on YouTube. And as a little heads up, I am going to be very soon launching my all new Body Sculpt Coaching program where I will go much more into detail about a lot of different exercises, including the rows, and just like with my Fat Loss transformation program, you'll get a custom training plan as well as a custom meal plan and step-by-step coaching for the entire 90 days of the program. If you'd like more information on that, click on the link below this video on YouTube or in the show notes.

  (11:35)

  Thanks so much for watching this episode of The Coaching Corner Podcast. Again, I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. You'd like more information on me or the services that I offer. Head to my website, Jaydigains.com. That's J-A-Y-D-I-G-A-I-N-S.com. And make sure to follow me on my socials, which are linked in the show notes or the video description below. And also make sure to like this video if you found it helpful, and subscribe to my channel so that you never miss new videos. If you're listening to the podcast, make sure to follow the show so that you always get the latest episodes delivered right to your device. I'll be back again later this week with another new episode of The Coaching Corner Podcast. In the meantime, make sure that you eat your veggies, eat your protein, drink your water, and take care of yourself, and I will see you soon.

Why Your Posture Matters More Than You Think

When you sit hunched forward for hours, you're putting tremendous strain on several key muscle groups:

• Spinal erector muscles - which support your spine

• Trapezius and rhomboids - the muscles between your shoulder blades

• Posterior deltoids - the back of your shoulders

This forward head posture and rounded shoulders don't just look unprofessional—they create a cascade of problems. Your front shoulder muscles become tight while your back muscles weaken, creating an imbalance that can lead to injury during exercises like bench press, pushups, or overhead movements.

The Solution: Strategic Pulling Exercises

Pulling exercises (also called "pull-based" exercises) are your secret weapon against poor posture. These movements strengthen the muscles that pull your shoulders back and help maintain spinal alignment. Here are my top 5 exercises, arranged from beginner-friendly to advanced variations.

1. Seated Cable Row or Band Row (Beginner)

Why it's perfect for beginners: The seated position allows you to focus entirely on proper muscle engagement without worrying about balance or core stability.

How to perform:

• Sit tall with shoulders stacked over hips

• Keep your head in neutral position

• Push your chest forward and draw shoulders down away from your ears

• Pull the resistance straight to your sternum

• Squeeze your armpits and maintain chest position throughout the movement

• Focus on keeping good posture even as you return to the starting position

Pro tip: Practice maintaining this chest-forward, shoulders-back position even when you're not exercising—this is how you should sit at your desk too!

2. Standing Cable Row (Intermediate)

Once you've mastered the seated version, remove the bench support to challenge your core stability.

Progression benefits:

• Forces core engagement for better overall posture development

• Mimics real-world functional movements

• Can be performed in a staggered stance for better balance

Key form cues: Maintain the same upper body positioning as the seated version while engaging your core to stay stable.

3. Incline Dumbbell Lat Row (Equipment Alternative)

Don't have access to cables or bands? No problem. This variation uses an incline bench and dumbbells.

Important note: Keep your elbows relatively close to your body to target the lats effectively. Flaring your elbows turns this into a rear delt exercise (which is also valuable, but different).

4. Single-Arm Row Variations (Advanced Stability)

These unilateral exercises force your core to work overtime to prevent rotation and maintain stability.

Bench-supported single-arm row:

• Place one hand and knee on the bench

• Pull the weight toward your hip (not straight up and down)

• Keep the supporting arm active—don't sink into that shoulder

• Start with the weight below your shoulder, pull to your hip

Modified gorilla row:

• Both hands on weights resting on a bench

• Alternate pulling each weight up toward the inside of your hip

• Great for core stability as your obliques work to prevent rotation

• Can progress to floor-level with kettlebells once you develop the mobility

5. Barbell Reverse Grip Row (Advanced)

This is the most challenging variation and requires excellent hip hinge technique before attempting.

Prerequisites:

• Solid Romanian deadlift (RDL) technique

• Strong core stability

• Ability to maintain spine neutrality under load

Benefits:

• Targets multiple back muscles simultaneously (lats, spinal erectors, rear delts)

• Develops grip strength

• Engages supporting muscles like glutes, hamstrings, and abs

Safety note: Only attempt this after mastering hip hinge movements and ensuring you can maintain proper form throughout the entire range of motion.

Beyond the Basics: Additional Back Strengtheners

While lat rows are incredibly effective, a complete posture-improvement program should also include:

• Back flies from an incline bench

• Rear delt rows (with elbows flared wider)

• Lat pullovers for additional lat development

Exercise Tips for Success

Listen to your body: Muscle fatigue and a burning sensation in the target muscles is normal and beneficial. However, sharp joint pain is a red flag—stop immediately if you experience this.

