180: Why Women Need To Lift Heavy, Build Muscle & Eat More Protein | Stef Bare

My wife, Stef Bare, joins me to share how a year of intentional strength training transformed her body and mindset. We break down reverse dieting, eating 2,300 calories, progressive overload, prioritizing protein, playing tennis, and her daily supplement routine. This conversation is for all of you wanting to add in more strength programming, but specifically for women ready to stop holding back and build strength. CHAPTERS: 0:00 Intro 2:00 Stef's 20-Year Fitness Background 6:20 Working Out vs. Being Intentional 11:10 How We Met 18:20 What Sparked the Muscle-Building Era 22:00 The Reverse Diet: From 1,500 to 2,300 Calories 25:35 Front-Loading Protein: The 70-Gram Breakfast 30:00 Full Day of Eating & Favorite Protein Sources 35:50 Food Is Fuel — Carbs Are Not the Enemy 38:45 Nick's Crispy Rice & Pan-Seared Salmon Method 43:45 How Stef's Training Changed: Volume, Intensity & Progressive Overload 49:35 The Hobby That Changed Everything 58:40 Fueling for Heat 1:00:10 Stef's Daily Supplement Stack ORDER MY BOOK HERE: ⁠https://www.amazon.com/Go-One-More-Intentional-Life-Changing/dp/1637746210 FOLLOW: Become a BPN member FOR FREE - Unlock 25% off FOR LIFE ⁠ https://www.bareperformancenutrition.com/collections/performance-nutrition IG: ⁠instagram.com/nickbarefitness/⁠ YT: ⁠youtube.com/@nickbarefitness This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal [health or profession] advice. Bare Performance Nutrition (BPN) is not responsible for any losses, damages, or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast. This podcast is not intended to replace professional medical advice. This podcast may not be republished without the written consent of Bare Performance Nutrition (BPN)

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

• 0:06Nick Bare?

  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the podcast with my beautiful wife, Steph Bear.

• 0:14Speaker 01

  I feel like I've been on quite a bit lately.

• 0:16Nick Bare?

  I love it. What do you think?

• 0:18Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 0:20Nick Bare?

  What do you mean you don't know?

• 0:22Speaker 01

  You know how I feel about podcasts.

• 0:24Nick Bare?

  Well, today we're talking about something a little different.

• 0:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm really excited about today.

• 0:29Nick Bare?

  This is all about Steph's fitness journey and strength and muscle building experiment over the last year.

• 0:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 0:41Nick Bare?

  We'll dive into it, but I've watched you change your approach and perspective on training and diet this last year plus. And you've been more focused, you've been more intentional, you've taken it more serious.

• 1:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02Nick Bare?

  You've just done different things in the last year and it's been really cool to watch and witness and you haven't only changed the way you show up in the gym in the morning, but also the amount of protein you're consuming.

• 1:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, everything.

• 1:17Nick Bare?

  So it's been really cool to be able to watch and I want to share what you've learned over this last year.

• 1:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm excited because I feel like we haven't really talked about women's health and fitness here. And I know there's a lot of guys listening, so this would be a great resource for wives and sisters and daughters because yeah, I've learned so much. And I just, we haven't really dove into it yet. So I hope this is really helpful for the women that need to hear it.

• 1:48Nick Bare?

  So let's give some background, some context.

• 1:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:52Nick Bare?

  How would you describe your regular training

• 1:58Nick Bare?

  over the last ten ish years of your life?

• 2:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, so I think I went to the gym for the first time with my older brother when I was fourteen. I remember he was like, what's the pre-workout that I always tell you was the first time I ever took pre-workout?

• 2:14Nick Bare?

  NO explode?

• 2:15Speaker 01

  No.

• 2:16Nick Bare?

  Jack three D?

• 2:16Speaker 01

  Craze?

• 2:17Nick Bare?

  Oh Craze, yeah.

• 2:19Speaker 01

  Is that what it was?

• 2:19Nick Bare?

  Yeah Craze was one.

• 2:20Speaker 01

  Okay, I think that's what it was.

• 2:22Nick Bare?

  And? And fetamines.

• 2:24Speaker 01

  What?

• 2:26Nick Bare?

  It had some banned ingredients in there that were pretty much in fetamines.

• 2:29Speaker 01

  Yes, I remember it was like the summer my brother really got into lifting and he's like, if you take this, you're gonna feel like you just wanna run through the brick walls of Lifetime Fitness. I'm like, I don't know if I wanna know what that feels like, I would take like a half a scoop, but that being said, that summer, I really fell in love with the gym and he was really sweet enough to take me around and he kind of showed me what lifting is. He was a college athlete, so he had a really good foundation. And he's really the first person that introduced me to fitness and lifting weights and strength training. And from there, fourteen, I'm thirty-four now, we were talking about this last night, it's been twenty years that I've been in the gym,

• 3:09Speaker 01

  which is just crazy. And it's always been something that has been a non-negotiable for me. Like, I feel like from that moment when I fell in love with it, it just made me feel so good and I knew that it was gonna be just like brushing my teeth in the morning, just like something that I do every single day, most days. And from there, it's been a big mix of trying new things from strength training, you know, bodybuilding style. I would take like cake boxing classes back in the day at Lifetime Fitness. Um, I was a big group fitness girl, Pilates, um, spin, F45, Orange Theory, berries, you name it, I've tried it. I've, I've tried everything because I just, I love it all so much.

• 3:53Speaker 01

  But through that, I feel like I've really found what works for me, especially in this phase of mid thirties and what I need to prioritize to just really make sure that I am healthy and strong for my kid and for my family. I was saying to you last night, now it's just turned into like a fight against frail, like I Will do everything that I can to not be frail as I get older because I've just seen how much better your life and your health and just overall longevity, everything can be if you prioritize strength training. So kind of like your podcast episode last week, I'm the same way. I always come back to strength training.

• 4:32Nick Bare?

  I was thinking about this last night, but also the last couple of weeks. You know, we just launched the Strength Collection.

• 4:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:40Nick Bare?

  With BPN. So there's been a huge strength push.

• 4:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:45Nick Bare?

  Recently, resistance training. And I've been going back through a lot of my old content. I've been, you know, documenting my life on YouTube since 2014, but I've been training over 20 years now, similar to you.

• 5:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 5:01Nick Bare?

  And from the day to day, week to week, month to month, even year to year,

• 5:09Nick Bare?

  I can't really tell or see these changes in body composition or performance necessarily. But when I look back over

• 5:17Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 5:18Nick Bare?

  20 years of training, I see the changes in body composition and the way my body moves and biomechanics and my strength and performance and athletic ability. All that to say that this is a lifelong journey.

• 5:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 5:36Nick Bare?

  And the consistency does compound over time. So even when you don't see the results day to day or week to week, you know that over this long period of time, you're making this progressive shift and change. And it's cool to see.

• 5:56Speaker 01

  Yeah. I know. I think probably if we're talking 20 years, I would probably say 15 of those years, I was kind of, I was working out, but it wasn't really, I don't want to say it wasn't results driven. I wanted to see results, but I wasn't in, I wasn't intentional. I wasn't educated. I didn't take the time to research and really figure out how to get those results that I was wanting. So I was kind of just doing whatever, picking up the same dumbbells, taking random classes. There was no structure or programming or intention behind it. So while it was good for my health. I feel like until the last like few years, that's when I've really been able to see changes, feel changes because I've actually taken the steps to program, be intentional, lay out my

• 6:40Speaker 01

  goals, work with the coach, all of those things. You can, you can love fitness, but I feel like you're never going to get everything you want out of it unless you really get intentional with it.

• 6:50Nick Bare?

  So when you first started training with your brother in the gym, was that like a bodybuilding, single muscle group split approach?

• 6:58Speaker 01

  Totally, yeah. I would, we would do legs one day. I always loved leg day. And then we would do, you know, back and biceps, chest and triceps, shoulders, like just so bro split. That's what we did. And then that was kind of like through high school for me and I also was a dancer growing up. So I never really, I had that form of cardio, but I was really the only person I knew at the time that would also go to the gym. And then through college, I was always like one of the only girls in my friend group and in my sorority that would like go to powerhouse gym. And then even just I, after I graduated and got my degree, I was like, should I make this my career? Cause I loved it so much. I actually got certified

• 7:41Speaker 01

  as a CPT, taught spin classes. So I've just been around the block. Um, but yeah, back then it was just straight up bro split.

• 7:51Nick Bare?

  Why'd you love leg day?

