Intro:

Welcome to The Healthy Catholic moms podcast where we make moving and nourishing our bodies the priority, so that we not only fulfill our vocations, but excel in our callings. I’m Brittany Pearson, a Catholic wife, mom, personal trainer, and I’m here to help you build healthy habits that actually fit your life. I am here to teach you how to get the results that you want and maintain the results that you want. Without spending hours at the gym, or meal prepping all weekend long. I understand I am right here with you getting my workouts done in the nooks and crannies of time, looking up recipes, while nursing babies and trying to prioritize my own health amidst everything else going on. But I have really good news for you, you can get the results you want. In less time without doing hours of cardio and restrictive dieting. I’m going to teach you how to use strength training and eating in a macro balanced way to get you feeling so good and your skin full of energy, and strong to carry out your life. Okay, on this podcast, we’ll delve into how to lose fat in a simple, sustainable way. What your workouts and nutrition should look like during different seasons of life, like during pregnancy and postpartum times. We’ll also discuss healthy quick meals, and how to get them on the table make food that kids will actually want to eat. Mom hacks for making your day run more smoothly, and so much more. All the while with continuous encouragement to stay the course and live with discipline. This is a place where we’re striving to steward our bodies. Well, in order to joyfully serve. I am so happy you’re here. Let’s dive in.

Main Episode:
Hello there beautiful people. How are you, I hope you’re having a wonderful day and a great end to the month. Oh my goodness, and of August is here. And today we are going to continue on in our healthy fall prep conversation. So if you did not catch the first couple of episodes, we just talked about how we’re kind of setting the stage for a good transition into the fall season to the back to school season and how you usually what comes with that is a need for a little revisit a little revamp to our current systems and things like that and really setting ourselves up for success. This is something you know a lot of people focus on at the start of the year, which is awesome. But I think it’s something worthwhile for every season change. So we’re gonna hop in today to planning your workouts. Now before we do that, the last time you’re gonna hear me talk about this. And maybe the first time for some of you is that I’m doing a podcast review giveaway that gives you a chance to win a $25 amazon gift card. And it blesses me with your generous podcast reviews that really help get this word out to more people and bring more people to the podcast. So all you need to do to enter is wherever you listen to podcasts, if it’s Spotify, Google Play Apple, if you would be so kind as to leave a review, screenshot it and send it to me brigade healthy Catholic moms.com I’m not gonna know you answer unless you screenshot and send it to me. So then you’re entered, and then I am picking a winner like tomorrow, pretty much. I’m gonna give this through August 31. And then I will use a random name generator to pick a winner. And I will let that winner know and I will announce it on the podcast as well. So thank you so much in advance. And I also want you to know that the a week program that I offer, it is all about fat loss, I teach you all my basics of hydration of proper nutrition of strength training. The chance to do this is kicking off September 18 This is the last one for 2023 I only run it a couple times a year. And I limit the spots this is where a lot of times if you follow me on social you see the before and after pictures and things like that from this program. So you can head over to my website healthy Catholic moms.com under work with me and find out more and you can also email me if you need more information on it. And or to see if it’s a good fit for you. Sometimes there’s just specific situations where somebody will say like, Hey, I’m like two weeks postpartum Can I do this? Or I am actually recently the last couple times spent ham about eight weeks or six weeks postpartum Can I do it? And there’s definitely ways we can work with that I’ve had ladies do my postpartum program workouts, but still participate in every other aspect of the challenge because it’s so foundational in the nutrition department. That it’s definitely worth your time there. That’s another big question I get is like, Hey, I’m doing something else. Workout wise, I’m working with a trainer in person or I’m doing Beachbody workouts or I’m in this or whatever. Should I still do it for just nutrition? Yes, I’ve had people who have been out on injury do it just for nutrition and found so much benefit in it. So tons of testimonials on the website, tons tons of social proof and it’s just really be slow. A sustainable way to make lasting change so that you have to put a little bit of effort into learning this in the beginning, but then you just work the system after that. All right into planning your workouts now, if you are, Simon mentioned that, if you’re doing your workouts with me in the eight week program, you’re not really didn’t need this episode too much, you do have to still make it kind of fit your life. But that, you know, that’s one thing off your plate, you won’t have to do this. But bear with me, because I did mention last episode, like whether or not you program your own