February 6, 2023 • 14 mins
Especially with my postpartum clients, I get asked this question all the time. As a new parent, we have limited time, limited energy, but we don't want to give up on our health, fitness and physique goals. So, we need the most bang for our buck. In this episode, I dive into what workouts are going to be most effective for each person.
To get more information on my Strong As A Mother:Live Program, you can find that at https://www.kellybryantwellness.com/strong-as-a-mother-live/
If you're loving my podcast content, but are looking for something more to support your wellness journey, here are my programs currently available:
Strong As A Mother: Postpartum (https://www.kellybryantwellness.com/strong-as-a-mother/)
Strong As A Mother: Live (https://www.kellybryantwellness.com/strong-as-a-mother-live/)
Strong As A Mother: Prenatal (https://www.kellybryantwellness.com/strong-as-a-mother-prenatal/)
As always, you can find me on Instagram @kellybryantwellness
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Shure MV5 & FaceTime HD (00:06):
Welcome back to the, not your mama
podcast.
This is your host Kelly Bryant.
And this week we are answeringthe age old question.
What workouts are mosteffective?
I get this question all the timefrom people who are new to
workouts or people who arecoming back to working out,
maybe after time off from apregnancy or postpartum or just
(00:27):
life stuff.
So if you're getting back intoworking out and you want to know
what is the most effective thingfor me to do, or maybe it's the
most efficient thing for me todo.
This is going to answer thatquestion.
The first thing we need to knowis what your goal is.
So what's most effective isgoing to depend on your goal.
If you were trying to run amarathon.
(00:47):
Then a max strength, strengthtraining program is not going to
be the most effective thing.
I'm going to make someassumptions about what most of
my listeners Are aiming to do.
And that's just based on theclients who I actually work
with, but let's just suffice tosay, if you're trying to like
lift the most weight in aCrossFit competition or run the
(01:11):
fastest, I'm not talking to you.
So let's just assume that yourgoals are to be functional.
So to be able to chase afteryour kids, to be able to pick
them up to not have pain.
Your goals are to be mobile.
So you want to be able to get upand down off the floor.
You don't want to feel like yourhips are tight.
Maybe you work at a desk and youdon't want to just feel like
(01:31):
you're constantly so tight.
And then last but not least, youprobably have a physique goal,
so you don't necessarily need tobe the leanest person out there,
but you want to wear a bikiniand feel good about how you
look.
So that is generally people callthat like toning or like being
toned.
Yeah.
I'm not wild about that word,but it's generally like a
(01:54):
physique goal of, I want to looklike I work out.
I want to look like I've got alittle bit of muscle.
Maybe I want to burn a littlebit of fat.
So that's our assumption as faras what your goals are.
And if those aren't your goals,if no part of that is your
goals, then maybe the rest ofwhat I'm going to say to you
doesn't apply.
But if those are your goals,It's still remains that the most
(02:16):
effective workout is the workoutthat you will do.
There are a lot of things thatplay into what workout will you
actually get done and thatincludes preferences.
Right?
So all the time when I talk tonew clients, they're like, I
really hate running.
Like I please don't make me run.
And I'm like, No problem.
Like I'm not going to make yourun because I hate running too.
(02:39):
And it doesn't matter what mygoals are.
I'm not going to run.
It would be very silly of me togo be like, I'm going to run a
half marathon because that wouldmake me miserable.
So it's great if we can havesome alignment between our
preferences and our goals, butno matter the goal, you're not
going to do workouts that youdon't enjoy.
At least not for very long.
We know that guilt is not a verystrong motivator and just like
(03:02):
feeling bad about like, I reallyshould do this, it's not usually
very effective.
So we want to make sure thatwe're doing workouts that you
enjoy that are aligned with yourpreferences.
Workouts that you have the timefor.
So one of the biggest mistakesthat I see people make when
they're getting into a newtraining program is being like,
I want to work out five days aweek for 45 minutes or an hour,
(03:22):
or I'll ask someone how muchtime do you think they can, that
you can give me?
