GYM GIRLS LOCKER ROOM - Hitting a Plateau? Let’s Talk Fitness Progress, Creatine Controversies, and Gym Friendships (and Feuds!)

Episode Date: April 29, 2025

S2EP10 - Welcome back to the Gym Girls Locker Room! This episode is a solo Syd episode answering your most asked questions. Covering the reason Syd no longer takes creatine, dealing with men in the gym space, PCOS remedies, Syd's update workout split now she's a runner (half-marathon who?), strategies for overcoming progress plateaus and finding fitness friends. We hope you enjoy and remember to tune in every Tuesday for a new episode.💘 join the GGLR community:INSTA - https://www.instagram.com/gymgirlslockerroom/FACEBOOK COMMUNITY PAGE - https://bit.ly/3TqhxDGTIKTOK - https://www.tiktok.com/@gymgirlslockerroom/📲 find Syd on socials:INSTA - https://www.instagram.com/sydgrows/TIKTOK - https://www.tiktok.com/@sydgrows/ Want to work with Gym Girls Locker Room? Email us: [e-mail] - 10% off code: SYDNEY10ESN - 10% off code: SYDNEY

Hello and welcome back to the Gym Girls' podcast hosted by me, Sydney Cassidy. I hope you're well. I hope you're having a lovely start to your week or end of your week depending on when you're listening to this today. Thought it'd be nice if we just had a little chat, you and me.

I just wanted to answer some questions. I feel like it's been a while since I've done a Q and A. I think it'd be really fun. We're gonna discuss all things gym, health, fitness, wellbeing, PCOS. I've got a ton of questions. I haven't actually seen them so it'll be fun to like, I don't know, answer them blind. Before we get into the episode, if you want to see what we're up to and like join in the conversation and give us any feedback, tag us in your stories, then obviously you guys know where to find us and

that's at gymgirlzuckina on Instagram as well as Facebook Let's just dive in right side note I feel so comfortable talking with people and I don't know what this says about me whenever I do these solo episodes I just feel like nervous like I don't know. I'm like, oh my god Can I carry the show by myself? But actually in fact Goose has come to sit next to me So she's literally looking directly at me so Goose, my dog, if you're not familiar, she literally sat by our side for like every episode by choice whenever we'd film for season one she'd just like literally hop up onto the couch. I think

she's assumed position. So first up from court, Jane's and it says how are you doing and I'm doing good I think I'm doing good I'm feeling a little bit like a lack of like confidence in myself at the moment I feel like I'm just experiencing some growing pains I don't know I think I'm navigating everything the best I can I'm trying to like spin many many plates at the same time and yeah I think I'm like pretty much the same as everyone else just like overwhelmed with life but yeah I'm really good and I hope you're well too. Here is a question. How to feel confident in just a sports bra in the gym? Hmm I think it comes with time and I think it comes with feeling safe in

your environment and I think it comes with feeling comfortable in your own body and confident and I think it comes from wanting to wear that like I don't think you know I ever wear a sports bra by itself in the gym because I feel any other reason than just like wanting to for myself and I think there's this like narrative quite often a lot like I feel like online that like anything gym girls do is I don't know just like for for somebody else and it's like no no no no no you got that all wrong I I honestly actually tend to wear like something a little bit more maybe

showing more skin um actually from like a really practical point of view like for me I will do that on the day that I'm like working that body part so that I can like look at it in the mirror, see it flexing and whilst I'm doing the exercise and then I can like create a stronger my muscle connection. Like my muscle connection is a real thing and there's been like a lot of them studies actually it's really fascinating, like the improvements that like thinking about working out and and really like focusing on like that connection between your mind and that part of your body that you're exercising, like the improvement

that that can have on like gains and that sort of thing. So yeah, that's like why I wear mine but I don't know, like do it when you feel ready like feel confident firstly because like anybody can wear a sports bra in the gym it doesn't matter what you look like but also because like I don't know you you're working hard and I to be honest though I say that I don't even think it's about that I think it's like wear the damn sports bra wear the damn shorts because you want to, don't do it for anybody else. If you're doing it for someone else that's really probably not the right idea. Just if it feels like something you want to do and it feels scary and out of your comfort zone because you're not used to doing that then why don't you challenge yourself this week.

