How Strength Training Enhances Mental Toughness and Reduces Stress (Amanda Nigg) | Ep 301 - Wits & Weights | Fat Loss, Nutrition, & Strength Training for Lifters

Episode Transcript
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Philip Pape (00:01):
If anxiety, stress or life's overwhelming demands
have been holding you back andyou've been searching for a
practical way to build truemental resilience, strength
training might be just what youneed.
Today, I'm talking with AmandaNigg, who rebuilt her life
through lifting after losingeverything in a devastating fire
.
You'll learn the science behindwhy pushing weights builds your

(00:22):
psychological armor, practicalways that busy, hardworking
people can use fitness tostrengthen body and mind, and
how physical resilience directlytranslates to mental toughness
in everyday life.
Today's episode will show youwhy lifting weights might be the
most powerful therapeutic toolyou're not using.
Welcome to Wits and Weights,the show that helps you build a

(00:50):
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and
efficiency.
I'm your host, philip Pape, andtoday I've invited on Amanda
Nigg, aka the FarmFit Mama, todiscuss the connection between
strength training, which we alllove, and mental toughness.
Amanda is a certified personaltrainer, nutrition coach,
wellness expert, who foundedFarmFit Training after
rebuilding her life throughfitness following a devastating

(01:13):
house fire in 2020.
She's a busy farm wife andmother.
She lives on a 114-year-oldSouth Dakota farm and brings
that unique experience tohelping hardworking people
develop physical and mentaltoughness through structured
training and nutrition.
Today, you're going to learnhow doing physically hard things
like lifting weights buildpsychological resilience almost

(01:34):
like nothing else.
Some strategies to managestress and anxiety through
lifting and tips for building aroutine that works for you to
build that stronger body andmind.
Amanda, welcome to the show.

Amanda Nigg (01:45):
I love it.
I love it, thank you.
Thanks for having me.

I'm excited to be here and we were chatting before
we got on about.
You know you can see a barnoutside your door.
You're in the agricultureindustry.
There's so much happening thereand even though I'm not a city
boy, I'm in Connecticut.
We live on six acres ourselveswith some trees.
A lot of folks may or may notrelate to that lifestyle.

(02:09):
What I thought was cool abouttalking to you today is that
kind of resilience and toughnessthat you might have from
practical experience with thefarming lifestyle, but also
working with clients and whatyou've discovered through
fitness.
So, to kick things off, I justwant to ask you what mental
changes do happen when someonestarts lifting weights.

Oh my gosh, there's so many.
A lot of people don'tunderstand the interconnection
between mental health andphysical health.
You really can't look at one orthe other when you're talking
about physical fitness.
Your mental health is going tobe right there, it's going to be
impacted, it's going to bechanged just by working on
yourself.
And a lot of people think, oh,you know, taking that time for

(02:51):
myself, it's more like a selfishendeavor and it really isn't,
because you impact those aroundyou in a positive manner by
taking care of yourself.
And the same token with mentalhealth.
Like you can't work on yourmental health without tapping
into your physical health.
And so I think the biggest thing, especially in my industry, is,

(03:11):
you know, things are advancingas far as technology.
Like they're coming out withself drive tractors, believe it
or not.
Like we don't have one on ourfarm, but man would, I love one.
But the cool thing is, like youknow, as technology advances,
what's not advancing in myindustry is health and physical
health, and we're talkingphysical and mental health, and
so it was one of those thingswhere there's tons of amazing

(03:35):
influencers.
I hate that word, by the wayinfluencer, I just hate it.
I'm like, if you're passionateabout something, why do we have
to label it as influencers?
But that's a whole balling.
But as far as agriculture goes,there's tons of people out there
that are bridging that gapbetween consumer and producer,
which I'm also doing, that aswell, like I'm really debunking
those myths.

(03:55):
But what wasn't present in ourindustry is somebody standing up
for physical and mental health,and that's really where I focus
on.
I really want to be able tobridge that gap when it comes to
physical and mental health formy industry.
And a lot of people don'trealize like agriculture is your
backbone of the world.
We're not just talking likeit's the world.

