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2920: How Women Over 30 Can Lose Fat and Build the Body They Actually Want

from Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth ·

32m 12s

2920: How Women Over 30 Can Lose Fat and Build the Body They Actually Want

Women over 30 often struggle with fat loss and body transformation, but this isn’t due to age—it’s rooted in increased stress, responsibilities, and hormonal changes. The key to success lies in shifting from outdated, unsustainable methods to a strength-focused approach. Building muscle through compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses boosts metabolism, improves hormone sensitivity, and enhances energy, confidence, and overall well-being. Proper nutrition is equally vital—eating whole, natural foods with adequate protein supports muscle growth without adding excess fat. Cardio is unnecessary for fat loss; instead, daily movement like walking helps without adding stress. Real results come from consistency, strength, and sustainable habits, not extreme calorie restriction or high-intensity workouts. The MindPump MAPS programs, such as Muscle Mommy and Power Lift, offer structured, science-backed training pathways to build strength and body composition. A buy-one-get-one-free offer makes these programs accessible. With the right strategy—prioritizing strength, proper nutrition, and recovery—women over 30 can achieve a leaner, more vibrant, and resilient physique that lasts a lifetime.

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If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. MindPump. MindPump. With your hosts, Sal DiStefano, Adam Schafer, and Justin Andrews. You just found the most downloaded fitness, health, and entertainment podcast in history. This is MindPump. Today's episode, we talk about how women over 30 can lose fat and build the body they actually want. Look, we also have a buy one, get one free happening with MAPS programs. The top 10 most popular MAPS programs. MAPS Anabolic Aesthetic Performance, 15 minutes anywhere. Symmetry Starter, Muscle Mommy, Power Lift, and 40 Plus. Buy one, get one free at mapsbogo.com. Now, this episode is brought to you by one of our sponsors, Rho Nutrition. So, check this out. NAD naturally declines with age. This is slower recovery, brain fog, you get less drive. Rho's liquid NAD isn't a stimulant spike. It raises your baseline so you just operate better. Then they have glutathione. This is your master antioxidant. Most people are depleted from hard training, stress, poor sleep, and travel. So, here's the difference with Rho Nutrition. It's liposomal delivery. So, these compounds are encapsulated in liposomes that deliver them to the target tissues of the body. Oftentimes, when you take a supplement or a compound, let's say NAD or glutathione, you don't actually get it. You don't actually absorb it. Well, liposomal technology is a pharmaceutical-grade technology that takes these compounds and brings them to where they need to go. So, when you take the glutathione, your body absorbs it. When you take the NAD, it actually works. Go try it out. Experience the difference. Go to rhonutrition.com slash discount slash mindpump. That's R-H-O nutrition.com slash discount slash mindpump. Use the code mindpump for 20% off. All right, real quick, if you love us like we love you, why not show up by rocking one of our shirts, hats, mugs, or training gear over at mindpumpstore.com? I'm talking right now. Hit pause. Head on over to mindpumpstore.com. That's it. Enjoy the rest of the show. It's commonly noted by clients we've trained in the past that when they get over 30, it's harder to lose fat and build the body they actually want. This was most echoed by our female clients. So, that's what we're going to talk about today, how women over 30 can lose fat, build the body they actually want. We're going to give you the steps today. Let's go. This is always a tough one to communicate because there's a lot of truth to, you know, as you get over 30, over 40, like the challenges that are. But it has less to do with the age, and I think it has more to do with the time at which we didn't do certain things. Patterns you've established. Yeah, patterns or how many times I have yo-yo dieted or at this point in my life, I'm less resilient than I was in my 20s. Hormone issues, there's so many other things, and it's less to do with it's an age, but it's communicated like it's an age thing. It's like, oh, when you get to a certain age, all these things are exponentially more difficult. It's like, well, there's some truth to that, but then it's less to do with the number and more to do with all these other things. Yeah, and just to encourage people, you can get phenomenal results in your 30s when it comes to fitness if you do it right. So if you do it right. Everything comes together, everything works, your body moves the way you want it to. You build muscle and a metabolism, you burn body fat, it all works. But here's the challenge. The challenge is, this is what we've heard. How many times have you guys heard this, right? It used to feel a lot easier. Yeah, right. The old ways that I used to get in shape aren't working anymore. What is going on? Yeah, and that can be really frustrating and confusing, especially if you have, you know, quote unquote, gotten into shape many times. And you're in your 20s and suddenly the formula that