Stronger Than Your Boyfriend
Stronger Than Your Boyfriend
Q&A 109: postpartum workouts, protein struggles, anxiety
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Question 1: I lean forward when I squat. Is this a hip mobility issue or an ankle mobility issue?
Question 2: I just had a baby. I’m wondering what I should do and how my programming should look as I ease back into working out.
Question 3: I did a food sensitivity test. I found out I am sensitive to eggs, dairy, soy, and whey. Now I’m struggling with protein sources. Any advice?
Question 4: What are the best strategies for stress relief, in your opinion?
Question 5: Should I drop my calories during a deload week since I won’t be training as intensely?
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Welcome to the Stronger Than Your Boyfriend Podcast. We are Heather and Katie, owners of Barcast Fitness, here to help you sip through the bullshit and toxic misinformation that permeates the fitness industry. Today we have a QA podcast.
SPEAKER_01Yes, we do. And if you want to ask us questions, join our Facebook group, Stronger Than Boyfriend. And ask us.
SPEAKER_00Okay, we have five questions. So question number one. One. I lean forward when I squat. Is this a hip mobility issue or an ankle mobility issue?
SPEAKER_01Could be both, could be neither, could be one of them. It kind of just depends. One, I would have to see this person because if you lean forward, it doesn't necessarily mean you have a mobility issue. You could just have really long legs, really long femurs. So that might pitch you forward a little bit in order to get your hips below parallel. I would generally say for most people that working on hip mobility and ankle mobility isn't going to hurt you. So you can do that. But I would take a video or have someone professionally look at your squat if possible and see is the bar staying over the middle of your foot. If it is, then if you're leaning forward, you probably just have long femurs, like I was saying, in a potentially shorter torso. So it depends on your biomechanics. I think if you can sit, if you can sit in a deep squat, whether you're holding onto something for support or not, it's not necessarily a hip mobility issue or an ankle mobility issue. It's a stability issue. So there's a lot of factors to figure out. Again, this is an individualized question, I think. So having eyes on form would would help.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think um it it does sound like maybe you just because leaning forward doesn't really matter in the gram scheme of things. Like if you're not, if someone's asking this question and they're not complaining about like hips or pain or uh feeling tight or anything like that, I tend to think that they just have yeah, longer femurs compared to torso. Um, we have a great video. I'm gonna find it really quick. It's on our, I believe it's on our Instagram under tips, um, on like the saved stories. You'll have to go through a bunch of shit to find it. Um, but it's like, I don't know, the 10th video in or something from 2020. And it's um bar position in the squat, and you'll be able to see that the way that I squat, because I have proportions where I can either high bar or low bar, I can do either one. So in this video, you'll see where I place the bar, either higher or lower on my back, guides how much I lean forward. But both times the bar is over directly over the middle of my foot, the entire squat. So if you can do that, like Katie was saying, then you're fine. It doesn't matter how much you're really leaning. Now you don't want to pitch your shoulders forward and round your back when you lean, but if you need to lean your torso forward, that's okay. There's gonna be a little bit more hinge there. Um typically that is pretty common for a lower bar position in a squat, which would be if you have tight shoulders or you're training for something specific. But yeah, play around with your bar position, play around your with your foot position, bar over midfoot is really all that matters.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. If there's no pain, I'm not too worried about it. Right. So okay.
SPEAKER_00Question two. I just had a baby. Congrats. Uh, I'm working, what should I do? Or sorry, I'm wondering what I should do and how my programming should look as I ease back into working out.
SPEAKER_01Do less than you think, especially if you've worked out prior to having the baby and through your pregnancy, you still just went through a very, very big physical trauma. So your body, even though obviously I'm assuming you're cleared by your doctor at that six-week mark, you still want to go light because one, you have taken six weeks off of training and your body is still recovering. I think it takes a lot longer than women think after giving birth, like a year and a half to two years to feel like you're yourself again, no, prior to pregnancy. But, you know, I think even doing a couple moves a day would help. And even just starting with body weight would help. But obviously, we want to make sure your pelvic floor is in good shape. If you're not able, I mean, if you can, financially see a pelvic floor PT. That way they can give you all the exercises that you need to do. Generally, what I've seen from exercise given by pelvic floor PTs is a lot of bridging. It's a lot of either boat pose or hollow hold. So engaging the abs again and learning how to connect with those muscles again, because most likely your abs have split just from um, you know, giving birth and holding the baby in the abdominal region. A lot of at least single leg bridges, bird dogs, dead bugs, you know, just that body awareness, core engagement, and glute engagement. I think all of the pelvic floor, at least physical therapy exercises, are centered around that. So make sure you add that into your routine and then get back into our eight foundational movement patterns, but just very, very lightly. So instead of barbell back squatting, maybe we're starting with bodyweight squats. Instead of barbell heavy, you know, overhead pressing, maybe we're doing light dumbbell overhead pressing, et cetera.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, I have a pot, we have a few pelvic floor therapists from that have been on our podcast, but I recommend going back and listening to episode 245 interview with Dr. Courtney from Own Your Pelvic Health. Um, I also recommend, I don't know where you're located. Uh, if you happen to be around in Colorado, definitely reach out to Courtney. Um, she is both a pelvic health floor therapist and a birth doula. And they have a really good program around returning to exercise. She's got a great blog on it. Um, that podcast episode is really, really valuable. So go back and listen to that for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Do less. Yes, you probably want to do more, but do less. Okay, question three. I did a food sensitivity test. I found out I am sensitive to eggs, dairy, soy, and whey. Now I'm struggling with protein sources. Any advice?