• 7:53Speaker 01

  I don't know. I think because I, I've always had like a stronger, lower body. Like I don't have like, you know, I have muscular legs. So I feel like I always just felt the most like powerful and able on those days. Like I think I remember my brother being like, oh, you actually can like squat a lot. And that was a cool feeling.

• 8:11Speaker 01

  What, what do you mean?

• 8:13Nick Bare?

  A lot of people, when they first start training, like lower body, I mean, at least from the guys, lower body is avoided by many people.

• 8:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:22Nick Bare?

  Maybe girls and, and women, females are different, but a lot of guys early on in training hate leg day.

• 8:29Speaker 01

  I think looking back now that you're pointing this out, it makes sense. I think that was really the only.

• 8:36Speaker 01

  Lift or day that I like squats, for example, like you, a lot of people, it's easier to have the mindset of I want to get stronger at squats because you're adding plates rather than just picking up other dumbbells. So I think I was motivated now that I'm thinking about it because I'm like, oh, I want to add more plates. Whereas I wasn't really using a barbell for anything else. So I kind of liked that working towards something. And now I know progressive overload, I know that's kind of a little bit of what that was, but I really wasn't getting that on any other day. So I think maybe that's why I liked it.

• 9:09Nick Bare?

  Okay. Well, let's talk about briefly, you know, how how we first met.

• 9:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:16Nick Bare?

  You were living in Nashville.

• 9:17Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 9:18Nick Bare?

  I was living in Texas.

• 9:21Nick Bare?

  I'll share the the large part of the story first, so we can get to what I want to talk about.

• 9:27Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 9:28Nick Bare?

  But I was ruck marching from Austin to Houston to raise money for Hurricane Harvey. You were working for a military news network in Nashville called Rated Red at the time. You guys picked up the story. We started communicating. That led us to dating and getting engaged and you moved to Texas and we got married and now we have two kids and here we are. But when you were in Nashville, you were living in Nashville, this is like 2017 timeframe, you were working full time for Rated Red, running their social media. Part time you were personal training, coaching at a boutique fitness studio.

• 10:13Speaker 01

  Which, sorry to interrupt you, but my goal of moving to Nashville, actually, the marketing job was kind of just like a pay my rent. That's what I was, I had a degree in. But right before I moved to Nashville is when I got certified and I wanted to be like a Nashville fitness influencer, like Nashville fitness figure. So that was my goal, was to eventually make that my whole career there. But yeah, part time I was working at a boutique fitness studio while also working a day job.

• 10:41Nick Bare?

  People compare Austin and Nashville a lot.

• 10:44Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 10:45Nick Bare?

  But I would argue the fitness scenes in Nashville and Austin are completely different.

• 10:50Speaker 01

  Oh, I agree. Yeah.

• 10:52Nick Bare?

  There's like Nashville, when we were there, was much more boutique fitness.

• 10:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:59Nick Bare?

  Studio focused. These smaller communities.

• 11:04Nick Bare?

  This is different.

• 11:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:06Nick Bare?

  Than Austin.

• 11:06Speaker 01

  It for sure. Austin's a lot of like running and.

• 11:09Nick Bare?

  Yeah.

• 11:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:11Nick Bare?

  Larger community activations.

• 11:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:13Nick Bare?

  So. Let's talk about like when you were in Nashville. What that experience was like, what you're doing, what you're coaching, how you're training people.

• 11:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:22Nick Bare?

  What like what you were doing in fitness.

• 11:24Speaker 01

  Yeah. So I would teach six AM bootcamps. Which were a mix of like strength, HIIT. And it was for a brand new studio. It was called Vigor. Um, I'm, I still talk to the owner all the time. Like she just took a huge chance on me. I, I think she slid in my DMs because at that time when I was making move to Nashville, I was making like fitness videos and recipes. And I think like, that's how we kind of also found each other. So she knew that I just got certified. I have no idea how she found me, but. I mean, I had never taught a class before or anything. And she took a huge bet on me because she thought she, she just liked my personality and my energy. So I would work the front desk a little bit and then she kind of started me off teaching strength and HIIT bootcamps. And I would have sometimes like two people in my class.

• 12:10Speaker 01

  And then sometimes I would have like 15. It was a smaller studio, but it taught me a lot about client relationships and people and their goals. And it really just opened my eyes to how so many people are just working out to saying they're working out and they just, again, no intention. And then she needed a spin instructor and I had no interest in that at all. I had never spin before. And she's like, I prom, like, please, I need a spin instructor. You'll be really good at this. And she begged me. So I went through training. Didn't really love it, but we had a Pilates studio in the studio and we would literally turn it into a spin studio and pull the bikes out and set them up in this Pilates room. And again, I had classes where I taught one person. And I'm like, I guess I don't need this mic.

• 12:54Nick Bare?

  Was it awkward?

• 12:55Speaker 01

  Yes. It was terrible. And I'm like, I'm not gonna ride.

• 12:59Nick Bare?

  She literally, was that an exaggeration?

• 13:01Speaker 01

  No, I'm not kidding. Like, if I had two people, I felt so much better. Because I could say, you guys.

• 13:08Nick Bare?

  Hell.

• 13:10Speaker 01

  Instead of you. It was a brand, but like, here's the thing, it was a brand new studio, you knew the location. It was kind of a terrible location in Nashville.

• 13:17Nick Bare?

  Tough location.

• 13:18Speaker 01

  It was, we just, it just struggled. It was the most beautiful studio ever, but it just struggled.

• 13:25Nick Bare?

  I know, we know it's a tough location.

• 13:27Speaker 01

  Because we took over that location.

• 13:28Nick Bare?

  Because when we were living in Nashville in 2023, and we had an office there, the office was above the fitness studio.

• 13:36Speaker 01

  That's how, yeah, we found it, yep. Yep. If you are from Nashville, this studio was actually taken over by Booth Camp, Shawn Booth's gym, which was tremendously successful. Now they're in a different location. That's where I started. Yeah, I would teach spin. And it was so awkward because normally in spin, you mirror people, right? Like, it's like, I'm across from you, but I'm like, this is so terrible. I would just like move my bike next to them and we would just like ride together to Taylor Swift. And I didn't even know what I was doing. But I wouldn't even say that's when I fell in love with spin. When I moved here to Austin, I was like, I'm done teaching spin. No way, no way, no way. But then I started to ride SoulCycle, and that's when I really fell in love with that. And even to this day, spin's my favorite form of cardio. I think it's just like the dancer background in me.

• 14:20Nick Bare?

  A lot of people don't understand the difference.

• 14:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, you do because you've taken it.

• 14:24Nick Bare?

  I've done a SoulCycle class, got my butt kicked. Like, so hard.

• 14:28Speaker 01

  It's hard.

• 14:29Nick Bare?

  So explain the difference between, say, a traditional spin class.

• 14:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:36Nick Bare?

  Or riding on a Peloton, for example.

• 14:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:39Nick Bare?

  Because there's a lot of people who ride Peloton bike.

• 14:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:41Nick Bare?

  And then what makes SoulCycle and that style of spin so different?

• 14:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, so I feel like there's two types of spin. If you're looking at the two types, I would say SoulCycle, I'm sure there's other boutique studios like SoulCycle, but we'll put SoulCycle on one side. And then you have. Cycle bar, Peloton, maybe some cycle classes at Lifetime Fitness. Those are all very numbers driven. We're talking, you're gonna be hearing instructors shout out RPMs, watts, resistance, all that kind of things. And we talk about resistance in SoulCycle, but in a different way. So it's, you're just kind of riding and you have performance goals based on numbers in those, like Peloton. I mean, I haven't really taken that many Peloton classes, but those types of classes. SoulCycle, there is no monitor on the bike.

• 15:28Speaker 01

  There's no, there's nothing. You have no idea of numbers, watts, RPMs, anything. You are just riding to the beat of the music, which is a really, really cool immersive experience. If you're in a class where people get it, because I always say, you either get it or you do not. And it's very clear for the people that don't have rhythm and don't get it. But I think, again, because of my dance background and my just love for music, music and my musicality, I fell in love with it. It is, it's just, I mean, you can attest to it. It's a really cool experience. You're riding in sync with people to some of the most amazing beat-driven music in a dark room. It's just, it's a vibe.

• 16:09Nick Bare?

  It's very emotional.

• 16:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, it is, for sure. Yeah.

• 16:11Nick Bare?

  It's a fun experience.

• 16:13Speaker 01

  It is, yeah.

• 16:14Nick Bare?

  It's like being at a concert or a show and you feel it.

• 16:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly.

• 16:19Nick Bare?

  You're riding based off of feel, not objective numbers.