you have applied maybe two times or three times in the past that works so well for you, suddenly it feels like it's doing nothing. And so this is very frustrating. It's very, very difficult and confusing. But once you understand what's going on, it's not so confusing. And that's, I think it's important that we kind of demystify what's happening. And so does age play a role? Of course it does, but it's not the main player. And what's going on? Now, yes, hormone changes can start to happen in the 30s, especially as we get towards the later 30s. But here's what's really contributing most to this struggle. Number one, life is different oftentimes, right? You have more stress, more responsibilities, and time is more precious now than it was when you were in your 20s. A woman in her 30s probably has. She has a job, she's out of school, maybe she has a kid or two, a mortgage, she's in a long-term relationship or married. Whereas in her 20s, the responsibilities were basically about herself. Maybe you went to school, but that was kind of it. If I wanted to sleep in, I could. I didn't have a kid that I was responsible for. I didn't have all these other responsibilities. And although time was still precious, it wasn't as precious as it is now because I didn't have to divide my time so much between. All these other responsibilities. Yeah, and you got to factor that in, all those new stresses, responsibilities. Because even making it a bit more challenging to even consistently go to the gym, but also to get sleep, which sleep in itself is really where you're going to get all the results, you're going to get the hormone balance, you're going to get a lot of these benefits. And that's just one of those big factors that really shrinks as you age. Of all the things you just listed, do you think there's a bigger culprit of all. Like, which one's the greatest culprit? Of all of them. I mean, generally stress. In your. More specifically. Yeah, because all of them. Responsibilities. All of them feed into that, right? Like, all the extra responsibilities causes higher stress, right? And so the poor sleep, higher. Like, all those things. I think that. So I think that's literally the first. Because even though time, as we get older with more responsibilities, we have families, jobs, careers, all these things, you are limited to time. The amount of time required to build a healthy, fit physique. Isn't that much. No. And so I don't think. And if you do it wrong, it's a lot. Right. Oh, yeah, of course. So I don't think that was the. Even though that's a challenge, I don't think that was, like, number one challenge, right? Well, no, but let me be more clear. The ways that you got in shape in your 20s, although they may have, quote, unquote, worked, although I would challenge that, because the way I define if something works is it sticks. Yeah, sustainable. Yeah, so, like, as a trainer, as a coach, you know, success. Part of success is getting to your goal. Or getting results. That's part of it, but that's not the full thing. The full thing includes maintaining, okay? So if somebody ever comes to me, and again, I'm coming from a trainer's perspective. If someone comes to me and says, oh, my God, I used to do this. There's this method that I use. It works every time. I get in great shape. What happened? Why did it stop? Why did you stop doing it? So it didn't work. It didn't work because you weren't able to maintain it. And then people will say, well, it's me that wasn't able to maintain it. It doesn't matter. It didn't work. So I'll challenge that. The other part I'll challenge is that the method. The method was still ineffective. The difference was you didn't have so much stress compiling on your body, so you got away with it. And the second part was you could devote a lot of time to wasted energy working out. I could throw more stress on myself and do more workouts and sleep in when I need to when I go to bed late because my time isn't as divided. That's why that plays so much of a bigger role. In my 20s, if I go to bed late, well, Saturday, guess what? I could sleep in as long as I want. I could take naps if I want to. You know, when you have responsibilities, especially when you have kids, here's the thing about having kids. You can go to bed as late as you want. They'll wake up at the same time every morning. Yeah, yeah. And so you don't get to sleep in. Your kids wake up and you got to be up. And the old ways that you were using before, they were working in part. Maybe they got you the results, but you weren't able to maintain them. But they got you some results, not because it was effective, but in spite of the fact that they weren't effective. Why? Because you could add a bunch of stress on your body with the wrong. Here's the deal with exercise. Exercise is a stress on the body. That's what gets your body to change from the exercise. Your body's trying to adapt and become more resilient. But there's a limited capacity your body has to deal with stretch. Once you overcome that capacity, you're screwed. Like there's no adaptation. You're just surviving. And this is what it probably feels like right now. What it probably feels like right now is you're doing the old stuff and it just feels like you're surviving. I'm getting sore. I'm sweating. But why isn't my body? I'm responding. Your body's not responding because it doesn't have the capacity to adapt to that stress like