SPEAKER_01Don't take food sensitivity tests. That's my advice. I don't think I think your body can show up on a test as reacting to anything. And I think it kind of depends on are you stressed out in your life right now? You know, that might that might cause a little bit more inflammation and might react or show some reactivity on a test. I mean, this sounds like you can't eat anything. And the biggest thing you should ask yourself instead of taking these tests are do you feel any symptoms? And not necessarily just straight up gut issue symptoms, you know, like nausea, diarrhea, constipation, et cetera. But, you know, if you're feeling achy or joints when you eat a certain food, or if you're feeling, I don't know, irritable, et cetera, outside of daily life stressors, maybe, but you know, that's the only thing more in depth I would pay attention to is are you feeling any symptoms that are popping up that aren't related to your gut? But I don't think those tests are very accurate. Really? I yeah, I really don't. I don't there, I think I read an article about this, something about the the antibodies they test. It's like you can produce antibodies to anything. And a lot of that has to do with how stressed out you are.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I would I would say the eggs, dairy, soy, and whey, that that doesn't seem that limiting to me, to be honest. Like yeah, eggs kind of sucks because I love eggs, but um, soy, don't eat it anyway. Whey, you can find a different, you know. So you could still do meat, right? Like when you're familiar with protein sources, meat, poultry, and meat, fish, seafood, some legumes and lentils and nuts might work for you, although nuts is more fat, but you know, you can get some protein from it. If you're looking for protein powder, aren't there like pea protein powders? Yeah, there's not very good, but there are options. Um you definitely have options.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's beef protein isolate. There's a well, you're never mind, not egg, but there's, I don't even, I mean, there's probably some sort of a like milk protein without the way or something that you can probably find nowadays. But yeah, vegan protein sources. Yeah, I think you're right. I think if you like those foods, it kind of sucks. Yeah. I love dairy, so that would suck. Dairy is a tricky one too, because I think a lot of times, well, one, I think a lot of people are sensitive to dairy. Yeah. And again, it can present in many different ways. And a lot of times when those symptoms present, it's not necessarily, you know, my stomach hurts, my tummy hurts. It's I'm bloated and you didn't even realize that you're bloated until you stop eating it and you're like, wow, I'm five pounds lighter. I just, you know, you lost a bunch of water weight or something. Again, it's, you know, you kind of just have to be aware and practice awareness of your body because you could, it could be from one food, it could be from multiple foods. I mean, you could use that test as a general guideline, but you know, okay, maybe do it this way. I don't want to totally shit on it. Take those foods that it the test said that you are sensitive to, and then when you eat them, pay attention to how you feel. So, like make it a point to go out of your way to pay attention to how you're feeling. So, you know, if you have some eggs, okay. How do you feel right after? How do you feel an hour later? How do you feel a couple hours later? So yeah, I don't know. I just think there are still options, even if you do find you're very sensitive to those foods, hopefully you eat meat, or else it's gonna be really hard to get protein in.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, the good news is uh this list, you know, you still have complete proteins on this like that you can eat. And that's where it gets hard when someone's like vegan. Um, and you know, they really don't have a lot of options for complete proteins. They have to put a lot of things together and get creative. But I think with this, you know, you still have fish, red meat, chicken, like there's a lot of opportunity here. So hopefully that helps. Um, but yeah, I agree. Like just try taking them out for a while and then put them back in and see what happens because different stages of your life can have different reactions to food. I know there was a while where dairy was kind of messing with me, and now I'm fine. You're fine. Yeah. Like that's it out for a while. I added it back in, now it's good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. If you have a food that flares you up in some way, and you, you know, cut it out, let your gut heal and work on your gut health, and maybe you can eat it consistently again. So yeah, I don't know. I think the the foods that are listed, I I get it because they're convenient foods, like a whey protein shake, very quick. Yep. Eggs, you can grab some hard-boiled eggs.
SPEAKER_00You know, I don't know about it. I'd be interested in which part of the egg because you know, it's usually egg white versus egg yolk, it's usually egg white, yeah. So, like if you can still eat egg yolks, fuck yeah, those are good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and there's more fat, less protein in the yolks, but they're so nutrient dense. Yeah, I like the the tastiest part. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Okay. All right, question number four. What are the best strategies for stress relief, in your opinion?