Do you think that getting a dog has changed your fitness routine? your fitness routine? I think yes I do. I'll be so real with you I don't I don't think it's necessarily for the better. I feel like I've had to be a lot less selfish in having a dog. Of course I walk a lot more. To be honest I don't think I would actually walk at all ever. I really actually feel like I can say I don't think I would walk if I didn't have a dog. I just can't see that that would be something that I would do but because I have a dog it actually takes up like a huge portion of my week and Because I want her to have like the best life and I want her to be like exercise properly and stuff like a lot of my free time with friends with like my boyfriend whatever will

revolve around making sure we do like a cool long walk so yeah it's definitely like good in that sense but for me like and I'd say like from a mental standpoint, like that's where I really see the benefits with walking. I don't really walk enough because it's such steady state cardio. I don't think I actually walk enough that like, personally, just me, I don't think I'm seeing like huge amounts of like benefits and like, you know, of an evening I probably just probably just walk her around the block for a smelly walk or something like that. I do think though, I've had to become on it with my time,

more so because I get separation anxiety from her. I don't know, I personally just don't feel comfortable leaving her for that long by herself. So I do find myself having to be really mindful and like on it with just like how long I'm in the gym and like not wasting my time. I used to spend like three hours in the gym just honestly yapping, like catching up with people and like that sort of stuff. Whereas I'm a little bit more concise now just because like I have to be mindful of like, I didn't dinner time and da da da da.

Yeah, I hope that answers that question for you. How do you think being in a more public eye has affected you? Interesting. I think if anyone doesn't know me, I'm like I'm sensitive and that's just like me and I'm learning to like accept myself more for that you know. That's just who I am. I do find it tough sometimes. I think it's made me a better, more like responsible and compassionate person because I think it's made me more responsible because I think it's made me more responsible and to take care of like how my actions have an effect on things. I think I've always been like super,

oh I just say how I is and da da da da. And like I don't think on social media you can like really get away with that, especially like if you're someone that wants to make like an impact. You know, I don't want to be someone that's like involved in drama or has bad things to say about people and like yeah they're I'm sure all of us girls have had like periods of our life where we've just been like that bitchy friend like because we're insecure and we love to gossip and I don't want to do that and so don't want to do that and so I definitely feel like it's like accelerated me maturing in those areas of my life. I will say I do find it being perceived all the time. And yeah, it's just sometimes, I mean,

I have so much empathy for like these super mega icons. I just, I don't, I don't know how they do it. I don't know how they do it because it's just like, unless you've had a little taste of it, you just, I don't think you can, I don't think I can even comprehend how invasive it must be even when I was like dating or if I make a friend like questioning whether people have like true intentions with you it's like really not nice a nice feeling you know it doesn't sit with you right so yeah I think it's it's definitely good and bad but obviously like hugely grateful there are

so many goods and the things I don't like about being on social media and being in the public eye are like I can't remember how my dad says it but my dad says like that's the price you have to pay sort of thing like I can't he says in a better way but just like that I accept that that comes with it you know it's just a very it kind of the two come hand in hand why did you join the gym and to summarize because I have gone into it like before and I don't want to like I know a lot of people but probably be like Sid we've heard it time and time again and I'm like so sorry guys so yeah there are episodes and I do urge you to go back because I've done like the whole Sydney lore.

You can like find out about me and like what I'm about and stuff like that. And like how I created Gym Girls are Criminal that sort of thing and like what the intention was. But to summarize, if I was gonna summarize it in a couple of sentences, I was going through a really tough time, a big transitional period in my life and I felt

like everything was falling apart around me. And at the time I didn't have good coping mechanisms, I didn't know things I know now about like my own like way of being and like I don't know neurodivergence which explains a lot but I you know I struggle with emotional dysregulation I just could I got to a point where I really reached like a rock bottom and it was like a really scary place for me and so I had had it instilled in me from a very young age with my parents being like very big on exercise and like its benefits and also on mental health that it's very important to work on your mental health but also to make sure you're putting in those real foundations of just like exercising to feel better, to

have the endorphins flow in and to kind of try and shift that mind state. So I started going and I just loved it. And I found it really helped me in like a time where I felt like very alone and very lost and it just gave me something to focus on one rep after the next. And fast forward like a few years later and now this is like my full-time job. It's absolutely a part of my life. I can't believe that I went so long not exercising in my teenage years and yeah if you want to find out more obviously please do listen to one of the earlier episodes where I dive deep into it but yeah I'll leave that there. This is a funny one. Did you have a backup plan other than the gym when you left

fashion? I hate my job. So for anyone that doesn't know I actually studied fashion and I wouldn't say fashion was my life but being creative was my life. It was like all I was interested in and focused on during school and I think it's because it was the only one where you didn't have to sit behind a desk. And I was also somewhat good at it. And so I went to university, I did three months working in a job that I worked my absolute butt off to get. And I just was miserable, I hated it.

