De-Influenced with Dani + Jordan - Bonus Episode: Dr. Shannon Ritchey

Episode Date: December 2, 2025

In this bonus episode, Dani sits down with Dr. Shannon Ritchey, Doctor of Physical Therapy and founder of Evlo, for one of the most helpful, myth-busting conversations we’ve ever had about fitness, strength training, pregnancy, and women’s health. Shannon breaks down why so many of us feel confused about exercise, what actually matters when you’re short on time, and why “gentle consistency” might be the secret to finally seeing results without burning out. She shares her own story of overtraining, chronic pain, and rebuilding her approach from the ground up and why so many women are unknowingly doing too much instead of training with intention. They go deep on postpartum fitness, strength training during pregnancy, weighted vests, Pilates vs. lifting, GLP-1 medications, body recomposition, protein, recovery, and what women really need to know if they want to build muscle and feel stronger at every stage of life. If you’ve ever wondered where to start, whether you’re “doing it right,” or how to make fitness fit your actual life, this conversation will make everything finally click Visit evlofitness.com and use code DANI for 6 weeks free. You get a free two week trial, plus your first month at $0 Make sure you’re subscribed to our official channel on YouTube, @deinfluencedpodcast, and follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your De-Influenced fix! Stay connected with us on Instagram and TikTok @deinfluencedpodcast, and as always thank you for being a part of this journey. Produced by Dear Media

The following podcast is a dear media production. Hi, guys. All right. So this episode is going to be really special. I am so excited about our guest today. If you are interested in wellness, confused about fitness, postpartum, pregnant, just if you are a woman, actually men too, this episode is going to be for you. We are going to learn so much about fitness, exercise, strength training, the differences, cardio's, gLP ones, all the questions, all the things that we're thinking about on a daily basis

when we're like, we're so confused with where to start when it comes to fitness. So today we have on Dr. Shannon Ritchie. Dr. Shannon Ritchie, y'all, she's not only the most beautiful person, like, ever. Like, she's so sweet. She's so smart. I'm so excited for y'all to meet her. She is a doctor of physical therapy, fitness trainer, and the founder of EVlo Fitness. I'm sure you guys have heard of it before.

her career mission is to educate that exercise can be effective without wrecking you. She incorporates an understanding of exercise science, neurology, and energy expenditure to create effective fitness routines that build muscle without wearing you down. Okay, we're super excited to have her. Hello, and welcome back to your favorite podcast, Deimpluce. Nailed it. You guys, I'm so excited to have Dr. Shannon Ritchie. Also, I did not realize that you came from Austin. Yes. She's from, you don't, you're not from Austin, but you live in Austin. I live in Austin. I took a little 45 minute flight to get here. Have you flown JSX here? No. Oh, I don't know if they still fly Dallas to Austin, but it's like the best experience. Really? We can talk about it another time, but they have 30 seats and it's like basically taking private but for the same price as.

Excuse me? Yeah, we'll talk about it later. I feel cheated that I didn't know about that. No, I know. And they have the best snacks on there. They treat you. I didn't even get a snack on this night. I know. So I know. So I'm saying. Because it's such a short flight, so they're like, we're not even going to bother. We're not even going to stand up. Like, you're on your own. You're on your own. I was like, I'm starving. Yeah.

You know, I went to UT. You did. So you lived in Austin. Yes. I lived in Austin for about seven years. Where do you live in Austin? We're in like west of downtown. Okay.

So we're, I'm obsessed with our neighborhood. There's like so many families. And then you can get to downtown in like 10 minutes. I'm so jealous. I'm obsessed with Austin. It's like my favorite city. Is it? Do you miss it?

All the time. I would, but I mean, it has changed a lot. Like, I would probably go more in, like, the hills of Austin. Yeah. So that you're close to Austin. But, like, I always envisioned myself being, like, one of those moms, like, running on the, on the trails. Yeah. I know.

I know. It's, like, so active. The restaurants are so good. Because we came from L.A., which was, like, I was obsessed with all the food there in L.A. And so I was like, it's going to be a bummer to go to Austin. And, like, the food isn't going to be as good as it is in L.A. I've been so pleasantly surprised with the food in Austin. The restaurants in Austin are amazing. Yep. Well, it's becoming like a little L.A. kind of. It is. It is. Yeah. I mean, it's very innovative, very like

granola. That's why I liked it is because it felt like very fresh. And it was, it wasn't like the rest of Texas. It's really not. It's like its own little thing. And it does have like a lot of cool things that L.A. has, but without some of the bad things that L.A. has. Like it's active. You know, the weather obviously. can't be compared. Yeah. Well, what, like, why did you move to Austin? We, well, we're from Kansas, actually. We only lived in our life for two years. And I got pregnant and we were, we were house hunting. We were living in Venice. And we loved living in Venice, but not the most family friendly. No. And so we were house hunting and we were just quickly realizing, like, we want to be closer to family. We just want to be in more of like a neighborhood with, like, great schools. And

my business is in Texas. So my employees work in Austin as well. So it's kind of like all of the things together that made it right fit. Oh, and Austin is so much about fitness and while. Yes, it is. And everyone in Austin is so friendly. Like I've met so many more people in Austin than I ever did in LA. LA is a tough place. It was tough. It was tough. You're comparing it to a pretty tough place. It was tough. And being from the Midwest, like I'm like, I talk to everybody and make friends with everybody. So it's like, It just felt like, oh, I mean, I made amazing friends there, but just not the same. Well, you know what's so funny is, I don't know if you know this, but I went to UT to study physical therapy.

What? Yes. So I have a, so I studied exercise science, kinesiology, minored in bio. I was going to graduate, I mean, all the kinesiology practicals, all of that, which is basically where you get up like in front of your class and name every single bone and muscle in the body. It's like it's insane like how many muscles and bones we have. I forgot them all.

Oh yeah. You memorize them for that stuff and then it's like it's out unless you like start using it. And you have to like pronounce it in front of the whole class or whatever. But then yes, so I was going to graduate UT and then go to PT school. And then I, but I started my YouTube channel when I was 19. And so I never ended up going down that path. But I always like, I was like, oh, I could one day.

But let me tell you, it's like hard. And then once I found out that like you have. to like actually see blood sometimes and deal with broken bones. I was like, I don't think I can do it. Yeah, it's a hard. I mean, it depends on like if you, you can be in the hospital setting or you can be in like outpatient and you're very different jobs. But what an interesting like fork in the road for you?

Because your life would be very different right now if you were a PT. So different. And you know what's so funny though? Because I did study exercise science and I was like so into fitness for the longest time. But I've kind of forgotten it all. You know, if you don't really use it, you kind of lose. it. And I still am pretty good about like getting my workouts in because I remember learning how important it was. Yes. That doesn't go away. That doesn't go away. But like all of the technicalities and all

that like I just kind of forgot. And I'm just like, I just got to do something. And so I'm really excited to have you on today because I think that a lot of people are, a lot of women are in my same boat, especially like being moms. It's like we know we need to exercise. We know we need to focus on our wellness. We know it affects our mental health so much. But it's like, I'm sorry. like who has the time and I know I need to prioritize it. So when I do have the time, like, what do I need to focus on how I want to hear all about EVLO? You were the founder of EVLO, which is a fitness program. Like you run it through an app, correct? Yes. Yes, correct. And I want, so I want to hear all about that. But let's back up. I want to just kind of like get to know

more about you right now. Can you like tell me about yourself where you grew up, about your babies, like your life right now? Yes. Yes. So I'm a forward. former physical therapist. I'm no longer practicing running Evela full time. And from Kansas, I kind of got into this world because I've been teaching group fitness since I was like 18 years old as a hobby. I was actually a business major in college. So I didn't do the kinesiology side of things. But I did go to PT school with a business major. And I spent my 20s working out super, super hard, doing all of the things, lifting weights, cardio, group fitness classes, yoga, polities, everything. And really like throwing spaghetti at the wall, trying to like be fit. And

also, I like, I had these pressures on myself of like, I'm a group fitness instructor. I need to like look a certain way. I need to look the part. I need to look like, quote unquote toned. And so I was just doing so much exercise, under eating and had chronic pain all over my body, like hit back, shoulder, wrist. And to the point where my husband and I would go out to a restaurant and I'd be like, I can't sit there. I can't sit there because my back hurts or like I can't wear heels. because it's going to hurt my back and I'm 24 years old. Yeah. And it took me moving across the country, taking a step back from my workouts and I stopped

exercising for like two weeks just to like get in a new groove. And that's when I felt the best, like better than I had in years. And so I realized that it was my workouts that was tearing my body down. It wasn't me. It wasn't my body. And so it changed everything up. And that's kind of how Eflow was developed. And our whole motto is gentle consistency.