• 16:23Speaker 01

  Yep. Yeah, it's not about numbers at all, which, which I love. It's, for me, I do it because I love it.

• 16:29Nick Bare?

  So I've seen you train in many different ways over the years. Like when you first moved down to Texas, we were going to the gym every day and we were hitting like the Bro Bodybuilding Split.

• 16:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:40Nick Bare?

  We'd hit shoulders together, we'd hit back together, we'd do leg day, stuff like that. And then I saw you get really into SoulCycle. So you were probably going to SoulCycle classes three times a week?

• 16:53Speaker 01

  Yeah. Ain't cheap.

• 16:55Nick Bare?

  It's not cheap. And that's why we moved away from downtown Austin.

• 16:59Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 17:00Nick Bare?

  And then I saw you for a period of time get into different boutique or like large scale group fitness classes like Orange Theory.

• 17:12Speaker 01

  While I was pregnant, I did that.

• 17:13Nick Bare?

  While you're pregnant, yeah, Orange Theory and now you do Pilates every once in a while. I see you try all these different things. You're really into Metcons and high rocks for a period of time. So like your fitness journey has.

• 17:26Speaker 01

  I've also ran a half marathon, two half marathons.

• 17:29Nick Bare?

  You have run two half.

• 17:29Speaker 01

  And I will never do it again. Now it's on record.

• 17:33Nick Bare?

  You say that now.

• 17:33Speaker 01

  Hey, if we both ran a lot, it wouldn't work.

• 17:36Nick Bare?

  You're right, but you say it now, you we could like be 10 years in the future and you could be running marathons and ultra marathons. I'm not saying it's uh, it's likely, but it's possible.

• 17:48Speaker 01

  Never say never.

• 17:49Nick Bare?

  It's possible. And over this whole like journey, you you've tried all these different things, right? In this last year, I've seen you more dialed in, focused, I would even say more curious.

• 18:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:07Nick Bare?

  Than ever before, when it comes to training and and getting stronger and changing your body composition. What what triggered that? What made you want to say it's time for me to really lean in and explore this curiosity?

• 18:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think what kind of sparked it. So if you go back almost like a year and a half ago, I was coming off of years and years of really intense working out, like hit Orange Theory. You know, I tried that 45, like really intense stuff on my body. And I just had my second baby and I was just feeling like not the best, right? I'm like my joints hurt. I feel tight. I don't, I just, I've never explored anything gentler before. And I was kind of curious about it. So. I think the whole like year after Nico, I found this gal on Instagram. Her name's Courtney. She's got the Fit by Fit with Coco Method. And it's Pilates like foundation, but it's still strength. It's strength in Pilates. So I had a whole year.

• 19:08Speaker 01

  Like I was working out barefoot, mat, ankle weights, light weights. It was more like um higher rep, lower weight. And I did that for a year and actually I felt really good. I did. I felt good. And I liked what it did to my body. I felt a little bit more feminine. I enjoyed it. But then I think I, I think what sparked it was a DEXA scan, I believe. And I remember after that year of more Pilates gentle fitness, I felt good, but I kind of had this moment where I'm like, oh, I feel like I have lost a little muscle. And I've been more muscular before. I felt stronger before. I don't know if I like this. And then I got a DEXA scan and I really didn't lose that much muscle, but

• 19:50Speaker 01

  there was just something I'm like, okay, I want to see if I can actually like, because for how, as long as I've been working out, I feel like I've always kind of looked the same. My weight's fluctuated. I've had babies, but I've never been like, wow, I am more muscular than I've ever been. And I just got really curious about that. So I decided to stop more of the gentle method and just hire a coach, go all in on really trying to see if I could get the most muscle on my body that I've ever had. And I've, I've loved it. It's, it's kind of been like nostalgic in a way because it's like how I used to really train. But I just kind of wanted to push myself for the first time in a while and see if I can really make some changes after two babies.

• 20:29Nick Bare?

  I love the muscle growth era.

• 20:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:32Nick Bare?

  That you're in right now.

• 20:33Speaker 01

  Yeah, because I'm eating more.

• 20:35Nick Bare?

  Exactly. It's, it's protein forward.

• 20:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:38Nick Bare?

  But here's the thing. There will be all these fitness fads

• 20:45Nick Bare?

  before now and forever in the future. This one style of training will pop up. It'll become popular and then it won't be.

• 20:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:52Nick Bare?

  And this new style of training will become popular until it's not.

• 20:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:57Nick Bare?

  We will forever.

• 21:01Nick Bare?

  Into the future of time, as human beings always go back to what works.

• 21:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:08Nick Bare?

  And what works is strength training. I just talked about this in my previous podcast. There might be seasons where I personally pursue an ultra, a marathon, a high rocks, a bodybuilding competition, whatever it is, I will always go back to, once that season is over, bodybuilding and strength training. If there is one way you should train for the rest of your life, it is resistance training.

• 21:36Speaker 01

  I agree.

• 21:38Nick Bare?

  So your goal with this new style of training was to build muscle, to put on.

• 21:43Speaker 01

  Right.

• 21:45Nick Bare?

  I don't say size.

• 21:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:46Nick Bare?

  But lean tissue.

• 21:47Speaker 01

  For sure. Yep. Yeah. And a lot of that has to do with diet. So I hired a coach, Andrew Taylor. He was great. Just because we're trying to have a baby soon, I've kind of leaned off of the intensity of it, just to be a little bit more gentle on my body. But it was the first time really that I was, I would always, you know, we're healthy, we eat clean. But I was really like, okay, I have to marry these two things together if I actually want to see results. So he started me in a reverse diet, just to see, like calorically, what I can eat without gaining weight. And I was shocked, truly. And I think that was a huge eye opener

• 22:28Speaker 01

  for me, because I knew, just from being married to you and just all the research and stuff I've done and what you've taught me, like if I want to gain muscle, I have to eat. I cannot be in a deficit. Women, you cannot be in a deficit and gain muscle. Is that correct?

• 22:44Nick Bare?

  Yes. So to say you were in a reverse diet, you and your coach, Andrew, were increasing your calories.

• 22:51Speaker 01

  Week by week.

• 22:51Nick Bare?

  Week by week, to see how much food you could consume without gaining significant weight.

• 22:57Speaker 01

  Body fat. Yep.

• 22:58Nick Bare?

  Body fat.

• 22:59Speaker 01

  Yep. Exactly. So I think he started me at, and my, my numbers don't matter, I'll just say them for context, but I think he started me at 1500, which felt like I was starving myself, to be quite frank. And that's crazy because a lot of women these days like don't even touch that number because they're so afraid of weight gain. And then we would slowly increase and I'm like, oh, surely I'm going to get to like eighteen hundred and then he's going to tap me out and then I'm just going to have to go back down. And I got up to like probably twenty three hundred calories and I had the best workouts of my life and I did not look, I did not feel fluffy. I wasn't gaining weight, but I was able to push myself to failure in these workouts because I had the fuel to do so.

• 23:40Speaker 01

  So while yes, the, the training part was huge, but it's like, it's the food is what I feel like fueled me to be able to actually explore this and do it correctly.

• 23:50Nick Bare?

  Yeah, I remember evenings where we'd be getting ready to go to bed and that's typically when we have like our last meal of the night.

• 23:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 23:58Nick Bare?

  And you would have all these carbs left over.

• 24:01Speaker 01

  You learn a lot about how you eat when you start counting again.

• 24:04Nick Bare?

  And fats and you were having to get creative.

• 24:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:07Nick Bare?

  To consume all these calories before bed. So then you had to learn, okay, I need to kind of like disperse these calories earlier in the day.

• 24:17Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 24:18Nick Bare?

  So that I'm not having to like stuff myself at night.

• 24:20Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 24:21Nick Bare?

  So I think you get to a point, maybe you still are, where your breakfast was like seventy grams of protein.

• 24:26Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, it's my favorite way to eat now.

• 24:29Nick Bare?

  So what's your, what's your typical breakfast right now?

• 24:31Speaker 01

  Yeah, so like my, what I learned, so like for me, I'm a hundred and thirty pounds. I try to get at least that in protein a day. Like at one point, I think he had me at like one fifty and that seems like a lot, but I got so good at it. So now what my favorite thing to do is front, like you said, is front load my protein because for me personally, I love breakfast and by the time dinner comes around and our kids are screaming and throwing food at us, I'm like, I don't even know what I'm eating.

• 24:58Nick Bare?

  That's not an exaggeration. That's not an exaggeration. Nico is in this phase right now where he is throwing his food.

• 25:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, last night it was.

• 25:06Nick Bare?

  At us.