And I think for me, I was so unhappy with it and I was in a fortunate position where I still lived at home. And I knew that I would be happier having no money paying my parents the rent that I earn from my part-time job where I earn like 700 pounds a month. I'd be happier doing that and I'm more fulfilled trying to find something that like worked for me than continuing

in something that didn't serve me. And I do realize like I was in a privileged position to be able to even like think about that. And I think it was just like this really sweet spot of like not having, I'd only just kind of finished university so I was back home with my family and I think it was just a right time to like listen to myself.

And it was a really hard conversation to have with myself, you know, feeling like I'd committed myself so much to like doing fashion and it felt like it was so much my identity. And I was like, by this point, tens of thousands of pounds worth in debt from this studying. But I think I just knew that like,

I just couldn't go on like it. I just could not go on like it. And so no, I didn't have a backup plan really. I just, I think in times like that, I think you just have to put one foot in front of the other. I think you have to just think about the next few steps. I've heard people talk about like an FU fund. So like, if you do wanna take that leap of faith,

that cliff jump they say, of like changing career paths. Maybe you're listening and you're in your mid to late 20s or you're in your 30s and it feels daunting because you've got like responsibilities, you've got bills to pay, you've got people that like depend on you, like it can feel like a lot and I've heard about an FU fund and I'm sure you can look into it um and it's basically this like buffer that you save for yourself so it's like okay I know that like the life the life I'm in right now isn't making me happy say the job I'm in right now isn't making me happy okay I'm gonna save three months of like pay so that I know I'm good and then you can like you know jump off that cliff edge just knowing you've got a bit of a safety net and I

think like ask questions you know look at what's out there research what's out there and just be like really open-minded that's kind of what I'd say for that but yeah I think I just grew up with my parents hating their jobs and so being interested in something and enjoying something really has always been like a driving force for me. Managing being neurodiverse and working, dealing with expectations and workload, etc. That's like a very real struggle for me at the moment. I think being boundaried, I can see that like so many things I've struggled with

in this past few years has been, would have been helped by me having stronger and better boundaries. And I think knowing yourself, knowing your boundaries and like your worth in the sense of like giving yourself the space to rest is like really helpful. So I've just been like working so much. Being neurodivergent, I get very hyper fixated

and not in a good way sometimes, in a way that's kind of not helpful. And I would be working and working and working way into when my boyfriend would come in from work and I wouldn't really even, what is it? I wouldn't even sometimes take notice. I'd just be like so focused and then, you know, hours would pass by and by that point,

it's like eight or nine PM. And it's just like not practical and it's not sustainable. And like we had an episode with an ADHD coach and she really like spoke through things I'm going through and like whatever, it was just like a really amazing, insightful episode. She was saying that people with ADHD have a shorter life expectancy. Now, partly that is down to like impulsivity,

but partly it's because of like stress and like, you know, overworking yourself and the stress that that puts on your heart. So I think like being boundaried, I know I keep, I sound like a parent now, but like that's the only thing that I could say that has been really helping me right now is like setting like these timeframes

and being really bound, like, oh my God, I'm gonna say boundaried again, but like, yeah, just really kind of bringing awareness and attention to the fact that like, oh my god, I'm gonna say boundary it again, but like, yeah, just really kind of bringing awareness and attention to the fact that like this is something that I struggle with. I have time blindness as well, like girl, I, if you ask me how long it takes me to do X, Y and Z, I genuinely will not get it even nearly like correct, you know, so I think that's really helped me and like hopefully you have a good like support system around you that can like help you manage things and that sort of stuff but I think I've just understood that like I will just work myself into the ground because that's how I'm wired and I need to make

sure I like make a big effort not to do that and that's the hard part so yeah I don't know if that actually answered the question but I hope it did. Okay next question Lucy Bullock says I really want to start running however I've always suffered with knee pain in my right knee help. Well good question I would say like obviously warm up, make sure you're warming up properly, you know, really giving yourself like enough time, get everything like limped up and that sort of stuff. I think also, I've seen a lot of people recently that have had injuries online and stuff doing banded like warm-ups and doing them like every day as a kind of like recovery rehabilitation sort of exercise. So doing that obviously if it's a persistent pain I really don't think there's ever any harm in going to a physio.