(04:17):
Like without the food system,nobody would exist.
You know we have those hobbyfarms, everybody, and don't get
me wrong, I have my own gardenthat I'd like to dabble in and
think I'm an advanced farmerwhen it comes to my own garden,
even though weeds take it over.
But with that being said, youknow, physical health and mental
health is something that I'msuper passionate about and I

(04:38):
love to keep educating myself.
Like I, just because I have thecertifications doesn't mean I
stop.
Like I actually just purchasedanother certification off of
NASM for sports nutrition, andso I'm starting to dabble into
sports nutrition and youth aswell, and so I'm always a
student when it comes tolearning and incorporating new
practices that I can bring tothe table.

Love it.
Yeah, Sports nutrition Nowyou're talking my area.
We definitely can chat aboutthat.
Yeah, no, no, Cool, it's it.
That's awesome.
I mean yeah, because it allworks together.
And the more you learn abouteach of these bits and get the
education, the more you realizehow it's all connected.
It's all connected systemically, physiologically and then even
with your mind and with the waywe interact with our professions

(05:22):
and our careers and otherpeople.
So what's interesting is youmentioned the ag industry,
physical mental health.
What that made me think of wasso I'm in the engineering
industry and in manufacturingfor years.
There were always safety issues, right, and the more like, even
ergonomically, just having tobend over to do, you know,
fasten something together on anassembly line could cause back

(05:44):
issues, and over the yearsthey've put in place, uh, more
safeguards, you know, forphysical health.
Mental health is definitelysomething that the whole world
hasn't really talked a lot aboutuntil the last maybe decade or
two maximum.
I don't know if you agree withthat.
That's what I've observed.

I wouldn't even say the last couple of years, yeah.

Yeah, no couple of years True.

Yeah, like no, mental health wasn't talked
about a lot.
It was more of a stigma of like, if you talked about it, like
you were weak, is how peoplekind of viewed mental health.
And then, ever since the C wordI don't know if I should say it
here, but ever since 2020, like, a lot more people are open
about it and, I case in point,my whole story is about it, you
know, and so it's a topic thatis being brought out and talked

(06:28):
about a lot more, which isreally cool to see, because if
you can talk about your mentalhealth struggles, it actually
shows how strong you are.
It's not a weakness, it's astrength, and I think it's
really cool how industries arestarting to talk about it, and I
would definitely say it's moreprevalent in the last couple of
years, believe it or not, in myopinion, and tell me more about
that I would love to hear aboutin that industry, because we

(06:51):
never talk about that industryon this show, so it's pretty
cool.

What have they recognized and put in place?
Because I'm sure there's somegeneral lessons there for
anybody.

Well, I mean in rural America, rural anywhere,
and we're talking internationalas well like they're just, the
services are very slim.
It's not like I can go to acounselor, like I still have to
drive 45 minutes to even acounselor, you know, and when I
was going through my strugglesin 2020, like so, to give a
little bit background, yeah,please do tell me is, um, I

(07:23):
actually graduated college as aradiation oncology therapist, so
a medical degree.
Like, I have that fixerpersonality, I love to fix
things.
And the reason I went intooncology is it was an industry
that I really wanted tounderstand.
We're talking like 14 years ago, I just put a date on myself.
I feel old.
Now I'm like 22.
Come on, oh, I wish, let's sayI look it now.

(07:48):
But like 22, come on, oh I wish.
Uh, let's say I look at.
But you know, even a long timeago, when I went into the
oncology field, there was somuch that people didn't
understand in that industry andthat's what really drove me to
it, because I wanted tounderstand it and be that fixer
solution.
And so later in my adventures,I ended up selling door-to-door
insurance because, like, theythrew me in pediatric oncology
and I'll be the first to tellyou like, fresh out of college,

(08:09):
I wasn't ready for that industry.
That is like those people aresaints that can stay in that
industry.
And so when I started sellinginsurance, I did door-to-door
sales and I learned a lot aboutmyself in that process because,
like, door-to-door sales is thehardest type of sell that you
will ever have to do.
You have five seconds to makethat first impression, and so I

(08:30):
learned a lot in that atpersonally, but also the
supplemental coverage that Isold.
It was still that fixer type ofsolution where it would money
directly to the person if theywent through a catastrophic
illness like cancer, heart oraccidental, but in the same
token, it allowed people tochoose the quality care they
want instead of the quality carethey could afford.

