Episode 472: Zarina Del Mar: Why Your Body Weight is Better Than Heavy Weights (Movement Over Muscle)

What if everything you've been told about getting stronger is backwards? Former lawyer turned movement expert Zarina Del Mar joins me on the Habits and Hustle podcast to share how her journey from exercise addiction to mindful movement transformed not just her body, but her entire approach to fitness and wellbeing. We dive into why women are over-training their lower bodies while neglecting their upper bodies, the real science behind building a strong core (spoiler: it's not crunches), and why her 5-minute movement flows can be more challenging than hour-long gym sessions. Zarina also shares her research with subscribers from 55+ countries and reveals why breathing and pelvis mobility are the foundation of true core strength. Zarina Del Mar is a fitness personality who transitioned from practicing law to teaching body awareness and sustainable movement practices to women worldwide. What we discuss: Progressive Overload Without Destroying Your Joints Why Sprinting Isn't Realistic for Most 45+ Women 5-Minute Movement Flows vs Hour-Long Gym Sessions Why Bodyweight Can Be Harder Than Heavy Weights The Upper Body Neglect Epidemic Among Women Why Pilates Is Overrated for Real Results Why Crunches Are the Biggest Fitness Waste of Time Thank you to our sponsor: Momentous: Shop this link https://www.livemomentous.com/?srsltid=AfmBOorDUIZz3psr1Qsq_n1yE8_6JTq_QUFabOO9lH65HDEXCIoJOPLj and use code Jen for 20% off Therasage: Head over to therasage.com http://therasage.com/ and use code Be Bold for 15% off TruNiagen: Head over to truniagen.com http://truniagen.com/ and use code HUSTLE20 to get $20 off any purchase over $100. Magic Mind: Head over to www http://www/.magicmind.com http://magicmind.com//jen and use code Jen at checkout. Bio.me: Link to daily prebiotic fiber here https://bio.me/?utm_source=Jennifer, code Jennifer20 for 20% off. David: Buy 4, get the 5th free at davidprotein.com/habitsandhustle http://davidprotein.com/habitsandhustle. Find more from Zarina Del Mar: Website: https://www.whateva.club/ Instagram: @zarina_del_mar_world https://www.instagram.com/zarina_del_mar_world/?hl=en Find more from Jen: Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: https://www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagements

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  Hi guys, this is Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it.

• 0:07Jen Cohen?

  Hey friends, you're listening to Fitness Friday on the Habits and Hustle Podcast, where myself and my friends share quick and very actionable advice for you becoming your healthiest self. So stay tuned and let me know how you leveled up.

• 0:30Jen Cohen?

  Before we dive into today's episode, I want to thank our sponsor Momentous. When your goal is health span, living better and longer, there are very few non-negotiables. One of them, quality. And when it comes to supplements designed for high performers, nobody does it better than Momentous. Momentus goes all in on NSF certification, which means every single batch is tested for heavy metals, harmful additives, and label accuracy. And that's why they're trusted by all 32 NFL teams and top collegiate sports dietitians across the country. Here's the thing, they don't sell every supplement under the sun,

• 1:12Jen Cohen?

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• 1:55Jen Cohen?

  Now, we're always hearing on social media, lift heavy, lift heavy, lift heavy. If someone's body is not prepared and prepped for lifting heavy, all you're gonna get is injury. Right? So you have to be somebody, you do have to be progressive, but don't think just because you're not doing 100 pounds of deadlifts, that you're not getting any benefit by at least even doing 10 pounds or your body weight. Your body weight is, can be actually harder sometimes than doing like actual free weights.

• 2:25Speaker 03

  Even hip hinge.

• 2:26Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, hip hinge is harder for a lot of people.

• 2:29Speaker 03

  It is like, let's say, glute dominance.

• 2:31Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, glute dominance, yeah.

• 2:33Speaker 03

  You're not just putting your torso forward without feeling anything in your glutes. I like every work with a single leg, single leg.

• 2:42Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, single leg is very, that's why I'm favorite.

• 2:45Speaker 03

  Yeah, and we are making, now my team is making the research because we have subscribers and let's say students from more than 55 countries.

• 2:56Jen Cohen?

  Wow.