SPEAKER_01Oh, uh well, I should take my own advice on this one. I think you have to find something to ground yourself every day, as in and it could be multiple things, but more so mentally, as far as how you think about your day, think about what you have and be grateful for that. And it's really hard when shit is really stressful and you have a lot of things going on, and maybe you're losing some people, maybe you have to you're losing a job, you know, whatever it may be. Even if you are losing something, think of any positives you still have. So that's what I've been trying to do. I know the classic answer is meditation, which definitely helps. I just feel like it's something that people aren't necessarily consistent with, but when you are consistent, it does work. It really does, even if it's five minutes a day. Just kind of that's another way to ground yourself and be self-aware and just be aware in the present moment and not have that anxiety where this is what happens to me. I'll have anxiety at night and it'll keep me up. So trying to do that practice every day, I think helps. But yeah, I think just finding something to keep you going every day, whether it that could be your workout, it could be your dog, it could be your kids, it could be your job if you like it, it could be a trip you have coming up. I don't know, something to something that you're kind of looking forward to, even if it's just a regular mundane thing, like coming home and hanging out with your doggie. You know, that could be it. So I don't know. I don't know if that's any help to anyone, but that's kind of what I try to do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I feel like it has to be so individual. Like people handle stress in so many different ways. People's lives are so different. It depends on if it's packed on with things like depression, right? There's so many things here. For me, I have realized, and I actually, it was one of my clients, one of my personal training clients, she's like a leadership coach, and she has a great blog about high performers and stress. And basically, I don't realize when I'm stressed. Like it's just another achievement for me to get through, right? Like it's another, and one of the mechanisms that I've recognized, I recognized just the other day that I use when something stresses me out is I don't get all upset. I start doing things like cleaning or projecting my budget or um anything that gives me control. Yeah. Or well, what I think is control. Um, and so those are coping mechanisms, and they're not bad, they're productive. Yeah. But what I really need to do is set aside time to deal with my stress, like you just said, like something daily. I'm really bad at that. For me, what helps is finding a setting that is not my house or a community, like a yoga studio for me is really helpful uh because I go there and I completely shut off from the world. You know, and that if I regularly go to yoga, you know, three times a week, I feel so much better. And that's easier for me to do, and they have meditation classes and all this stuff, than me trying to do it in my home myself. I know I should every day, but I've been really bad at it lately. Yeah. But you know, I go through phases where I'm good and bad, and there's definitely like almost like data, because I I'm crazy and I record all of my like work time, and there's data that shows when I did when I was meditating regularly, like my work windows were more productive, I was sleeping better. So obviously it works, but getting myself to do it is hard. So if that's you, um find find a space, find a group, find you know, something that you can like commit to regularly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Or take the mindset of going through it and just accepting it and acknowledging it. Uh huh. And also what instead of going around it, right? Like trying to avoid it, maybe just accept it, deal with it. What I like to do also is visualize the other side of it. What does the other side look like when you come out of it? Yeah, and certain situations are really hard because you know, they could be really, really, really, really deep, like maybe losing a loved one. That's really hard to see. But, you know, when we're talking about daily life stressors like work or kids or house or relationships, you know, what does the other side look like? And what is it gonna feel like? So that's another thing I've been recently doing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I uh just found out that I was diagnosed with anxiety. I got diagnosed with ADHD, but I did not realize she also does diagnosed me with anxiety until I pulled my report.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think that's common. And I was like, oh no.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it made me anxious to see that I was doing something. You're like, this doesn't help. Yeah, but yeah, I mean, I don't know. I'm still working on it, so let's just put it there. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01If it's feasible, a therapist could always will always help. For sure. So okay.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Um, last question, question five. Should I drop my calories during a deload week since I won't be training as intensely?
SPEAKER_01No, no, that's it. Yeah, I know because the training, yes, you're using energy, yes, you're burning calories during your strength training. I think they mean strength training. If you're still moving, you know, if you're still getting the the same movement throughout the day, you're just training a little bit intensely, you're fine. And honestly, it's one week, it's not gonna do anything, even if you don't move that much and eat the same. I mean, honestly, it's probably good for your body to just fuel your body and give it more calories while you're actually recovering.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, the point is recovery, right? So you're backing off from volume, but if you also cut your calories down, then that kind of hurts your opportunity to fully recover. Right. Yeah. So I would I would say no.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I last year I took a month off of strength training and I didn't cut my calories and nothing happened too. And that was a full month. So that was just yeah, it was fine. So yeah, I wouldn't overthink it. Just I feel like people they really try to change things, you know, when something is different and it could just be like your training intensity, but just keep up your protein and whole mostly whole foods, and you're fine. And move. No big deal. I'm tired of this cutting calories culture. I know, I know. Eat some calories culture. I feel like it's only getting worse with the GLPs, but I don't know. Eat, build muscle, you'll look awesome. Cool. Okay, that's it. Ask questions out. Ask us questions, ask us all the questions because these are fun. Alright. Out