You can also like if you're in the UK you can self-refer as well, which is really helpful. I remember a time when I was lifting and I'd really, I'd hurt my back. I actually think it was also, I had poor posture because at the time I was also a lash technician. That's just like a random, you know, side quest I was on at the time. But yeah, so I got a self-referral from a physio and it was just like really helpful getting the answers,

especially like if that's not something that's like financially, you know, possible for you to just be like, oh, okay, yeah, I'm just gonna drop like however much it is. God, I dread to think. Next question, how was your Manchester half marathon? How did you go about training and what time did you run it in?

So I went about it by using a running app called runner and code sidgrows for a free like trial and whatever but um yeah so I used that and it was unreal so like so so helpful like genuinely didn't feel like I was having any issues with it. Like it really nicely, progressively overloaded over the weeks. I do forget how many months I did. I think it was like four months. It could have been three. But yeah, really fun. Really really enjoyed it.

I thought it was just like, I was just literally smiling the whole way around. I loved like seeing everybody cheering and then being in like, I was like the main character. I was like, yeah, I can do it. And I ran it in two hours and 12 minutes and I would love to do it again before you ask, I hear you say. I'd love to do it again. I just would like to do it a little bit faster,

but you know, the bar I was setting was just to be able to do it again. I just would like to do it a little bit faster, but you know, the bar I was setting was just to be able to complete it. Like that's all I was focused on. And so actually I really managed to enjoy myself like the whole time. So yeah, what was your journey to PCOS diagnosis? Did you medicate or did diet exercise work alone? I, well, okay. did diet exercise work alone?

Well, okay. So I had actually a very simple diagnosis, which I know absolutely is not the case for most people. Like I know that for most people it's actually extremely frustrating. They don't feel heard and they don't feel seen, which I definitely felt. To summarize, my PCOS diagnosis went like this. I think I had like a bladder issue at the time

and I went and got an ultrasound and when I had an ultrasound the lady told me you have cysts on your ovaries and I was like oh my life is over what does that mean that sounds horrendous and she told me and I think I must have been about like 17 years old or something. So young, you know, super like impressionable, I catastrophize about pretty much everything that like gets said to me or happens to me. And she says,

whilst I'm sort of laying there, oh, yeah, it probably just means you're going to really struggle to have children. But we don't do anything about that. So you kind of just need to approach the hurdle when it comes to it. And I found that really, really tough. Like I found it really, really tough at the time. And particularly because I hadn't noticed

that there was anything per se wrong. Like in me, I just, I was really caught off guard by that. And then I took it back to my doctor, got a blood test and then they confirmed, yeah, you have PCOS. And like, that was it. I was just like, okay, yeah, sure. Thanks for telling me that. And I really know that this is a very shared experience

in feeling like there's not much care, or education, or support. I think it's like support more than anything, you know? Like anything to do with women's health. I really understand how you feel because it's just strange. It's just strange being told, oh, you've got a chronic condition that will affect you in these ways.

I mean, if you even get told how it's gonna affect you, if they give you the courtesy of that, and then just being kind of told, oh yeah, so come back to us when you wanna have children and we'll see whether you can actually have children. Like that's a really like scary place to be in and I remember feeling really confused and like stressed about it because I know I'm not going to be someone that wants to have children at least until I'm in my 30s. So like, I already know that my chances decrease as they love to tell us by, you know, the age of 30.