• 2:56Speaker 03

  Like, we are presented in all over the world. And one research team, they approached me and told me that it's a huge thing because usually researchers are made within USA or within Europe. And we have, we have subscribers from all over the world, women from all over the world. And we are now making a research, conducting research, we're talking to them, we are asking them about their menopausal status, about their age, physical activity, et cetera, et cetera. And we are looking how my method, because they are my subscribers, they have purchased my programs, helps them with their physical activity, with their mental health, with all the problems they may have, because they're 40 plus, with their perimenopause status or even menopause.

• 3:41Jen Cohen?

  But what are you giving them? Like, what is your key? Um, cause you were saying that, are you a someone who believes in cardio? Cause you're saying all the soft and fluid motions of feeling your body and all these things, movement, mobility. What is your, like, so what is your thing? You don't, do you believe in cardio? Do you believe in running? Do you believe in, what's your, what's your take on cardio?

• 4:02Speaker 03

  On cardio? So now many scientists and longevity experts telling us that we need to do this interval sprint training, like.

• 4:12Jen Cohen?

  Well, by the way, intervals have been around for, forever. It's not a, a kid training, by the way, has been around forever.

• 4:18Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, but now they're, they're telling that, so you need to make a heavy lifting two times per week and sprints like two, three times per week and, and you, you'll be fine. Maybe you don't need this long run. Uh, if, if you're in a peri-menopause, you don't, you don't, you don't need this long run sessions for 30 minutes or even longer, just, just sprint.

• 4:41Jen Cohen?

  What they say is like, what they say for peri-menopause or menopause is sprint and do heavy weight, right? And then do your walking.

• 4:48Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 4:49Jen Cohen?

  Do you know how many people, if, if, that I know, who are, let's say, 45 or 50? I can't even imagine them doing a sprint.

• 4:57Speaker 03

  The same for me. I, I was making view to Max Test.

• 5:01Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 5:01Speaker 03

  And I was like, a little above average and I was wondering how, so I'm training everything. And, and that's me. And then I, I, I, I look at my community, I think about my mom.

• 5:13Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 5:14Speaker 03

  Who is 65, like, how she can.

• 5:16Jen Cohen?

  My mom's not, my mom's not, my mom's 80. She's not sprinting, okay? There's not a chance. Like, to me, a lot of this stuff is like, there's always something that people say, and then people are like, protein. Unless you're eating 5,000 grams of protein a day, you know, you might as well be eating zero grams of protein. Like, there's just always these like crazy, like, you know, floods of information, like, eat so much protein and you've got to wear a weighted vest and you've got to do this. Like, a lot of the stuff is like, do it, if you don't like it, number one, you're never gonna do it.

• 5:48Speaker 03

  Never.

• 5:48Jen Cohen?

  And also, where, whatever happened to common sense? Right? Like, whatever happened to eating like a moderate meal? Like having a piece of chicken and some salad and some.

• 5:57Speaker 03

  And feel fullness and feel comfortable. So about cardio. Now I'm walking or running every morning, but it's it's my soul food.

• 6:07Jen Cohen?

  Yes, for your mental health.

• 6:08Speaker 03

  For my mental health. I want to be alone and I I live by the the ocean. Finally, I'm thirty nine years old. I live by the ocean. I I I like this morning, five thirty or six A M. time for for myself.

• 6:20Jen Cohen?

  How long are you running for or walking?

• 6:22Speaker 03

  Just thirty forty minutes maximum because I need to come back to prepare breakfast and all the stuff. Yeah, we have obligations. We have kids. And I don't think about burning calories and making a certain amount of steps. Uh, I'm just walking or running. Then I'm coming back, I'm doing my movement stuff. I really have a lot of videos. I'm recording myself, five minutes, literally five minutes. And I'm done because I'm doing it very precisely without any breaks between my. So I I'm making a movement, like a movement flow, movement sequences for five minutes in a row, and it is really hard.

• 7:01Jen Cohen?

  What kind of movements? I'm so I'm sorry, don't.

• 7:04Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. You didn't try.

• 7:07Jen Cohen?

  I I didn't try it because I don't I don't. So you is it more like a yoga flow? Like, what are you doing?