it used to because you have so much other stress on your body. I don't think you can stress enough that it wasn't effective because how many times have you heard, you know, that one summer I followed that Atkins diet and I lost 30 pounds. Or when I was training for that marathon back in, you know, 05, I was in the best shape of my life. It's like they will connect the best shape or, you know, the most weight they lost as a success, even though it only lasted a small semester of their life. And so it's like it wasn't effective because it wasn't sustainable. Like you weren't going to be running marathons every other month or for the rest of your life. You weren't going to be following Atkins forever. And so even though it gave you a temporary result in the positive direction, it wasn't effective. I think that doesn't register for a lot of clients at first because they still hearken back to that. That feeling or that moment in time. And so in their head, it was like, oh, that worked. It's like, no, it didn't work. You were, you were, you lost. lost you know 30 or 50 pounds during that one time and then you put it all back on and some so it wasn't effective and so getting them to understand that like we don't want to go back that way and it wasn't effective sometimes really difficult there is a far more effective way that is also far more likely to be sustainable by you and this is what we got really good at doing with our clients because here's the deal the vast majority of clients that we trained uh who were women were over 30 okay so a majority of our experience oh yeah in training women was in training women who were over the age of 30 for a couple reasons one of them being this is when when people typically have expendable income and can actually afford to hire a trainer you're in your 20s you know you might be you might be strapped for cash and paying 100 a session to work with a trainer that's not going to happen but now you're 35 you've got a family you've got a job like man this isn't working anymore let me hire a professional see what happens i'm gonna tell you right now we solved uh this problem and i'm going to tell you the one thing that made the biggest difference the one thing that made the biggest difference was getting my female clients to focus on getting stronger and build muscle yeah this was the big difference now this was a big difference because and you might hear now in this more common now to hear why this is an effective strategy but a lot of my clients when they were in their 20s the strategy had nothing to do with getting stronger and building muscle it had everything to do was trying to burn as many calories and move as much as possible yeah it was just let me sweat and move like crazy yeah yeah and the goal was to get skinny to get i mean that was like that was a a common thing you would hear that's right and oftentimes this is uh what a young woman's goal is it's like just shrink just shrink shrink shrink and this strategy uh is a very difficult strategy building muscle and getting stronger leverages your body to be able to uh do a lot of the work for you okay that's that's why this is so effective because if i have a female client who's 35 years old who gained you know eight pounds of muscle okay first off she looks better uh her her butt's rounder her arms are more sculpted her legs feel tighter her core feels tighter she's heavier on the scale but everything feels tighter and actually looks better but that eight pounds of muscle has now leveraged the metabolic rate in a direction where her body now burns more calories on its own so that's why this is so effective because if i have a female client who's 35 years old she actually has a faster metabolism she also has a body that has a more it's more likely to have a favorable hormone profile you have better insulin sensitivity which does play a role in things like estrogen progesterone and muscle when you build muscle or strengthen muscle you increase androgen receptor density so testosterone is a hormone that women have just just like men they just have a lower amount but it's just as important for women as it as it is for men in fact low testosterone women same symptoms that low testosterone men produces low motivation low muscle more fat gain low libido low energy right so when we build muscle we increase androgen receptor density these are the receptors that testosterone attaches to so now whatever testosterone i have is more effective it's got more places to attach to and become active at and so what i've done by building muscles i've shifted my body in a way that makes it easier to maintain and it's a by the way here's the best part about building muscle doesn't require days and hours in the gym like trying to burn calories like trying to burn calories means i got to do stuff all the time building muscle is i got to do a workout send the signal let my body build and so that's the biggest that was the one thing that made the biggest difference the difficulty was convincing my clients initially to trust me through this process but once they did and they saw the results of the hamster wheel it was over well part of the part of that challenge um is is getting them away from the gym and getting them away from the gym and getting them away from the using the scale as the metric to define their success or not and what's cool today it's i feel like it's a lot easier today