(08:50):
So I loved it.
I actually sold insurance for 11years, believe it or not, which
is insane to say, but in 2020,the day before the national
pandemic, we just built ourforever home.
That was actually half a mileaway from the farm and me and my
husband poured our heart andsoul Like he was the contractor
for our house project everythingand, as you probably can

(09:12):
already guess, our house burneddown.
We lost everything.
So, march 19th 2020, we lostour entire home.
And then the next day was theofficial quotations here
lockdown.
And so it was like not only wasthe world and you know,
especially in the United Statesgoing through this lockdown of
like nobody knew what washappening, you know, and we're

(09:35):
all guessing like and it youknow, there's tons of
speculation soaring around Ourfamily was homeless, like we had
nowhere to go and and youcouldn't even go to a grocery
store.
Like everything was shut down.
And so, like I was superstruggling, like I really
started to struggle with mymental health, like I wasn't
able to sell insurance anymore.

(09:55):
I'm homeschooling my children.
I'm social distancing, whichI'm an extreme extrovert, like I
love to be around people.
And then, in addition to that,like we're homeless and we're
trying to figure out our nextsteps on top of all this and it
was a lot to take in Like I'llbe the first to admit like I was
very vocal about my mentalhealth struggles, because it's

(10:17):
just like I had the onlysolution that was available was
a 1-800 number, which, again,that works for some people and I
don't want to downplay that.
Like, if you're reallystruggling, yes, definitely call
that, but for me, I viewed itas like a bandaid approach.
It's like why would you cover abullet wound with a bandaid?
Because that you don't really.
You're talking to a completestranger, dumping your emotions

(10:38):
out.
And then what happens?
When it happens again andyou're struggling again, you're
going to have to relive, openthat bullet wound back up, get
all that information back outand then try to work where
you're going through in thatmoment.
And so, like for me, I reallydove hard into my fitness
journey.
I started going to our junkpile.
My husband would bring merandom like junk pile tires like

(11:01):
I'm covered in talking, coveredin dirt, like this, these junk
pile tires.
Because like'm covered intalking, covered in dirt, like
just these junk pile tires.
Cause, like my gym was in ourhome and he knew how much I
loved, you know, taking thattime for myself.
And he understood the valuethat I did and how it would
allow me, you know, to be ableto give to our family, because
it's a lot harder to pour from ahalf empty cup than a half full
.
And he understood like, hey, Ineed to take that time for

(11:24):
myself.
And so I started posting theserandom workouts online and I
wasn't certified at the time andI remember the pivoting moment
for me, the aha moment was inMay of 2020 that I launched this
plank challenge and it wasnothing crazy, felt like it was
some generic program I sawonline and I kind of tweaked it
a little bit and made it moreuniversal and I launched it

(11:47):
online for the month of May,which is Mental Health Awareness
Month, and I had 800 pluspeople in agriculture across the
world participate in this, LikeI honestly don't know the
number.
I mean, I was getting taggedleft and right from people from
Australia, uk, canada, unitedStates and it really just opened
my eyes like nobody's reallytackling that physical and

(12:10):
mental health component withinthis industry.
And it was just.
Like you know, I did a coupleother challenges later that year
, but it really lit my firewhere I decided to go back to
get me my personal training innutrition.
It was where I started and Iofficially opened the doors to
FarmFit training February 5th of2021.
Because it was like you know,if nobody's going to do this, I

(12:34):
want to be that change.
I want to give individuals asolution to where they have a
space.
If they were like me, thatwouldn't call that number.
Yeah.

Yeah, you wanted to be that change and you did.
That sounds like in less than ayear, totally unexpected, and
that's a rough story.
Obviously, I'm sure you've toldthe story many times.
That's probably therapeutic inand of itself, but what I want
to know is there's some stepsskipped there that the audience
wants to know of.
You said you did these workoutsafter the house burned down and

(13:04):
that helped push you through it.
That implies that you werealready.
You know cause you had a gym inyour house.
Yeah, would you say, cause.
What's the chicken and egg here?
Pun intended farm joke, I guesswe do have chickens, by the way
.
What came first, chicken or egg?
What came first?
The lifting or the mental kindof resilience?