And they're like, wow, like, Ireally feel like I shouldn't go
over an hour and I'm like, okay,that's way more time than we
need.
Let's pare it down to like, whatis the most sustainable amount
of time that you can hit?
Consistently.
So maybe there are weeks whereyou're like, oh, I could do five
(03:45):
days a week for 45 minutes.
And there's probably also weekswhere you're like, I could do
three days a week for 25minutes.
And we want to make sure thatyour program is probably
somewhere in the middle so thatit feels like it's something
that you can keep up with.
Then we have energy levels forpeople who are new parents,
energy levels play a bigger rolethan you probably give them
(04:08):
credit for.
It doesn't matter if it's likethe shortest workout.
If it's something that you lovedoing, if it is too much energy,
if it's just more energy thanyou actually have to give,
you're not going to be able toget it done, at least not on a
consistent basis.
So keeping in mind that we wantto cater our workouts, not just
(04:28):
to like, what should work blackand white in a textbook, but
also what you actually have theenergy to give and the sleep
deprivation and the mentalstrain of managing small
children.
It's very, very real.
So we want to keep that in mind,as we are programming, it is
very normal and it's best if wejust accept that your energy
(04:51):
levels for workouts now aredifferent than they were before
you had kids.
So keeping all that in mind thatthe most effective workout is
the workout that you will do.
There's still a lot of wiggleroom.
There's a lot that we can dothat's still aligned with your
preferences, your timeavailability and your energy
availability that still workstoward a specific goal that you
(05:13):
have.
So if we've got that goal ofbeing functional, being mobile
and being, you know, workingtoward a physique goal, then our
most effective workout modalityis going to be strength
training.
This comes as a sup.
It's like a big surprise for alot of people, because most
people assume that if they wantto look toned or lose fat, they
(05:38):
need to do cardio.
And there's nothing wrong withcardio, particularly low
intensity cardio, like going forwalks or like going on a gentle
bike ride, but doing highintensity cardio.
Like, you know, really like fullout spin classes, five days a
week, or going onto theelliptical and like trying to be
(05:59):
in a like heart rate zone three,or maybe like a perceived
exertion of five out of 10.
Doing that for an hour after,you know, you do like some
mobility at the gym, you aregoing to end up actually being
much more hungry.
So most likely you're going toeat a lot more in response to
(06:23):
that calorie burn and you aregoing to be more likely to lose
muscle as well as fat.
If we're strength training, wemay not burn as many calories,
but we're less likely to besuper hungry after those
workouts.
And we are less likely to bewasting muscle.
We're much more likely to beburning fat in that case or
(06:44):
losing fat in that case.
So strength training, is supereffective.
For the fact that it sets you upto not be as hungry.
And there are benefitsmetabolically to having more
muscle on your frame.
Muscle is the most metabolicallydemanding tissue.
So if we are going to be tryingto burn fat, we want to gain
(07:04):
muscle because that's going toraise your metabolic rate, lean
muscle mass increases yourmetabolism.
So.
Adding muscle, even if itdoesn't cause you to see a
change in what the scale showsis going to show up as looking
more toned, and it's going toallow you to eat more food.
(07:25):
The crowd goes wild.
So.
You'll look, you'll get thattone.
Look that you're looking for.
You won't have to starveyourself and you are setting
yourself up hormonally for beingin a much better place later in
life.
Right?
So if you are nearing the end ofyour childbearing years and
you're starting to like hit 40.
(07:47):
Into the forties.
And you're like, how do I makesure that I don't suffer through
menopause or have what manypeople experience, which is like
massive weight gain, notmassive.
But notable weight gain over thecourse of their forties and
fifties, increasing your leanmuscle mass.
So that is your best bet forhealthy joints, healthy tissues,
(08:09):
healthy hormones, and healthyweight through the.
And I should.