than it was 20 years ago um because today i can tell a client easily on their phone they can get on it and i can go um okay let's not change your weight at all so you don't you don't like that you're at 175 or 180 whatever your weight is i want you to type in show me a body at 19 a female body at 19 at 180 pounds and then show me one at 35 and look at both and put those pictures so different crazy different yes and and so you can illustrate really quickly how irrelevant the scale is and it's like we don't want to just lose weight on the scale like we need to get that out of our heads that you need to be a certain weight on the scale i can show you radically different body types and or bodies the way they look at literally every weight number 120 130 140 like all the way up like i can show you radically different bodies and i can show you radically different bodies and i can show you radically based off of how much lean body mass they have and the pursuit of that is through building muscle and strength yes and so that's why that needs to be the north star and not this arbitrary number on the scale that you've attached to this is what i like the look is it's like no let me tell you you cannot even move on the scale and look radically so to put it differently or to put it plainly um if you're listening right now and you're trying to build the body you want you're trying to look fit here's a goal build muscle and get stronger that's your goal it will leverage things in a direction that makes it a lot easier it will boost your metabolic rate it'll make getting leaner easier meaning you can eat more food and maintain a leaner body and you look great and here's the best part you feel great ladies muscle feels really good on your body you move better your joints feel better you've got more energy the testosterone that you currently have becomes more potent because of the androgen receptor density so your libido goes up you've got more drive this is the strategy and i'm going to tell you right now if you're listening you're like i'm kind of scared what you're doing isn't working why not try something uh totally different yeah i mean you're setting yourself up for sustainability for the longevity through this whole process i think too of course you know not everybody's going to think really long term about you know fitness and training that uh you know into their 80s but what this is setting you you up for is you know you're you're avoiding osteoporosis you're you're setting yourself up for abilities uh later on in life that you're going to benefit from oh gosh the the i'll tell you what listen we manage gyms for years i'm going to say something i know you guys know exactly what i'm talking about the women in the gyms that i managed in their 60s that were cardio fanatics versus the women in their 60s that were strength training fanatics completely different the the the difference the way in the way they looked was radical radical i mean the the lifting fanatics looked younger had better skin you could look this up strength training stimulates muscle protein synthesis but it also stimulates whole body protein synthesis yeah they look different they felt different they had better hormones um i mean both groups were better than people who did nothing but the strength training oh boy did it make a big difference okay so you're you're listening uh you've completely sold me on this is the path what are the actionable steps that i take and in in the most simple basic way like what what do i do number one you got to feed the gains and i use the word gains on purpose because that's a scary word but you need to feed the muscle we're trying to add active calorie burning tissue to the body and you can't do that if you're eating too little okay so this isn't going to work if you're eating almost nothing every single day you need to eat your target body weight in protein in grams of protein make sure you eat whole natural foods and feed yourself in a way to what it looks like essentially is this i'm going to eat when i'm hungry not overeat i'm sticking whole natural foods i'm not trying to under eat and i'm going to feed the gains i'm going to feed the muscle gains and and this is i said this is number one because it's the hardest part because hard one i can convince uh people in this category i can convince women in this category to lift weights far easier than i can to get them to feed yeah yeah that's the harder part it sounds counterproductive when i'm hung up on i need to go down that's right when it i've hired you and i said sal i'm uncomfortable where i'm at i don't like this weight i want to lose 30 or 40 pounds whatever the number is um and and then you did your spiel you just did for the last 10 minutes to me and i'm like okay i'm bought in i need to get strong i need to put muscle what's step one and you're like feed the gains and i'm like okay you lost me again no way like all right i told you how you heard me i want to go down again and then i feel like this is the part where we're having to circle that way if you feed the gains with garbage food and heavily processed food junk food yes you're going to gain tons of body fat if you feed the gains with whole natural foods and you hit your target body weight and grams of protein not only will you be fine but you will get body composition change this process meaning you'll get leaner as you build muscle and this is