So doing exactly what you're talking about, like doing the right things that will have the most potent stimulus and output without overdoing it and without spending a bunch of time doing it. And so that motto, that gentle consistency motto has taken me through now two different rounds of body recomposition. So before my first pregnancy and then in between my two pregnancies, I body recomposition, which means losing fat while you're building muscle. It took me through two pregnancies. It took me through two postpartum. It took me through building a business all while avoiding the chronic pain that I had once lived with and thought was normal. And all while avoiding burning myself out physically, emotionally, mentally, all while not

feeling like, you know that guilt when you take a recovery day? And you're like, I should be doing something. All of that went away once I learned really the science of fitness and how our bodies actually adapt. So that's where we're at. I just had my second baby three months ago. My babies are, I can relate to you, not as crazy as you having your pregnancy so close together. Yeah.

But mine are 16 months apart. No, that's close. It's close. My first two are 17 months apart. So you're, yeah, no, I get it. It's hard. Can we talk about one? Okay, zero to one was so easy.

It's the best thing. It's so easy. It was in retrospective. Like having a puppy. Yeah, I know. You're like, oh, this is easy. Just a little accessory. Just like bring them around.

One to two has rocked my work. world. Yeah. Yeah. That's, um, that's normal. Okay. Just wait for three to four. Or two to three, two to three. Wait, did you think two to three was hard? Yeah. Yeah. It's, that's when like life is really not the same. But maybe you won't have it's, it's great. It's different depending on their age gaps too, I think. So true. And I really, two to three for you. Yeah. So age gap was, it's actually a little bit more like further apart, but I will have four under five, which I don't. I don't recommend, but if you do it, like, great. It's going to be great.

I've learned that the at-home workouts are, like, the only way that I will do anything or, like, walking with the strollers. Yes. You have to include them or just get it done at home when they're not being. So crazy. Like, I think about in my 20s and I'm like, I worked out all the time. Like, I went to the gym. I went to, like, all these fun classes.

And it was just, like, such a social fun thing. And now it just looks so different. Yes. And so I think what you're doing is really cool. because I feel very alone sometimes. And I'm like, am I doing the right thing? And like with my body changing, like I don't have the same body I had in my 20s, but sometimes I do the same workouts that I had in my 20s.

Yeah. And I don't, did you play sports growing up? I actually didn't. I was a cheerleader. You were a cheerleader? Oh, yeah. Well, cheerleading's like pretty intense sometimes. Yeah.

Yeah, but I wasn't that good. Well, I know. I'm like, I played sports, but I wasn't like good. But I was bad. But the thing is about like working out is like I just remember growing up like in sports and like working with the football because like volleyball played like we worked out the same time as a football team and it was all about pushing yourself so much that you would throw up like I remember being on the football field and they were like we're not going in until someone throws up like which is you're

just like praying that somebody throws up so that we can be done with this right you're like someone make themselves throw up because I'm I'm close but I can't actually do it and that's like such old school mentality that is still so prevalent yeah and what happens is when that's baked into you at such a young age, you then, a lot of people carry that with them for the rest of their lives and don't ever question it. No, I do. I still do. Yeah. And it's, I'm like, if I don't feel like I'm being tortured, then it's not working. Oh, I, and we can talk about all of the science as to why that actually isn't true. Yeah. Because it's, it will start, like, and that's ultimately what I had to do, because I had some of that embedded for sure. It's like the hard, you have to burn a lot of calories,

you have to sweat. You have to like, you know, be crawling out of the gym. Otherwise, it's not enough. It's not going to do anything. Like, why bother? Um, and if we look at all of the science up behind that, it's like, well, actually, that's not true because the body adapts when you apply the right stimulus. Um, it's kind of like medicine. Like, you want to take a certain dose of medicine to have the desired effects while not taking too high of a dose because that will have negative, um, negative side effects. So it's the same thing with exercise. You want to dose it and you want to have the right kind of medicine and you want to have the right kind of exercise and right type of routine, but not so much that it gives you negative side effects like joint pain or fatigue or

sometimes you won't even see results if you're doing too much. I know. I remember learning about that in school. Yeah. Like whenever it's like you do too much that you actually like your body's like storing everything or like you can't. Yeah, you're not actually seeing any improvements or any changes. Yes. So I also want to talk about like do you help or special. not like create like programs and think about women that are pregnant or postpartum. Yes, absolutely. Okay. So I am a big fan of continuing to strength train and actually try to build muscle

and strength when you're pregnant because, number one, it's possible. I think that we're taught like, oh, just take it easy when you're pregnant. You don't need to try to like have fitness goals. And while I think that's a recommendation that's conservative, and a lot of doctors recommend that because they're like, okay, I don't have the time to, like, go through your routine and like make sure that everything is safe and da-da-da-da-da-da. I get it. So just don't do it. Right. So just like, you know, sit-walk or whatever. And what we're seeing from more and more emerging data is that strength training and building muscle during pregnancy is not only possible, but it's extremely beneficial. It helps you avoid gestational diabetes, which is becoming increasingly common. It helps the health of your baby. It helps you feel better. You sleep. better, which we know if we sleep better and as moms, like, oh my gosh, every minute of sleep is like gold. So if you can sleep better, feel better, move better, pick up your babies, recover better

postpartum. My postpartum recoveries have thankfully been so easy. And not that they were, didn't have challenges, but they went smooth. Let's put it that way. And I felt really strong, like pretty much immediately when I came back to my workouts. And that's because I probably prioritize strength training during pregnancy throughout the whole time. Yeah. And it really, the, the cool thing about strength training during pregnancy is that you'll modify certain things. Of course, you don't want to lay flat on your stomach. You probably don't want to like twist really vigorously, things like that. But most of the basics still apply while you're pregnant. You don't have to change your routine a ton. You can actually still lift pretty heavy when you're pregnant.

Yeah. As long as you're regulating your intra-d abdominal pressure for public floor health and things like that. So yeah, I'm a big, big fan of strength training while you're pregnant. Can I ask you like why when you're pregnant or postpartum, why so much emphasis on strength training over like cardio or walking or running? So just, you know, my background. Like I have always been a big runner. Like I started running cross country and track in high school. And then like in my 20s, that's all I pretty much did.

but so I got pretty like underweight because not just because of running I think just like genetically too like at the time I was like really stressed and then genetically like my mom was always really I'm not this is my 20s. I'm not talking about right now okay but like I was always like I was like always very like kind of like um verge of looking unhealthy but I also was running like eight miles a day and I like loved it for my mental health too like because you kind of get to this point where it's like they talk about the runners high but yes like to this point where running wasn't even painful for me like I would run eight miles and just like okay like whatever that's wild your body was just so adapted so adapted because I had done it for so long and you know it took a while to get there

but it I got there and it was like amazing and so yeah I'm not there right now let me just say but but yeah so then I realized I was like oh my gosh when I started losing my hair I was like I really think I need to, this is a while ago, like incorporate some strength training. And so why so much emphasis on strength training these days? I think that's such a good question. And I think strength training is thankfully getting so much more awareness now than it ever has, especially for women and proper strength training, right? Not just as much as I love group fitness classes, just because you're holding weights doesn't necessarily mean that you are building strength or muscle. Like there's lifting with intention and then there's just like holding weights.