Progress gradually: Start with the seated variations and master the form before advancing to more challenging positions.

Consistency is key: These exercises work best when performed regularly as part of a balanced fitness routine.

The Bigger Picture: Posture as a Lifestyle

Remember, exercise is just one piece of the posture puzzle. The way you sit at your desk, the ergonomics of your workspace, and your daily movement habits all play crucial roles. Think of these pulling exercises as your daily antidote to the forward head posture and rounded shoulders that modern life encourages.

When you sit with proper alignment—shoulders over hips, chest forward, shoulders down—you're not just improving your appearance. You're creating space for your diaphragm to function properly, reducing strain on your lower back and spine, and setting yourself up for better breathing and less pain.

Ready to Transform Your Posture?

Start with the seated cable row or band row, focus on perfect form, and gradually progress through the more advanced variations as your strength and stability improve. Your back (and your future self) will thank you for taking action against the slouch today.

Remember: If you have any existing back or shoulder injuries, consult with a healthcare professional or qualified trainer before beginning any new exercise program.

Links:

• Watch on Youtube

• Fat Loss Transformation Coaching Program

• Body Sculpt Coaching Program

• Livestreams on Twitch

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Ep 72 | Food tracking myths BUSTED!

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When people think about tracking their food, a few common fears come up:

• “Isn’t food tracking obsessive?”

• “Doesn’t tracking cause eating disorders?”

• “It’s too much work, I don’t have time for that.”

The truth is, tracking your food is just a tool. It isn’t inherently healthy or unhealthy—it all comes down to how you use it and the mindset you bring to it. For many people, tracking can be one of the most powerful ways to build self-awareness, spot patterns in eating habits, and stay consistent when working toward a goal.

If you’ve ever wondered how to track your food the right way, without falling into common mistakes, this guide is for you.

The Myths About Food Tracking

Let’s bust a few misconceptions first:

Myth #1: Only people with eating disorders track their food.
Not true. Athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and everyday people use tracking to learn about portion sizes and nutrition. Many do so while maintaining a healthy, balanced relationship with food.

Myth #2: If I start tracking, I’ll obsess.
Again—not the tracking itself, but the mindset behind it determines whether it becomes obsessive. With clear boundaries, tracking stays a helpful guide instead of a stressor.

Myth #3: Tracking is too restrictive.
Actually, once you get comfortable with it, tracking gives you more flexibility. You learn how to fit in your favorite foods while still working toward your goals.

Two Ways to Use Tracking

There isn’t just one way to track. In fact, I recommend two main approaches:

1. Snapshot Tracking (Awareness Phase)

Think of this as a food diary experiment. For 3–7 days, log everything you eat without trying to change anything.

• Purpose: to get an honest picture of your current eating habits.

• What you’ll notice: calorie intake, protein levels, portion sizes, hidden calories (like sauces, oils, or snacks you don’t normally think about).

Awareness is powerful—it’s often the first step toward change.

2. Goal-Oriented Tracking (Action Phase)

Once you have awareness, you can start tracking with a specific goal in mind, like fat loss, muscle gain, or better performance.

• How it works: log meals in advance or in real time. Check your targets before you eat so you can adjust throughout the day.

• Why it helps: it keeps you aligned with your plan and allows you to make small corrections before the day gets away from you.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

A lot of frustration with food tracking comes from a few avoidable pitfalls. Here’s how to dodge them:

• Mistake #1: Logging everything at the end of the day.
  This doesn’t give you a chance to adjust. Instead, log before or as you eat.

• Mistake #2: Skipping measurements.
  Eyeballing from day one usually leads to underestimating calories. Use a food scale for a few weeks—it’s eye-opening. Over time, you’ll get better at estimating without it.

• Mistake #3: Aiming for perfection.
  Tracking isn’t about getting every gram perfect. It’s about consistency and trends. Close enough is good enough.

• Mistake #4: Only focusing on calories.
  Calories matter, but so do nutrients. Hitting your protein, getting in fruits and veggies, and staying hydrated will make the biggest difference in how you feel.

The Right Mindset for Tracking

Here’s where most people go wrong: they let tracking turn into judgment. But numbers aren’t moral—they’re just information.

• Tracking doesn’t make you “good” or “bad.”

• It’s a guide, not a scorecard.

• You don’t need to track forever—the ultimate goal is to use tracking as a short-term learning tool that helps you eat more intuitively down the line.