a necessary evil because we can lift all the weights we want but if we live in a caloric deficit and we don't feed the body what it needs to build muscle you won't build muscle so you can you can have the best strength training program i have the best trainer in the world taking you through it but if you don't fuel the body properly you don't give it enough calories and you're always under on calories you're not going to build muscle some of the best results i ever got with my female clients were the female clients that they hired me i trained them we're doing the strength training they're really resistant when it comes to the diet really resistant with nutrition really resistant restricting god i don't want to eat more finally i convinced them go up 500 calories go up 500 calories and watch what happens and with that i'm like okay i'm going to build muscle i'm going to build muscle i'm going to build muscle i'm going to build muscle i'm going to build muscle i'm going to build muscle within weeks they're blown away by how they feel within months they look in the mirror and they're like this is wild i'm eating more food and i'm leaner i'm like yeah you built muscle. So you need to feed the gains. But again, you will not eat so much food that you gain a bunch of body fat. So long as you stick to whole natural foods, whole natural foods produce a natural satiety that will match what your body generally needs. When you eat a lot of heavily processed foods, junk food, fast food, candy, then yes, you will totally overeat and gain a bunch of body fat, but that's because those foods are designed to make you overeat. So your, your body's systems of satiety are totally thrown off with those things. But if it's whole natural foods, feed the gains. The next thing is this, your goal is strength. Your goal is strength. Your goal is not to look different in the mirror. Your goal is not to get leaner. Your goal isn't anything else. It's to get stronger. Now here's what's crazy about what I'm saying. If you get stronger, you're sticking to whole natural foods and you consistently get stronger. All the stuff that you're looking for, the changes in the way you look, body composition, shape, sculpt follows. It all follows more efficiently as well. That's right. It follows it consistently. Now, would you even simplify that to focus on a handful of lifts to, that you want to get stronger versus just kind of like trying to do all the things and say, yes, and here's why. So it's okay. It's great. Okay. It's great to get stronger at, you know, hip abduction or a lateral raise or a tricep press down. Nothing wrong with that. Getting stronger is always awesome, but getting stronger at certain exercises just means a lot more. It means a lot more in terms of metabolic rate, muscle gain, return on investment. Okay. So getting stronger, for example, at a barbell squat means a lot more than getting stronger at a leg extension. Uh, for example, both work the legs. One of them is working a lot more than just the quads, the hamstrings, the glutes, more muscles involved, more of a loud signal. Yes. And so the typical exercises that really mean the most, and there's, there's quite a, there's a few of these, but the ones that really mean a lot that you get stronger at are things like deadlifts, bench press, squats, overhead presses, rows. Like you get stronger at those lifts. It means a lot in terms of the visible results that you're looking for. Right. Here's, here's the last one. And this is where it gets crazy. I don't want you to do any cardio. All right. Now look, this is where we get, we get contentious, so much pushback. Now here's the deal. There's nothing wrong with cardio per se. If you want endurance and stamina, this is the way you should exercise. But here's the deal. Uh, when we're dealing with adding strength, we're not doing it. We're not doing it. We're not doing it. We're not stress to the body. Uh, and we're also dealing with a lifestyle where I've already got lots of compounding stress. I'm going to leave the stress when it comes to exercise to the thing that's moving the needle the most. If we're going to add stress to the body, I'm going to focus on the thing that's going to change the way I look the fastest, which is the strength training. So I don't want to add additional stress from cardio. Now, again, if you're, if your goals are athletic, you want stamina, you want endurance, nothing wrong with it, but you got to understand when you add more stress from intense cardio, you got to take away from the strength training. You can't just throw stuff on top of stuff because then nothing happens. Well, this is a best uses case. The best use for cardio, it's a tool at the end of the day is to increase endurance and stamina capacity. And so in that regard, like cardio is amazing for that. Uh, and I know people enjoy doing it, so there's nothing wrong with that. However, if we're talking about fat loss and body composition changes, there's a, another tool that's way better than that. And that's strength training. That's right. And then we, we also like eventually, like if I had a client, that's telling me like, I want to do it, or I love to do it, or I like to do it, which first of all, I would always challenge that too. Like, do you really love doing it? Or is it because again, you've attached that to some sort of like result that you've had before. We can use that as