• 25:07Speaker 01

  Meatballs. I said it was meatballs.

• 25:09Nick Bare?

  But the night before, what did we have the night before?

• 25:12Speaker 01

  The rice.

• 25:12Nick Bare?

  Salmon and rice.

• 25:14Speaker 01

  Squares.

• 25:14Nick Bare?

  He was throwing salmon and rice.

• 25:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:17Nick Bare?

  All across the kitchen.

• 25:19Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 25:19Nick Bare?

  He's got an arm, like it goes over the table. I was sitting there eating my dinner shirtless, because we just got done swimming. And I'm feeling salmon hit the back of my head as I'm trying to get this meal down. He's throwing food. It's not an exaggeration.

• 25:35Speaker 01

  And the kids are eating off my plate. Dinner is a mess, so I really like to start dialed. So yeah, breakfast is where I try to literally get almost like half of my protein in. And I'm so hungry, so it it works. So my go to lately has been like, so I'll kind of show you like what my breakfasts used to be to give it. Like I would have protein oats. I'd have, you know, half a cup of oats. I'd throw in a scoop of protein powder and some berries, maybe some nut butter. Call it a day. That's probably thirty?

• 26:05Nick Bare?

  Thirty, thirty five grams.

• 26:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, grams of protein. And that might seem like a lot, but when you have higher goals, it's not enough. So then what I started to do, once I had these protein goals, I would, if I was having oatmeal, I would do the half a cup of oats, do this cup of protein powder. I would add a cup of egg whites into my oatmeal. And then, or maybe I would have some turkey bacon on the side. And I've been putting like protein in my coffee, just trying to find ways to really front load my day. So I don't have to like play catch up as the day goes on. Right now, my favorite breakfast is Greek yogurt, scoop of protein powder in the Greek yogurt. And then I'll have turkey bacon on the side and that's like seventy grams of protein with, you know, the protein in my coffee.

• 26:49Speaker 01

  So if I'm under sixty grams after breakfast, I'm disappointed.

• 26:57Nick Bare?

  It's impressive.

• 26:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, I just, and I feel good. I'm not like, oh, my gosh, too much. But that's when I normally have my protein powder too. And I really only have one serving, two servings of protein powder a day. And then from there, it's just off to the races. I try to always get between like lunches a little bit lighter, probably like thirty grams. And then if I'm snacking, it's because I need more protein. And then at the end of the day, if I need something, it's cottage cheese, it's yogurt, an extra scoop of protein powder. But yeah, I found the most success with hitting my goals if I can just knock it out early.

• 27:30Nick Bare?

  So changes you've made to diet.

• 27:33Nick Bare?

  Working with this coach, increasing total caloric intake and seeing positive returns on your training and the way you feel. Prioritizing protein, hitting your protein goals daily and being more intentional with the food you're consuming. Quality and instead of snacking throughout the day, these larger boluses of food within like three meals.

• 28:00Speaker 01

  Mindless snacking, yeah.

• 28:01Nick Bare?

  You weren't mindless snacking. What have been your go-to protein sources to hit that say 130 to 150 grams of protein a day?

• 28:08Speaker 01

  So obviously I love our whey concentrate. It's so good. It's really good in digestion.

• 28:14Nick Bare?

  Were you?

• 28:15Speaker 01

  Sorry, no, yeah.

• 28:16Nick Bare?

  Yeah, you've been consuming the isolate lately.

• 28:17Speaker 01

  I like the isolate, yeah. Our concentrate is really, really good too, but isolate explains the difference.

• 28:22Nick Bare?

  So are, we've been consuming whey protein for years and years and years now. For the longest time, we've sold whey protein concentrate, which is your basic whey protein. Whey protein concentrate has lactose in it. And for people who have issues digesting lactose, there is another option. You can either do a plant-based protein powder.

• 28:46Speaker 01

  Which we have.

• 28:47Nick Bare?

  Like our vegan protein powder, which is pea protein based, pea protein, watermelon seed, pumpkin seed, protein sources. And then we've recently launched our whey protein isolate. And an isolate undergoes additional processing and filtration, which removes a lot of the lactose. So for people who have issues digesting lactose, an isolate is a great option.

• 29:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:11Nick Bare?

  It's better digestibility, it's a little bit leaner, and you don't have the stomach issues that you might experience on a whey protein concentrate.

• 29:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:21Nick Bare?

  So you've been consuming, we both have been consuming our whey protein isolate since we've launched it.

• 29:26Speaker 01

  I choose isolate too, because I've actually, I read somewhere that a lot of like women's skin issues can be derived from dairy. So I was like, okay, cool, let's try this isolate. And I even get like lactose-free yogurt now and I feel like my skin's never been better. So that's why I choose the isolate. They both taste amazing. So that obviously is a huge source of protein for me. I'll have like on average, probably two scoops a day. There's 25 grams of protein in each scoop.

• 29:54Speaker 01

  I, let's see, so breakfast, obviously eggs, egg whites, turkey bacon, chicken sausage. I don't love all the process, but sometimes like once in a while to hit that you have to.

• 30:05Nick Bare?

  And turkey bacon, the, the turkey bacon you consume has six grams of protein.

• 30:09Speaker 01

  Oh yeah, three slices, it's eighteen grams.

• 30:12Nick Bare?

  Right.

• 30:12Speaker 01

  And it's amazing, like I crave it, it's, it's so good. Um, so that's what I normally stick with for breakfast, or sometimes they'll make me like protein waffles or pancakes or something like that, but right now I'm on a really big like fruit, protein powder, yogurt, some turkey bacon and like a piece of sourdough, I love that. And then for lunch, pretty much just like leftover, whatever we have prepped, which is normally either ground beef, I love salmon, chicken, a really, and you either love this or hate this, but thirty-three grams per can tuna, tuna is the easiest, quickest way.

• 30:47Nick Bare?

  How do you prep it? How do you prep your tuna?

• 30:49Speaker 01

  I will get that yummy mayo we get from the farmer's market, which is like avocado.

• 30:54Nick Bare?

  Avocado oil base.

• 30:55Speaker 01

  I'll put like a scoop of mayo in it, and then sometimes I'll put some like Thai sweet chili sauce and like cucumbers, shredded carrots, edamame, just more of like a Asian vibe, really, really good. But tuna, don't sleep on tuna. If you're a mom and lunch is crazy and you need something super high protein, it's really easy. It's, it's great. And even like canned salmon too. Again, you're probably rolling your eyes because you would probably never do that.

• 31:23Nick Bare?

  I would eat it in a, in a pinch.

• 31:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, okay.

• 31:25Nick Bare?

  But if I have ground beef prepped, which I always do.

• 31:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm so over ground beef, honestly, Mr. Beef and Rice. So that's lunch. I, I love like a burger bowl for lunch, ground beef, those Jesse and Ben's fries with like pickles, tomatoes, all the things. At lunch, I'm always having, at every meal, I'm always having protein carb. I'm, I'm pretty just naturally low fat with my preferences and what I like, but I try to hit a good balance of all three in each meal. And then for dinner, we're always having a really nice size serving of meat, whether it's chicken thighs, chicken breast, chicken tenders, or steak, pork chops, salmon.

• 32:01Nick Bare?

  We don't eat chicken tenders that much.

• 32:02Speaker 01

  No, like the tenderloins.

• 32:04Nick Bare?

  I know, we rarely eat that.

• 32:05Speaker 01

  Okay, I even knew when I said chicken tenders, you were gonna freak out. Chicken tenderloin, whatever, I guess you're right.

• 32:11Nick Bare?

  You just run down to McDonald's, pick up some chicken tenders.

• 32:14Speaker 01

  No, the little guys, the little guys. And for snacks, hard boiled eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, if I haven't had that already, beef jerky, um, some protein bars I really love. I love the prime.

• 32:30Nick Bare?

  Prime by Equip Foods.

• 32:31Speaker 01

  Super clean. I love that. Recently tried David protein bars. Those are higher protein, but skeptical. We don't really know. So I try to stay away from protein bars. Again, I try to keep it as whole as possible.

• 32:44Nick Bare?

  I'm working on a protein bar right now.

• 32:45Speaker 01

  Please do. Please.

• 32:47Nick Bare?

  Protein bar.

• 32:48Speaker 01

  Bring it back. Um, so yeah, it's just, it's all, my whole philosophy with food now is being a mom, being a busy human and just having goals to be as strong and as least frail as I possibly can be. It's food is fuel. Food is fueling whatever I'm doing that day. I know in the summer I'm so much more active. So naturally I lean on a little bit more carbs than I would like in the winter if I'm a little inside more, but I just feel like I'm constantly moving. So I, I've never really been one to be afraid of carbs, but now I just see them so different. I think that's just the biggest miss with women these days is the carb fear. Whereas for me, carbs, it's like the gas in the car.