Again, I've talked about thisbefore.
Healthy weight isn't really athing, but avoiding unhealthy
weight gain is a thing, right?
We don't want to be just seeingour weight go up for reasons we
can't pinpoint.
Then there's the function aspectof it.
(08:29):
Strength training makes you muchmore functional.
So it allows you to pick up yourkids, to move you know, heavy
things without throwing yourback out or getting injured.
So it has a functional benefitas well.
And then there is the mobilitycomponent where yes, we do want
to be doing mobility work aswell.
I'll touch on that in a second,but also being stronger tends to
(08:52):
actually have some mobilitybenefits as well.
When we are weak, particularlypostpartum.
If we have a lot of instabilityin our, in our connective
tissue, in our joints, we tendto lock up muscularly.
And building strength, gettingstronger makes us let go of some
of that gripping and some ofthat resistance and makes us
(09:13):
more mobile.
So there's a little bit of afunctional benefit as well as a
mobility benefit to strengthtraining.
All that said, put a littleasterisk on that.
We have to kind of go back tothat thought of the most
effective workout is the onethat you will do.
So what do you enjoy?
Often, people don't enjoytraditional strength training,
(09:36):
like do 10 reps rest a minute,do 10 reps rest a minute,
whatever.
That's okay.
We have ways that we can workaround that we can do strength
training, where we have maybe alittle bit of traditional
strength training, and then alittle bit of what is called
metabolic conditioning, whereyou're doing strength work fast.
You're getting your heart rateup.
So you're getting somecardiovascular benefit in
(09:57):
addition to.
Burning a little bit morecalories, but we're not
sustaining that really highcalorie burn in a way that makes
you super hungry, and you arekind of like having, giving
yourself that like, feeling oflike, whah I'm doing lots of
different things and like, itfeels much more engaging I tend
to find.
So that's generally how Iprogram strength workouts is
(10:17):
that we get a little bit oftraditional strength training.
We get a little bit of circuittraining or interval training or
metabolic conditioning, somekind of like fast engaging
strength training in there aswell.
And then when I program, I willusually also program some days
that are just Pilates style ofwork or just yoga style work or
just an opportunity for you todo some active recovery.
(10:42):
Which is going to be beneficialfor your flexibility, beneficial
of course, for function as well.
If you're doing core work andthings like that, mobility and.
Beneficial for our nervoussystem.
I tend to find that for a lot ofnew moms doing like a really
rigid strength training program.
Four days a week, five days aweek of 45 minute strength
(11:05):
training sessions.
It's more than the nervoussystem can handle because we're
not well rested.
We're maybe not doing the bestjob of staying hydrated and
fueling in a really effectiveway, getting lots of protein and
things like that.
And that's where we tend to getburnt out or injured.
So I like getting a couplestrength training sessions and
(11:27):
then a couple like more of agroup fitness style session.
Not because those group fitnessstyle sessions are the most
effective thing you know, sortof objectively in a vacuum to
create the physique change inthe function that we're looking
for.
But because those group fitnessstyle classes offer us variety,
they cater toward ourpreferences.
(11:48):
They can be a little bitshorter.
And they can be supportive ofcalming the nervous system and
having more recovery time sothat we were able to effectively
hit our strength workouts.
So, what are the most effectiveworkouts depends on your goal,
but assuming that your goalsalign with what most of my
clients like to do, then it'salso going to depend on what you
(12:10):
actually will do.
Including your preferences, yourtime availability and your
energy levels.
All of that being equal, likelet's assume we can cater to
those things.
Then most effective is going tobe strength training, and
specifically hypertrophystrength training, building
muscle mass, improving yourmetabolism, creating muscle tone
and creating function where wecan lift heavy things.
(12:34):
And then adding in maybe 50, 50split, maybe it's like 60%
strength training, 40%, 30%.
Mobility, yoga, Pilates, thingsthat are a little bit more
nurturing to the nervous systemand allow you to have a little
bit more recovery time builtinto your program.
