I used to be a cardio queen, until I was forced to change my habits and finally take strength training more seriously. I could not have done that on my own, and credit my personal success to several different women online. For many years one of those influences has been Amber Brueseke, who returns to the podcast to discuss the importance of strength training for women, especially as we age.
Amber shares her journey and practical tips on how to get started with weightlifting, no matter your level of experience. From understanding the ‘why’ behind strength training to practical steps and five incredible tips you can implement right away, this conversation is packed with value. Tune in to learn how you can prioritize strength training, overcome intimidation, and start making progress today.
Amber’s workshop and recommendations: Liftinglindsay, JillFit, Ocean.trail, Doclyssfitness, Absbyamy, Deliciouslyfitnhealthy, Jmlipsfitness, Drstacysims, Thegymnurse, Emilyrobinson.fit, Thegirlsgonestrong, Megsquats, Trainwithjoan
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TRANSCRIPT
Monica Packer: Amber Brueseke, welcome back to About Progress.
Amber Brueseke: Hey, thanks, Monica. It’s so fun to be here. Yeah.
Monica Packer: and now you’re like, Even bigger. And it’s just, you are a dear friend too.
You’ve helped me so much in so many ways and been there for me. So thank you for all of that. And thank you for being willing to come back on the show. We’re going to be talking about something that I have been learning about from you for years. And I was just telling you before we started to record, I have yet to actually follow your advice.
So. It’s time. It’s time to do that. So we’re going to talk about why we need to get strong and some weightlifting tips for women. Let’s start with strength training in general. Why does it matter that women strength train, especially as they age?
Amber Brueseke: I mean, this is the perfect place to start, right? Because if we’re going to be putting time, effort, money, attention towards something, there needs to be a pretty definite goal. Darn good reason that we’re doing that.
And so if, you know, a lot of times we hear things we have this i, this pressure that maybe we like, quote unquote should be lifting weights.
But a lot of people don’t really understand, well, what’s the why? And when we can really understand the why behind something, we’re more apt to make the time, space, effort, money, investment to be able to do it. So I mean, the real truth is that muscle is your engine. It is the thing that helps you live a long, strong, active life. My husband had a really profound experience for him that kind of propelled him into prioritizing strike training. He is a physician. I, we got married before he took the MCAT. So like I’ve been married the whole entire time he’s gone through MCAT, you know, medical school, residency, fellowship, and now as an attending. And so during that time, he was obviously very busy. And. exercising, weightlifting was not a priority in his life. He, you know, was really just engrossed in medical training and he had an experience during fellowship where he, so he’s a, he did his residency in OBGYN and then he did a fellowship in urogynecology, which is a female pelvic reconstructive surgery.
And when he was in fellowship he had a woman come in who he was you know, going to do surgery on and he needed to do a pelvic exam on her. And so she needed to lift her legs up into the stirrups. And this woman was older but she had lost so much muscle mass that she physically could not lift her legs up into the stirrups. And they had to call you know, several MAs and nurses to come into like, literally, each lift one of the legs up into the stirrup.
And, You know, this woman had just lost, so much muscle mass that she wasn’t even able to lift her own legs up. And that was such a profound experience for my husband, because it was kind of like this, like fast forward, you know, 30, 40, 50 years from now of this realization that if you don’t use something, you lose it.
And muscle mass is what allows us to do simple things like Lift our legs up and put them in the syrups or get up off the toilet or just lead that healthy, active life that we want. And he came home. I mean, this really like hit him. Like, this was just like such a pivotal moment for him to like, see what it was almost like, you know, seeing what could be in the future. And he came home and he’s like, I need to start strength training because I need to be building this muscle. I need to have this maintenance so that I can live a long, healthy, active life. And he did, he started picking up weight training and has weight trained ever since. So for him, that was such a pivotal moment to see if I want a long, strong, healthy, active life, I need muscle mass.
And the truth is we lose muscle mass as we age. If you do nothing, you will lose 8 percent of your strength every decade after you turn 30. Like, we’re not talking about like 50, 60, 70, like 30 is so young. And if you don’t do anything by the time you’re 40, you will have lost 8 percent of your strength. And then that decline accelerates after you turn 60 and you lose it even faster after you turn 60. So if we don’t use it, we lose it. And it is such an important part of a vital, long living life. Yeah. And as we age, and we can speak specifically to women as we age and we start to go through menopause and estrogen starts to drop. Estrogen is one of the hormones that drives muscle function. It drives muscle mass. It drives strength. And so as you’re losing, you know,
estrogen,
that also accelerates that decline.
And so.