(13:25):
You know what I'm saying?
That's really the topic oftoday is how strongly did your
existing routine and love forfitness push you through it
versus it drove you to it?
You know what I mean 100%.

I was that overweight mom, so I've always
been physically active.
I am a very strong competitor.
Like, I grew up playing sports.
I was the type of kid that wasin every sport imaginable and I
would excel in every singlesport.
Like, I have a very competitivedrive to me and when I went
into motherhood I'm five, oneand a buck, 20, 120, 125.

(13:59):
Like, I gained 60 pounds.
My first pregnancy, like beingpregnant, did a number on my
body and I had two.
My first pregnancy was anemergency C-section.
My second one was a scheduledC-section.
So, like it wasn't even likeyour typical normal pregnancy.
It was rough and I'm thank God.
I love my boys to death, butI'm officially done having kids.

Understandable.

But you know, like I was that mom that was
uncomfortable in her own skin.
I was that super insecure withwho I was, and so for me I knew
I had to get back to feelingcomfortable in my own skin.
And that looks different foreverybody, like how you view
yourself and and and they throwthis word confidence out and
first and foremost, a lot.
There's two ways you can viewconfidence Like.

(14:47):
You can view it as likecockiness.
Some people have that cockyconfidence.
But another way to viewconfidence is believing in your
own abilities and what you bringto the table.
And for me I didn't have that.
And so when I started workingout, I actually started with a
CrossFit program which I don'tfollow her anymore.
She went all bougie.
If you've heard of ChristmasAbbott, she's a CrossFit person.

I'll just be honest .
I kind of stay away from theCrossFit community these days,
but okay.

That is a, that's a cult.
Let's just say what it is.

I did it for eight years but yeah, I escaped.
I escaped the cult.

Well, the CrossFit community appealed to me because
it was just you see, all thesebad-ass people and you're like.
I'm part of that, and so, um,when I, after my second
pregnancy, I did do a couple ofCrossFit programs and I loved it
and and my husband saw thechange in my personality, like
in my motivation and justcarrying myself, like how I
carried myself every day, todayit was like I had a purpose.

(15:47):
And so I guess, back to yourchicken and egg comment I had to
start working out to tap intomy mental health to be to where
I am today, and so that's whathappened in 2020.
When I lost my gym is I knew Ihad to go back to the ground and
get to back to the foundationof diving that time into myself

(16:08):
so that I could be able to showup powerfully for my family,
especially when we were goingthrough so many unknowns in 2020
.

Yeah, that's well said.
I caught a few things therethat were kind of the deeper
part of why that was importantto you, one being having a
purpose, you said, and the otherthe confidence and showing up
for yourself, time for yourself.
There's a mindfulness component, especially when we're in the
stressed world where we're juston the go, never dedicate.
I mean, I get that as abusiness owner and you know a

(16:41):
very packed schedule, my liftingfour days a week.
It just is going to happen Likematter.
What it's going to happen, Imean, short of some emergency,
and yet I probably wouldn't havea really dedicated self-time
without that.
So, having said that, I want tounderstand the elements of
training and exercise that aremost beneficial, both in the
evidence if I don't know howmuch up on all the evidence you

(17:03):
are but also in practicalexperience, because sometimes I
feel like people use exercise ingeneral uh, stressful exercise
as well, like CrossFit can be asmaybe a scapegoat or an escape
that doesn't actually reducestress or anxiety or it doesn't
actually, uh, build theconfidence and the resilience

(17:24):
right.
It's almost like an endorphinor dopamine hit band-aid.
What are your thoughts on thatspectrum between that and
something that's trulyrejuvenatory?
Yeah, that's a beautiful word,by the way, just made it, just
came up out of my ass.
I love it, I love it.