• 33:34Nick Bare?

  I've, I've noticed that, that approach with you.

• 33:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 33:37Nick Bare?

  And it was like yesterday, you were running around doing yard work.

• 33:40Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 33:40Nick Bare?

  And you came in, you grabbed a, a go bar.

• 33:43Speaker 01

  Honey and sea salt.

• 33:44Nick Bare?

  Honey and sea salt in the go bar. And you grabbed that one back outside.

• 33:48Speaker 01

  Mm hmm. Yeah. Cause I was feeling a little, it was fading.

• 33:50Nick Bare?

  Yeah.

• 33:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 33:52Nick Bare?

  Right now, what is, because I cook a lot of our dinners.

• 33:55Speaker 01

  Mm hmm. Most of our dinners.

• 33:57Nick Bare?

  Most of our dinners. What is the favorite dinner you have right now that I make?

• 34:05Speaker 01

  I mean, probably what you did two nights ago. Like I love salmon so much. And then that, the, the, the rice cubes you make. Oh my God.

• 34:13Nick Bare?

  We gotta share that.

• 34:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:14Nick Bare?

  So I did something different with the salmon this time.

• 34:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:17Nick Bare?

  We, we typically bake.

• 34:19Speaker 01

  Salmon is just like a, just a powerhouse of a protein source. Like there's so many benefits. Like I just, I, I love it so much.

• 34:26Nick Bare?

  It's great protein, great omega three fatty acids. You gotta cook salmon right though.

• 34:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:31Nick Bare?

  Like I pull salmon out of the, the heat source at a hundred and forty five degrees internal. If you overcook it, you don't get that flakiness. Sometimes I'll even pull down like. One thirty-eight, one forty. You like yours.

• 34:46Speaker 01

  I like a little crisp. I like a little crisp.

• 34:48Nick Bare?

  But here's, but here's what I did this, this past weekend.

• 34:51Speaker 01

  It was so good.

• 34:52Nick Bare?

  I pan seared it. So I got our cast iron smoking hot. Added some oil into that pan, olive oil. And I started, uh, skin side up. And I had a nice, just crispy layer on the salmon. And I flipped it skin side down, crisped up that, that skin layer. And then I probably brought it to like a hundred degrees internal. Put it in the oven after that to finish off. And brought it up to one forty Fahrenheit internal, brought it out. It was cooked perfectly. But the way that we do rice. Like our, our, our take on rice when paired with salmon. Is I make sushi rice.

• 35:38Nick Bare?

  So I prepare sushi rice, which you can get sushi rice at the grocery store. I rinse it first. I do two cups of dry rice, three cups of water, some rice wine vinegar, a little bit of sugar, a little bit of salt. Cook it. And then when it's done, I line a like Tupperware. Pan with parchment paper. And I put all the rice in there and I, I pack it really tightly in there. Like it's a block.

• 36:04Speaker 01

  It's an art.

• 36:05Nick Bare?

  It is an art. It's a process. I pack it in there. And then I cover it. I put it in the fridge for a few hours. And then I flip it out on a cutting board and it's this big block of rice. I mean, you've really got to pack it into that.

• 36:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 36:18Nick Bare?

  Tupperware container.

• 36:18Speaker 01

  You slice like a cake, like literally.

• 36:20Nick Bare?

  And you cut it into like two by two inch blocks. And then we, we pan sear it on a cast iron, a little bit of oil. So every side is crispy.

• 36:30Speaker 01

  We should make a video for this.

• 36:31Nick Bare?

  We should.

• 36:31Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 36:32Nick Bare?

  Sea salt on top. And then I eat it with my hand.

• 36:35Speaker 01

  Oh, so do our kids. Our kids love it.

• 36:37Nick Bare?

  You just pick it up, uh, like a brick and you eat it like a hand. It's crispy rice. It is so good.

• 36:42Speaker 01

  And with salmon.

• 36:45Speaker 01

  It is amazing.

• 36:45Nick Bare?

  With salmon.

• 36:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 36:47Nick Bare?

  Crispy rice and broccoli.

• 36:50Speaker 01

  Yeah. I also get really excited too, like when you make chicken thighs with the skin on, which old Stephanie would have been like, take the skin off. But now I know, like looking at my diet, like I really am, I'm lower on fat. What is skin? It's just extra fat. So now I enjoy that because I am balanced throughout the day. But chicken thighs, just in general, like we're a chicken thigh family over chicken breast.

• 37:14Nick Bare?

  Definitely.

• 37:14Speaker 01

  It's just torture us if you're eating chicken breast.

• 37:16Nick Bare?

  But if you cook a chicken breast right.

• 37:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. Chicken thighs are just so good. But when you make like hot honey butter chicken thighs.

• 37:23Nick Bare?

  Oh, yeah.

• 37:24Speaker 01

  I, I love like a meat, potatoes or rice and a veggie. Like that is our jam. I love it. And we'll treat ourselves once in a while. Um, when we go out to eat too, like I get, I talk about this a lot with friends, like, how do you make good choices when you go out to eat versus at home? Cause we cook, what, six out of the seven days, you'd say?

• 37:45Nick Bare?

  At least.

• 37:45Speaker 01

  Yeah. So I, when we do out to eat that one date night, uh, week, or if we're going to Hop Dottie with the family, I am fully committed to enjoying everything about that meal. So I'm getting a whole bowl of Parm treble fries. I'm getting, I'm going one to one with you at sushi.

• 38:05Nick Bare?

  I, I, you do, I told you this after our last date night.

• 38:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:10Nick Bare?

  One of the reasons I love you is because you eat food.

• 38:13Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:14Nick Bare?

  And if you, if you were, uh, one who didn't eat food, I would struggle in this relationship. When we go for sushi, which we made a new agreement after this past week.

• 38:24Speaker 01

  Just uchiko.

• 38:25Nick Bare?

  When we go for date night moving forward.

• 38:27Speaker 01

  That agreement. Yeah.

• 38:28Nick Bare?

  We're only going for sushi moving forward because it's one thing that we can't prepare ourselves really well. And like some of these dinners we go to.

• 38:38Speaker 01

  Like Mexican the other night.

• 38:39Nick Bare?

  Yeah, like we could, we could have done this better.

• 38:42Speaker 01

  Yeah. Sushi feels indulgent, but you feel really good after.

• 38:46Nick Bare?

  And we go one on one, like no exaggeration. I am so impressed by how much.

• 38:51Speaker 01

  There's gonna be a couple that I'll give you.

• 38:52Nick Bare?

  I'm so impressed by how much nigiri you can consume.

• 38:55Speaker 01

  It's lean, it's not always lean, but it's protein and it's just the simplest thing. And it's so good. Ponzu is the key.

• 39:02Nick Bare?

  It is one of the most attractive traits. In this relationship.

• 39:07Speaker 01

  That's odd. That's odd.

• 39:08Nick Bare?

  I love it.

• 39:09Speaker 01

  Okay, well, I'm happy that that is the case.

• 39:12Nick Bare?

  But you, you, so you share with me this Instagram reel from Jesse James and Eric Decker tonight's yelled.

• 39:21Speaker 01

  Oh, and he's like the magic, she, he's waiting for the magic words.

• 39:24Nick Bare?

  Yeah, it's like when you go to dinner with your spouse.

• 39:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:27Nick Bare?

  And the, the guy finishes his meal first and he's waiting for his wife or significant other.

• 39:34Speaker 01

  I'm, I'm so full.

• 39:35Nick Bare?

  To not finish their food, the meat specifically.

• 39:38Speaker 01

  It was so good.

• 39:39Nick Bare?

  So when we were at, we went for Mexican food. This past week for date night, we got chicken fajitas. We both got chicken fajitas. And it was probably

• 39:49Nick Bare?

  eight to 10 ounces of chicken.

• 39:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:52Nick Bare?

  I ate mine. I was still hungry afterwards and I mean, I finished my food in five minutes.

• 39:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:59Nick Bare?

  You finished your food in like 25 minutes.

• 40:02Nick Bare?

  And I kept watching. You had like multiple pieces of chicken left and I kept thinking, I think she's done.

• 40:08Speaker 01

  So that's what you're thinking of the whole time.

• 40:10Nick Bare?

  That's what I was thinking of.

• 40:11Speaker 01

  Sweet.

• 40:12Nick Bare?

  Is, is she gonna finish that chicken? And if not, I'm gonna go after it. You ate it all.