That’s the bad news, right? The good news is that we can, at the very least, you can absolutely slow this process down. And in like great circumstances, you can stop it or even reverse that muscle decline. So women in their fifties and their sixties and their seventies can reverse it. You can build back some of that muscle mass that you have lost. And so. You know, it’s never too late, right? Sometimes people are like, Oh, I’m in my sixties. I should have been lifting since I was in my twenties and I haven’t, it’s not too late. You can reverse that with, you know, with weight training, with specific, you know, resistance training, and you can build back that muscle so that you can have that long, strong, active life that you want.
Monica Packer: That is such a beautiful why. And so, not only meaningful, but also practical, like who wants to just be able to lift their own legs? Like we all do.
Amber Brueseke: Yeah, we’re talking about like
getting off the toilet, like activities of daily living, being able to feed yourself, being able to like, you know, get up out of a chair, right? Especially as you get older those activities of daily living determine whether you can live alone or you have to go into a nursing home and you have to hire care, you know, care. And they’re all related to strength.
Monica Packer: Okay. You know, I’ve heard you say a few times in this interview already, you’ve talked about weight training. Is there a difference between weight training and strength training?
Amber Brueseke: So, you know, there’s a lot of resistance training, weight training, strength training, people will throw around those terms and they all kind of mean the same thing. We’ll get to start, we’ll talk a little bit about how do we make it the most effective because there is this misconception that, well, as long as I’m picking up a dumbbell, like as long
as I’m picking up some weights or using some bands or using some resistance, then I, you know, I’m doing what I need to build muscle.
And that’s not quite true. So resistance training just means that you are. having any kind of resistance against your body, right?
So that could be a body weight training. It could be a band, any sort of like resistance. When we’re talking about weight training, we’re usually specifically talking about using some sort of weight as the resistance, right? So, you know, you can go to like a Pilates class and you’re not necessarily using weights, but you are
resistance training in some form weight training specifically is referring to using weights to create that resistance.
And then when we’re talking about strength training is a specific type of weight training that is focused with its reps and its exercise selection to actually induce the adaptation
of strength in our body.
Monica Packer: okay. Well, it’s interesting. You know, I’ve learned so much from you over the years, like I said, and you did get me into doing any kind of resistance and strength training in general. And I
do feel so much better. And we’re going to talk more about. How to maybe advance it, how to maybe think about heavier weights, but even where to start if you’re just starting, like I was as the cardio queen from ground zero.
Let me talk about your story though, too. You shared about your husband. Did you kind of join him in that process or were you already on your own path to
Amber Brueseke: no, she joined me, Monica.
Monica Packer: Yeah.
love
Amber Brueseke: me. Yeah, I mean, I think before we do something, whatever it is, we have to believe that it’s important
and we have to believe that it’s doable for us. And really my mom modeled both of those at a very young age for me. I grew up watching my mom go and teach. She taught step aerobics class at the YMCA from a very young age and she did her own weight training
at a very young age.
you know, I grew up watching her do these things. And so for me, it was modeled one that was important because I saw her going to the gym. I used to go to the childcare and when I was young, the YMCA was remodeled and they changed it. But the, old YMCA used to have a screen or a window in between the childcare and the group X room. And so I remember as a very little kid sitting there and watching my mom teach classes and we would, You know, I would spend time in the childcare. And so she indicated that was important. And then she also indicated to me that it was doable. Like it was something that it was not weird for her as a female to lift weights.
And I remember when I turned 14 years old, you had to be 14 years old to go to the weight room at the YMCA. And it was like an exciting birthday for me because I got to go into the weight room with my mom and she showed me around and she showed me the dumbbells and she showed me the machines.
And again, it was modeled for me that it was very doable, that it was very normal for a female to lift weights.
And so I lifted weights in high school with my mom, my, I remember my sister
used to come to, so like the three of us would go and go like lift weights. And you know, I continued that transitioning into college and, you know, I took a weightlifting class at BYU and learn some more stuff there, you know, went to the weight room and utilize the weight room there.
And then when my husband went to medical school, there was a weight room at Penn state. And so I
remember.
going to the weight room there. And you know,
continuing that so that I, again,
it was modeled for me for a very young
age that weights were a very normal, natural thing for a female to do. And I know a lot of people were not, we’re not modeled that but I think social media can be that model for
you. You
can see other people making it normal, natural, you know, seeing that like women lifting weights and lifting very heavy weights is something that is important and is very doable for you. So, you know, that was kind of my basis.
And then over the years I’ve done like every single type of weight lifting that there is. I transitioned after I had my kids into doing group fitness, like my mom, you know,
I, I modeled after my mom and I taught all sorts of different types of group fitness body pump. You know, body combat.