Practical Takeaways

If you want to start tracking without the overwhelm, here’s your action plan:

1. Decide if you need a snapshot (awareness) or goal-oriented tracking (action).

2. Start with just 3–7 days of logging for awareness.

3. If you’re working toward a goal, try logging meals before you eat.

4. Focus on consistency over perfection.

5. Remember: the tool should serve you—not control you.

Final Thoughts

Tracking your food isn’t about obsession—it’s about awareness and choice. When used correctly, it can help you feel more in control of your eating habits, not less. Whether you want to lose fat, gain muscle, or simply learn more about your nutrition, food tracking can be an empowering strategy.

The key is to use it the right way—with the right mindset.

Links:

• Watch on Youtube

• Fat Loss Transformation Coaching Program

• Healthy Diet Makeover Coaching Program

• Livestreams on Twitch

• Transcript

  Jayd (00:00):

  So the food tracking itself is just a tool and like any other tool, it can be used to help or to harm based on your intentions, but when you have good intentions and a reasonable goal that you're working towards, it can be very helpful. Hey there. Welcome to the Coaching Corner podcast. I'm Jayd Harrison, certified personal trainer, and I help people to get strong and lean without shame and without burnout. In today's episode, we're going to go over common myths and misconceptions around tracking your food. Food tracking is a practice that a lot of people use whenever they're trying to make some kind of a change to their diet, whether that is they're trying to lose weight or gain muscle or just eat better. It can be a very helpful practice, but there are a lot of misconceptions around food tracking that will clear up in the episode.

  (00:57)

  Before we get into the episode, make sure to like this video if you're watching on YouTube and subscribe to the channel so you always get the latest videos. If you're listening to the podcast, thank you so much. Make sure that you follow the channel so that you always get the latest episodes delivered to your device and consider checking out my website from more information on my coaching programs and services. Right now, I am enrolling new clients to my Fat Loss transformation program, which is a 90 day program to get you on track towards losing weight and keeping it off for good. In this program, I'll give you a customized meal plan as well as a custom training program designed for your fitness level and whatever equipment you have access to. By the end of this program, you will be well on your way towards achieving your fat loss goals and keeping that fat off for good. For more information on that, check out the link that's in the video description below if you're watching on YouTube or check out the link in the show notes if you're listening to the podcast. And without further ado, let's get into the episode.

  (02:01)

  So first off, let's talk about what food tracking is. Food tracking is the practice of either writing down or plugging into a tracking app, what you eat throughout the day. There's different ways to go about tracking. There's different goals that people might have in mind when it comes to monitoring what they're eating, but they all involve some variation of logging or recording whatever they eat and drink. And they might be doing this so that they can develop some self-awareness of the foods that they're eating. They might be doing this in order to become mindful of how many calories are in their food or how much protein they're eating. Some people might do it as just like an extension of their journaling practice because some people enjoy writing down what they do every day. When you're trying to make some kind of a change to your diet, it can be helpful to write down what you're eating and keeping an eye on the nutrition content of your food to ensure that you're reaching certain goal.

  (03:00)

  So some people who are trying to really maximize their protein intake, for example, might track their food in order to make sure that they're getting in enough protein at each meal and in every snack. So there's many different ways of doing food tracking toward different goals. Now, one misconception that a lot of people have about food tracking is that only people with eating disorders track their food, and this is simply not true. Well, many people who do have eating disorders use tracking as part of their unhealthy relationship with food. Food tracking is used by athletes, fitness enthusiasts and normal healthy people because it's a very powerful tool for staying mindful and aware of what you're eating. And it can also be very helpful whenever you're trying to eat towards a specific goal. People with eating disorders oftentimes have a distorted goal in mind that they use food tracking to reach, which can be unhealthy and harmful.

  (03:57)

  But when you have a healthy and realistic goal toward your food and toward your diet, tracking can be very helpful and powerful for helping you to reach that goal. Many people are able to use food tracking while maintaining a healthy relationship with food and with their bodies. And also there are plenty of people who have eating disorders who don't track their food. So the food tracking itself is just a tool and like any other tool, it can be used to help or to harm based on your intentions. But when you have good intentions and a reasonable goal that you're working towards, it can be very helpful. Another misconception that a lot of people have is that if they start tracking their food, they will become obsessive over their food. Now, this may be the case for a lot of people who have a tendency to become obsessive, especially whenever they try new things.

  (04:47)

  But again, this has to do more with the mindset that you carry with you into the tracking as a practice. The tracking itself is not what makes you obsessive. It's your mindset and your mental state which cause you to be obsessive. And that same mindset and mental state can make you obsessive over many other things including tracking, but also tracking your body weight, tracking your measurements. When you are bringing with you into the practice, an unhealthy relationship with your body and a mindset that is restrictive and punishing, then that's going to come out in whatever tool it is that you're using to help yourself to get healthy or reach your fitness goals. And finally, another myth is that tracking is too restrictive. This is just another misconception because tracking is a tool that not only can be used for helping you to stay within a calorie deficit.