So to add the fact that like, I'm probably gonna struggle because I've got PCOS and I don't even know if I can have children. I don't know, it just, it felt weird. And so I really kind of did a lot of research myself and like as long as you're checking the sources in which you're like reading things on the internet, the internet can be so helpful in that way. And there's a lot of really amazing resources out there like I know I've recommended the glucose goddess before on Instagram but there's like loads of people that will do you know such amazing really digestible like pieces of advice for your PCOS journey. I did

go down the route of medicating and I really do advocate for people to explore, how do I say this, people to explore, how do I say this, to be open to medication. I feel like medication, birth control, all these sorts of things, they really get a bad rep but actually they really can if used correctly and if like you know you find medication that suits you and your needs, it can be really helpful in like dealing with the here and now. A lot of you will know that follow me, I just had cystic, painful, PCOS flare-ups, and the main way it took form was my skin, and I could not, and still, unfortunately, cannot resolve the issue.

It's just, I can't seem to heal it. And like, you know, that choice of word heal, it will never, with PCOS and with chronic conditions, it will never be, you'll never be healing it. You'll never heal it because it's chronic. That's like the very essence of like what it, what that condition is. All you can really do is work to minimize the symptoms

and like how it affects you. And so for me, just to even feel like I had enough confidence to just like actually go out and walk around the streets without a full face of makeup on and like without watching my self confidence and my self esteem just like dwindle day by day, I felt that medication was really, you know, essential for me and so I got spironolactone and I've been on it under the watch of like obviously a professional like a dermatologist,

a private dermatologist. I have been on it for a while now and we've gone through periods of like decreasing and increasing like dependent on you know stress and that sort of stuff but I will say that like managing stress is so so important managing your diet making sure you have an awareness of like insulin resistance and of how certain foods will flare up your PCOS is really, really important. Like root cause, I don't want to say root cause, but they're really at the root of helping your symptoms be less severe. I do find that now, like when I do have breakouts, despite being on spironarctone, it's probably

because I've been working late, not sleeping, not eating very well, having high sugar foods, like it's kind of very clear to see that. But yeah, for me I just feel like I had to get like help with medication and it's been a really really positive experience and I know that's not the case for everybody, but for me it's been really positive and so that's all I can speak on. Someone said how do you cope with period week on a training plan? I well for starters what you should know about me is I don't really follow a plan. Oh well actually it's that fair to say because I do follow a running plan. I honestly I just give myself grace like your body is doing so much at that time of the month and you're tired enough as it is like to be

honest showing up for me is enough you know I think being mindful and understanding that like those lifts might feel really tough or you might feel really really fatigued and everything feels really heavy like that's okay Like give yourself grace But yeah, like if you do have a coach or anything or you're on a training plan like just be honest with it like write in what you actually did and I think understanding that there's difference between like just kind of like being lazy and then also not feeling up to it, like physically, like it's really, it's such a skill

to be in tune with yourself, you know, it's something that everybody, so many people don't, sometimes won't ever really like pay attention to. Some people will spend forever trying to, you know, be more in tune with themselves. And I think just knowing your limits and not feeling bad about it. And if you need to skip a day,

I'm sure, well, I can assure you it won't be the end of the world. Also, side note, I just think it's so important as well to wear something you're comfortable in. Wear something that like, you know, are non-negotiable for me on period days is like baggy sweats and like just wearing something that I feel like is comfortable. Sometimes I might want something that feels like compressive, sometimes I want something that just feels like everything's able to just hang out, you know, just sway as it wants to.

I don't know, but yeah, anyway. How do you find the male dominated space that is a gym? Any negative experiences? I really don't have an issue with it. I've always been someone that is comfortable around men in the sense of like I've always had like male friends. I think you know my experience is that a lot of men actually do really try to be like super conscious of not making women feel objectified and uncomfortable in the gym environment. If you can, going with a man

I think really helps. Especially like if it's a gym that they're familiar with that's certainly like the route that I took and I found that really helpful because actually then you know they're really able to see you like hopefully you know on a platonic sort of like basis. But yeah, I think I just go in a gym where I feel comfortable and I feel safe and I feel like it's got a good crowd. I think it's really easy to tell that, you know, I go into some gyms and I'm like,

nope, don't like it, see you later. I actually, if you guys watch me on YouTube, I had signed up to a new gym. I really thought, I really, really thought I wanted to go down like a more, I wanted to pay a bit more and have a nicer like health club experience sort of vibe. But I trained there only a couple of times

and I just didn't like the kind of people that were there. I had an, well actually, speaking of negative experiences, yeah, this, so literally, I've never ever had this happen to me and I've been training for like a few years now, you know, like pretty solidly, like I've had many, many encounters and I've trained in many, many gyms,

like with kind of all the traveling I've done and that sort of thing. And I had my camera, oh no sorry, I had my phone up, which is my camera. And I had it in a tripod. And like something about me is I am very, very mindful when I'm in the gym. Like I really do try, especially as like my audience grows,