• 40:16Speaker 01

  I did because I needed my protein.

• 40:18Nick Bare?

  I wanted that chicken so bad.

• 40:20Speaker 01

  It was good chicken. Yeah. Okay. But all that being said, when, and I think we're both this way too. I think a lot of people,

• 40:28Speaker 01

  like we've been invited to dinner before and they're all nervous about where to take us. Like now, when we're going out to eat, we are fully prepared to indulge and enjoy whatever is in front of us because we don't do it very often. And I think because we stay dialed and consistent throughout the week, we have that like mental freedom going into a night out where we can have a cocktail and chips and guacamole and just not even think about it. Like there, there's no food guilt around it because I know I'm doing everything I can to set myself up for success during the week.

• 40:56Nick Bare?

  Yeah. I am the type of person though that I always look at the menu before we go to a dinner.

• 41:02Speaker 01

  I don't.

• 41:02Nick Bare?

  I think there's two types of people.

• 41:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, that's the that's the military planner in you, maybe.

• 41:08Nick Bare?

  I always I like when we go for dinner.

• 41:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:12Nick Bare?

  Tonight, we're going to dinner with a couple. I know what I'm ordering before we get there.

• 41:17Speaker 01

  What are you ordering?

• 41:18Nick Bare?

  It's a fourteen ounce steak. It's the only steak on the menu.

• 41:21Speaker 01

  Okay, all right.

• 41:22Nick Bare?

  That's what I'm getting.

• 41:25Nick Bare?

  Or they they also have a bluefin tuna on the menu.

• 41:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:28Nick Bare?

  But I base my my planning based off how much meat I think I'm gonna get. And I base my assumption based off the price of that meal. So you were you were gonna say?

• 41:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm just I found myself enjoying eating out more now because I I still do like I make mindful decisions, right? Like chicken fajitas, for example. Love fajitas. Are they the most healthy thing? Now, you get a plate full of cheese and onions and peppers covered in oil and all this stuff in tortillas. And um, but I I let myself enjoy those things. And if I'm feeling like full and satisfied, or I indulged a lot in chips and guacamole, I'll only have one or two tortillas instead of four, you know? But the base of my plate at all times, whether we're out or in, is protein. Because I know it's a non digestible, it's what I need.

• 42:21Nick Bare?

  Yeah. So those are the changes you've made to your diet to facilitate muscle growth in this strength focused era.

• 42:29Speaker 01

  You gotta eat.

• 42:30Nick Bare?

  You gotta eat. What about your training? How's your training changed specifically?

• 42:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, it feels so when I got my first couple of weeks of programming from my coach, it felt like I looked at it, I'm like, oh, okay, sweet, like very familiar. As far as like content wise goes, like the movements and the exercises I was doing, everything I've already I've already done before. But split wise, it was like two up. Right now, I'm doing two upper body focused days, nothing specific. It's kind of like sprinkled all muscle groups throughout, two lower body days. I'm on Wednesdays, still incorporating a Pilates core focused, like thirty minute workout, kind of as like a middle week recovery. Also, just wanna, you know, keep my core strong after all these babies. And then Saturdays, I will either take an extra long tennis clinic or a spin ride cardio.

• 43:20Speaker 01

  So I'm basically intensely strength training four times a week right now. And when I got the workouts from him, again, like I said, they looked familiar. But I said, the biggest difference was volume and my workouts got a little bit longer. And there are definitely days where I don't have time to do four sets of every single movement just because mom and, you know, time crunch and stuff like that. But it made me realize, though, I kind of was taking some shortcuts in my training before when it came to volume, amount of exercises in each workout. There's, we talked about this too, like I really loved, and his structure is very similar. It's like a compound movement, I think, is it called bilateral?

• 44:05Speaker 01

  Is that what you were saying? Like when you work just one, like leg or one arm at a time?

• 44:09Nick Bare?

  One arm or leg would be unilateral.

• 44:11Speaker 01

  That would make sense, yeah. Unilateral movement and then like accessory work. So all of those things are sprinkled in my workouts and they feel very well-rounded. And I'm, I'm tired by the end of it. And the biggest thing is, you know, I'll see my programmed workout and it will say, RDLs, four sets of, or I'll say shoulder press, four sets of 15. And for me, I was like, okay, four sets of 15, I'm just gonna pick up, old me would pick up the same 15-pound dumbbells that I would always pick up. I'd hit the 15 reps and I'd be good. And I'd, then I'd just sit there and wait for the next set. Now, yes, 15 is the set number of reps, but I'm not always hitting that 15 because my

• 44:54Speaker 01

  goal is to hit close to failure in those reps. So like this morning, I did shoulders. Now I'm picking up, today I shoulder pressed 25-pound dumbbells in each hand. Like I would have never done that before, but I only hit eight reps because I could not go further before, like could not get them over my head if I tried. That is the goal in every single workout and every single set. That's the biggest difference for me, is not just mindlessly picking the same dumbbells that I've always picked up. It's no, last week, I hit this, this week I'm gonna try for a few reps with five pounds more.

• 45:27Nick Bare?

  So you've been incorporating progressive overload?

• 45:29Speaker 01

  That's what that is, yep.

• 45:31Nick Bare?

  And before, I guess you could say you were just going through the movements?

• 45:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, literally same dumbbells for 10 years. And that is what so many women do. Like, women are married to 10, or sorry, 8, 10, 12, and 15 pound dumbbells. And that's all they think they can lift. And I'm here to tell you, that is not the case. You can do so much more. And we've had so many conversations, because I was like, Nick, is it, should I just, is it better for me to do eight reps with 25 pound dumbbells for a press? Or should I do 15 reps with 15? It took me a very long time to realize that quantity isn't always the way to get strong and grow muscle.

• 46:14Nick Bare?

  Yeah.

• 46:15Speaker 01

  Quantity as in reps.

• 46:16Nick Bare?

  You can describe failure in terms of an RPE scale, rate of perceived effort or exertion. So for example, if you do an RPE 7, it means you had three reps left in the tank. RPE 9 means you had one rep left in the tank. RPE 10 means you went to failure, you couldn't do anymore.

• 46:37Speaker 01

  That is still confusing to me, Ben.

• 46:39Nick Bare?

  So if I said...

• 46:41Speaker 01

  I get it, but like, how do you know that you had three reps left if you didn't do the three reps?

• 46:44Nick Bare?

  It's an estimate.

• 46:45Speaker 01

  Okay, okay.

• 46:46Nick Bare?

  So instead of me saying, hey, do, uh, do a set, do it for eight to 10 reps. I could say, do a set, you choose the weight to an RPE 9.

• 46:58Speaker 01

  Okay, so when you feel like...

• 47:00Nick Bare?

  You could maybe do one more, you stop.

• 47:01Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 47:02Nick Bare?

  So if now you're going to RPE 9 or 10, you're going to failure. What would you say you were previously doing? Like, how, how much of an effort were you putting forth towards your lifts?

• 47:14Speaker 01

  RPE 10?

• 47:16Nick Bare?

  You were going to failure before?

• 47:18Speaker 01

  Oh no, I'm sorry.

• 47:19Nick Bare?

  Now, now you're going, you had nine reps left?

• 47:22Speaker 01

  Uh, probably. Like, when I tell you, like, I was like, when I would see shoulder press programmed back in the day, or I would have that written in my workout, it was 15s, always. And never, it never even crossed my mind in 2018 to try to pick up something heavier than that.

• 47:40Nick Bare?

  So were you tired after a workout or a set?

• 47:42Speaker 01

  I would be sore, but...

• 47:46Speaker 01

  No. I, I, it's just, looking back, it just, it was so mindless and unintentional.

• 47:53Nick Bare?

  Right.

• 47:54Speaker 01

  And I just, I never tried. Like, I think it can be super intimidating when you are by yourself to, you know, pick up heavy dumbbells and throw them over your head. But, once you do it once, the confidence builds. Like, today, like, when I was, you know, shoulder pressing the 25-pound dumbbells, it's like, a spot would really be great right now. I probably could knock out a couple more if I had just someone there, just to know. But, once you do it once, you just, truly, you don't realize how mu- how strong you really are until you just try to pick up. Like, what's the worst that could happen? You have to go back down and wait? Sweet, that's it.

• 48:27Nick Bare?

  So you've not only increased training volume, you've also increased training intensity?

• 48:31Speaker 01

  Absolutely, yeah.

• 48:32Nick Bare?

  So we were at the house the other day, this is probably two weeks ago, and I saw you opening a package, and you pulled out these Gym Reaper lifting straps?