  (05:40)

  Many people who are in a bulk where they're trying to eat a calorie surplus use calorie tracking to make sure that they're reaching their daily calorie goals of eating more food. You can also use food tracking to make sure that you're eating enough protein or getting enough vegetables. Right now, I'm tracking my food because I'm trying to make sure that I reach a daily goal of soluble fiber. Of course, I'm trying to stay within a certain calorie range, but the main goal that I'm tracking for is to ensure that I'm getting enough fiber from my digestive tract to be healthy, and tracking is a way that helps me to eat more of the foods that I need to reach that goal. So it's not about restriction, it's more about staying accountable and making sure that you're staying on track towards whatever goal it is that you have in your nutrition.

  (06:28)

  And the way that I coach my clients, there's two main ways that we use tracking. One is to just get a sense of what your current eating habits are. This is the style of tracking that I use at the beginning of my programs with new clients in a process that I call the snapshot. The snapshot is where we create a record of what your starting point is in your fitness and in your nutrition. Many people aren't really aware of what they're eating throughout the day. Lots of people just eat when they feel hungry and they don't pay a whole lot of attention to the food choices that they make. Now, this can lead to not eating enough of certain nutrients that your body needs like protein or fiber. But if you're also not aware of the calorie content of the food that you're eating, you may be eating more energy than your body needs without realizing it.

  (07:22)

  And if you're trying to burn fat by exercising, but you're not having a lot of success, getting a snapshot of what your calorie intake is can help you to identify what foods may be. Setting you back and just building some awareness around your food choices can help you to identify the things that need to change. So the purpose of the snapshot is to get an honest picture of what your diet looks like and what your food habits are, because if you're trying to make any kind of changes, you need to know what you're working with to start out, because a lot of people think that in order to get healthy and lose weight, they have to overhaul their entire lifestyle and their entire diet. But often when people do a snapshot and they just figure out what they're eating, they can identify just one or two things that need to be swapped out or maybe substituted with other things or maybe reduced in order to reach their calorie goals without having to overhaul their entire diet.

  (08:14)

  So it can be a really helpful tool for that. So developing self-awareness around what you're eating is the first way that you can use tracking. I recommend this for people who are just starting out on their fitness journey or if they know that they want to make some changes to their diet and they're not sure what they should do. Starting out with creating a snapshot of three to seven days, tracking everything that you eat and drink, not changing anything, just getting a record of what your diet looks like can be very helpful. Remember, awareness is powerful and it is often the first step towards making meaningful change. The second way to use tracking is a goal-oriented approach to tracking where you have a specific goal in mind of how much of a certain nutrient or calories you want to eat or a food group that you want to eat, and you track what you eat and drink throughout the day to make sure that you're staying within that goal.

  (09:12)

  In practice, this looks a little bit different from how you track when you're doing a snapshot. When you're doing the snapshot, you're not actually changing anything about what you're eating, you're just making a record. When you are in the phase of goal-oriented tracking, I recommend plugging in or writing down whatever you plan to eat before you eat it to make sure that whatever it is that you're about to eat fits within your goals. And if not, you can make adjustments to how much of the protein that you're eating or to the serving size or swapping out certain parts of the meal to make sure you're staying within your goals. So whereas the snapshot is more about recording what you eat after the fact, goal-oriented tracking is more about planning what you're going to eat so that it stays within your goals. This helps to keep you accountable and on track following your plan, and it gives you the opportunity to make adjustments when you need to.

  (10:09)

  A lot of people will use this goal-oriented tracking in combination with meal planning and meal prep where they go ahead and decide what they're going to eat ahead of time, sometimes days or even a week ahead of time, and they might even go ahead and prepare it after plugging in what they plan on eating to their tracking journal or to their app. This is the style of tracking that my clients use most of the time after we have completed the first initial snapshot in the first couple of weeks of working with me, because by that point, they're working toward a specific goal that will help them to burn fat or build muscle or just eat better. One thing to keep in mind is that tracking is not something that most people do all of the time. I generally recommend tracking what you eat and drink only when you're trying to make changes.