I really try to be mindful that like people haven't come to the gym to be filmed, do you know what I mean? Like people have come to work out, especially if you're there like in the evening, but I usually will go in the middle of the day because you know that's when it's quietest and I always set my camera up in a way where like it's out of the way just because I just don't want to, I don't want to be like giving influencer in the wild sort of thing and I just think it's like really important to be respectful of like the shared space that we're all in and

I was training at this like said, you know health club and this man this elderly like elderly Like gent walks up to me and he said Just completely uncalled for out of nowhere. It just says he said, just completely uncalled for, out of nowhere, it just says, now I'm 76 years old, and if I knock that camera over, you best believe I'm not buying a new one. And I just was like, oh no, no, no, don't worry.

I didn't say you had to buy a new one. I also don't think you're gonna knock it over, it's nowhere near you. And he just kind of continued muttering on and whatever and walked her off. I would say my way to handle things, I think with any situation is to handle it with kindness. So obviously I was not gonna get rude and I didn't,

I just affirmed to him like, oh well, don't worry, I actually wouldn't do that and don't worry, I don't, I actually wouldn't do that. And you know, don't worry. I don't even think you're gonna knock it over. But I think like that sort of thing I just find can be like really intimidating. And it really put me off the gym. So yeah, I think when you have a bad experience,

what I try to remind myself is that's a bad experience with a person. It's not a bad experience with a man or a bad experience with a woman. Like do you know what I'm trying to get at? Like that's just the person that you're dealing with. I don't think it's, and I would hope it's not a male female thing. I mean maybe I'm just being really like, I mean maybe I'm just being really like, maybe I'm just kind of seeing this in this like rose tinted way but I would say my experiences have been like for the most part really positive and I've made such amazing like guy friends from the gym and stuff that have just been so integral in my journey and like just a huge part of all of this so yeah I don't have anything bad to say really um even about the bad things that you know I experienced I still don't

want that to like be an influence. Next up is what's been your experience with creatine good or bad? Um now it's funny because creatine really does what it says on the tin. So for anybody that doesn't know, creatine is like the most well researched gym supplement. It's something that we already would get from our foods, be it like red meat and that sort of thing, but it just means that you're taking it in a more concentrated kind of readily available supply. So you need to take it every day. And what it really helps with is like, it's all to do with like this thing called ATP and it's all to do with like, how quickly like fatigued your muscles will get and it just really helps with

strength with like endurance and just like your ability to like keep going like not necessarily through the fatigue but just to be able to go more than you could have been without. One thing worth noting which I think is really fantastic about creatine is it actually really helps improve your like brain cognitive like function which I think is so interesting and like cool. With creatine you have to be like liquid and like water from your body and like from your um yeah like from your body into your muscles and so you need to make sure you're hydrating like if you are taking creatine and you are not drinking enough water, go take a drink. I am speaking directly to you because I have, unfortunately, I don't know if it's because of,

I don't think it's causational. I think it just is what it is. But I used to take creatine when I first started my journey. And I'd also like to clarify at this point, beginners don't need to take creatine. It's not needed. Like when you start gym, you have this thing called like beginner gains

where you just have like such incredible like exponential like growth and improvements, just because your body's like getting used to everything or whatever. So I would really stress, you only need to take creatine if you've been training for a long time you've hit a plateau and You're going consistently if you're not training