So we could get into that more. But there's so much more awareness on strength training. And with that, I feel like I see a lot of content kind of bashing cardio and saying like, oh, don't do cardio. I see that too. And I think that unfortunately it needs to be both. Love that answer. We need to be doing cardio and we need to be doing strength training.

You just see from the data that strength training, and I used to be in the camp, admittedly, where I was like, you know, you don't even really need cardio because strength training will, can double as your cardio. And I recently did a podcast about this because I dove into the research more. And what we see is that you just don't get the same cardiovascular adaptations from strength training. No, I mean, you can see it. Like when I'm running, I'm like, dying. And when I'm strength training, it's painful, but I'm not like out of breath.

It's a different kind of heart. It's a different kind of challenge. And it's a different kind of challenge for you physiologically. Right. So, yes, you do need both. And pregnant women also need both. What's recommended from the ACOG is that you do about 150 minutes of light to moderate intensity cardio each week during pregnancy.

Okay, so 150 minutes. So, like, how much is that? Can you break that down? Like, I can't do math. So that's like, yeah, I, that's so funny because, like, what is it per day? I never, like, worry about hitting it perfectly. I always just try to get like at least 30 minutes a day of like walking. That's helpful.

Yeah. Or, you know, if you're a runner, great. If you like to bike or whatever it is. 30 minutes a day, I think we could all do that. Whether you can take a phone call and get outside or do a podcast, like during a nap. Well, I guess you can't like, you know, pushing your stroller, whatever. There's so many ways you could like march in place. Like literally anything.

Those like, those Amazon walking paths now. A walking pad, I think is great if you can't get outside. anything. But move your body and challenge your cardiovascular health a little bit. And what you want to look for is you should feel challenged. And you don't have to be, I'm on the floor, I'm about to throw up challenge. That's like me. I'm like, I need a sweat. Right. Right. It's like, it doesn't work unless I'm about to throw up. Yeah. And that's that deep-seated like stuff from high school. And a lot of us have that. But you want to feel, you want to at least feel, you want to at least feel, like it would be difficult to have a conference. Like you can still have a conversation,

but it's starting to get a little hard. Like you're starting to have to like take some extra breaths in there. Or you can still breathe in and out through your nose, but it's starting to get more difficult. You're wanting to start to breathe in and out through your mouth. So you want it to be challenging enough. I think, and I fall guilty to this, but I think sometimes I'll do a walk and it's more leisurely. And really I'm not challenging my cardiovascular health at all. So I always tell my husband, like, we've got to do a fitness walk. We got to like truck it a little bit more. like walk a little faster like we have hills in our neighborhood so that helps yeah but but i yeah i think it's a both and um and they don't have to take away from each other but you don't want to rely too

heavily on one or the other i would say how do you feel about all of the weighted vests while you're walking or running this is very misleading um i mean they're so big right now they're so big everybody in the neighborhood has a walking like a vest on mine too i and i and i want to talk to them at because I'm like, okay, it's not that it's harm, harming you. Yeah. It is harming you if you're, if it's hurting your back or if it's like hurting your hips or something, but it's not harming you. The claims are that weighted vests improve muscle, improve bone density, accelerate fat loss.

And unfortunately, all of those claims are overblown. We see from the literature that just walking with a weighted vest doesn't really provide any benefit for bone or muscle, unfortunately. it can increase your cardiovascular workload. I could see that. Yeah. So like if a leisurely walk is not doing it for you anymore and it's not challenging for you anymore, which will happen eventually if you're consistent,

then adding a weighted vest can increase the challenge. Right. But I think that it's being sold as like this magic pill that can either replace strength training or have additional benefits that strength training has like bone and muscle. And we just don't see that from the data. I'm so glad that you said that because I did not want to get one. I honestly think, like, it's the same thing as the wrist weights. Like, I feel the same way.

And it's like, and now I'm actually seeing weighted clothing. So it's like one pound shirts or one pound leggings. Yeah. It's, in short, save your money on the weighted clothing. But on weighted vests, yeah, you can probably save your money. I think they are going to be a little bit of a trend. Seems like they would hurt. Yeah, I think so too.

Like your shoulders. Yeah, like affect my shoulders. shoulders and my posture. I already have a hard time with my posture. I know. Okay, that's so interesting. I want to also touch on your app before because you obviously know so much about what you're talking about. So can you tell me more about EVlo as a program? Yes. So every class, they're follow along classes, which I personally love to take a class. I just think it's, it's a good way to motivate. I've always been that way. I've always liked classes. Follow along classes is like within the app, like you click on it and you have a guide, like just guiding you along.

Yes. It's so like I'm teaching classes or one of our other teachers are teaching classes. We have five teachers now on the platform and they're all doctors of physical therapy. So the instructors are very well educated. We're doing things that are going to be worth your time that will actually move the needle for you as far as results, but not compromise your joint pain or there's tons of modifications that we provide. The classes are 35.

I love that. Yeah. So it's like, if you don't like this exercise, here's a swap. We need that as women. We do. Because we have a lot of problems, like random problems. Right. Right.

And we can talk about this too because I'm super passionate about you can, you can make every single workout your own in the sense that like if you don't like squats, okay, let's do a step up instead. Yeah. Just do a different exercise and move along. And you can see this exact same results. You don't have to force yourself into these exercises that are like the gold standards. Anyways, I digress.

But so they're 35 minute workouts and three, four or five times per week you can choose your track, new workouts every single week. So you never have to do the same workout. Oh, I love it too. Yeah. It's not just a library. Because I get sick and the same thing. Yeah, a library. That's what I don't like about some of the workout programs is like, I'm like, okay, I've done this. Like I knew. Right. It's new. And that helps keep you consistent because you're like, oh, I'm excited. Like what's it going to be today? You know? And it's all very structured. Like we're applying the science of hypertrophy. We're applying the science of muscle growth. And we're working specific muscles, like very, very specifically. So we're targeting, you know, three to four muscle groups each class. And so by the end of the week, you have worked all of your muscle groups two-ish times on non-consecutive days. And then you can take two, we recommend taking two recovery days. So are they kind of like full body workout or you said you focus on different, but like, is it a full body workout each day or you focus on a couple of, like, you know, you do legs and arms in one day?

So we're very specific about which muscle groups we're working. So like Mondays is upper body. So we might work chest, shoulders, triceps, biceps and do exercises specifically for those muscle groups. Tuesdays is lower body. And then Wednesday through Friday, we're mixing in both upper body and lower body and core. But we're still very specific. Like we will do a hamstring exercise and a tricep exercise and a abdominal exercise. And repeat those in circuits with different drop sets and different like fun sequencing. So it feels. it doesn't feel so like boring. Yeah, totally. Because that's the thing about strength training that I think catches a lot of women. And part of the reason why I developed this was I was like, I just can't go and do the same thing every single time. Like alone too. Yes, I know.

I just. And some people love that. And that's their jam and like go, go for it. But like I need different and new, but I still need it to apply the science. Totally. And what I like about the app is like, for example, I'm traveling a lot this November. I haven't traveled a lot this year, but I like having something that I can also take with me to a gym, like while I travel. Yes.

You know, like a hotel gym or even if it's like doing it like in your hotel room or whatever it is, it's so helpful to be able to do it at home too. Because realistically, I am at home and I'm trying to work out after I get the kids to school. Totally. Totally. And you're trying to get it done fast. Like you want to like, and we don't need to like, I don't know about you, but like I don't have time for an hour long workout. Like that's just not. I used to.