Well, first and foremost, people overcomplicate
things let's just lay it out asit is and especially when it
comes to fitness, they thinkthey need to work out an hour to
two hours a day and they'relike, oh, I don't have time.
The number one excuse,especially in my community, was
time, and so I've done a ton ofresearch.
To answer your question, I'vegot 800 plus page scientific

(18:00):
journals and I remember comingacross this one scientific
journal and it really hit homefor me, and it took these two
groups of people, 50-50.
It took the first group.
They had four movements.
The second group had the exactsame four movements, but the
first group had only four roundsof these four movements and it

(18:20):
was like a 15 to 25 minuteworkout.
And then the second group hadto.
They didn't have a number, therounds weren't given, they just
had to go for time, which was 45minutes to an hour.
And what they'd noticed overthe course of this three month
trial period is the group thathad the set time not only
performed better but lost morefat, built more muscle and had

(18:44):
more mental health clarity thanthe group that had to work the
45 minutes to an hour.
And the reason for this isprogressive overload.
A lot of people overcomplicateexercises where they think they
have to do a ton of differentmovements to get a full body
workout.
And if you simplify that andthat's what we do in FarFit
trainings, we really specializeon that quick and effective

(19:06):
methodology Like, hey, I'm goingto give you a 15 to 25 minute
workout but I'm going to humbleyour ass in that time, but then
you get on with your day and so,like the biggest thing,
especially out there in thisindustry and you can probably
contest this is people makeexcuses because they're afraid
of getting started, or they usetime as an excuse, like I don't

(19:27):
have the time to invest inmyself right now because I don't
want to make that time is whatit boils down to.
And so it was one of thosethings where that scientific
journal was super eyeopening tome, where it was just like, okay
, if I'm going to createsomething, it's got to be quick
and effective.
We have to teach how to doprogressive overload correctly,

(19:48):
and we have to really educatepeople that you don't need a lot
of equipment.
You can use a tire or a tractorweight Like you don't have to
have this big fancy gym, or ifyou have access to a gym, great.
But I knew it had to be anat-home program where I could
really take that excuse of timeoff the plate.
And that's the same withnutrition.
We really approach nutritiondifferently too, and so it's

(20:11):
just like I really wanted tohone in on both of those and
create something that wassustainable, that where
individuals could show up forthemselves and put in the work,
but it could be a part of theireveryday life.

You're using all the keywords that I love, amanda
sustainable, time-efficient,progressive overload and this is
really good.
I want people listening orwatching to get this message.
Number one you said the biggestexcuse is time.
I was just talking to mydaughters I think it was last
night so every night we put in abed, we have these.
Somehow we're getting thesedeep conversations.

(20:46):
They're only 10 and 12.
They're actually turning 11 and13.
But we were talking about howthe speed of light is fixed and
we were talking about relativitybelieve it or not, I know it's
weird, we homeschool our kidstoo and we were talking about
time as like it's fixed, right,I mean, it's not fixed.
If you're traveling near thespeed of light, then it can kind
of bend and stuff, but it's theonly thing you can't change and

(21:07):
what you're getting at is thatthat's the one you can make it
as in, you can clear it fromyour schedule, right, but you
can't like create more time, sothat's that's important, to just
acknowledge that.
Like you can't change 24 hours,so it's up to you to change
other things to fit within the24 hours.
But then the progressiveoverload as a way to be time
efficient, simplify, reducestress, humble yourself, like

(21:30):
you said, I love that andeffectively do something hard
that I think pays off longerterm in terms of the high you
get from it.
Let's just say, in which case,what I want to ask you, amanda,
with this long diatribe, is whatdo you say to people who say,
well, that's not hard enough,that's not intense enough, that
doesn't like I, like myCrossFitter, I like my you know,

(21:50):
big, intense, my, my Pelotontype workouts?
What do you say to those people?

Peloton is made for the masses, it's not made for
yourself.
So, first and foremost, any ofthose programs Beachbody,
peloton they're made for themasses.
They're not going to challengeyou like a good program like per
se, phillip or I put together.
I promise you that.
And secondly, workouts shouldhumble you and you should hire a

(22:17):
coach that can actually educateyou on the process.
Like, a lot of people don'tunderstand progressive overload
correctly, even fitnessinstructors out there, like
fitness people, I've seen themexplain it so wrong.
And so, when you're doingprogressive overload correctly,
the first and foremost let'sdebunk this myth that gets
thrown out there in the fitnessspace is lifting heavy weights
will make you bulky, especiallyfor females.
That is such a false lie.

(22:39):
I am a 5'1 and I'm 125 pounds.
Trust me, I'm not bulky.

You guys need to check out her.
You gave me like a photo to usefor the cover art and you're
like, it looks like you're inthe jungle.
I know it's like a farm thing,but there's like leaves and
again, and I'm not, it's not abody image thing, but you can
tell I say this all the timewhen a woman is like muscular
and lean, like you have a fit,lean figure and I bet you weigh
more than people think, right,Like, and you're being 5'1".