a tool later on. Like, it's like, okay, don't worry. That's, that's a, it can be something that we use in the future, but initially right now, when we're trying to build the metabolism, build muscle and manage stress and like right now, this is not the ideal tool for this situation. Let's use the ideal tool for the situation. Let's build that metabolism. Let's drop some body fat. Let's get to a place where we have some consistency. We've built some strength. And then maybe later on, we can start to add that into your routine and you've got this beautiful balance. Yeah. And so again, a lot of this has to do with managing stress on the body. And so if, when we're adding stress with exercise, I want to be judicious with what exercise I pick. And I'm going to place that, uh, in the strength training bucket. Um, and I'm not going to use cardio. Now here's the deal. Does that mean we want you to be sedative? Does that mean you lift weights, you know, three days a week and then the rest of the week you do nothing? No daily activity is very good for you. It's going to enhance, uh, and accelerate these results. We just don't want daily activity that adds to stress. In fact, I want, I would love you to move in a way that's recuperative and rejuvenating. And you know what the best form of movement for that is walking, walking, walking. So here's what you're going to do on the, on every other day. Uh, you know, you lift weights, you're going to do a lot of walking. You're going to do a lot of walking. And then in terms of daily activity, try to hit eight to 10,000 steps a day, which, which is really no small fee. If you have a desk job, it actually requires you to kind of get up and move quite a bit, but eight to 10,000 steps day in and day out is a great way to get that extra activity. Combine that with the strength training and you're totally crushing. Uh, this makes, this reminds me of, there's so many client examples I have of this, but my favorite client examples are not women who hired me. I love training all the people that I trained, but the ones that stand out were the ones that were already working out. We're already doing everything they thought they were doing. Right. And then they hired me and they came to me because they were frustrated. There was one woman I can remember, uh, specifically who was running like crazy and strength training. So she was lifting weights four or five days a week. Plus she was running about 25 miles a week. Okay. So those two things, plus her calories were in the sub two thousands. The fact that she was able to survive on that, it's pretty remarkable, but that's what she did. And I remember she hired me because she was like, Oh, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. So she hired me because her body fat percentage was stuck in the mid twenties. And she's like, you know, I'm running like crazy. I lift weights all the time. How is it that I'm like at 24 or 25%? But shouldn't I be like 19% body fat? She's like, what do I need to do? Do I need to do more working out? Do I need to cut my calories even more? And I'm like, listen, if you cut your calories more, you're going to lose weight, but it's going to be muscle. Your body fat percentage will go up. And if you try to work out more, you're going to overtrain yourself more. And at some point you're going to hit a wall and your hormones are going to crash and it's going to be terrible. And she was already telling me, I'm feeling fatigued. I'm already feeling fatigued. I'm feeling burned out. What do I got to do? So we cut her running way down. Initially I went from, it was like 20 to 25 miles a week, all the way down to five because I couldn't cut it all the way out. She was attached to it. So I cut it down to five, cut her strength training down to two days a week. And I took her calories up by 400 calories. Anyway, over the course of eight months, this woman went to zero running, just walking because she realized she really loved running as much as she thought she did. I think she was doing it because she thought it was keeping the weight off. So she cut that out. Started hiking and walking. She was still pretty active. Strength training with me between two days a week, one day a week on her own. So three days a week total. Her calories got all the way up to almost 3000 calories a day. And she was walking around at 18% body fat. And she was just remark on how easy it felt. She was like, this is the weirdest thing. I always thought I had this crazy slow metabolism. I always thought that I was just destined to never get as lean as I thought I should be. She's like, this feels genuinely easy. It's like we shifted things in a direction to make it easier. Well, I mean, one of my favorite stories to share is Katrina. And not just because she's my wife, but it's also one of the last people that I really helped like this. I mean, I was on my way out. We were already into Mind Pump and doing that, or building towards this when I finally started to help her. We'd already been dating for years at that time, three, five years we'd been together. And she had her own thing. She was always an athlete. So her way of maintaining in shape was she'd allow herself to ebb and flow between 10 to 15 pounds when she started to push up that 15 extra pounds that she didn't like. She kicked up her running like crazy. Every time she lifted weights, it was plyometric style from the way she