• 7:13Speaker 03

  It may look, it may look like a yoga or Pilates or martial arts. Let's say I'm blending because I have martial arts experience, dance experience. I I have never tried professionally yoga, but of course I have tried it during my uh, the course of my life. So I'm just blending and it becomes a movement stuff like you're working with the weight of your body. You're you're, for example, you start from plank position, you have three points of support. Then you shift to the next position, you're you're making pushups. Then you're, I don't know, coming into deep squat. Then you're stretching your spine, you make rotations with your thoracic spine, you're using your arm line to to

• 7:58Speaker 03

  just extend your chest. So that's that's, it may look even like a dance. And that's what I'm doing during five minutes or a little bit more. And the same stuff I'm doing before I'm going to bed. It really helps with your mobility, with every joint in my body. So I I don't feel any pain, any stiffness. And what I've noticed when I wake up, again, I need to prepare my joints for my like everyday routine. Because I don't know about you, but in the morning, I'm not as flexible as I'm flexible during the day. That's why I need my. I I need my movement routine. I need this fluidity in my spine. Like five years ago, I was not able to make spinal waves.

• 8:42Speaker 03

  So I was not able to move my thoracic spine, then to feel how my thoracic spine engages. My lumbar spine and the pelvis and all this stuff, like fluidity in your spine and and waves. I was not able to do because I was taught to keep this anatomical neutral position. In which you're making deadlifts and squats and that's it. But you need to move, you need to move your shoulder blades, you need to move. Every part of your body in three dimensions, not only linear movements.

• 9:14Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 9:14Speaker 03

  That's.

• 9:15Jen Cohen?

  Not just linear movements.

• 9:16Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah. And you you've asked about yoga or pilates. As I have taken courses at Laban, Rodolfo Laban Institute of Movement Studies in New York. I realized finally that, for example, Laban, he had his own system of description of movement. And yoga and pilates is just the way you can describe and structure the movement. But yoga and pilates, the uh these types of physical activity doesn't have uh full rights on particular movements. Because all the movements are coming from our body.

• 9:49Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 9:49Speaker 03

  So I, in many cases, I'm doing something, I don't know the name of these poses or physical forms. And someone may tell, oh, it's a yoga asana, maybe.

• 10:00Jen Cohen?

  But you're doing so, wait, so you're doing a lot of movements, like it could be looking like yoga, it's like more flow of some kind. Are you not training then? Like Monday, Wednesday, I'm just making this up, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, you're not. Doing upper body lifts or Tuesday, Thursday legs and you don't train like that anymore. It's all either you're walking the run in the morning and then you do these movement flows.

• 10:25Speaker 03

  Yeah, but my movement flows may include pistol squats, shrimp squats.

• 10:29Jen Cohen?

  Right. It includes all these body weight, but you're not using, you're not using weights.

• 10:34Speaker 03

  I may use weights because I'm like on the level where I need to put more pressure on my joints.

• 10:40Jen Cohen?

  How long is each session?

• 10:41Speaker 03

  So it may take fifteen, twenty minutes, like the session precisely to develop certain skill. Because I'm still developing and I'm still finding out what I can grab from my body and how I can present movement for, for my people. Because I, I am, uh, like I'm telling, my best book on anatomy and biomechanics is my body. And now the bodies of all of my subscribers, because we're making research and I'm just looking at them, um, giving different tests, uh, to them and we're analyzing what's happening like within a week or a month. And my main, like my main lab is my own body, how it moves, what's happening with my shoulder joints.

• 11:24Speaker 03

  The basis of many of my movements is gate biomechanics and motor development of a human during first, let's say two years of our life, like crawling position, all the position when you're lying on your back and you're taking your limbs to the center, how you feel your center of gravity, how a human starts crawl, sit and then walk.

• 11:46Jen Cohen?

  Right. So you're doing a lot of movements.

• 11:49Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:50Jen Cohen?

  Not so much strength training as the literal form of it.

• 11:55Speaker 03

  Yeah, as the classic.

• 11:56Jen Cohen?

  As the classic form of it. But as we get older, right? What, don't you think it's important for us to do resistant training in its real form?

• 12:06Speaker 03

  Yeah, of course.

