265 | Listen to this if you feel stuck in your fitness journey.

Tired of being told there’s only one “right” way to get fit? We’re cutting through the gatekeeping to show how real progress happens when you build a routine around your life, your energy, and your goals. No badges required—just a smarter mix of movement that meets you where you are.

We walk through a clear, flexible framework you can tailor on the fly: cardio for heart health that might be as simple as a daily walk, strength training that’s heavy-for-you to protect muscle and bone, and recovery practices like yoga and mobility to keep your body ready for tomorrow. We talk about Pilates as a bridge between strength and recovery, why sports and playful movement keep motivation high, and how novelty can support consistency rather than derail it. If you’ve ever felt stuck waiting for the perfect plan, you’ll learn how “start messy” micro-commitments—five squats, a ten-minute mobility video, one machine after class—stack into real momentum.

You’ll also hear how to navigate medical realities with compassion, when to ask a trusted professional for guidance, and why showing up imperfectly builds the identity that sustains long-term change. We share practical progressions for class-goers curious about lifting, ways to adjust across seasons, and the mindset shift that turns exercise from a box to check into a toolbox you actually use.

Press play for a grounded, judgment-free approach to fitness that values consistency over perfection and curiosity over dogma. If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a nudge, and leave a quick review to help more people find a healthier way to move.

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Chapters

• 0:01 Why Movement Gets Gatekept
• 1:38 One Size Does Not Fit All
• 2:58 Surveying The Fitness Landscape
• 4:55 Vary Your Movement Without Pressure
• 6:52 Start Messy And Build Momentum
• 9:19 When Health Demands Action
• 10:38 Classes As A Gentle On-Ramp
• 12:50 Showing Up Imperfectly