workouts, I think some of these steps will still be helpful to you. Even in the chasing greatness group, that’s a monthly workout program. For those who’ve already done the week, I talked about all the time, like you have to personalize it if those are planned to be five days a week. But if you’re only working out four days a week, we can combine, if you’re working out six days a week, there’s things we can add and things like that. So number one, in planning your workouts, I want you to start with how many times a week your schedule allows you to work out, you can stand working out, you get to work out etc. We want to be reasonable about a reasonable about this number. And I also ask this of any of my one on one clients, if I’m going to set up a one on one program for them. And just help them to do this. Like that’s what I do in my coaching calls is help you do this walk you through these steps. I always ask like what is actually reasonable. If you think like, Yeah, put me down for five days a week, or put me down for six days a week. But you kind of know deep down, there’s a fair chance of that happening, slim chance of that happening, you know, then let’s go for a more attainable number. I also will say, a little bit of a different route. I thought to go with this. I have a client right now who at the time of this has already reached her goal of feeling lean and mean for an anniversary trip. But we’ve been working together for several months, she did the eight week challenge with me back in the beginning of the year in January. And then after it ended, she’s like I have this anniversary trip coming up and I you know want to still make progress and you know, be feeling really good for my trip. So we would just do some coaching calls. Throughout the year. She’s in the chasing greatness group. And she asked me as I got closer, like, what more can I do to really feel my absolute best. And there’s some different nuanced things we can do that like I only recommend for when you’re really trying to lean out, like avoiding gluten and dairy. I don’t always say to do that. But I would avoid it to just banish blow and kind of you know, get those last whatever, I’m not gonna go too much in excess of the point of this. But another thing I mentioned was like she was working out three to four times a week at that time, and it said, like, we can actually up this, there’s not many times I say like, I am usually a fan of kind of quote unquote getting by with the bare minimum, because for most of us, then if we can get more than that, that’s awesome. But we want to set our says, we’ll set ourselves up for success. And I think a big misconception is we have to workout every day to see results, we have to do six workouts a week to see results, we don’t have to but if you want to accelerate progress, or you really want to make some headway on your goals, then by all means, shoot for more like push yourself in that department. And maybe you’re a person who does really well with having something that is every day. So you do better with six workouts a week. And then on your rest day you go for a walk or something like for some people, it’s easier to have something you do every single day versus something you do just sometimes because you forget about it or you don’t work it in. Whereas if it’s daily, sometimes it’s easier to make it a habit. So just assess that, like, what does this season look like? Should you a lot of times with clients, I’ll plan for four and st optional five, or something like that. And making up the numbers here might be planned for three and have an optional fourth, so that they have their bare minimum to get in. But then if it’s a good week, and they have a little more flexibility, they can shoot for that one. And then you kind of feel like it’s a little bit of psychology there to like, oh, you feel good about yourself because you got a bonus in, not I feel shamed and guilty, because I didn’t get all of mine and so be realistic. And then also, this goes right into number two, which is to think about your goals. Because if you have some intention, I always encourage performance goals, not just physique goals. So yes, I just mentioned somebody pretty focused on physique goals going into, you know, a fun, momentous, memorable event. But, and I was like that before our wedding and things like I think there’s a time and place for that, but also performance goals, you know, because this shouldn’t ideally match up if you want to do a powerlifting competition, but you’re gonna give three days a week to working out. That’s probably not the route you want to go and some people probably do train like that and are fine. You kind of needed a good base built up though already. You’re not going to find most people who are doing a bodybuilding competition. Working out three days a week. And so we don’t all have to be powerlifters bodybuilders, I’m none of those things. But if you have a specific goal in mind that you want to work towards that that can help you determine your frequency. So that can help you answer number one. But also this is going to shape the rest of your program. So even if you’ve kind of set those days, you’re like, yep, nope, three with an optional fourth, sounds good? Or five? Sounds good. Whatever it is. Do you want to? Or do you need to train for anything cardio related? Do you want to go try to take an in person class once a week like, these are the things I want you to think about? Because that factors in to what your actual workouts are going to look like? Now?