• 12:07Jen Cohen?

  For Arlene Muscle Mass. Like that, what you're saying sounds great.

• 12:10Speaker 03

  Like, like I've told you, I can do pistol squats with, uh, dumbbells in my hands.

• 12:14Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 12:15Speaker 03

  But it's the next level.

• 12:16Jen Cohen?

  Most people can't even do a pistol squat.

• 12:18Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, with additional weights. So I add some weights. But the basis I'm providing is just deal with your own weights, understand how you're.

• 12:27Jen Cohen?

  Right, and as you get stronger.

• 12:29Speaker 03

  Yeah, you can add more. Of course, I, I, I do squats, I do like RDLs, like every girl, we love RDLs.

• 12:36Jen Cohen?

  Yes, I'm telling, I think women are overtraining their lower body.

• 12:40Speaker 03

  Yeah, overtraining.

• 12:40Jen Cohen?

  And they're not training their upper body.

• 12:42Speaker 03

  It is cool when you feel your strength and you're training on, on like your legs or glutes because you feel, you feel them and upper body is so hard, like, like again, pushups, pullups. They say I have very weak arms and I'm telling them, pullups, it's not about arms. It's about your core.

• 13:01Jen Cohen?

  Mm-hmm.

• 13:01Speaker 03

  It's about your spine and your shoulder blades, how you control the position of your scapula when you're making these pullups.

• 13:10Jen Cohen?

  I think you're making it even too complicated. I think women wanna look good. I think, I think that's the bottom line. That's why they're doing it.

• 13:16Speaker 03

  I agree, I agree.

• 13:17Jen Cohen?

  And they're doing what's like the easy thing, right?

• 13:20Speaker 03

  Yeah, they want easy.

• 13:21Jen Cohen?

  They want easy. It's too hard to pull your body up, so they're like, ah, forget it, I'll just do another hip thrust. I could do that, or I'll just do another squat. I can do that. But what's happening is their bodies now are, I believe, out of proportion, number one. You're strong on one side, but you're not proportioned, so it doesn't even look good. So like, if they wanna look good, ladies, if you wanna look good, start training your upper body because you will look better. Like proportionally, like visually, right? Like you will get the, the body type that will like accentuate your bum and will make your waist look thinner and da-da-da-da-da. And like, I don't think there's anything hotter than a girl who has like a strong upper body. You can see a girl and you could be like, or a guy, whatever, well, now I'm talking about a girl.

• 14:05Jen Cohen?

  I'm like, I'll be like, you know what, like you can tell that they're fit because they have strong arms, strong back, a strong, you know, the biggest compliment people can give me is like, wow, you look really fit. Look at your arms, look at your back, you know? I'm just, I'm saying, but like, wow, look at those glutes. I'll be like, alright, whatever. Like, that's like an easy way to be fit, you know?

• 14:25Speaker 03

  That's what I'm telling my husband, like, when, uh, someone tells me, I'm doing yoga, Pilates, like seven days per week, and then I'm doing like long distance running. Let's say it's a lady and and I don't see any muscles in her upper body. I'm just wondering, what are you doing? Because even in yoga, you can you can build up upper body strength.

• 14:49Jen Cohen?

  Yoga people who do like really do yoga seriously, like truly, you have the best upper bodies.

• 14:55Speaker 03

  Sculpted.

• 14:56Jen Cohen?

  They have like their arms.

• 14:57Speaker 03

  Shoulders.

• 14:59Jen Cohen?

  Super strong.

• 14:59Speaker 03

  And back.

• 15:00Jen Cohen?

  And back because they're doing so many pushups.

• 15:02Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 15:02Jen Cohen?

  They're doing so much of those cobras, like it's so hard.

• 15:06Speaker 03

  And handstands.

• 15:06Jen Cohen?

  And handstands.

• 15:07Speaker 03

  Yeah, what handstands, I'm in love with handstands. And only like two years ago, I realized it's not about strength, it's about balance.

• 15:15Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 15:16Speaker 03

  It's about alignment and lack of fear because I was very.

• 15:20Jen Cohen?

  That's why I can't do handstands, I'm so scared.