Like they see me and they're like, they don't
like, especially when I'mwearing baggy clothes, like I'm
petite, I'm 5'1", you know I'mfun size, and so when they see
me they don't understand thestrength that I have.
And so, like, for example, Ialways your muscles Like it,
like it cracks me up becauselike that I can come over and

(23:26):
lift the heavy stuff and helphim, like when we're fixing our
combine or tractor.
He knows I can do it.
Um, but a lot of peopleunderestimate my strength
ability.
And that's the thing too islike ladies here is going to
make you leaner, tighter,smaller.
And a lot of women, when theyjoin a program, what's the
number one word?
They always say Tone, I want tobe toned.
The only way you're going toget toned is if you pick up

(23:49):
those weights.
Do not shy away from that.
And then you know again, maleand female chemical makeup is a
lot different.
We're not the same geneticprofile.
So when a male picks up heavierweight, you know, and hits his
protein numbers, he's going tolook a lot different compared to
a female.
Yes, there's some females andmale influencers out there that

(24:09):
are taking that steroid and theylook manly.
Let's just like females thatlook manly.
But if you're doing itcorrectly and incorporating
progressive overload correctly,you're going to get leaner,
smaller, tighter ladies andthose men are going to see that
progress that they're lookingfor.
You know most men want thatchest, the arms, the back, you
know.
And so you're going to see thatprogress a lot more.

(24:31):
And the thing with progressiveoverload is it's got to be
taught correctly and again,there's so many fitness
influencers that do not teach itcorrectly, and so that's
actually what one of the thingsI love covering with my clients
and educating them on is likeokay, this is how progressive
overload looks like you want tostart, you want to warm your

(24:52):
body up before you work out, youwant to hit your max, like a
lot of people reverse.
This, by the way, is you wantto hit your max weight in the
beginning and by the end.
If you have to drop to maintainform, that's good, because
you're hitting muscle failureearlier on instead of later in
your workout.
You don't want to hit musclefailure at the end of your

(25:15):
workout.
And again back to that casestudy.
That's what that case studytalked about is a lot of that
group that had the set rounds,those four rounds, in that 15 to
25 minute workout.
Guess what?
They pushed the weight becausethey knew they were only going
to be doing it for 15 to 25minutes, versus that group that
worked out for 45 minutes to anhour.
They're like gosh.
We got to do this for the longhaul.
I'm not going to pick upheavier weights, so they
probably didn't hit musclefailure until the end of the

(25:37):
workout versus the beginning,and so there's a lot that
happens with that, which I don'tknow how deep you want to go
into this, but, like you know,you have to create those micro
tears in your muscle and that'show you build and repair it, and
obviously nutrition plays ahuge component into that as well
.

Yeah, for sure.
I mean, I could definitely talkfor hours about all the
mechanisms underlying musclebuilding and strength.
What I would love the listenerto get from this, from you, is
you know you said it's a hard,humbling thing.
I always like to say, if you'relifting weight, weight's the
right way.
It'll never be easy, but lifeis going to be a lot easier
because you're stronger likelater on, you know when you do

(26:18):
every day task.

you know like, think about it Like I dropped
that nugget in there that myhusband texts me saying he wants
my muscles.
You know, it's like that.
It's the fact that my husbandviews me as an asset and knows
that I can help him.
I just love it.
You know like you'reindependent.

You're not only independent, you contribute even
more than independence.
Like you know what I mean.

Like you can do those everyday tasks like do you
imagine how, how much you squatand pick up during the day?
Like how many squats people do?
Or even walking, like peopledon't realize how much they use
their muscles in a day, and ifyou're, if you use your muscles
and again strengthen them, itmakes those everyday motions a
lot easier, um, a lot way, a loteasier to be able to handle.