trained as an athlete. And so her approach towards weightlifting was high intensity, low rest periods, circuit type training, and lots of running. And she'd shed those 15 to 20 pounds, whatever it was. And I watched her do that through years of being together. Never said anything to her. Because I'm not going to tell her what to do. It's like, if that's how you like getting in and out of shape. And she had watched me enough times control my body composition and never do any cardio. And obviously, when I started to get ready to compete was when she saw it at an extreme level. And she finally looked at me and said, OK, throw my hands up. You take control. And I was like, OK, sorry. Cut out cardio completely. Reduce the amount of strength training she does. Reduce the intensity she does. Increased rest periods and increased food. And at the end of this, she had the best body she's ever had, doing zero cardio, eating 700, 800 more calories than she's ever eaten before. And not only that, we saw all kinds of health markers. I don't talk this that much on the podcast about this. But she had stuff with acne that always bothered her, that riddled her. She saw her skin get better. She saw all this other stuff get better, her hair, nails, all kinds of things that improved in addition to. And I remember her afterwards being like, I can't believe I've gone this long and had no idea how much easier it was. And she was the same way, too, where I love to run. I used to love to run. But it's like, again, attached to the result of that. She used to know that if I trained really hard like this and ran like really crazy, I could shed these 15 pounds. And that had proven to work for her for so many times that she and then she attached. I like until she tried the right way. And realize, oh, my God, this is way more fun to be able to lift weights half as intense as far as as the amount of, you know, her circuit type training that she was doing, no running whatsoever and being able to eat more food. And then also be able to say, I have the best body I've ever had. That was such a cool thing to watch. So here's what we have. So we're having a buy one, get one free with MAPS programs right now. And this is the best combo for what we're talking about right now. So if you're listening to this, you're like, I want to do that. I want to build a muscle. I want to boost my metabolic rate. I want to do it the right way. Here's the combination. We have a program called Muscle Mommy. You do that first, about three months long. Then you follow it up with MAPS Power Lift, which is literally about getting strong with your squat, your deadlift and your bench, which is another three months. So this is a six month course with both programs. It's buy one, get one free. By the way, the buy one, get one free applies to our top 10 most popular programs, which includes MAPS Anabolic, Aesthetic, Performance, 15 Minutes Anywhere, Symmetry Starter, Muscle Mommy, Power Lift, and 40 Plus. So if you're interested, go to MAPSbogo.com. Also, you can find us on Instagram. It's Mind Pump Media. We'll see you there. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy, and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Super Bundle at MindPumpMedia.com. The RGB Super Bundle includes MAPS Anabolic, MAPS Performance, and MAPS Aesthetic. Nine months of phased expert exercise programming designed by Sal Anabolic. Sal, Adam, and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels, and performs. With detailed workout blueprints and over 200 videos, the RGB Super Bundle is like having Sal, Adam, and Justin as your own personal trainers, but at a fraction of the price. The RGB Super Bundle has a full 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can get it now, plus other valuable free resources at MindPumpMedia.com. If you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a five-star rating and review on iTunes, and by introducing Mind Pump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support, and until next time, this is Mind Pump.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Women over 30 face greater fat loss and body composition challenges not due to age, but due to increased stress, responsibilities, and hormonal shifts that impair recovery and resilience.
  2. The old fitness methods from younger years often fail because they were unsustainable and did not build long-term strength or metabolic resilience.
  3. Building muscle and strength—especially through compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, and bench press—boosts metabolism, improves hormone balance, and enhances body composition.
  4. Feeding gains with whole, natural foods is essential to support muscle growth; restricting calories leads to muscle loss and stalled progress.
  5. Cardio is not necessary for fat loss or body transformation; excessive cardio adds stress and undermines strength gains. Walking and daily movement are more beneficial.
  6. Strength training is the most effective tool for improving energy, libido, joint health, and long-term physical vitality in midlife.
  7. Clients who shift from calorie deficit and cardio-heavy routines to strength-based, nutrient-dense lifestyles achieve better results and feel more energized.
  8. The MindPump MAPS programs (like Muscle Mommy and Power Lift) offer a proven, sustainable approach with a buy-one-get-one-free offer for women over 30.