• 48:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 48:43Nick Bare?

  I was like, who ordered these? It was you? I was so impressed.

• 48:48Speaker 01

  Because I feel like my leg days are hindered by my grip strength. I know. And I still, I feel like I still have not even, I need to do a leg day with you because I still feel like I haven't fully tapped into my strength. Because I feel like my grip strength truly hinders my leg days. Yeah.

• 49:06Nick Bare?

  Do you want to hit, I'm hitting it Wednesday this week.

• 49:09Speaker 01

  Well, sure.

• 49:10Nick Bare?

  Seriously, do you want to?

• 49:11Speaker 01

  Yes, as long as you don't make me do the one that gave me bruises on my hip bones, that machine.

• 49:16Nick Bare?

  Belt squat.

• 49:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 49:18Nick Bare?

  I'll, I'll choose something else. You don't have to do belt squat. Alright, we'll hit legs Wednesday together.

• 49:21Speaker 01

  Okay. But yeah, straps, amazing.

• 49:25Nick Bare?

  Lifting straps.

• 49:26Speaker 01

  Truly, yeah. Game-changing for just comfort and being able to lift more weight. Also for dumbbell rows, for back day, I've been using straps a lot. It helps a lot.

• 49:36Nick Bare?

  Slight pivot. Uh, you've, you've picked up a new hobby in sport. Tennis.

• 49:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 49:42Nick Bare?

  Over the last, how long have you been playing? A year now?

• 49:45Speaker 01

  It's been a year, yep. Last, like, May, June, yep.

• 49:50Nick Bare?

  What made you want to start playing tennis?

• 49:52Speaker 01

  Do you remember? Because I don't.

• 49:54Nick Bare?

  No.

• 49:54Speaker 01

  I don't.

• 49:55Nick Bare?

  No.

• 49:55Speaker 01

  I think... So, we have tennis courts in our neighborhood and we have to drive by them every day to go to our house. So, I think I just... I mean, I grew up with an aunt who tennis is her life. It's her method of staying fit, it's her social life, it's everything. She's just a tennis freak. She's amazing. She's so incredible. Always thought it was cool, but I don't know, just never considered it. We would... I think I picked up a racket maybe like two times in my whole life because we'd play in Florida on vacation. Because my parents like to play. My dad played tennis in college. We'll see.

• 50:31Nick Bare?

  He still says he was a tennis pro.

• 50:33Speaker 01

  We'll see. I don't know. But we would just mess around growing up, but I think just one day I was like, hey, I think it was beginning of the year, last year. So, I want to try something new. I want to try to challenge myself because I really... I'm married to you, right? Who picks all of these endeavors and these goals and these challenges. And I just never really do that. That's just really not my personality. Like, I'm not... I'm a goal-oriented person, but I'm not like a competitive gal. But actually, if you ask my coach, Michael, he would probably say I am. But yeah, I think just one day I was like, I think I'm going to try that. So, I just emailed our club and was like, hey, do you guys offer private lessons? And I went to my first one and it was probably a joke.

• 51:18Speaker 01

  But we have some really phenomenal instructors in our neighborhood and I am addicted.

• 51:25Nick Bare?

  You are addicted.

• 51:26Speaker 01

  I am addicted. And I was telling Michael the other day, if only you could have captured me. Like, you know, when you see the Instagram reels, it's like first day of watching a show and it's like themselves. And then like they slowly turn into the characters. That's me with tennis. Like, first day playing tennis, I was in like hockas and leggings and a vest. And then now it's like, I haven't made the move to get a visor yet, but that's coming soon. But no, I... It has changed my life.

• 51:53Nick Bare?

  What do you love about it?

• 51:55Speaker 01

  I, there's so many things. I play three times a week. A mix between like, I have a private lesson and then some clinics. I love the social aspect of it. Like, I've made some best friends from tennis that are in our neighborhood and it's, it's just so fun. It's so fun to be active with people and just like have a group that you do stuff with. Like, it's, it's so fun.

• 52:16Speaker 01

  My coach, Michael, is one of my great friends now. Like, I, it's, it's so fun. And so I love that part of it. But I was never a super athletic kid growing up. Like, I was a dancer, which I was never that person that like fought. Dance is a sport. Like, I think dance is dance, right? It's not a sport, in my opinion.

• 52:38Nick Bare?

  Hard take, hard take.

• 52:39Speaker 01

  I, I just don't think it is. I think it's, it's an art and it's, it's its own thing, I think. But I was never like a, you know, standard sports kind of person. And I was kind of always insecure about that. I just, I don't know. Just never really succeeded in anything like that. So to try something new, and I think what I'm addicted to is the progress. Because it is really, really cool when you decide to do something and you see yourself getting better.

• 53:04Nick Bare?

  You commit to it.

• 53:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, and it's, it's awesome. And I think the number one thing I like about it, I love that it's outside. Like, I play outside. We don't have indoor courts or anything, so that, just vitamin D and being outside is incredible. But I think the number one thing I like about it is when you're playing tennis, you cannot think of anything else other than tennis. Or you will get a ball to the face, or you'll suck. Like, I could be having the most chaotic day, the worst day. I could be so, just having something weigh so heavy on my heart and it's like you literally are brainwashed for an hour. Like, it's kind of amazing. And that's why I really want you to do it. I just really want you to play with me because that's the best part. Because it's just, it's such a mental sport.

• 53:48Speaker 01

  I've been told that it's, it's like a, it's like very similar to golf. Like, there's just so many things you can fine tune. You can always get better. And there's days where you just absolutely suck for no reason. But you always want to go back to it because you always want to get better.

• 54:02Nick Bare?

  I went with you-

• 54:02Speaker 01

  I love it so much.

• 54:04Nick Bare?

  A few months ago, and we, we used the ball machine.

• 54:09Nick Bare?

  And after that experience, I had so much more respect for the game of tennis.

• 54:13Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 54:13Nick Bare?

  It is so hard. I couldn't even make contact with the ball.

• 54:18Speaker 01

  And just that alone, contact, but then there's like when I'm just now getting to the point where strategy and intention is coming into play. Before it was just like hit the ball, get it over, Stephanie. I don't care where it goes, but now it's like, no, where can I hit to get this point? That's fun. That's really fun. And it's also taught me too, I love being coached. I love being coached. I love being taught. I love being around people that are experts and pros and are just so passionate. Like my coach, he is like, he is, when we drive by the courts, Michael is always out there.

• 54:50Nick Bare?

  He is, yeah.

• 54:51Speaker 01

  Like he's out there every single day, all day, because he loves the sport and he loves watching people get passionate and learning, get better. And it's just, it's a really cool feeling as an adult to have that. When there's so much chaos going on to get better at something, it's just, it's, yeah, I love it so much. I think I truly will play for my whole life now.

• 55:10Nick Bare?

  Being coachable, being coachable is a very valuable skill and characteristic. It shows humility.

• 55:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 55:21Nick Bare?

  It shows openness and being willing to learn. I think that you should be really proud of that. It's been cool to watch you progress in tennis.

• 55:31Speaker 01

  Thanks, yeah. I wish I could get you out there.

• 55:33Nick Bare?

  And get really committed. I need to find a hobby, but I don't know if tennis is it. I'll be honest. We'll see. I love that you love tennis.

• 55:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 55:43Nick Bare?

  And I will keep supporting.

• 55:44Speaker 01

  Yes, thank you.

• 55:45Nick Bare?

  For example.

• 55:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's been, it's been a family endeavor.

• 55:48Nick Bare?

  It has. You brought the tennis girls over for Cinco de Mayo.

• 55:51Speaker 01

  Yeah. Oh, I'm talking about how like you let me go play it even like Monday nights. It's not just when, you know, you're at work.

• 55:58Nick Bare?

  True.

• 55:59Speaker 01

  So I appreciate that.

• 56:00Nick Bare?

  But you brought the tennis girls over.

• 56:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 56:02Nick Bare?

  For Cinco de Mayo. I was in my element, my hobby of cooking. I cooked you girls chickens, steak fajitas, made homemade margaritas, chips and guac.

• 56:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 56:13Nick Bare?

  That's my element. Put me in a kitchen, let me serve food to people. That is my hobby.

• 56:17Speaker 01

  They loved it. They loved it.

• 56:18Nick Bare?

  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

• 56:21Nick Bare?

  You've been using a lot of G and M Sport around tennis?