I know. I used to. I miss that. Like I would love to take my time. And then smoothies afterwards. I know. It's like a whole like three hour ordeal like getting there. Get it.

Yeah. So fun. But yes. I think that's part of the appeal to is like you can just do it from your home. And a lot of people will take our app to the gym and just set up a little like mat and get the weights that they need and get the equipment that they need. I am a big proponent of using weights. I think that, um, I think. I think I think it's hard to get the same stimulus to your muscle with just body weight.

I agree. For most things. For most things. There's some moves that you can do that with just body weight, but no like pushups, all that. But especially if you want to keep it interesting, like you probably need that. You do need the dumbbells. Yeah.

And that's why I say like invest in some dumbbells. Yeah. And get a broad range because. And get some cute ones. Like, why don't know? Like just like. There needs to be more like aesthetically. like beautiful weights.

Well, that's your next thing. I know. I've honestly thought about it a lot. I'm like, I feel like I need to create some beautiful weights that are also like ergonomic for a woman's hand because a little squishy because like, ow, those other ones give me, I'm like, I know. And then if I'm wearing my rings, it gets like, I have like a callous right here.

Like it's like, oh, I feel like a bro at the gym. No, totally. Yeah. That's so great. Okay. So you have the program and how important is stretching? Oh. I hate stretching.

Okay. you don't, I do not believe that you need to spend a lot of time stretching. Yeah. So that will validate you. Okay. Good. There's, stretching is interesting. So we don't stretch in our program. We tend to do active mobility instead. And stretching can feel really good. And I don't think that it's necessarily wrong unless you're doing really, really deep stretches and like compromising your tissue, like the, the ligaments and the cartilage and things across the joint. Um, but stretching. Stretching doesn't necessarily do a whole lot for tightness because tightness is a sensation from your nervous system.

It's not something that you can measure. So if you say, like, I feel tight in my hips or my hamstrings feel tight. That's a subjective sensation. And that sensation happens when your body feels unsafe in a certain position. It offers you this sensation of tightness in order to protect you. It's kind of like when you touch a hot stove, it burns your hand. It's the sensation that's getting you to pull away from the stove. So same thing with tightness.

It's the sensation that's getting you to move away from that range of motion that your body might not be familiar with and might not feel safe in those ranges of motion. Like if you're doing the splits, your body's like, hey, our labrum's about to tear here. So get us out of this. Alert, alert, right alert. Right, exactly. So I wish I could tell myself that doing the splits on rolling blades when I was in college. Oh, my gosh.

tearing my hip labrum. That sounds impressive, I'm not going to lie. Honestly, it was a very cool party trick. Like on roller parties. Yeah, I do have a video of it. But so because the root issue, if tightness is potentially weakness or maybe your body is, maybe there's an injury there that you don't know about or a tissue is healing or you're just not familiar with the position.

Because those are the root issues of tightness, stretching won't necessarily fix those root issues. If the root issue is weakness, we want to get stronger. And then by getting stronger, tightness improves. So long-winded dancer. No, so when you're feeling tight, though, like, let's say in your hamstrings, do you want to keep doing the exercise? You mean if you're feeling tight during the exercise? Yeah, during the movement.

Like, if you're doing the hand, what's the hamstring thing? Were you like, what do you call those? I don't know. Oh, deadlift. Deadlift. Yes. Yes. So when you're doing those, sometimes my hamstrings are like, ow, out, out.

Like, do you want to keep moving through it? with that specifically that's that's called stretch like you're loading in a stretched position and you're strengthening in that stretched position so as long as it's not horribly uncomfortable I think it's it's typically okay okay you can like adjust your range of motion slightly so it's more comfortable so you can actually like get through the lift yeah yeah um don't hurt yourself right don't hurt yourself but yeah usually it's just a little warning sign from your nervous system like hey like let's like be cautious in this can you tell me more about yoga intervention i saw that something that you do i don't know anything about it and i'm going to be honest with you i know yoga is

so good for you but it's probably my least favorite exercise yeah form of exercise i don't do any yoga anymore i in i grew up grew up yeah i mean basically when i was 19 i started teaching group fitness and yoga. And that was like my thing for a couple years was yoga. And I do love a good yoga class, but I've gotten away from it just because I think, you know, my priorities have changed. Like, I just think strength training and cardio is a bigger impact on my health and on most people's health. But I think yoga can be really awesome, a good yoga class. I think there's a spectrum, of course, like anything. But I think a good yoga class. But I think a good yoga class can be great for your nervous system, for your neuromuscular awareness, so the awareness

between your brain and your body. Totally. Breathing can be awesome. But you can incorporate all of that into your strength training sessions. I'm so happy you said that. Yeah. Because I don't want to do yoga. Just do a, and you don't have to.

If you don't like it, like. I feel like when I do weights, it's kind of like my yoga. Yeah. Like I'm usually, I listen to my favorite music or podcast. I'm like breathing. I'm focusing. I'm thinking about, you know. Same.

I feel the same way. And I do a little bit, and in every class, we do a little bit of shavasana at the end where we just lay there. And it's, you know, 30 seconds to two minutes. And so you get those nervous system benefits without having to do a whole like 60 minute class. Yeah. And I don't know about you, but when I, when I'm strength training, like I immediately

feel better after a couple sets. Like it is absolutely improving my mental health. 100%. So, yeah, I think yoga's great if you love it. But I don't think you need to force yourself to do it. don't. I'm so happy that you said that. Just here and validate you today. Just validate me, please. So with your program, EVLO, how often do you recommend women workout? Like, how often are you opening the app and doing these 35-minute workouts? Okay. So let's talk about a routine that I

recommend. Okay. So I recommend in EVlo, we have three, four, or five time per week tracks. So you can work out three, you can do three lifting sessions, four or five. All the same, just the three time per week, the classes are a little bit longer. So just whatever works in your schedule. So that's, number one, that's the cornerstone that I recommend is like build that in first. And then from there, you want to build in your cardio. So your cardio is at 150 minutes of cardio per week. Again, you can do 30 minutes of a walk or whatever. Whatever fits into your lifestyle and it will be easy for you to stay consistent with. From there, if you have time and if you want to and energy and recovery capacity and all of those things you can add in one or two hit sessions

per week and we have we have a class called cardio burst it's it's like an intervals class i'm sorry it's called intervals we changed the name recently and so it's all out effort for you know 30 seconds or a minute and then you break and then you do that again and those classes and those sessions should be really short hit should be really short and really infrequent because it's a lot on your nervous system it's a lot on your body physically. So you want to make sure that you have proper recovery in between sessions so that you can actually go into the session with full out effort. Because if you're kind of, if you're having it, like you're not really doing a hit.

Yeah. Like you're not, you're not stimulating the same effects in your body. Yeah. So that's something that like not everybody, like if you're pregnant, probably not doing the hit right now. I love a hit workout. But that's great. You can continue to do it. Like while you're pregnant, you absolutely can.

I think they say it's like, well, talk to your doctor. Never mind. Yeah. I know. I know. But my doctor told me was you can do anything that you were doing before you got pregnant. And if you were doing that, like, like, I've been playing tennis. And they're just like, don't try anything crazy.

Totally. You know, like, don't be trying new things that you've never done with like rollerblading and all these things while you're pregnant. Right. It makes sense. It makes sense. Yes. Like apply like, yeah, some common sense. And yeah.

But I agree. And you can absolutely continue to do it while you're pregnant. postpartum you definitely want to be more cautious about when you add that higher intensity exercise just for pelvic floor reasons it's it's a lot of pressure on your pelvic floor jumping so you want to make sure that you have a proper recovery before you add that have you experienced any of that craziness yes so yes the two producers in the room have not had children Yeah, they were like, what? Let me just tell you, it's not fun jumping on a trampoline anymore.