I taught Zumba, I taught bar, I taught, you know,
high fitness. I don’t like all the things and I loved group fitness. I got to a point where I kind of wanted to build more muscle and group fitness is great and I love it. And it’s usually not the best way to be able to build muscle. And so I transitioned into doing more of a bodybuilding style of working out. I then got really into, so this is. Kind of when my husband started getting interested, we both did powerlifting together. So we
did a couple of years there of training and competing in powerlifting competitions. I then transitioned to CrossFit. I’ve done Olympic lifting. So, you know, all different
types of weight training I’ve kind of, you know, dabbled in and tried out, but it’s been a constant in my life really since I was 14.
Monica Packer: I’m thinking about women who may be like me and maybe weightlifting, strength training, whatever you want to call it, resistance training, it was not a constant or is not a constant. And so this feels new, but we’re owning our why that this is important to us. But when I see the people who are modeling it for me on Instagram, it can be very inspiring, but a lot of them, it feels very overwhelming.
Because it does look so, yeah, intimidating. It looks so natural and easy for them. And it also looks like a lot of equipment, it looks like a lot of skill set, it looks like a lot of time, because some
people spend a lot of time doing it. And I’m not saying that’s wrong in any way, but some of us don’t have that in us right now in terms of that priority for time.
So let’s speak to those kind of women.
And what tips do you have for them on how they can prioritize weight training?
Amber Brueseke: absolutely. Yeah. And I just want to, I want to validate that is a
very real valid experience, you know, for me, weight training is very normal and natural because I’ve been doing it for a really long time.
And I have to imagine that most people who are listening have something that. comes very easily to them, right?
I go on Instagram and I see people who are drawing or coloring or baking or these other
things. And I’m like, holy cow.
I, how do they do it so effortlessly? So easily. So there’s likely things that you’re really good at and there’s things that maybe are newer to
you and this may be one of those things. And yeah, you’re going to, you’re going to start at the beginning, but that’s where everybody starts. That’s something that I think it’s really important for women to remember is like everybody. Has a first day at the gym, everybody, like even that person that you admire on Instagram, they went to the gym for the very first time one day and didn’t know anything. And if we can look at that as like inspiring instead of defeating of saying, wow, look at where that person is. She had a day one as well. She
was just where I am and look where I can get to if I stick with this. So I really have five tips for women who are new to weightlifting, Kind of getting there, like getting excited about it, but still feel a little bit intimidated.
And tip number one is just to decide to start. I mean, I think that just decision point of saying, I’m going to do this. Right. Not like I’m going to think about it or that would be really cool if, or maybe I’ll do that someday in the future. But actually deciding there is a stages of change model where we talk about like pre contemplation and a lot of people sit in that pre contemplation stage of like, Thinking about doing it.
And there’s nothing wrong with that. Like that is part of the stages of change, but moving past that pre contemplative phase into like an actual decision to start is such an important piece. And it’s okay if you’re not there, but that’s step one.
It’s like, we have to decide to start. And then I think a really great question to ask is like, what needs to be in place for you to be the most successful? And this is where we can get really, Real and honest with ourselves of like, what are your financial constraints? What
are your time constraints? What are your resource constraints?
It would be silly for me to like, not include a conversation around that because some people have more financial resources to be able to put towards us. Some people have more time resources.
Some people have more even physical, emotional energy resources to put towards this. And we have to take that into account so that we’re not getting discouraged of Again, watching someone on Instagram when their whole business is around fitness and
that’s their lifestyle and comparing ourselves to them because we can’t be in the gym six days a week for three hours a day.
So, you know, I love the quote of like, show me where you spend your time, money and energy, and I’ll show you what’s important to you.
And I love it From from a proactive, not shaming type of way. right? I
think we can get into shaming of like, I should be spending my time, I should be spending my money on
these things. In reality, you have a limited amount of time, money and resources, and we get to choose what our priorities.
in our lives. So,
figuring out where does this fit in my current priorities right? What do I have to give
to this this new thing that I’m doing And then starting there.
right? Not
If it’s,
30 minutes, two days a week, like let, like, great.
Can be a fantastic investment. It is an investment and not everybody has the financial resources to hire someone to work one on one with them, with form and with exercises. So if you don’t have the financial resources you know, starting with. Free online programs, beginner bodyweight programs can be a really fantastic way to start. And you know, again, it’s financial resources, time resources, you know, energy resources are important, but tip number one is like, we got to make the decision. We got to decide to actually start this and take some action in that move it in that way.
Monica Packer: What I so appreciate about that, Amber, is how relevant you’re making this. Like it’s, not like the normal way that we’re used to hearing about it, where it’s like decide today, but it’s like, like you said, shame, more shame driven, like just do it already. Like have the self control and do it, but it’s more of like, Hey, actually when you decide
and let’s decide also honor your circumstances.
And I’ve learned this in so many seasons of my life, but honoring my limitations. Actually helps me do
better within them.