If all of that soundscomplicated and difficult to do.
(12:56):
Don't worry.
I have a program for this.
So I do, this is exactly what Ido in my strong as a mother live
program.
It is a progressive overloadstrength training program.
If you feel like you want thatkind of support, I would love
for you to join me.
And if you feel like you want tojust take this information and
run with it.
Great go build yourself the mostcustom individualized program
(13:18):
that does exactly what you need.
Welcome back to the, not your mama
podcast.
This is your host Kelly Bryant.
And this week we are answeringthe age old question.
What workouts are mosteffective?
I get this question all the timefrom people who are new to
workouts or people who arecoming back to working out,
maybe after time off from apregnancy or postpartum or just
(00:27):
life stuff.
So if you're getting back intoworking out and you want to know
what is the most effective thingfor me to do, or maybe it's the
most efficient thing for me todo.
This is going to answer thatquestion.
The first thing we need to knowis what your goal is.
So what's most effective isgoing to depend on your goal.
If you were trying to run amarathon.
(00:47):
Then a max strength, strengthtraining program is not going to
be the most effective thing.
I'm going to make someassumptions about what most of
my listeners Are aiming to do.
And that's just based on theclients who I actually work
with, but let's just suffice tosay, if you're trying to like
lift the most weight in aCrossFit competition or run the
(01:11):
fastest, I'm not talking to you.
So let's just assume that yourgoals are to be functional.
So to be able to chase afteryour kids, to be able to pick
them up to not have pain.
Your goals are to be mobile.
So you want to be able to get upand down off the floor.
You don't want to feel like yourhips are tight.
Maybe you work at a desk and youdon't want to just feel like
(01:31):
you're constantly so tight.
And then last but not least, youprobably have a physique goal,
so you don't necessarily need tobe the leanest person out there,
but you want to wear a bikiniand feel good about how you
look.
So that is generally people callthat like toning or like being
toned.
Yeah.
I'm not wild about that word,but it's generally like a
(01:54):
physique goal of, I want to looklike I work out.
I want to look like I've got alittle bit of muscle.
Maybe I want to burn a littlebit of fat.
So that's our assumption as faras what your goals are.
And if those aren't your goals,if no part of that is your
goals, then maybe the rest ofwhat I'm going to say to you
doesn't apply.
But if those are your goals,It's still remains that the most
(02:16):
effective workout is the workoutthat you will do.
There are a lot of things thatplay into what workout will you
actually get done and thatincludes preferences.
Right?
So all the time when I talk tonew clients, they're like, I
really hate running.
Like I please don't make me run.
And I'm like, No problem.
Like I'm not going to make yourun because I hate running too.
(02:39):
And it doesn't matter what mygoals are.
I'm not going to run.
It would be very silly of me togo be like, I'm going to run a
half marathon because that wouldmake me miserable.
So it's great if we can havesome alignment between our
preferences and our goals, butno matter the goal, you're not
going to do workouts that youdon't enjoy.
At least not for very long.
We know that guilt is not a verystrong motivator and just like
(03:02):
feeling bad about like, I reallyshould do this, it's not usually
very effective.
So we want to make sure thatwe're doing workouts that you
enjoy that are aligned with yourpreferences.
Workouts that you have the timefor.
So one of the biggest mistakesthat I see people make when
they're getting into a newtraining program is being like,
I want to work out five days aweek for 45 minutes or an hour,
(03:22):
or I'll ask someone how muchtime do you think they can, that
you can give me?
And they're like, wow, like, Ireally feel like I shouldn't go
over an hour and I'm like, okay,that's way more time than we
need.
Let's pare it down to like, whatis the most sustainable amount
of time that you can hit?
Consistently.
So maybe there are weeks whereyou're like, oh, I could do five
(03:45):
days a week for 45 minutes.
And there's probably also weekswhere you're like, I could do
three days a week for 25minutes.