No, I know. And that was, like, for my first pregnancy, I wasn't really sure what to expect. And I feel like I got back to teaching, like, I think at like eight weeks or 10 weeks. That's great. And I started doing cardio that, like very soon after. And I feel like I just rushed it too much. Okay. And I learned that, but, like, the hard way.

I felt like I was starting to get some symptoms. No, because it's like so internal. You don't know. And I'm like, I feel great. It's time. And then I was the same way with my first. And then like, like, you learn. Like a week later, I was like, okay, mama's not ready.

Yes. You started to get like soar. Like I was like sore walking. I was like, okay. Exactly. Exactly. Or you start, it starts to feel like heavy. Like it's this like heaviness feeling.

And you're like, because your pelvic floor takes time to heal after delivery. And if you were jumping in too soon, which so many people do. And it's just an accident. It's not always your fault, right? Like you could be like me and have all of the knowledge and information and still just do too much, you know. And but the beautiful thing is pelvic floor physical therapy is incredible. Yeah. And you can always rehab and improve.

But this pregnancy, I eased in a lot more. And it's like a game changer because I was worried. I don't know if this happened to you, but like having babies so close together, I was really worried about my family floor. Because you don't feel totally healed. No, I did not feel. Do you know what happened with my mom? So my mom, because my mom was a big runner as well. well. And so she felt so good postpartum after having my brother. And I think she started running like

again, probably six weeks, six weeks postpartum. And she hemorrhaged. And so she was like on a run and just like started bleeding like gushing blood on her run. And she was like I had no pain, no symptoms. Like I just thought it was time. Like my body was time. It was time to get ready. Right. To go back. And again, and she had nothing. Like she didn't know. Right. So it really is at different. for everyone. It is. What was I going to ask you about postpartum? So my, do you feel like, did you have unmedicated births?

No. I did the epidural. Okay. I did the epidural. I just wanted to get this out there. Some people say like if you do unmedicated, you have like a different healing post like process postpartum. Yes.

I didn't feel that at all physically. Like I felt that mentally. I felt because my last one I went unmedicated. And I felt that. I was like, I was like, I'm so bad. Like, I feel like I am like queen of the world. Like I was like, I can't believe I did this. Yeah.

It was so empowering. And I didn't have like postpartum depression whatsoever. But even in the, they even say like, oh, you can get up and walk better, faster, all these things. And they say that I think mainly because when you're pushing like you're more aware of your body. So like you know like your limits and you know not. I didn't feel any different at all. Really? It was the same.

It was the same as having the epidural. Okay, that's so good to know. I just am a big advocate for the mental part of it. Yes. Yes. Because you felt more like yourself afterwards. That and I felt more, but like I said,

I just felt really proud of myself. Totally. You feel like a beast. I felt like a beast and I like just walked around like with a little bit less swagger. Like I was like, oh my gosh. And I was just like, it was so empowering. And so,

and I don't even think it had anything to do with like not getting the, potosin or the epidural. Like I don't really think that made a big difference except for the mental health part of it. Right. Right. So like I just wanted to share that because I think like everyone's postpartum is different. Totally. And so it really is more so about like listening to your body, listen to your doctor, all the things.

It is. And too like you, so I think a lot like what you shared is really important because I think a lot of people will do the unmedicated birth because they want a faster healing process. and they want to like reduce the risk of tearing and reduce the risk of like pelvic floor prolapse. Like I still tore like. Yeah. Sorry. Right.

No, no. That was my personal. Maybe it's different for some people. And I think it is. I think it, yes, it is. But like that's important for you to share too because like you, you, I think when people are making that decision, they just want all the information going into it. But I mean, for me, my second epidural only worked half of my body. Oh, I've heard of that.

Yeah. But like, it actually. ended up being the best case scenario. So for my first delivery, I pushed really hard. I was like, I went beast mode. I had an epidural, so I couldn't feel anything. Same. Like, like, veins are popping. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, I'm like pushing so hard. And it's like kind of empowering because like everyone in the room's like, go, Shannon, go. You know, and you're like, yeah. You can't feel anything. You're like, okay. Yeah, you're like, I'm going as hard as I can. And I did regret that because I feel like it did delay my healing a little bit. But with the second one,

I waited a lot longer to start pushing and with guidance of my nurses and doctors, of course. And then I could feel half of it. So I could feel like when it was time to push. So I pushed for a lot less time. And I feel like that made a huge difference. I know. I know. A huge difference. Yeah. So it's just, I mean, there's so many things when it comes to delivery. And that's why I'm like, listen, we have to control what we can control. Yeah. We can control like keeping our bodies as healthy and strong as possible. But strength training doesn't leave you immune to some of the things that can happen during delivery, like tearing and things like that. So it's like, yes, it helps, but it's not like, it's not this like, you know, there's a lot of considerations. Well, I will say so like I've had,

now this is my fourth pregnancy and my first two, I mean, I was working out an hour a day every single day. Like, so impressive. Strength training, like I was doing races. Um, like up in my second trimester doing like 10Ks, whatever. And I'm, that's the one thing is I will admit is that the more that I worked out during my pregnancy, the easier my postpartum was. And the more children I've had, the harder. It's like I would say now with this fourth pregnancy, I'm probably working out like three days a week.

I play tennis. So that's like a little bit of cardio. But yeah. But for my threshold, it doesn't really get. me like over there. Yeah. And, and so, and I will say like my last postpartite, like I just felt physically more fatigued. Like, like my heart was like, oh my gosh, I'm always out of breath. And so it's like if you can prioritize it, I know it's not easy to. I do think it makes a difference postpartum. I do. I do think so. And just like with your mental health and everything,

can you tell me, are there any like common misunderstandings or misconceptions on strength training? and muscle building you can think of? So many. Let's see. Where should I begin? I know. It's a lot. So I think one of the things that a lot of women don't understand about strength training

that if they did, they would see so much better return on their investment is actually training to failure or close to failure. And this is a conversation that is luckily getting more awareness. But again, it's the difference between lifting weights and just picking up weights and actually building muscle or building strength and seeing the adaptation that you're after. And so lifting to failure means you physically can't complete another rep, no matter how hard you're trying. Like, yeah, yeah, you're like, I am trying. I cannot lift this weight. I cannot complete this movement. That's failure. Study show you don't have to get all the way to failure. You can get one to three

rep shy. And getting one to three reps shy of failure will build the exact same in mind. amount of muscle as training to failure. So getting one to three reps shy of failure is kind of hard to feel. Like people are like, am I three reps shy of failure? Like, I don't know. So sometimes you have to get all the way to failure to like know what that feels like. But one of the, I have some tools to help people know if they're getting to true muscular failure. And one of them is that your last rep should feel slower than your first rep. You cannot physically do your last rep at the same speed that you could do your first rep. That's how you know you're close to failure.

Oh, interesting. There's that tip. And then there's another tip that I call the rest test. So if you think you're close to failure, do your final rep, set the weight down, rest for five seconds, pick the weight up and try to do more reps. If you could do two or three more reps, you weren't close enough to failure. So go up and wait next time or do more reps with that same weight next time. And implementing those little tweaks will make your workouts so much more effective for the

time that you're putting in. And I think, too, like it's important to note people. are like, how many reps do I need to do? Like, do I need to be doing six reps, 10 reps, whatever. We see from the studies that anywhere from six reps all the way up to 30 reps, does not matter. Builds the same amount of muscle as long as your last rep is to failure or close to failure. So I truly think that that's like the biggest misconception and the biggest unlock when it comes to string training. That's such a good tip. I'm going to use that. Yeah, use it. You'll see a huge difference. I'm very much into like, give me a number,

give me this, but it really is, it's like a feeling. It is. And the problem with doing, it's very common to be like, okay, do three sets of 10. And giving you that 10, like, okay, I'm going to do 10 reps with this weight. What happens is you could get to 10 reps, but you could actually do 15 reps. And so you weren't close enough to failure. And so that set just wasn't very stimulating. It's at all.