Amber Brueseke: That’s
exactly right. Yes,
Monica Packer: by them. So I love this
Amber Brueseke: exactly right. That’s exactly right.
Monica Packer: We’ve got a
Amber Brueseke: So once you have gone from that pre contemplation to like, actually we’re going to start.
My step number two is really simple and it is start following Inspiring Women Lifters on social media.
I believe it is so important for us to see it modeled for us in a very normal, natural, fun, enjoyable way.
And we,
most of us. Spend a lot of time on social media. And so what we are seeing and what we are consuming is creating our reality. And if you follow inspiring women lifters, and I love looking for people who are like me, right? If I was a 60 year old woman. Trying to get into string training. I would be looking for other 60 year old women
to like, I’m not following the 20 year olds.
I’m following the other women who are in a similar stage of life, or maybe somebody who is a you know, full time mom or someone who is a full time working mom or whatever it is, but looking for women who are similar to you to see it modeled for you in a
positive, normal, natural way can be really inspiring.
And this can help you move from that pre contemplative stage into actually the active, right. And so. It’s like
the more that becomes normal, natural and it may be fun, even a little bit inspiring, then then we can tip over into that. Okay. I’m ready to actually do this thing.
Monica Packer: Okay. So that was a great second tip. What was So so third tip is to focus on form before you add weight.
Amber Brueseke: So one of the biggest like things that we’re worried about oftentimes or women are worried about when they start lifting is injury.
And it’s usually because you’re progressing too quickly and you haven’t got the basics down before you’re adding weight.
So I love to start clients with just focusing on body wave movements and getting your body mechanics. In proper order before we add any weight, right? Which means you’re doing a really great body weight squat before we’re adding any weight to it. You’re
doing a really good like a deadlift with like a broomstick before we’re adding any weight to it.
You’re doing a really good bench press with a broomstick before we’re adding any weight
to it.
So Really
focusing on that form before you’re adding weight. And it may feel silly. Like it may feel silly to
be like
doing a deadlift with a A broomstick. But I promise you
taking the time to, learn those motor patterns before you load the motor pattern is going to save you a lot of time, a lot of injury
And there’s a lot of benefits to even just those motor patterns.
The reasons, the reason Lyft’s like, The
bench press, like the press, like squats, like deadlifts are so beneficial is because they are compound lifts that we replicate in life.
And it’s normal natural right? You pick up your groceries, you’re doing a deadlift,
You know, you go to pick up your kid and you’re down, you’re squatting down to pick up your kid, right? Like they’re normal, natural, functional movements that we need to be able to do in our life. And so a body weight squat is great to be prepping you for that. Once we are able to do, you know, 15. bodyweight squats with good form, then we can start to add some weight.
Now we can start to pick up a five pound dumbbell
and do, you know, a goblet squat with five pounds. But the biggest mistake I see people making
is just trying to go too fast too much, too fast. And then you get injured and then you get discouraged and then you say, I can’t do this. It’s too hard. So really focusing on that form before you add any weight is going to save you a lot of heartache and injuries.
Monica Packer: This is where I feel like I got stuck as a newbie with strength training, because I was just trying to like, look around me at the gym when I had a gym pass and I worked out from home for now six years, like exclusively. But when I did have the gym pass, I was just like, well, so dumbbell, I just do this.
Like, or I see people are doing squats with this, but I didn’t have someone. Telling me or showing me until I signed up for a couple strength training apps that have been really helpful. So is that where you go back to like your first tip? Consider having some professional models like whether it’s a workout app or YouTube videos that can help with form.
Amber Brueseke: Yeah. It’s a great, it’s a great question. So if you don’t have the financial resources to have like a one on one personal trainer, there are tons of videos. Yes. Videos and apps, but even free videos on YouTube of
like, if you want to know the cues to be able to. perform a good bench press. Like if you’re looking at bench press form, there are lots and lots of YouTube videos of
trainers who are able to walk you through some of the, you know, the points of performance and the cues that are going to be really helpful in making sure that you’re doing it in a safe form. so I recommend you go to the gym with a plan. Don’t just show up at the gym and be like,
what do I feel like doing today? What are we doing today? What’s that? What’s that person?
that. looks fun. Like, like so many ways. And Hey, listen
if like,
Monica Packer: as a newbie. That’s what I mean. I would just be like,
Oh, what do I do today?
Amber Brueseke: that is better than nothing.