And we want to make sure thatyour program is probably
somewhere in the middle so thatit feels like it's something
that you can keep up with.
Then we have energy levels forpeople who are new parents,
energy levels play a bigger rolethan you probably give them
(04:08):
credit for.
It doesn't matter if it's likethe shortest workout.
If it's something that you lovedoing, if it is too much energy,
if it's just more energy thanyou actually have to give,
you're not going to be able toget it done, at least not on a
consistent basis.
So keeping in mind that we wantto cater our workouts, not just
(04:28):
to like, what should work blackand white in a textbook, but
also what you actually have theenergy to give and the sleep
deprivation and the mentalstrain of managing small
children.
It's very, very real.
So we want to keep that in mind,as we are programming, it is
very normal and it's best if wejust accept that your energy
(04:51):
levels for workouts now aredifferent than they were before
you had kids.
So keeping all that in mind thatthe most effective workout is
the workout that you will do.
There's still a lot of wiggleroom.
There's a lot that we can dothat's still aligned with your
preferences, your timeavailability and your energy
availability that still workstoward a specific goal that you
(05:13):
have.
So if we've got that goal ofbeing functional, being mobile
and being, you know, workingtoward a physique goal, then our
most effective workout modalityis going to be strength
training.
This comes as a sup.
It's like a big surprise for alot of people, because most
people assume that if they wantto look toned or lose fat, they
(05:38):
need to do cardio.
And there's nothing wrong withcardio, particularly low
intensity cardio, like going forwalks or like going on a gentle
bike ride, but doing highintensity cardio.
Like, you know, really like fullout spin classes, five days a
week, or going onto theelliptical and like trying to be
(05:59):
in a like heart rate zone three,or maybe like a perceived
exertion of five out of 10.
Doing that for an hour after,you know, you do like some
mobility at the gym, you aregoing to end up actually being
much more hungry.
So most likely you're going toeat a lot more in response to
(06:23):
that calorie burn and you aregoing to be more likely to lose
muscle as well as fat.
If we're strength training, wemay not burn as many calories,
but we're less likely to besuper hungry after those
workouts.
And we are less likely to bewasting muscle.
We're much more likely to beburning fat in that case or
(06:44):
losing fat in that case.
So strength training, is supereffective.
For the fact that it sets you upto not be as hungry.
And there are benefitsmetabolically to having more
muscle on your frame.
Muscle is the most metabolicallydemanding tissue.
So if we are going to be tryingto burn fat, we want to gain
(07:04):
muscle because that's going toraise your metabolic rate, lean
muscle mass increases yourmetabolism.
So.
Adding muscle, even if itdoesn't cause you to see a
change in what the scale showsis going to show up as looking
more toned, and it's going toallow you to eat more food.
(07:25):
The crowd goes wild.
So.
You'll look, you'll get thattone.
Look that you're looking for.
You won't have to starveyourself and you are setting
yourself up hormonally for beingin a much better place later in
life.
Right?
So if you are nearing the end ofyour childbearing years and
you're starting to like hit 40.
(07:47):
Into the forties.
And you're like, how do I makesure that I don't suffer through
menopause or have what manypeople experience, which is like
massive weight gain, notmassive.
But notable weight gain over thecourse of their forties and
fifties, increasing your leanmuscle mass.
So that is your best bet forhealthy joints, healthy tissues,
(08:09):
healthy hormones, and healthyweight through the.
And I should.
Again, I've talked about thisbefore.
Healthy weight isn't really athing, but avoiding unhealthy
weight gain is a thing, right?
We don't want to be just seeingour weight go up for reasons we
can't pinpoint.
Then there's the function aspectof it.
(08:29):
Strength training makes you muchmore functional.
So it allows you to pick up yourkids, to move you know, heavy
things without throwing yourback out or getting injured.
So it has a functional benefitas well.
And then there is the mobilitycomponent where yes, we do want
to be doing mobility work aswell.