It's like, what's the point? You're wasting time. You're wasting time. So I like to say just do pick a weight that feels challenging and do as many as you can. Okay. Obviously if you're doing more than 30, you need a heavier weight. I don't like doing more than like 15 because it just starts to really burn. It starts to, and it starts to take longer if you're doing those higher reps.

But you can do them if you feel more comfortable with it. Okay. That's super helpful. Can you tell me about Pilates versus straight training? Pilates is so big. Yes. I don't know if it's like, you know, it's like tennis and Pilates. It's like, are those things just big right now because we're getting older and like we're in

that era of like tennis and Pilates or is it just more popular now? I think it's also like the aesthetic, like the, like the, like I think it is a little bit like I think that's part of the reason why it's popular. I mean, I love tennis. Okay. I like no shit like. Yeah, yeah, but it's cute. It's cute. It is so cute. Yeah. We're the cute outfits. Yeah, but I feel like people weren't playing tennis like 10 years ago. I know, but I'm also like, but were they? And maybe they were. I think we just didn't know because we weren't that age yet. And now we're just older. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. People are like, okay, millennials. Like, we've been playing tennis forever. Well, my mom's been playing tennis for, like, I remember she would drop me off at school. I can run with her tennis outfit on every

single day. So I'm like, what a vibe? So maybe I just am older now. But yeah, maybe she's, yeah, coming into your sight, guys. It seems like Pilates is everywhere. So yeah, tell me about Pilates for strength training. Okay, I get so much heat on the internet for my take on this. We love a hot topic. I think of that take. Okay. So here we go. And I think I have a very reasonable take on it. So it's interesting that people like come after me about it. But I think I think what happens is if you've been doing a certain form of exercise and someone talks about it in a way that feels challenging, it you're like, well, no, like I need to defend that. And I get it. I get it. It's like if someone came after Evela, I would be so defensive. What the heck? No. But so here's the thing on Pilates.

it's if we go back to you have to lift between six and 30 reps, taken two failure or one or three reps shy of failure in order to see muscle growth. Many times in a Pilates class, you either aren't getting close to failure. Maybe the reps are low, but you're not actually getting too failure or close to muscular failure, or the reps are way too high. And what we see from the data is that when the reps are too high

and the load is too light, it just doesn't stimulate a lot of muscle growth. It can in beginners. It's almost like doing cardio. Yeah, it's endurance. So it's muscular endurance. Yeah, muscular endurance. But not building muscle.

Right, typically. But there are some Pilates methods that do apply the science of hypertrophy. You absolutely can. And hypertrophy is when you grow muscle. When you grow muscle. Okay. Yes. And you can absolutely go on a reformer.

I mean, a reformer is resistance. I've never done it. So try, give it a go. Yeah. Do you think I should do it when I'm pregnant? You could. I mean, I'm not going to like push myself too hard. I just like, I don't know.

I'm. No, honestly, yeah. I mean, not that it would be dangerous. I don't necessarily think that, especially if you had a good teacher. But I just don't see it adding much more than your routine of lifting weights and doing that. Yeah. So it looks scary. And that's and I know.

It looks to me. I'm like, it looks so. And that's what I think people don't understand. Like if I had my choice, I think I would just only do Pilates because I just, I feel so good. My body, it just feels good. in my body? Depends on like the format and the class. Okay.

Sometimes no. Yeah. But I don't do Pilates anymore. So. Yeah. So. Like I sweat when I, when I strength train.

Yeah. I'm like like, and some people do and some people don't. Like it also just depends on you. Yeah. That's true. But so answering the question about Pilates, it depends on the method.

I think some methods, some popular reformer methods and not reformer. I don't, I forget what they call themselves. It's not reformer. They're like, it's like megaformer or something. I don't know. Don't come after me, people with the proper terms. You're on an apparatus.

You're on a machine. And they're claiming that they're training close to failure. But what happens is the reps are really high. And so you may feel like you're shaking and you're burning and it's really, really hard. But you're not actually training close to failure. You're more fatiguing your body. And so what I recommend someone doing in that class is if you're like, okay, am I actually close to failure or am I to failure? take a five second break.

If you could keep going on doing the exercise that you're doing, you were fatigued. You are not at true muscular failure. And that isn't necessarily a potent enough stimulus to build muscle. So that's where I'm at. And then a lot of people are like, well, how do I incorporate Pilates? Because I want to do both. That's a big trend right now is people doing strength training and Pilates. Okay.

I recommend that if it's not throwing off your recovery, you could do it on a recovery day. Yeah. But if you feel like you go to a Pilates session, and the next day you're so sore and you can't do your strength training workout that was on your calendar. That's not necessarily moving you forward because we want to feel fresh going into your strength training workout so that you can put in enough effort to stimulate muscle growth and move yourself forward. So that's my recommendation. I don't know if we talked about this. Why is building muscle the most important thing instead of fatiguing your body? So different adaptations. So fatigue is

typically builds endurance in the muscle fibers. So it makes you better at holding certain positions longer. Okay. So that's that's the benefit of muscle endurance. And that might have some translation into your daily life. Like if you have to hold a baby for a really long time or something, like you have better muscular endurance. You might be able to do that with more ease. So it absolutely has some value. Building muscle has a much larger impact on your metabolic health. So how we metabolize glucose, muscle is our biggest glucose storage site in our body. So it stores up to 80% of the glucose that we eat. So if we think about it this way, it's not just about like staying lean or fat loss or anything,

but a lot of people like this clicks for them. So when you eat, your food is broken down into glucose. And that glucose travels in your bloodstream and either powers, processes of your body, helps keep you moving, how's your digestion, your mental health, all of that. Whatever's left over either gets stored in the liver or it gets stored in muscle or it gets stored as fat. So if the liver and the muscle are topped off, it gets stored as fat. So when we have, we can't grow our liver that I know of, but when we grow muscle, you have more storage sites for the glucose to go. So it's easier to stay leaner. It also has an improvement on your metabolic health,

your insulin sensitivity, which improves every single process in your body. And we're losing, I could go on and on, can you tell? But we're losing it as we age. With each decade after the age of 30, we're losing it at more of a rapid pace than people realize. So, yeah, lots of reasons. That's the one thing that I've always heard is it's so important to continue to lift weights and build muscle as you get older. Yes. And a lot of it has to do with like with your bones as well, right? It absolutely does. I think there is a push for older women to start lifting weights. And I'm all for that. Like it's never too late to build muscle and bone density and stuff. But a lot of times it's because the women in their 40s and 50s didn't prioritize strength training when they were

younger. And so they're having to kind of play catch up as they're starting to lose more lean mass and as they're starting to notice those changes. So if you can start early, like if you can start early, Like if you can start in your 20s and at least maintain what you have, if not build like a really good base of muscle in your 20s and in your 30s, you will set yourself up for so much more ease into your 40s and beyond. You'll have better metabolic health. You'll feel better. You'll move better. Lower risk of disease. It'll be easier for you to maintain leanness if that's your goal.

So start early. But yes, building muscle as you age is extremely important as you approach perimenopause, which a lot of people start. to hit perimenopause in late 30s. Like we're, we're getting close. Like, what the heck? I know, I know. I feel like I'm 17. I know.

I'm like, what am I doing? I'm a teen mom. Like a bunch of kids having kids, you know? I'm like, and now you're talking about perimenopause. And then I look in the mirror and I have like white hairs. I know. You're finding new wrinkles every day. Like a high schooler with gray hairs.