Right. So if
you’re new and like, that’s getting you there and you’re
doing something. Heck yes. Like I, great. That’s better than nothing. But the next step is to go to the gym with a plan. And so
I usually recommend clients you know, have a plan for
Monica Packer: what they’re going to be doing. And then if you’re nervous about it or you don’t know the form of any of those, watch those YouTube videos ahead of time. I like to watch those YouTube videos when they’re at home and they’re in the safety and security of their own home and they can watch those videos. And then if you need to reference them, To remind yourself a little bit of it, you can during your lifting, but it just helps people to be able to walk in with a little bit more confidence.
When you have a plan, you have watched the videos before of knowing, you know, what you need to be remembering. And then you can go in and execute those lifts.
And again, this is, I’m just back in that newbie place thinking, well, where do I get a plan? And again, this is like us overthinking it too
much. Like it really can’t just be go to Pinterest and Google. New or beginner strength training moves or workouts, and just look at them and then Google the deadlifts they share or whatever the terminology is and the form, and there you go.
Like, it doesn’t have to be too complicated.
Amber Brueseke: right. Yeah. Yeah. And I actually have a really great like beginner workshop too, for somebody who’s wanting to like dive into this a little bit, understand a little bit, especially if you’re someone who needs to know the why behind something I have a workshop that kind of walks through how do we make sure that we’re spending our time wisely at the gym?
Because I do see a
lot of
Monica Packer: what that is. Cause
Amber Brueseke: Yeah. So I do see a lot of women who. Are spending time at the gym, but they’re wasting a lot of time too. And so there’s like, there’s steps in this progression, right? If you’re not doing anything, doing literally anything at all at the gym is progress.
Amazing.
Right? Like start there. But once you’re there, there are little tweaks that we can make to be able to optimize your time so that you are spending your time most effectively. So if you want that to go to that workshop, it’s bicepsafterbabies. com forward slash workshop. And I just walk through, okay.
What does it look like to make sure that we are doing, you know, the right cardio, the right type of weightlifting that we’re actually recovering. We’re making sure that we’re actually building the muscle that we want to be building, that we’re actually aligning our workouts with what we want to happen with our body.
Do you want to get stronger? Do you want to lose fat? Do you want to build muscle? All of those things need to have weightlifting as a priority. I always say it doesn’t matter whether you’re trying to lose weight, gain muscle, improve performance, just live a healthy life. Weight training is a constant in all of those goals. Oh
Monica Packer: Fantastic. Three great tips so far.
Tell
Amber Brueseke: Okay. Okay. So number four is to progress gradually, but to progress. So, we want to be progressing gradually because again, like you want to do this in a way that you’re not going to injure yourself. You’re able to show up at the gym the next time around.
Sometimes I see people go so hard the first time at the gym that they are sore for days.
And they don’t ever go back. So we don’t want to do that. So we do want to progress gradually. You’re adding weights, you’re adding reps, you’re adding sets. Okay. But we do want to progress. And this is a big mistake that I see a lot of people making is they go to the gym and they pick up the fifth, the 10 pound dumbbells.
Cause that’s what they always use for the bicep curls. And they do the same 15 bicep curls and then they do it three times and then they’re done and then they go back to the gym the next time and they pick up the tens and they do 15 bicep curls three times and then they’re done. And it’s like, you’re just doing the same thing over and over. Our bodies are really intelligent. And I had a pathophysiology teacher who used to say like your bodies don’t need or want anything. They only respond to stimuli. It only responds, like your body has
pathways. It’s a scientific process. It doesn’t just respond just because you want it to respond. You can also think about it like Alexa. It’s like, if I want Alexa to do something for me, I have to say the word. Hey, Alexa. Otherwise she’s not going to do anything. I could talk to her all day long, tell her to do things. But if I don’t say the code word, she’s not going to do anything. It’s the same thing with your muscles.
Like if you don’t tell your muscles with the code word to build strength or to build muscle, it’s not going to do it. Even if you have a dumbbell in the workout. And so we have to have progress. We have to be moving up in weight. We have to be moving up in reps, in sets, in intensity. And this is called progressive overload because that’s what our body responds to. So my fourth tip is. It’s to progress gradually to progress. That
needs to be an important part of, and that’s why having a program is so important. Having, knowing what you’re doing before you go to the gym is so important because we need to make sure, what did I do last time? Am I doing a little bit more?
Am I lifting a little bit heavier? Am I doing a couple more reps? Am I doing a couple more sets? Because that is what’s going to stimulate your body to add muscle and to add strength.
Monica Packer: Fantastic. All right. Let’s hear the fifth and final tip that you have for us. I feel like I could talk to you about this for
Amber Brueseke: The fifth one is really simple. It is just to keep showing up. I’ve been lifting since I was 14 years old and I’ve learned a heck of a lot over that time, but a lot of those gains just happened because I didn’t quit and I kept just showing up. You’re going to learn a whole lot, especially when you start. We are beginner newbie lifter, but you know, what’s also really exciting about being a beginner newbie lifter is you see results. So much faster. So there’s a very real curve that happens where the first six months to a year of when you’re lifting, you’re going to see dramatic changes in your body. You’re going to get
so much stronger, you’re going to see more muscle than you’ve seen, and like, it’s super exciting. And those you can still continue to get stronger and still continue to add muscle, but those, we call those newbie gains, like, oh my gosh,
if I
could go back to that first year
and have those newbie gains, I totally would.