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Hello everyone. Welcome back to the Tired But Toned podcast. On today's episode, I wanted to talk about exercise, working out, and different types of movement. Okay. I have definitely talked about this concept before, and I will probably drill it into the ground because I'm very passionate about it and I think it's a big issue. Okay, so a lot of fitness professionals gatekeep movement, right? They they kind of put things into boxes, and it's just natural, our human brain likes to think of things as black and white. It's easier for us to kind of sort stuff out in our brain. But this is why critical thinking, thinking about things uh beyond that black and white, and how everything is in multiple shades of gray is important. And at the end of the day, despite what anybody says on the internet or wherever, or your friend, you need to take the best course of action for what works for you. You individually, just because someone says something is good, it may not be good for you and your particular circumstance. And if you are unsure, that's when it's a great idea to either ask a medical professional you trust or a fitness trainer that you trust to see if, based off of your personal exercise history, um, your just history in general, medical history, preferences, schedule, all that stuff, what works best for you. So keep that in mind. But I feel like in the fitness world, there are these kind of paths that we have the strength training path, we have the yoga path, the yoga and stretching path, um, we have the cardio junkies, uh, like the runners. I would say running is kind of its own thing because that's kind of gotten trendy by itself. People who maybe run 5Ks, half marathons, marathons, they love to run. Um, and then we also have like that like CrossFit style of training, which is almost a mixture of cardio and strength training, right? You have power lifting, power lifting is lifting heavy for fee reps, um, bodybuilding style of strength training, you get functional training, Pilates, um, there's all kinds of stuff. There's a lot of different types of movement out there. But here's the thing: I don't think there is one right or wrong, and I don't want you to feel like you have to pick one thing, and if you do something else, it's bad, right? Now, I will say, for most people, varying your types of movement is helpful. Um, and again, this is gonna depend on you and your seasons. Like, you know, look at the 90-year-old man that maybe walks like two miles every day. Like, he's in great health, and that walking is going to keep him moving. But you know, some bro on the internet is gonna be like, oh, well, walking does nothing because we walk every day and it's it's not gonna improve your health. And it's like, well, that's what works for him. Like, would it be great if that 90-year-old man maybe tried to add in some strength training in a way that's like effective for him? Yeah, maybe, but like, let's look at the circumstances here, right? Um, we're not aiming to be absolutely perfect. Uh, the the big issue at the end of the day, especially in America, uh, very, very few of us are even moving, very few of us are meeting the minimal movement guidelines. Uh, there is a lack of education and nutrition, and there are things culturally and due to different economic statuses, uh for food availability and things like that. So it's a whole big thing. So at the end of the day, like where we're at as a society, I think just getting moving is the goal because there's definitely tiers. I think a lot of us like to start, and maybe some people can work with this. A lot of us like to start, and we want to have it all laid out for us, right? You just want to be like, okay, so this is the plan, this is the goal. I want to um strength train X amount of times a week. I am going to add in running. Here is my perfect meal plan, and this is what I'm gonna do, and it's gonna be great. And again, some people maybe can just hit the ground running and follow it, and that's great. Um, but I think what happens for a lot of us is one, it's unsustainable, uh, two, it can be overwhelming, and we don't stick with it. And I think at least the way my brain works is I prefer to kind of jump in messy wherever feels good. So, like for me, if I went off of track for a while, right? And I wanted to get back into things, like let's say I was lifting before, and I'm like, oh, I do not want to feel like lifting right now, like it's been so long, it's intimidating to me. Whatever, yes, as a trainer, it can happen. Um, for me, walking out in nature, I have a trail I go to, is my like easy go-to, even on my worst days. Um, as long as I'm able to walk, I can walk. So I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna start with walking, and um, that's what I do, and I'll start with walking. And I might do that for a couple days, a couple weeks, and once you feel comfortable, you're going to find um that you're gonna want more, okay? And you're gonna want to explore more. Now, there's gonna be a stopping point for certain people, but I feel like in this day and age, um, forcing ourselves to do a certain type of workout because the internet says that's the right thing to do, um, or just forcing it because we feel like we should be doing it is not gonna be productive in the long term. The only exception to this, I will say, is maybe if you went to the doctors and you have some sort of medical issue where they're like, hey, you have to start exercising in to some extent, um, or it's not gonna be good for your health. Like it's gonna be very dangerous for your health. Um, but at that point, I mean, we do have weight loss injections now. I'm not against these if they're used properly and for the right cases. Um, but I would hope that if you did get that, that would be the momentum to help, you know, get things rolling where maybe you can start to get into some sort of movement plan that feels good for you, right? Um, but I don't think anybody needs to be forced because, in my experience of being a trainer for at least 10 years now, um, forcing people to do stuff does not work long term. So, again, it kind of brings us back to that concept of you know, exploring different modalities of working out. Okay, um, experiment, see what looks good to you, you know, try different classes. Oh, for a lot of people, workout classes are a great kind of intro method into exercise. I have a lot of my clients, um group class people, I should say, that their only form of workout is classes, and then after maybe so many months, uh they're curious about strength training. And you know what I tell them, and