Summary:

Women over 30 often struggle with fat loss and body transformation, but this isn’t due to age—it’s rooted in increased stress, responsibilities, and hormonal changes. The key to success lies in shifting from outdated, unsustainable methods to a strength-focused approach. Building muscle through compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses boosts metabolism, improves hormone sensitivity, and enhances energy, confidence, and overall well-being.

Proper nutrition is equally vital—eating whole, natural foods with adequate protein supports muscle growth without adding excess fat. Cardio is unnecessary for fat loss; instead, daily movement like walking helps without adding stress. Real results come from consistency, strength, and sustainable habits, not extreme calorie restriction or high-intensity workouts.

The MindPump MAPS programs, such as Muscle Mommy and Power Lift, offer structured, science-backed training pathways to build strength and body composition. A buy-one-get-one-free offer makes these programs accessible. With the right strategy—prioritizing strength, proper nutrition, and recovery—women over 30 can achieve a leaner, more vibrant, and resilient physique that lasts a lifetime.

FAQs

Women over 30 can lose fat and build muscle by focusing on strength training, increasing muscle mass to boost metabolism, and improving body composition. This approach leads to sustainable results, better energy, and improved hormone balance.

It's not primarily age-related, but rather due to increased stress, responsibilities, and lifestyle changes. These factors disrupt sleep, hormone balance, and recovery, making it harder to maintain fitness routines and achieve results.

Yes, strength training is more effective for building metabolism and fat loss in women over 30. It increases muscle mass, improves insulin sensitivity, and enhances hormone activity, leading to more sustainable and visible results.

Proper nutrition is essential—women must eat enough calories with whole, natural foods to fuel muscle growth. Eating too little leads to muscle loss, while adequate protein and balanced nutrition support muscle gain and fat loss.

No, cardio is not entirely avoided. It can be used later for endurance, but initially, it's best to minimize it to reduce overall stress on the body, allowing strength training and muscle growth to take priority.

Building muscle increases metabolic rate, improves body shape, enhances energy, boosts libido, and improves hormone levels. It also leads to a more resilient body and better long-term health.

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