Cardio is one of the things I’ve talked about this in many episodes, like, do I need it in? Can I skip it, whatever. This is a really personal one. And science can go both ways on this, there are some studies that show like, as long as you’re doing strength training, you’re getting those heart pumping benefits. And you can absolutely raise your heart rate by string training, especially doing heavy weights, and that kind of thing, or moving quickly, like a circuit style. So you can get some of those cardio benefits. And you don’t have to necessarily do what you would consider. Consider traditional cardio. However, there’s people who love cardio who are like, Oh my gosh, like it’s such a good endorphin boost. And I completely, completely relate to it being a good endorphin boost, like there is something that I get, like my mood is so much different after a spin class than it is after strength training session, you know, and I’ll feel different after a strain training session, I might feel powerful and strong, and like it was a good workout and whatever. But when I get off a spin bike, I feel like that euphoric, whatever. So you know, that might be that’s all worth considering. What do you enjoy, what do you want in there, if you feel, you know, the thought of getting on a spin bike makes you want to go back to bed, then, like, that’s fine, you can do that without you can organize your schedule without cardio in there. So think about your preferences a little bit in your goals. All right. Now, number three, this is where I’m going to tell you exactly what to do make space for at least three strength training workouts, whether or not you want to have cardio in there, you need a minimum of three strength training workouts. And this is science meets Bernie’s personal opinion. Yes, life happens sometimes or travel happens or sickness happens. And we don’t get three in, maybe we get one in whatever. And we work with what we’ve got, I actually encourage people to when they enter the eight week challenge, if they’re going from absolutely no workouts or just walking, I do actually encourage them to start with just one string, and then work their way up to two into three and work up to the five that we have in there a week. But not to just happen whole hog five workouts a week. So that’s totally fine. But once you’re in the groove, and if you’re somebody who is more seasoned, you need three string trainings in their strength training, so important, I’m not going to go into all the reasons why in this episode. But for not only the right now, in the physique changes like that is huge. In and of itself. A lot of people think fat loss is going to happen through cardio, when really you make the changes to your physique through strength training. But beyond that, it is so important as we age for bone density, for guarding ourselves against injury for revving our metabolism, all these things. So whatever you do with this next step, we’re going to give you some examples of like how you can structure your actual week based on how many times a week you do want to work out, you need a bare minimum of three. Okay, so number four. As you plan out the rest of the days, the extras etc. Say that was your number three days a week. That should probably be full body most of the time. If somebody tells me they’re going to do three days a week I tell them to do full body. Other times I will split it up upper body one day, lower body and other day and then full body one day. I do that sometimes to combat soreness because some people especially if you’re newer to working out, if you do full body, you might be a little bit sore. By the time it’s time for your next workout, because you’re looking at doing it like two days later, and your legs might still be sore. So giving that space of like upper body then you don’t have to do upper body for a couple days then you do lower body. So you’ve had time to rest by the time you get back round to full body. And you can mix in other things with it I typically do. We do a lot of times in the chasing greatness group, or in the challenge like upper in core lower and hit or upper and mobility lower in core, that kind of thing. So could be three full body strength, but you could still want to split it up differently into upper and lower and things like that. Now if you want to work out five days a week, and you don’t want to do cardio, maybe that split looks like upper, lower, full body, upper lower and full body you’re just planning on not doing it so many sets too. each muscle group that you’re sore for that upper or lower, since you’re kind of doing it right in the middle there, maybe you don’t want to do cardio, you’re still going with five days a week. And you do push pull legs upper lower. So you’re splitting up those muscle groups of your push muscles of the chest, triceps, and delts pull would be back bicep and rear delts. You guys know what legs, the glutes entail, quads, hamstrings, glutes, all that. And then your fourth day, you combine that whole upper body together. So it’s push and pull, and then your fifth day you go back to lower body. Another option, maybe you were still working five days a week. I know I’m kind of going through these quickly. So pause me remind if you need to, maybe you’re still wanting to do five days a week, but so you do upper lower core, upper lower getting rid of a full body, but giving a whole day to core. You know, there are things about that go back to your goals in here, where if you particularly want to get really good at something, it should appear in there a couple times a week, like there have been times where I wanted to focus on getting bodyweight pull ups. So I wanted to make sure that I had two upper body days in there. But then I also wanted pull ups and a third day, I want them three days in there. So that might have looked like having upper lower upper lower, full. But on that full body day, I was also doing pull ups because I wanted to specifically train that exercise or something to that, too. We’ll talk about it at a later date, like some specificity in your working out that. Yes, you can do lat pull downs, and dumbbell pullovers and things to build up your lats. But you also just need to get really specific about training the exercise you want to get better in. Okay, now, if you’re going for broke, and you want to do the six workouts, with cardio, let’s say maybe you follow any of those that I mentioned above, but you just add a cardio day, or you add hit to the end of some of your workout sessions. So there’s ways to personalize things we only wanted to talk about was four days, which you could do upper lower upper lower, or a combination of three full body days and a cardio day. You know, there’s so much freedom in this and I want you to ideally make a plan that you’re excited about. And if you’re in the chasing greatness group, that’s the monthly workout group. It’s five workouts a week, but it varies a little bit. Some months, I have like just a mobility day. Sometimes mobility is paired with something else. Sometimes like this isn’t here yet. But in December, I pare it down to just those three full bodies, December’s really busy. But the nice thing is, too, I want you guys to know this, if you’re in the CISI green screen right now and you’re not aware of it, you can go back through any previous months to find something more your speed. So if there was a month where we did six a week, and you want to bump it up to that, go do that one, if you want to see all this previous year, and all the 2022 at your disposal as well. All right. Lastly, hopefully this helps you shape it, get a good picture for what your workout program should look like. Number five is to know what you’re doing. plan them out and make sure they make sense. This is a really big one, that maybe you want to plan your own thing and whatnot, they have to make sense. So that would be worth I know I’m not just like I’ve done a lot of self promotion on this episode, which is like me, but because I know it’s good for you. Like I obviously think that what I put the time and energy and effort into programming is effective. I know what it is, and it’s efficient and all of those things.