again, this is a part of that kind of progressively integrating things. I'm like, after class, pick one machine and do like two to three sets on it, you know, 10 to 12 reps, okay? Do that, and then maybe sometimes they'll walk before uh their workout, and then they'll start to come in on days that they're not in class, and then they'll find a nice balance, right? And that's progression, and everybody is different, which makes this very nuanced. Um, but again, there are some people out there, and you would not be listening to this podcast if it's you, but there's some people that are just naturally like, yeah, yep, tell me what to do, I'll do it. Give me the print plain boiled chicken that's unseasoned with rice and broccoli. I'll eat it every day. Uh, no complaints. I'll do the same workouts every day. Even if I feel like crap, I'm just gonna show up. It's gonna be easy. Most of us are not like that, okay? Especially if you're a female. Uh, there's a lot of different factors. I am not ashamed to say that I think novelty um in fitness can be helpful. If if something motivates you to do it, that's great. I also believe that showing up imperfectly is also really important, and again, kind of swallowing our ego, swallowing our pride a little bit, and going, oh, well, if it's not a full-blown workout, I'm just not gonna do it because it's not worth it. I would rather you do whatever. If you're like, I'm just gonna do five squats or I'm gonna do a five-minute mobility YouTube video or whatever. Um, that's why I have those kind of things in my coaching app for my clients. I have a ton of on-demand video libraries with varying lengths, varying difficulties for them to use. Um, because the fact that you show up and do something, not only is it physically good for your body, but it also kind of cements that little thought in your brain that goes, Oh, I can show up when I'm not feeling my greatest. And if I do show up when it's less than ideal, it's not what I expected, it hurts a little bit, trust me. I do it, I work through it. My brain's always like, This sucks, you're not giving it 110%. You know, I still have those thoughts after doing this for years and years and years, it still is there, but it's a lot quieter. Um, but you know, you'll you'll work through it, and it it shows you that you can show up for yourself when times are hard. And I think it also, I truly believe, um doesn't stop the momentum. You know, just that little habit for yourself will prevent you from kind of spiraling into, well, I didn't do it yesterday, I can skip today, and then it's like weeks without you doing anything. So there's a lot of importance to showing up, uh, not only physically, but mentally, right? So, yeah, definitely explore. If you want my opinion, again, this comes down to everybody, my opinion. I think that you know it's important to work on heart health to some extent through cardio endurance. This can be walking, biking, any type of cardio machine that you want. Um, even certain classes that are gonna get your heart rate up that kind of function as cardio. Um, if you don't like traditional cardio, that could be helpful. Um, that is one thing that I think we should work on. That's important. Next is strength training. Okay, so lifting weights and uh challenging weights for you. That's relative. Five pounds might be heavy for you, a hundred pounds might be heavy for somebody else. It's all relative, um, but it helps, you know, with bone density, resistance training is great for so many different things. Um, and then I would also say, you know, play around with recovery. Recovery, which again is not used enough, and this would be your yoga, your mobility, your stretching. Some people argue Pilates, but I say Pilates floats somewhere between strength training and recovery. Pilates does not by any means replace strength training, but I think Pilates complements strength training really well. Um, you're using lighter weights, you're working um slow twitch muscle fibers, and you're also working the tiny little stabilizer muscles and training a little bit more endurance-based, um, while strength training kind of covers the bigger muscles, the fast twitch muscle fibers, and you know, you're working on endurance and different things like that. Um, so there's a lot going on there. But so Pilates may not be for you. Um, I really love it, it's low impact. That could be something you can, you know, I would say is like a little fourth tier, it's in between strength and recovery. Um, and then of course, you just have all these odds and ends in between. If you play sports, some people um do adult soccer leagues, they play tennis, um, you know, they might train for like a 5k as a fun little thing, right? And these are all fun little add-ons that you can sprinkle in. You don't need to stress yourself out and be like, am I doing the right thing? The fact that you start and you put the reps in, I think just do something consistently, and once you build that solid foundation, you can begin to add on, you can begin to kind of evaluate, oh well, this works well, this doesn't work well. Like, I'll tell you, my journey's been crazy. I um started out kind of uh just getting a girl's program and and doing my own thing, some machines, and then I kind of built builded uh built on excuse me from that. Um then I kind of leaned into more bodybuilding style, mixed with functional strength training. Um, I would do some cardio stuff there, some athletic stuff in there. Uh, then I went to heavy lifting. I I was deadlifting and squatting really, really heavy and training heavy, and I really loved that. Then I had an injury and I got diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, so I had to pull things back. So then I found yoga and Pilates. Um, so I've been really leaning into that and walks, and now I'm starting to incorporate uh more traditional strength training back in. So things are gonna flow. Um, I have gone through periods recently where I would run for a little bit. When it's a little warmer out, I'll run outside and I'll play with that. So you can you can incorporate different things. There's no right or wrong, especially if you're just starting. Um, just get moving, do something that feels good for you. Also, just be mindful, be safe, uh, be aware of your form and that you're doing things properly. Um, you know, there's a lot of great resources out there, and you can always ask help of professionals as well. Okay, so that's just my little brain dump for today. Um, I hope this inspires you to take some movement and not stress yourself out too much about it. Um, but thank you for tuning in, and I'll catch you in the next one.