• 15:24Speaker 03

  But now I'm doing it not perfectly, but but I'm doing it and I'm not scared because I feel again, the strength in my upper body helped me, but in general, it's all about balance.

• 15:36Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, I yeah, I think so too. The other thing is, you know, Pilates is like the number one exercise, the number one fitness craze of 2025. I think it's slightly overrated, to be honest. You have to do a lot of Pilates to get a result, in my opinion. You could be spending a fortune and really not really get much result. That's my opinion. I believe that you also need to come like do something with it. But like I I think that a lot of Pilates women gravitate to because they don't wanna they they they wanna get a strong core, which it could be good for, right? In your opinion, what is the best way to get a strong core? Do you think it's Pilates?

• 16:20Jen Cohen?

  Do you think it's something else?

• 16:22Speaker 03

  I have I have programmed 3D 3D core. So the best the best way to feel to to get a strong core is first of all, to work on your.

• 16:35Speaker 03

  Breath, to to understand how you breathe, to get connected with your rib cage and your pelvis. This really, uh uh uh it really helps. I am for nasal breathing, now I am

• 16:47Jen Cohen?

  Nasal breathing?

• 16:48Speaker 03

  Nasal breathing, I am running, I am walking and I am doing all my movements stop. And I breathe only through my nose, my mouth is closed. And it really helps to feel the capacity in your lungs, to to feel your rib cage and to feel the whole abdominal area, it really helps with your core muscles. Pelvis mobility, breathing, like breathing techniques that will help you to engage your rib cage together with your pelvis, your lower belly. And I like now technically, physically, I like dynamic planks. I like pushups, pullups, it's really great for your core. I never do uh crunches, I never do like Russian twists.

• 17:33Speaker 03

  It's all about

• 17:34Jen Cohen?

  A Russian twist, yeah.

• 17:36Speaker 03

  Uh it's

• 17:36Jen Cohen?

  You don't like Russian, you don't like those?

• 17:38Speaker 03

  I don't, I I I I don't feel i- i- it is necessary because I'm working on my butt, I'm working on my glute muscles in um, so as I've mentioned, I take as the basis the gate biomechanics. So when you're standing on one leg, you're turning your pelvis, you're turning your torso, you are lengthening your posterior chain with, so you're

• 18:00Jen Cohen?

  Posterior chain?

• 18:01Speaker 03

  Uh you help with your arm, so you feel all the glutes, you feel your your your core, your abdominal muscles, that's it. And you can grab extra weight. I never do crunches, I never have like separate sessions for my abdominal muscles. It's only dynamic planks and all these three D stuff when you work on your glutes, on your spine and your core simultaneously.

• 18:24Jen Cohen?

  I know, I don't, crunches to me are the biggest waste of time. People are like, oh, to get a six pack, you just, and you see these program with these people, they're doing like a hundred and fifty crunches and that's the most re- weight, biggest waste of time. To me, you get way better, a way better core workout by doing a pull up, by doing pushups. Exercises that are actually

• 18:45Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 18:45Jen Cohen?

  Like exercises that actually engage your core, not that are specifically Basically focused on your core.

• 18:53Speaker 03

  But the engagement of your core depends on the position of your pelvis and your thoracic spine. So you need to understand how to put your pelvis and your thoracic spine, how to control the position of your lumbar spine, then that's it. And do everything you want.

• 19:08Jen Cohen?

  But if you're doing a pull up, even with, if you're doing a pull up with a resistant band and you're pulling yourself up, you're squeezing and engaging your entire abdominal muscles.

• 19:18Speaker 03

  Not squeezing, you're breathing.

• 19:19Jen Cohen?

  You're breathing, but you're squeezing, you're kind of like having to like brace yourself to lift up. You're working more of your core than if you're just sitting on a floor, basically working your neck for 20 minutes, right? Because people are not even, when they're doing a crunch, they're actually just like working this part. You know, they're not.

• 19:38Speaker 03

  Yeah, and neck, and they don't feel.

• 19:40Jen Cohen?

  They're not, they're not even able to like bring their shoulder blades off of the mat, which is.

• 19:45Speaker 03

  But once you feel your core, once you breathe in an appropriate way, then crunches, you will need just 10, 15 reps maximum.