But a coaching call would go a long way and just like overlooking what you’re doing, and then giving feedback on it. I had a client who we were working one on one, just nutrition together. And she was seeing some change but not a ton, but she was doing her own thing with the workouts. So one day, we just hopped on a coaching call. And it was okay lay out your workouts for me. And they did not make sense. Like the basic The bones were in there. We had like the push the pull the legs or whatever. But the order was real random. Like the some of the exercises didn’t fit, what her goals were. The rep range did not fit what her goals were things like that. So there’s a reason like that would literally be me trying to change oil my car, or I know a lot of people actually change the oil but do anything like that, like I gotta have all the right parts going on. But like the order would not be right the things a lot of times if we try to piecemeal things, you know, we need some experience in that area. Many of you I know listening to this right now. have worked with me in the past and maybe started out at you know, getting programmed workouts for me or something one on one or a weekend and then have branched out and you do your own or you personalize your own. A lot of you I know do that in the CISI greatness group like you modify them to make it your own. And that’s awesome and you have the knowledge behind it. It’s very hard to just come out of the gate and do that. At a lot of times it is people do who are knowledgeable, but it’s just a, they throw things together in a wacky combination that’s just not gonna push them toward their goals. And we all do that. When we’re like I said, like, it’s not our experience our expertise, you know, there’s plenty of things I do that went by just like ala carte things, and it does not work out. So make sure it makes sense. And then put your workout plan somewhere visual for me, I put that right on the whiteboard on the side of our fridge, which is where we put our meals, I just also put in what workout I’m doing what day and have a plan for it. I’ve also mentioned before, like getting really specific. Don’t just put upper body if you’re planning your own workout, you could put that you know on the dry erase board, upper body, but then have a separate plan for what you’re going to do that day. Because that helps. That was the episode we talked about that in the decision fatigue episode. You don’t want to get to Wednesday, upper body that you’re doing on your own not in one of my programs or not with a YouTube video or not with whatever. And you have to like Instagram exercises, look up stuff on YouTube, like have a plan ready to go. All right. Okay, ladies is the last episode of August. So you will not hear me talk about the podcasts review. Giveaway again. So praise the Lord for that. Well, you will hear me announce the winner not next episode, but should be in the episode after that. And if you want to find yourself in one of these programs, we are going to be kicking off September here together in the chasing greatness group. So that is gonna be fat loss focused workouts and all that great stuff, meal plan calendar, live workouts together. We’ve got the eight week challenge kicking off September 18. Lots of fun stuff I had. So thank you so much for being here for being part of the healthy Catholic moms community. It really truly does mean a lot. I feel like I was reading through this episode a little bit. Because I’ve got I don’t know if you’ve heard of them or not my husband’s home. I don’t usually record podcasts at this time. It’s like evening they’re getting ready for bed and stuff. But I’ve got little feet running around about me someone I definitely know the sound of it dropped, dropped or dumped an entire bucket of those little like counting bears because I heard them go everywhere. So I don’t want to sound at all distracted or ungrateful or any of those things I love this time with you. I love this community and all of that I you know, it’s just mom life behind the scenes. So I hope that you have a great rest of your day. I want you to know next episode what to be on the lookout for next episode we are talking about oh shocker, healthy fall prep and how to incorporate self care into it. So we’ll continue on. Alright ladies, great rest of your day. I’ll talk to you next time.