So, just enjoy it though. That newbie time period of like, yes, you’re learning, but there’s so you’re going to see so much progress and changing your body and the weights in the gym are going to go up. And it’s so exciting, but I mean, majority of the progress is just somebody who is. It’s going to continue to show up and continue to learn and continue to push and continue to do new things. And that, I mean, honestly, the difference between being really successful with weight training and not is just the person who keeps doing it. And so that’s number five, just keep showing up, keep doing it.
Monica Packer: Oh, that feels so motivating. It
really does. And so for someone who is still at the beginning, and maybe they’re feeling intimidated by even just going to the gym, I feel like it’s a good space and time to say it’s not only okay to start at home, it’s also okay to stay at home for a while
and those dumbbells that you get, which you could also get off of Facebook Marketplace, cause they can be pretty pricey, but you can get them used, they can take you pretty far.
Amber Brueseke: Absolutely.
Monica Packer: to do that.
Amber Brueseke: Yeah. I mean, I love, again, I love women starting with body weight exercises at home
because you’re not worried about people looking at you. You can have the YouTube video right in front of you. You can be in front of a mirror. And yeah, like let’s get the form down first and you can do that at home. And then even when we start adding weights, yeah, I love the idea of having a space at home to be able to do this. We’ll talk about this next. You know, as we start to dive into women who have limited time, but one of the ways you can save a lot of time is not going anywhere to do your workouts. It’s having your workouts there at your house.
Monica Packer: Awesome. Yeah. And again, that’s how I’ve been working out for six years. So
I think it’s worked really well for me,
but I’m excited to still incorporate these tips into trying to advance past my five and 10 pound dumbbells, which I’m actually feeling really excited about, but let’s speak to the people who are probably.
What would you say to someone who is convinced they can’t do this, whether it’s a mental hurdle, or because they’re in a season with, of extremely limited time?
Amber Brueseke: Yeah. Yeah. I would say if you are really convinced you can’t do this, you’re right. And I would also say if you’re really convinced that you can’t do this, you probably didn’t hit play on this episode and you absolutely did not make it to this point in the episode. So I would venture to say anybody who’s listening to this, even if there are reservations or there are concerns there is at least a part of you that wants this, or there is at least a part of you that thinks maybe I could do this.
And that’s the part that I want you to lean into.
The people who are convinced already checked out. So if you’re here, there’s at least a part of you that believes that this is possible for you. And that’s good enough right now. Like, let’s start with that. So I will say the two biggest worries are usually injury and time.
These are the biggest things that I’m talking with my clients as they’re getting started. So we’ve addressed a little bit about injury. At starting with those body weight and motor patterns you know, progress slowly, get a trainer. If you’re really nervous, utilize free resources like you know, YouTube for form tips and advice and things like that. So, you know, that’s dealing with injury. Time is a very real factor. And, you know, we go back to this conversation we had before of like, we have a limited amount of time and most of us are not sitting around twiddling our thumbs being like, Oh my gosh, I have so much time. What should I fill it with?
You know, We already have very full lives and so trying to fit weightlifting in find a space for it to fit in is probably not going to happen and we probably are going to need to carve out a space for like when this is important to me enough that I’m going to carve out a space, whether that means you’re scrolling a little bit less on social media, whether it means that you give up a little bit of your sleeping time or maybe nap time or whatever it is. You’re likely going to have to pick a time to be able to carve out for this. Now, some ways that we can really save a ton of time is exactly what you said, Monica, build a home gym. You know, even if the gym is only 10 minutes away, that’s 10 minutes there in 10 minutes back that, you know, adds on time.
So if you’re really limited in time, having something at your house that you can do in pockets of time, Right. Go and do 10 squats in between calls is better than nothing. And that’s something, I mean, this is like the whole platform of your podcast, right. It’s like, it’s about progress. It’s not about, we don’t have to be perfect at this. We don’t have to do a full, it’s not like it doesn’t count until you hit an hour
of continuous weightlifting. Like literally 10 air squats is better than zero air squats. And so really remembering that if your time is limited, Something is better than nothing. Can you do 10
air squats in between, you know, each of your client calls?