  (11:01)

  But oftentimes what happens after you have been tracking your food for an extended period of time, you start to get a good intuitive sense of how many calories and how many macronutrients are in the foods that you like to eat. So you can often get to the point where you eat intuitively within your goals without having to track. And this is a really good place to be for just establishing and maintaining a healthy fit lifestyle. I don't track all of the time. I only track when I'm specifically trying to change something. I noticed a couple months ago that I wasn't eating enough dietary fiber, and so now I'm tracking and being more mindful of how much dietary fiber is in the foods that I'm eating so that I can make that adjustment. And as I've gotten into the routine of eating the types of foods that give my body more fiber, I'm able to step more and more away from tracking and use it less so in my coaching and in my own lifestyle.

  (11:59)

  Intuitive eating is the goal, but tracking is an important step toward reaching that goal. So if you want to start using tracking to help yourself to eat better and reach your goals, I highly recommend it. But if you do have a tendency toward being obsessive or if you have a history of disordered eating or disordered relationship with food or with your body, I recommend working with a coach, a registered dietician or a therapist to help you to find what tools work best for you and to work on your mindset toward your body and toward food so that you can have a healthier relationship. Now, if you're going to be using tracking to help yourself to develop more self-awareness or to stay within a specific goal, there are a couple of mistakes I want you to avoid. Number one, avoid waiting until the end of the day to log everything that you eat and drink.

  (12:57)

  If you are in the phase of tracking toward a specific goal, if you wait until the end of the day, oftentimes you'll find that it's not uncommon to make mistakes of overshooting your calories and not even realizing it. So make sure that you're tracking as you go or use food tracking to plan what you're going to eat. Another mistake that a lot of people make is they skip the measurements. It's so easy to overshoot your calories because you end up putting more food on the plate than you realize, which means that you have more calories. You may also not realize that you're not getting enough protein or not getting enough of some other nutrient because you're just eyeballing it rather than measuring it. So weighing your food or using some measuring spoons or measuring cups is a great way to make sure that you are indeed reaching your goals.

  (13:46)

  Another mistake that I want you to avoid is aiming for perfection. Your body does not need you to be 100% perfect to reach your goals. In fact, if you just stick to your goals a majority of the time, then that's what your body is going to reflect. So if you have a few days or a few meals here and there where you overshoot your calories or you don't quite reach your protein goal, that's totally fine. Remember that your body is going to reflect what you do most of the time. Okay, so a weekend off here and there is not going to harm your overall progress. And another mistake that a lot of people make is only focusing on calories, especially when they're in a fat loss phase. Your body needs a certain amount of macronutrients. That is protein, carbohydrates, and fats, as well as micronutrients like vitamins and minerals to stay healthy, especially if you're in a fat loss phase.

  (14:39)

  So I recommend using tracking to look at more than just your calories and make sure that you're eating enough protein, carbohydrates, fats, and vitamins, minerals. And if you're not sure how much of these things that you need to be eating, working with a coach like me or with a registered dietician is a great way to start. If you are going to be using tracking, make sure that you are using it with the right mindset. We want to approach tracking and whatever other tools that we're using to help improve our health and our fitness with a growth mindset that prioritizes learning and growing and allows for mistakes to happen. Try not to judge yourself too harshly or beat yourself up or hop on that shame spiral. Give yourself room to grow and to learn. Remember that your food log is a guide, not a scorecard. The amount of calories or macronutrients that you eat doesn't mean that you pass or fail that you're good or bad.

  (15:39)

  This is a tool that can help you to work towards reaching your goals and maintain the self-awareness that you need to stay within your goals. And remember, you do not have to track forever. It's a short-term thing that we do when we're trying to make adjustments to our diet. So I hope that this clears up some of those misconceptions that you might have had around food tracking. Now, if you are interested in learning more about how to eat better and use tools like tracking in a way that's responsible and healthy, check out my Healthy Diet Makeover coaching program. In this six week program, I'll give you an introduction to the strategies that people use to eat better and maintain a healthy diet for their fitness lifestyle. You can find more information on that and my other coaching programs on my website, that's Jaydigains.com, J-A-Y-D-I-G-A-I-N s.com. I am now enrolling clients into the Healthy Diet Makeover program, as well as my fat loss transformation program. So you can find more information on those on my website and in the links below this video if you're watching on YouTube or in the show notes.

  (16:51)

  Thank you so much for watching or listening to this episode of The Coaching Corner podcast. Again, I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains, and I hope that you found the information in this episode helpful. Make sure to like this video if you're watching on YouTube, and subscribe to the channel so that you never miss new videos. And if you're listening to the podcast, make sure to follow the show so that you never miss new episodes. I will see you in the next episode. In the meantime, make sure that you're taking good care of yourself. Eat your veggies, eat your protein, drink plenty of water, and I will see you soon.

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