This is just so weird. Somebody explain this to me. Make it make it make sense. It's not adding up. So I want to talk about your thoughts on gLP ones because that is so popular right now. I was actually looking at um like data behind GLP ones and the adoption like of this drug and people are like adopting it at a faster rate than they did iPhones and like Spotify and like all these major tech companies. It's like people are more,

I think it's like already have like a 20% penetration. So it's very, very popular. I'm sure you know a lot of people that have been on it. And even if you don't know them, you can walk ground and almost see like, that person looks different. Yeah, like, you know. Totally. So it's so prevalent now. What are your thoughts on all of that? Well, first of all, I'm not an MD.

So I always say, like, don't take advice about medication from me. But I will say that I've done a 180 on my opinion on JLP ones. So at first, and I think maybe a lot of people can relate to this. At first, I was like, it just is a shortcut for people to lose weight. Celebrities and rich people are just taking it to lose 10 pounds, I did I kind of like look down on it. And the more I've talked to medical providers who are, who are prescribing this to their patients, I'm realizing the benefits that it can have for a variety of populations. And what we're seeing is that it doesn't just help with weight loss.

It can help with fertility. It can help with your metabolic health. It's been shown to help with addiction. So taking it to help with alcoholism. Yeah, I've heard of that. So there's so many different use cases for it, which I think is really, really fascinating. And it is interesting that the adoption is so high because I think there's still that stigma of like, this is the shortcut. Like, this is like, you know, you just need more discipline, whatever. So I've kind of come, yeah, I've come 180 on it. And I don't judge people that are like, I have really tried a lot thing like I really struggle to lose weight and I'm trying to do all the things and I'm just really having a hard time with it. I mean, you know, maybe it's something you could talk to about your

doctor or about your doctor to your doctor about. So I've seen a lot of people that because I think with anything like we all know that like you can go on a diet, you can change this, but it has to be like a long term like lifestyle change. And what I've seen with GLP ones in my like my personal circles is like a lot of people have gone on it for like a temporary amount of time and it gave them this like boost to like in this confidence boost and this almost like jump start into like that lifestyle change because they've tried everything in the past and nothing has worked. And so they do that and then they get off of it and they're like you know what this time's going to be different. And like because I got that little boost and now I have some more confidence I can do this like I'm going to take it more serious because I don't want to lose the progress that I've gained. You know and I know some people. It's different for, but it's like anything. It's like you go to diet and lose 10 pounds, but you have to maintain it. You have to maintain that. But what I have loved, because I, I've had a lot of people in my life that it's like,

it's changed their lives. Yeah, me too. And so I don't know, like, the whole, I don't, I'm not a doctor. I don't know the science of exactly like what's, what's working with it. But I do know that like they're off of it now and they're looking great. They're feeling great. Yeah. They've changed their lifestyles because they don't want to go back to where they were.

And they know, like, oh my gosh, this is such a blessing to get this little kickstart. like I'm going to change my life. Totally. You know, and I think that's so, so great. I think so too. And I think from what I understand, it can help improve your, you metabolically from like a cellular level. And so if you, yeah, if you have that jump start, it might be easier for you to maintain

those changes because you're just more metabolically healthy when you get off of it. But I will say the one thing that's crucial. And I think that if you're taking this, you're probably aware of it is the potential loss of lean mass, the loss of muscle mass. You can see it, the hollowness in some people. You want to make sure that your strength training properly and that you are training close to failure and that you're eating enough protein so that you can at least maintain lean mass.

Because what happens when we see rapid weight loss, we're seeing the weight loss from both fat and muscle. So you're losing fat and muscle at the same time, which is the GLP1 helping you get more metabolic healthy. Is the loss of fat helping you get more metabolically healthy? Yes, maybe. but then you're also losing muscle. So is it kind of a wash? I mean, I don't know. I wouldn't. It'd be hard to tell. But so you need to maintain muscle. And that means strength training, close to failure. Even to maintain, people are like,

oh, I'm just going to maintain muscle. So I'm going to go do like a bar class or light lifting or whatever. You still have to apply the same exact things that you would if you're trying to build muscle, even just to maintain. You just don't have to do as much of it. So that's, Close to failure. Close to failure. Close to failure. Closer failure. If you learn one thing in this episode, start training close to failure. Do you have any other like tips or tricks for women that are wanting to get like that just feel a little lost? It's just a broad. I don't know. Oh my gosh. I know. That's kind of a broad question. No, it's good because it makes me think about like, okay, what have we not hit on? Yeah. I think, hmm, we talked about cardio. We talked about strength

training. I mean, how important is diet? It's, Yeah, it is. I know. That was one thing I remember learning in school too. I can't remember the percentage. It was like, but when you're wanting to lose weight, like this percentage is, is like important during, or like your diet is this percentage? It is the majority. For all intents of purposes, if you're trying to lose fat, nutrition is almost the entire picture. Now, staying active. Like if you're just sitting on the couch, you're in doing nothing, your energy expenditures can be low. And so you'll have to eat. less in order to lose weight. If you're active, you do burn more calories. It's not as much as people

think. People overemphasize exercise for weight loss when nutrition is so much a bigger part of it. But so you want to stay active overall to keep your energy expenditure high. But if weight loss is a goal of yours, nutrition is the number one thing that you want to be looking at. And I know that tracking is controversial and it's not for everyone. I totally acknowledge that. But for some people doing some tracking for just a couple days to kind of see like, what's my intake like right now? Yeah. Like without trying. Like how much protein am I getting? How many calories am I eating? And because if you have goals, like those things do matter. Totally. I mean, I think my biggest thing that I lack is protein. It's hard. Is there a easy way to know how much protein like we should each be

eating? Yes. Point seven to one gram of protein per pound of body weight per day. So if you weigh, if you weigh 150 pounds, you'll want to eat around 150 grams of protein per day or what's 0.7 times 150. Like about, yeah, like maybe 120 or something. Yeah, something like that. I can't do the math on a podcast. And then, okay, so that's a lot more protein than I'm probably eating. But just get what you can, Get what you can, you know. Put it in your smoothie. I like how there's even protein you can add in your coffee these days. Yeah.

There's so many ways to do it. You just have to be diligent about it. But I have heard that like eating enough protein is crucial for strength training. It is. And it's even more important if you are trying to body recomposition, which we didn't really even get into. But body recomposition means losing fat while you're building muscle. So yeah. How do we do that?

Yes. Yes. There's there's some, there's like a couple of things in addition to what we talked about. But so when you're trying to body recomposition, you want it's extra important. It seems appears from the literature from what I read that your protein is in that high range, that 0.7 to 1 gram of protein. If you're not trying to body recomp, you might be able to get away with a little less protein and still build muscle, especially if you're just strength training properly. But to body recomp. So body recomposition. is a slower process. And it seems from the outside like it's about the aesthetics, like, oh, I'm losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time. It's kind of that toned aesthetic. And it- Love it. Yeah. It seems like back in my day. Right. And it seems like, oh, it's all about, like, what you look like. The reason why I love body recomposition as a goal for so many people is because it takes a little bit longer. You have to have a longer runway. I recommend having a year in which you're working on body recomposition. And because you have that full year, you can test things out. You can try things out. You're not in a rush. You're not going to burn

yourself out. You're not going to do extreme things that will, you're not going to be an extreme calorie deficit because then you won't build muscle. You won't, your workouts can't be extreme because you can't get hurt. Otherwise you won't stay consistent. And so that's why I love it. It makes you prioritize your muscle health. It allows you to slow down and make sustainable changes that you can actually keep going with even beyond the times that you reach your goal. So to back up, how do you do it? So for body recomposition, it's a combination of proper nutrition, proper recovery, proper strain training.