Can you go and grab those cans and do some overhead pressing, right? Like again, getting to that idea of like, something is better than nothing. Building a home gym is really a great place to do that. You listed some really good resources. Facebook marketplace is like the place to get. Yeah. Exercise equipment, because so many people invest with this idea that they’re going to do it and then they don’t actually end up doing it and then they resell their stuff. So we have gotten almost all of our weight equipment. Actually, I’m thinking almost all. We did buy our rack online new, but other than that, barbells, plates, dumbbells, our, we have a a rower in our gym, right?
Like everything. All of that. We’ve bought off of Facebook marketplace. If you are somebody who has limited amount of time and you are not a beginner, right, this is more of somebody who is less of a beginner. The biggest bang for your buck that you can get with weightlifting is on heavy compound lifts.
So, you know, if you can go to the
gym.
Monica Packer: to me then, right?
Like you’re speaking to someone like me who’s done the good, like good strength training for years, but now they’re like,
Amber Brueseke: You have the motor patterns down, you’re
ready for that next thing, but you’re like, I really need the most efficient way to be able to get my workouts in focusing on those heavy compound lifts. And I’ll explain what that is in just a minute
is the way to be able to have the shortest amount of workout time possible. So there are two broad generalizations in terms of like types of lifts that we can do. We can do compound lists, we can do isolation lists. Compound lifts are when you are utilizing multiple joints
and muscle groups to be able to perform a lift. So if you think about a back squat you are using not only the quads, you’re using the glutes, you’re using the hamstrings you’re using the core, you’re using a tight upper back.
So I’m using multiple muscles in one lift. I’m targeting lots of muscle groups. Whereas an isolation list is a single muscle group, usually over one joint that we’re performing. So an example would be a bicep curl.
When I’m doing a bicep curl, what I’m working is my bicep. I’m working one muscle group. And so, isolation lifts are great because we can target single muscle groups, but if you want more bang for your buck. Let’s target five muscle groups at the same time instead of just one muscle group.
Monica Packer: And with heavy weight.
Amber Brueseke: heavyweight, right? So, and this is always a question that I get of like, what is
heavy? What does that even mean? And typically when we’re talking about heavyweight, we are talking about a rep range that is in like the three to six reps in
that rep range and as heavy as you can go. For those three to six reps. And so this is again, why I say this is not for somebody who’s like a brand new lifter. And if you are like this, I’m speaking, you do now specifically Monica and anybody else in your shoes, if you’re transitioning from maybe, you know, some resistance training, you’ve been consistently there, but we haven’t probably done a whole lot of heavy compound lifts. What I would recommend is let’s start doing some of those compound lifts.
Let’s start you doing squats, you know, bench deadlift, overhead press, things like that. And let’s start with the higher rep ranges, right? So we can do a lower weight and let’s give you, let’s do 15 reps. So you can do a lower weight for 15 reps. Once you get comfortable for that, let’s scoot that rep range down more towards the like, you know, six to 10 rep range.
So you’re going to increase the weight. Now you’re going to drop those reps. Get comfortable there. And then once you feel comfortable there, then we can drop the reps down to three to six. Again, the weight’s going to increase,
but now you can feel more comfortable and confident that you can do those heavy compound lifts, but that’s going to give you the biggest bang for your buck.
You do one to two compound lifts in your workout, and you can be done. Like you’ve worked the entire body instead of focusing on, you know, those isolation lifts.
Monica Packer: So with that, I think my question is there a scientific amount of time that you can, and I’m thinking about what’s the least amount of time
Amber Brueseke: Yeah, it’s good.
Monica Packer: that you can get good workouts in and the least amount of times, days a week, and
still be making progress
Amber Brueseke: Yeah, it’s a really good question. So we call this the minimum of minimum effective dose, right? We call it that in medicine. That’s also the same thing with rate training is like what is the minimum effective dose? And I will say in some ways Literally anything
is the minimum effective dose.
Like I said you going in doing 10 bodyweight squats is better than nothing and If we’re beyond that and we’re ready to say, okay, I want to structure this as a workout. I want to like do the least amount possible. I would say the minimum dose is two days a week and you’re doing full body exercises. So you’re hitting again, you’re trying to hit as many muscle groups as possible during those two times. And I would say probably 30 minutes. So if you can do 30 minutes twice a week, you’re going to get a whole lot of benefits that we talked about and some that we didn’t even talk about. Some of the other things I forgot to mention when you asked me about, like, why is lifting weight so important? We talked about fat loss.
We talked about increased metabolic rate. But in addition to that, it improves your bone health. It improves chronic disease management. It decreases the rate for type 2 diabetes, arthritis heart disease, it improves your insulin sensitivity. So there’s a lot of chronic disease management that it does.