I'll touch on that in a second,but also being stronger tends to
(08:52):
actually have some mobilitybenefits as well.
When we are weak, particularlypostpartum.
If we have a lot of instabilityin our, in our connective
tissue, in our joints, we tendto lock up muscularly.
And building strength, gettingstronger makes us let go of some
of that gripping and some ofthat resistance and makes us
(09:13):
more mobile.
So there's a little bit of afunctional benefit as well as a
mobility benefit to strengthtraining.
All that said, put a littleasterisk on that.
We have to kind of go back tothat thought of the most
effective workout is the onethat you will do.
So what do you enjoy?
Often, people don't enjoytraditional strength training,
(09:36):
like do 10 reps rest a minute,do 10 reps rest a minute,
whatever.
That's okay.
We have ways that we can workaround that we can do strength
training, where we have maybe alittle bit of traditional
strength training, and then alittle bit of what is called
metabolic conditioning, whereyou're doing strength work fast.
You're getting your heart rateup.
So you're getting somecardiovascular benefit in
(09:57):
addition to.
Burning a little bit morecalories, but we're not
sustaining that really highcalorie burn in a way that makes
you super hungry, and you arekind of like having, giving
yourself that like, feeling oflike, whah I'm doing lots of
different things and like, itfeels much more engaging I tend
to find.
So that's generally how Iprogram strength workouts is
(10:17):
that we get a little bit oftraditional strength training.
We get a little bit of circuittraining or interval training or
metabolic conditioning, somekind of like fast engaging
strength training in there aswell.
And then when I program, I willusually also program some days
that are just Pilates style ofwork or just yoga style work or
just an opportunity for you todo some active recovery.
(10:42):
Which is going to be beneficialfor your flexibility, beneficial
of course, for function as well.
If you're doing core work andthings like that, mobility and.
Beneficial for our nervoussystem.
I tend to find that for a lot ofnew moms doing like a really
rigid strength training program.
Four days a week, five days aweek of 45 minute strength
(11:05):
training sessions.
It's more than the nervoussystem can handle because we're
not well rested.
We're maybe not doing the bestjob of staying hydrated and
fueling in a really effectiveway, getting lots of protein and
things like that.
And that's where we tend to getburnt out or injured.
So I like getting a couplestrength training sessions and
(11:27):
then a couple like more of agroup fitness style session.
Not because those group fitnessstyle sessions are the most
effective thing you know, sortof objectively in a vacuum to
create the physique change inthe function that we're looking
for.
But because those group fitnessstyle classes offer us variety,
they cater toward ourpreferences.
(11:48):
They can be a little bitshorter.
And they can be supportive ofcalming the nervous system and
having more recovery time sothat we were able to effectively
hit our strength workouts.
So, what are the most effectiveworkouts depends on your goal,
but assuming that your goalsalign with what most of my
clients like to do, then it'salso going to depend on what you
(12:10):
actually will do.
Including your preferences, yourtime availability and your
energy levels.
All of that being equal, likelet's assume we can cater to
those things.
Then most effective is going tobe strength training, and
specifically hypertrophystrength training, building
muscle mass, improving yourmetabolism, creating muscle tone
and creating function where wecan lift heavy things.
(12:34):
And then adding in maybe 50, 50split, maybe it's like 60%
strength training, 40%, 30%.
Mobility, yoga, Pilates, thingsthat are a little bit more
nurturing to the nervous systemand allow you to have a little
bit more recovery time builtinto your program.
If all of that soundscomplicated and difficult to do.
(12:56):
Don't worry.
I have a program for this.
So I do, this is exactly what Ido in my strong as a mother live
program.
It is a progressive overloadstrength training program.
If you feel like you want thatkind of support, I would love
for you to join me.
And if you feel like you want tojust take this information and
run with it.
Great go build yourself the mostcustom individualized program
(13:18):
that does exactly what you need.
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