So proper nutrition would be eating in a small calorie deficit, so 200 to 400 calories below your maintenance. Very small. It's not a lot. It's not a huge cut. Love that. Yeah, which is great because it's super sustainable. Just cut out a couple cookies. Yeah.

Yeah. One cookie. It's like one cookie. and that's it. And you're good. Exactly. Exactly. Or like that's like a banana and peanut butter. Like it's really not a lot. Yeah. So you're not going to see rapid weight loss or fat loss, but again, that's why I like it. And then eating the high protein like we talked about, string training close to failure, training each muscle group two ish times per week on non-consecutive days. And then just staying active overall, implementing the 150 minutes of cardio. And then of course, recovery is key. And when we see that your sleep, deprived, we see an effect on muscle growth. So protein synthesis isn't as high when you're sleep deprived. So this applies a lot to postpartum women who are ready to get their bodies back, quote unquote. They're ready to body recomposition, but they're only getting three or four hours

of sleep at night. And it's just like, unfortunately, it's not time yet. Like get the rest because you'll be running yourself into the ground. And your training might not be super effective if you are just not getting a lot of sleep. So fuel yourself, wait until you're getting more sleep and then try. I love that you're giving new moms, like postpartum moms some grace. Yes. So it's like sometimes you just like if you're only getting three hours of sleep, like you're just not ready yet.

And that's okay. And it's okay. And that's totally normal. And we all have to be patient. I'm even starting to feel that way where I'm 22 weeks and I'm like, I know it's going to be like an uphill battle for me here where I'm just like I'm not feeling myself. I put on my, my dresses and the nose is a little wider than you used to be, you know, and I'm like, I have to remind myself like this, it's okay. It's just for the season,

like you're literally growing a child. Yes. And it's not always going to be like this. And to just give yourself some grace. Because I think that's why a lot of us are so hard on our, with our workouts, because we are just like, I don't want it to be like this. I want to change it. And it's like sometimes like we just don't, especially as pregnant women, like we don't have that control anymore. No, and it's sad because I don't know if you feel this way, but I'll look back on pictures of myself during pregnancy. I'm like, I remember beating myself up that day and I look great. Like my skin's glowing. Like, you know, like. That's so true. And honestly, too, like you're in the time frame. I think those like that around that time frame, like 20-ish weeks is kind of the

hardest. Yeah. Because like dressing is hard because everything is doesn't fit the same. No. But like you like you're, you get to have like really big. cute bump. So it's like, it's like kind of that middle ground that's tough. It's so hard. And it's like, just two weeks ago, I was like, my face wasn't this puffy, you know? And it's like, wow, that changed so fast. So fast. But yeah, so we have to give ourselves grace and just like be patient because it is just a season. And it's so true. This is my fourth. And I look back and I'm like, that really wasn't that long. Like it was short. It was a short. It was a short amount of time. It feels long while you're in it. But it's not. It does. And nobody else sees you like the way you're seeing yourself.

I know, like, are you so cute? Are you so excited? You're like, I feel so ugly. This is not my face. Like, you know, and the best is when you're like, voice starts a change. And then like your belly laugh starts to change. And you're like, I don't know if that happened to me. Oh my gosh.

I, I swear I could sing like Shakira whenever I was in my third time. I mean, my voice got really good because it was so deep. And like, I was like, really a tone. Like, I was like, oh, my. gosh yeah it may laugh got like really like like a Santa Claus laugh because it was like I don't know it was it was a better laugh honestly than my normal laugh wow wow like deep you're like how do I keep this how do I keep this I kind of like that part of it yeah um so this is so this is so helpful and like you obviously know your stuff what when it comes to evelow that because I know we have we've been talking

oh we've been talking a long time oh my gosh like probably like double than we even needed to I'm sorry I just find this also interesting. No, you're doing great. My last question is like, what is different about EVLO? Like compared to other programs out there because there are so many fitness programs these days, what do you feel like sticks out with EVLO? Like I've said, I think a couple times in this episode, but I just want to nail at home, there's such a difference between lifting weights and lifting weights with intention

and lifting weights in a way that will actually build muscle without wearing you down. I think a lot of workouts these days are focused on. just making you feel like you worked hard, not making you feel like you worked in the right ways. And there's a big difference of working in the right ways of you can just work hard and grind your gears, but not really get anywhere. So I think we're very intentional with every single thing that we do. There's always a why behind everything that we do. And I think what our members tell us is that they've tried everything. They've tried all the types of workouts and they see the best results, but they feel the best doing our workouts. And it's because we're working

with your physiology. And we're not just doing something just because it might make you sweat or it might make you feel like you got a hard workout in. We're actually doing it because it's what's going to be best for you. So I think. And you're catered to women. Yes. But my husband has been doing our workouts.

He's built so much muscle. I believe that. In the past like three years. And he's like an evela, like right or die now. It's so cute because I'm like, you don't have to do our workout. Like I understand if you want to go do something else. And he's like, no. I don't want to do anything else.

Because guys are so weird in the gym. They only do like three things, like over and over and over again. It's like you've got to change it up, bro. They're so set in their ways. And he's like, he was like, he's an athletic guy. Like he did, you know, he played everything in high school. But yeah, he's like, no, I just, I want to feel good. I, this works.

But yeah, we primarily have women as members, but men can do it too. So how can people not only find EVLO, but how can they find you as well? I'm Dr. Shana D.PT on Instagram. I like to post a lot of educational content. Oh, I love that. Yes. You're so cute. Like you're like the full package. She's beautiful. She's sweet. She's smart. Like, no, I'm serious. Wow. I needed that. In your mom. Like, it's really cool. Oh my gosh. Underneath the surface, everything is cracking and breaking. So don't be fooled. It's all of us. It's all of us. It's all of us. It's awesome. It's a fun. I honestly, I have the best job ever. I'm obsessed. I don't know if you could tell by like how fast I get talking. I'm just like I'm so passionate about it. But so you can find me there. I'm on TikTok too. And then, um, Evel Fitness Instagram and Evel Fitness. Um, can we offer your audience a code? Yes. Okay. Yes. Tell us about the treat that we have for the audience. Yes. So we, um, we could do a month free. So basically it's you get your first two weeks free and then the first month for zero dollars. So you could use Danny D. D.A. N I is typically what you use. Yeah.

Okay, so Danny at checkout at ebluffitness.com. Oh my gosh. And so we will put that link in the show notes for you guys. If you guys want to check it out, make sure you follow her on all the socials. I love that you are a doctor like physical therapy. So you really, you really know what you're talking about. Trust me, guys. I know because I took these classes and it was a little too hard for me.

Okay. Like I'm telling you. I've a hard time believing that. This girl is a smart girl. And so thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I know this is the first time that you've left your baby, which is like, I know that's a really hard thing to do. It's hard, but it's a little treat.

Like, it's kind of, like, I'm like, oh, I had a morning to myself. I know. It was glorious. I'm like, I don't remember the last time I slept past like 630. I know me either. It's so nice. It is so, I mean, of course I couldn't sleep, but like I still could like take my time. Yeah.

Not go get a screaming baby. Like, it was amazing. No, we really appreciate you being here and sharing all of this knowledge and wisdom and information with us. I think what you're doing is so inspiring. I think you're going to help and you are helping so many women. And so we really appreciate you. Oh, well, thank you for having me.

And I forgot to tell people that I have a podcast too. It's called Dr. Shannon Show. So we do, if you like all this nerdy stuff, they can go check out. What's it called? The Dr. Shannon Show. The Dr. Shannon Show. And is it on Spotify? Yes, everywhere.

Okay. Everywhere. Oh, is it just yours? Yes, just me. I do a lot of solo. I do some guests, but mostly just solo. Like quick solo episodes, research-based. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, research. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love science backed. Like, I need to know this facts. I can tell. That's awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming. We love you.

And guys, we'll talk to you later. Bye. Bye. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.