And then there’s also hormonal benefits. You know, we talked about the role of estrogen
with menopause decreasing lifting can actually help to mitigate some of those negative effects of the drop in hormones, which is why heavy lifting is so important. so important, especially for my menopausal women. It can also help with mood swings, heat flashes, and that, you know, increased abdominal fat that happens with a lot of menopausal women. So, I would say minimum effective dose is twice a week, 30 minutes to be able to start to tap into some of those amazing benefits that we can get from weightlifting.
Monica Packer: And that’s pure weight, weightlifting. Like that’s okay. And should people try to focus more if they have such limited time? Should they focus more on weight training than cardio?
Amber Brueseke: You’re going to get a lot of bang for your buck with weightlifting. I, you know, I think we, we tend to swing from extremes when it goes to exercising. And so I think the nineties and two thousands were a lot like cardio,
And then we almost swung, I feel like in some ways to the exact opposite where it was like cardio, you don’t have to do cardio at all.
We’re
just going to do weights. I think we’re slowly starting to realize. The reality is somewhere in the middle, right?
It’s like, they’re both really important. Weights does things that cardio doesn’t and cardio does things that weights don’t. And so I do think including at least one other cardio day in your week is a great way to have like a well rounded body.
Schedule one to two cardio days, and they don’t have to be high intensity interval training, but even doing like, walking up hills, you do want to get, this is always a question that I get is like, well, what’s considered cardio is walking considered cardio. And it is, if it gets your heart rate up enough.
So for someone who’s newer, who maybe has more weight that they’re carrying you may get up into a zone too. You may get up into like a 60 percent of your max heart rate. During a, just a normal walk, if that’s so great, that’s cardio for someone who’s a little bit more athletically trained.
You’re likely not getting into that zone too, without adding a rock to your back or without going up hills or something like that. So, but yes, I would say, you know, two days a week of weight training and then one to two days of some sort of cardio so that we’re getting those cardio benefits as well.
Monica Packer: This is so jam packed and helpful. And I really hoping that as women are listening, instead of looking for ways to discount themselves or looking for ways that they can insert themselves
into this whole lifestyle and actually reverse, you know, insert this lifestyle into their lives, because as you’ve been presenting it, it is more hopeful than I even thought going into it and more practical and relevant.
To our lives. So thank you very much, Amber. I do want to make sure that we direct them to some incredible offerings that you have. You did reference your workshop. So can you tell us about that again, your podcast and anything else that you think you need to know about if they’re interested in more?
Amber Brueseke: Awesome. Yeah. So, I have a workshop. It’s an hour long workshop that teaches you about how do we optimize, what we’re doing in the gym? How do we make sure that we’re, using our time effectively and actually doing the things that are going to are change our body. And so you just go to biceps after babies.
com forward slash workshop. It’s an on demand workshop. You can just do it whenever you have the time. If you’re looking for an action step, right. If you’re looking for like, what’s one thing I can do that like is going to move the needle and move me forward. That’s a fantastic actions that for you to
put on your to do list today. And then, yeah, if you want more I talk about weightlifting. I talk about I talk about all things like mindset and growth over on my podcast, biceps after baby’s radio. So that’s a great place to come and hang out with me as well.
Monica Packer: Well, thank you. And you talked about the workshop being a good place for them to start. Is there, you know, we do this with every episode. We end with just one thing they can start with based off of everything they learned today. So besides the workshop, what is one thing they can do?
Amber Brueseke: Go follow some female lifters and I’m going to, I’m
going to send you a list, Monica of
some people that I recommend. So you
can go to the show notes and check out the list that I’m going to send Monica. But honestly, like that’s such a simple, Thing and just have those women start showing up in your algorithm and to start to see them.
And like, my hope is that it will feel exciting. Like we kind of talked at the beginning, like I want that to, hopefully that feels, if it doesn’t feel exciting to you and it just makes you feel bad about yourself, then don’t follow me. Don’t like, don’t do any of that. But for most of us, I think. Normalizing something and seeing that it’s possible and seeing that other people can do it helps us to start to believe in ourselves a little bit. And so it’s such a simple thing. Go and follow some strong women start to believe that it’s possible, get excited about it. And then like, let’s go.
Monica Packer: let’s go. I’m ready for it. Well, thank you again, Amber. This has just been a phenomenal episode. I cannot wait to share it.
Amber Brueseke: Oh, thanks, Monica. It’s good to be here.
Monica Packer: Okay, that was honestly, like, my favorite. That was so good.
So we’ve done four tips, right? And you said you had five.
Amber Brueseke: gosh, we got, that was only three.
Monica Packer: Okay. So sorry. So go to the gym with the plan was part of number three,
Amber Brueseke: That was part of number three.
Monica Packer: Okay, good. I’m going to cut those out. I mean, I’m going to cut this all out. So we’ll just say what.
Amber Brueseke: Okay.