• 56:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's, I mean, I can't believe I just unlocked that, truly. It's hot here in Texas right now. It's June. So, you know, when I'm playing in the winter months and in the spring, I mean, it's, it's hard. It's always hard. But in a hundred degree, you know, weather on courts that makes it feel like a hundred and twenty, it is, it is a sauna. That's, that's how it is. It is crazy. So I don't know. I was just, before a clinic the other day, I was like, why haven't, I, I need something. And normally I reach for a go bar, but I just wasn't feeling it. I'm like, oh, I have G and M Sport in the pantry and that is our carb electrolyte,

• 57:04Speaker 01

  sodium supplement. And when I tell you, it was the best I have ever played and the best I have ever felt. Because of that, I was, now I bring a tub with me because I want everyone that I play with to have it because one thing I've noticed, especially because I see a lot of like older women on the courts and even the girls I play with sometimes too, women are just so afraid to fuel themselves based on what they're doing that day. And if you were playing tennis in a hundred degree weather, you better be fueling yourself and having electrolytes and sodium and hydration and all the things. So I told you, I'm like, we need to make a tennis ad for G and M Sport because it is like the perfect supplement for that sport.

• 57:49Speaker 01

  I felt so energized and good and just on fire. I mean, even my coach was like, what did you take today?

• 57:55Nick Bare?

  I should take a bunch of bottles, uh, and samples over to them.

• 57:59Speaker 01

  But even like, it's funny because even I, I did the other day and someone was like, oh, carbs. I'm like, take it and you will see how much better you play.

• 58:08Nick Bare?

  Yeah.

• 58:09Speaker 01

  Because the chicken breast and the broccoli that you've had today, it's not going to help you at all.

• 58:16Nick Bare?

  Under fueled.

• 58:17Speaker 01

  Yes, it's, it is a, it is such a problem with women. I just want to shout from the rooftops. Like see food as fuel. And it, it changes everything.

• 58:28Nick Bare?

  Yeah. So to close it out, run me through your daily supplement routine.

• 58:36Nick Bare?

  You know, we are creatures of habit.

• 58:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:38Nick Bare?

  We are very routine people. What supplements do you take every single day?

• 58:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, so I wake up, the first thing that I do is I get like eight ounces of water in a cold or cold water in a glass. In one glass, I put in strong greens, strong reds for micronutrients gaps I have in my diet, just nutrition wise. And electrolytes and creatine, I've been taking creatine for probably three years. Don't go a day without it. So that's the first thing I have in my body and I feel like that brings me back to life. And then I will have like a half a scoop of protein in my coffee, just because I honestly love the way it tastes.

• 59:15Nick Bare?

  You're ready to do vanilla?

• 59:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, vanilla, it's like a vanilla latte, it's so good. And then you get mad at me because I take all of the rest of my supplements at night.

• 59:24Nick Bare?

  Yeah, she takes all of, she takes all these supplements before going to bed.

• 59:27Speaker 01

  You know why, you know why, I figured out why the other day. It started when I was pregnant, because I could never stomach anything in the morning. So I think it's just stuck. I just take them at night now. I don't know.

• 59:39Nick Bare?

  All these energizing vitamins and minerals right before going to bed.

• 59:43Speaker 01

  I sleep just fine.

• 59:44Nick Bare?

  You do?

• 59:44Speaker 01

  I sleep just fine. So I take fish oil, our fish oil, strong omega, which is the best, I love it. Keep that in our fridge, there's no like fish burps or anything, it's truly the best form of fish oil I've ever taken, I'm not just saying that. Strong joints I take, just because you know, we're getting up there.

• 1:00:03Nick Bare?

  Joint support?

• 1:00:03Speaker 01

  Yep. I take a prenatal right now. I take magnesium at night. I take our peak sleep at night on nights that I just want an extra good night's rest. What else? That kind of just depends what season we're in, like if we're in cold and flu season, it changes, but I keep it pretty basic, honestly. Sometimes I'll throw in like turmeric if I'm in a season where I feel a little bit more inflamed. That's pretty much it.

• 1:00:31Nick Bare?

  Why no pre-workout?

• 1:00:33Speaker 01

  Cause caffeine, I'm just, something happened to me. Once I got a little bit of thyroid issues where I'm just so caffeine sensitive. I mean, I have a cup of decaf in the morning.

• 1:00:41Nick Bare?

  You do have decaf.

• 1:00:43Speaker 01

  I don't, I hold my caffeine until about like 10:30 or 11:00 most days and I'll just have one source of caffeine a day. And honestly, I've noticed a big difference in just like jitteriness, anxiousness, how I feel. I, I do, I love energy drinks and pre-workout, but I just can't take it anymore. Just turning into an old sensitive lady when it comes to caffeine.

• 1:01:05Nick Bare?

  Your caffeine intake has decreased and mine has increased.

• 1:01:09Speaker 01

  But I will say, our pump formula, I will, so like the type of workouts on my strength days, like it's the perfect opportunity to take that. And it is, do you remember the first day I texted you and I was like, I think I've experienced a pump for the first time?

• 1:01:22Nick Bare?

  Yeah. I, I was trying to explain the pump to Steph for the longest time. And it's probably because you weren't training with enough volume and intensity.

• 1:01:30Speaker 01

  Totally.

• 1:01:30Nick Bare?

  To get a pump.

• 1:01:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:01:32Nick Bare?

  And I do remember the first time you ever experienced a pump.

• 1:01:33Speaker 01

  But it was.

• 1:01:34Nick Bare?

  Proud moment. Proud moment.

• 1:01:36Speaker 01

  He sent you a picture. I was like, wow, I've really turned into a gym bro. But that day I also took pump. So it was like, whoa. But you're totally right. I think I, it's, it's because I've changed the way I train. I'm actually experiencing it now, but I do, I love the way that feels. But yeah, I'm just not a pre-workout girl, but I know ours is amazing, but it's not for me.

• 1:01:57Nick Bare?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:58Speaker 01

  Oh, and then recover.

• 1:02:00Nick Bare?

  Now post.

• 1:02:01Speaker 01

  Post, that's post now.

• 1:02:01Nick Bare?

  We've rebranded, recovered to post.

• 1:02:03Speaker 01

  Yeah. I love that one today too. Just especially in the summer when I'm just like active all day. Yeah. We have a basically a supplement store in our pantry. I'm lucky me.

• 1:02:14Nick Bare?

  We do. Well, it's been cool to see the progress you've made with fitness and your, your training journey and being muscle focused and consuming more protein. It's been fun for me.

• 1:02:29Speaker 01

  Yeah. Cause I'm not in a, I was in a deficit for like two weeks and you're like, I don't know if this is the time to do this. I'm like, listen, listen, brother. I've dealt with this with you for so many years and I'm in a deficit for two weeks and you couldn't handle it.

• 1:02:44Nick Bare?

  Hey, you being in a deficit.

• 1:02:46Speaker 01

  Is hurting our whole family.

• 1:02:47Nick Bare?

  Might be putting a strain on our relationship and our family.

• 1:02:52Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:02:52Nick Bare?

  We need to go back into a surplus.

• 1:02:54Speaker 01

  But I'm not really in a surplus. I would say I'm just maintaining right now.

• 1:02:57Nick Bare?

  The deficit though. It was

• 1:03:00Speaker 01

  It hurts.

• 1:03:00Nick Bare?

  It hurts.

• 1:03:02Speaker 01

  But sometimes you want to get a little right and tight. That's when you, that is the time for deficit. When you do the work like I did for six months and you want to, you know, be a little bit more lean. But then I did realize you, I want to say you were right. But as we're entering a season where I want to have another baby eventually, I don't need to be in a deficit right now.

• 1:03:22Nick Bare?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:22Speaker 01

  And honestly, summertime, I want to enjoy ice cream with my kids. I want to go out to eat with you and have a cocktail and enjoy margaritas by the pool. It is not a time for me that I want to be in my fitness pal, logging food when I should be enjoying the moment with my family. So no deficits for the foreseeable future.

• 1:03:40Nick Bare?

  Thank you.

• 1:03:41Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:03:41Nick Bare?

  Thank you. Well, thank you for coming on and, and sharing all of this with us. It's been cool to see you.

• 1:03:47Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 1:03:48Nick Bare?

  I look forward to our next date night.

• 1:03:51Nick Bare?

  Sushi.

• 1:03:52Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:03:52Nick Bare?

  Sushi only.

• 1:03:53Speaker 01

  Uchiko only.

• 1:03:54Nick Bare?

  Uchiko. We always wrap up our Uchiko dinner with like four pieces of the wagyu nigiri each.

• 1:04:01Speaker 01

  Melts in your mouth.

• 1:04:02Nick Bare?

  Dip in some ponzu. Mmm. So I'll see you guys in the next episode.