There's literally no point taking it like you need to be putting the muscles to good use, you know but I When I reached that point I started taking creatine and I don't think I was drinking as much as I should have been But like I said earlier, I don't know that it was the reason why I now have Kind of concerning kind of concerning kidney function Looping back to what we were saying about me being on medication for spironolactone, which is really helpful for PCOS

when you're on like strong skin treatment Roacutane or spironolactone and many other drugs for many other different things you do need to get regular blood work and I got I get my like bloods tested and and I got, I get my like bloods tested and time and time and time again my kidney function has been low. Now, if I were to take creatine and trust me, I have, I think every single appointment I go to with my dermatologist, I say, can I take creatine now? I mean, I think I've understood now that that's just like, unfortunately not gonna be something that I can take. But the way she explained it is that,

like when you take creatine, your kidneys need to like filter through more stuff because you're taking the creatine, right? So your kidneys are constantly filtering, filtering, filtering. And it's just putting more work on them. And in fact, on the back of creatine packaging and like bottles or whatever, however you choose to take it, it will say on the back of it,

like do not take if you have like kidney issues. And it's funny. And that's why I'm mentioning it now that like, I really doubt people, I know I wasn't one, would actually look into that and look into like whether or not their kidneys are up to it and in the scheme of, in the grand scheme of things, blood tests aren't like hugely expensive.

So I would really, just from my own experience, I would say like it is definitely worth testing. And for those reasons, I can't take creatine, which is much, much, much to my disappointment because let me tell you, it does flip and work. It really, really does work. Like the difference is like the before and after between me taking creatine is just like,

you would think that there's like years between the difference. Like I would love to see what I look like now, you know? I think you guys all know who've been following me that I've really been trying to like knuckle down on like some more aesthetic goals, you know? I really wanted to like, I've really wanted to like push myself physically,

like what am I capable of? And I don't think that there should be, I don't think there's anything wrong with that, you know? But like, oh God, a career team would just tip me over the edge. It would be unreal. It'd be so, so sick. And yeah, so I can't take it, but yeah.

To answer your question, that was my experience with it. Do I think it's good? Yeah, I think it's great. I just think you need to make sure that like you are able to take it. You know, it would be amazing to have big gorgeous juicy muscles and I do but like it'd be great to have even bigger ones but you know what matters even more than that is being healthy. It is like actually not screwing up your kidneys so you know for me that's my priority

and I will just continue to keep drinking water and yeah you know just being really envious of you guys that do get to take it. So yeah. What do you do when you can't move up weights reps for months? Well I I would really, I would be really interested to see you train because if you've been doing the same, if you've been doing the same way for months, something's not working there because in theory, you should be going up. So are you not testing yourself enough? Like are you not pushing yourself to your limits? It's really, really common. Like maybe if you're training by yourself

or if you're new to it, new to like lifting and training is to like sit in a comfort zone that makes you feel safe. Like you don't have to exert yourself so much, right? Are you actually pushing yourself like do you think you actually can't get another rep or what? But other things that are really helpful I think it's worth talking about the fact that there's like different kinds of progressive overload so progressive overload is this thing we talk about and I'm sure you guys have heard lots about

and it's this thing of adding, making things harder over time to get like a better result with like, I don't know, strength or muscle mass or that sort of thing. So the one that we're most commonly sort of aware of and is spoken about is adding weight. So a way that you can progressively overload is to add weight over time

and essentially make things harder. So then that will put like more, you'll have to exert more sort of like, you know, force. And then, yeah, you've achieved your goals. But there are also other ways of doing so. So other ways of progressively overloading are to do more reps and also to play around with tempo. So perhaps my advice would be for you,

I mean, really test yourself, have someone spot you. I don't know what it is, you haven't mentioned, Izzy didn't mention specifically what it was that she's working on, but say for example, it's like a bench, have someone spot you. I don't know what it is, you haven't mentioned, Izzy didn't mention specifically what it was that she's working on, but say for example, it's like a bench, have someone spot you so you know you're good, you know you're not gonna be like risking anything. Hype yourself up, get that music on and test yourself.

What is the baseline we're working at? What actually can you lift? Are you correct in saying that like your weight and your reps aren't gonna change at all or are you not pushing yourself? Once you've done that, then start programming into your plan like changing tempo. So this could be maybe you're doing bench reps

and this could be either you're doing them much faster, exerting yourself more, or actually, which I love, is doing slower. So you're gonna do a slower rep more time under tension those muscles are having to work for a longer time to lift that weight and you can even add in pauses so quite often you might see girls doing like a pulse or a hold when they're doing a hip thrust or that sort of thing that's also really amazing as well so those things are all going to, really help you

in terms of like progressive overload, making you stronger, making you be able to like lift more for more reps. And then the other thing I mentioned, which is about doing more reps. So just like maybe your focus isn't increasing the weight, maybe your focus is, okay, cool. I did five reps this week,

next week I'm gonna do six, the week after that maybe seven. If you get to seven, okay, maybe I think I could try adding on 2.5 kg play or whatever, right? So there are things that are really helpful. In terms of, I don't know why I'm just mentioning it now, but it kind of feels relevant. A lot of people ask me,

how do I get more reps for pull-ups something that I find really really helpful is um using bands as well so anything like body weighted anything that like like okay so let's take for example usually like my second set of pull-ups I struggle with really hard, like a lot harder than the first. First will be 10 reps, second set will probably be like six. But what you could do is you could actually go in and do some band work and you can put yourself into the band and you can do like slow eccentric movements, which is like really like strength, like length,

like that lowering part of the movement. You could really slowly do that. And all of that is just really, really gonna help. So just like be mindful of like the different things you can do to vary up your training. And it also, it makes it more interesting for you, makes it more fun for you. So yeah, also make sure you guys deload.

Like if you are doing really intensive sessions and you're lifting a lot, you're lifting heavy all the time, make sure you do like schedule in a deload week where you just scale back the movements, you scale back like how heavy it is and just give your body that little bit of rest. Like I really remember needing that so much when I used to power lift. Like your nervous system just needs it. I feel like you're like you're CNS you know. You don't want it to just be completely fried all the time.

Next question is can you talk about making girlfriends in the gym community? It's been hard for me. Well the thing is with making friends is it's just about, like it's so frustrating and I can understand your frustration because it's just about that icebreaker. I think for me, being kind of like the insane extrovert I am, I just, and I think because of social media, I will say that that's one thing about social media I will say that's one thing about social media that I think is like so cool because I experience random people coming

up to me all day I could literally be in a random town which is a true story could be like in a random like town in the mountains in like Thailand and someone will say oh my god I love your videos which for starters is so cool, so unreal. But also like all they say to me is, hey, are you Sydney? And then that gives like me and them permission to kind of like have this conversation. And I think because I've experienced that,

I don't know I just see life as a bit of a game like I really Would love for you girls to be able to take away that like it's just not even that serious like Okay, I know making hot friends is hard, but in terms of like Coming up with something that you could say to someone It's not like it doesn't have to be something like super profound or something really like, full out. Like, you can literally just like, go up to a girl

in a gym and compliment her in the changing rooms. If you've seen her a few times, you could say like, like honestly, just sometimes just make up a reason to talk to, like just make up a question, even if you know the answer, just be like, oh, or can I, the one I love actually is like asking someone if you can go join like their set and then just like, you know, working out at the same time and then just kind of like finding random questions.

But trust me when I say like the people that you have like one conversation with in the gym, it like this unwritten unspoken rule that then the next time you see them all of a sudden they're like your best friend like it's just how it goes I don't write the rules but like say somebody says hi to me like god knows every single time I see them next in the gym I'll be like oh how are you like even just a wave or like a smile and I really stand by the fact that I think you like receive in life what you put out

and like I really believe sorry to go spiritual again guys but like I really believe in like energetics and like just kind of like attracting that energy like, if you can just try to get like out of your head and just try to ask a question, that person might not wanna talk to you and that's fine. Cause like, you're looking for friends, you're looking for besties, that's not the kind of person that you wanna like, you know, entertain.

So if it's nothing more than just an exercise in getting yourself out of your comfort zone, then I think that's a job well done honestly. And yeah, I think I'm gonna leave it there. I will absolutely do another Q&A episode if you guys do enjoy it. So let us know what you thought of it and I hope you don't mind me just like rambling off on like a fat monologue. But I think it's been fun and I'm really looking forward to you guys hearing the rest of the series. And it's been like really fun to like hear

your guys' feedback and to see where you guys have been training and listening to us or going on a dog walk, it's always like so fun. And like, it's very easy to see just like numbers on a page, but to actually see, no, this is somebody who's like listening and taking little bits of information and just like held on to it or whatever. It's just really special.

So yeah, with that, obviously you can find us at gymgirls.chrome on Instagram and all platforms really. Don't forget to give this podcast five star review on whatever platform you're listening to. It hugely helps us out and just means so much. So I really, really appreciate that if you've been enjoying the series so far. I think that's pretty much everything.

I will see you next week. Have a good week. Bye bye.