(27:04):
Where, like, there was thisreally strong commercial.
Tell me if you saw this, though.
This commercial was it like an80 year old grandpa and he
started lifting weights, and inthis commercial it was a
christmas commercial.
He was lifting this weight andhis neighbors were older people.
They'd peek in and on him.
He was out in his garagelifting this kettlebell, like
just kept doing this kettlebellmoment and, um, they kept

(27:28):
talking about him.
You know, like, why is heworking out at 80 and stuff?
Well, at the end, the reasonwhy he was working out is he
wanted to be able to lift hisgranddaughter, to put the star
on the tree.
Yeah, I've seen that one.
That's a good one, and you knowthe thing, the point of that one
super powerful, first andforemost, but the huge point
there is a lot of people are notgoing to understand the things

(27:49):
that you do, and when you diveinto a fitness journey, you
might get flack and you mightget people being like, oh, look
at her, she's posting picturesof herself again on the internet
.
Or look at her, she's braggingabout her meal that she ate
today.
You're not doing this foreverybody else.
You're doing it for yourself,but you're going to slowly
impact those around you and youhave to realize, like you're

(28:12):
your longest commitment andchecking in with yourself and
being able to be like you knowwhat.
I don't want to be that80-year-old sitting in a nursing
home who's tied to a wheelchair.
I want to be that 80 oldfreaking, busting out pull-ups
and being that grandma that'ssuper hands-on and so it's just
that type of mental switch wheresomething that I do with every

(28:33):
single one of my clients is wedo a wise statement.
Have you ever done that before?

Yeah, or the five wise yeah.

Well, we don't do the five wise, we do a wise
statement.
So the wise statement is yourdeepest, darkest emotions you
have about yourself.
So before anybody can evenstart coaching with us,
especially in my one-on-onecoaching, is they have to create
this wise statement.
Sometimes it's superficial, youknow.
I want to look good, feel good.
Or other times it's like my momwas obese.
I don't want to be obese.

(28:59):
I want to change that patternfor my family.
I to be obese.
I want to change that patternfor my family.
I want to be an active,hands-on mom or dad, you know
sometimes Be a role model for mykids.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Sometimes it gets super deep and that's when you
know you're on the right path ofcreating your why statement.
Because those why statementslike motivations, fleeting, it's
going to come and go, but whenyou tap back into that why
statement, it's going to changeas you go through your fitness
journey, but it's going to besuper powerful tool, not only
physically but mentally, todrive you to be like you know
what this is, why I'm showing up.
I'm showing up for myself,because I want to be that active
, hands-on mom.

(29:33):
I want to be that mom where allthose other moms are sitting
there talking on the sidelineand the boys are playing
football and I'm right there andI'm totally that mom.
So I have a nine-year-old and11-year-old boy.
I'm a boy mom and I am totallythat mom.
Like they were playing footballthe other day and I was right in
there playing tackle footballwith a bunch of 11-year-olds.

(29:53):
You know why all these otherparents were sitting on the
sidelines and it's just like youknow.
I choose to have an activelifestyle because there's so
many moments where I'm not goingto have that with my kids as
they get older and I'm not goingto be the cool mom anymore and
I don't.
I want to take advantage of itas much as possible, and if
tapping into myself for 20minutes a day gets me to those

(30:15):
goals and keeps me being able tobe that hands-on mom, I'm going
to do it.

Yeah, and that's the powerful thing here is that
you have the deep why and nowyou have a process to get you
there and the process itselfisn't really that.
I'm not going to say hard Again.
It's hard to lift weights, butin a good way.
But it doesn't have to betaking over your life and this
stressful thing that you hate ordon't look forward to, like a
lot of workouts can be.
And I can totally relate, right, because we have dogs, I have

(30:41):
kids, we have chickens, theyhave hamsters and I love to just
like get on the floor and crawlaround and just whatever.
You know, my, my girls aregetting tall and bigger and then
you know, my youngestespecially, will still ask me to
hold her and I'm like sure,brace Cause it's more of a
deadlift.
Now you're heavier, it's cool,you're bigger, but let's do to
the lifting weights then, like agreat example is.

(31:05):
You know, I see it all the timewith clients.
I'm sure you do too.
This amazing thing that happensis transformation.
That happens fairly early on.
I mean it could be within thefirst few weeks, where you don't
necessarily see muscle or havelike lost many inches in your
waist, but you're feeling morepowerful and strong and like
there's hormones that are justbeing triggered testosterone,

(31:26):
igf-1, like all this fun stuff.
Maybe tell us about thephysiology, because then that
leads to the mental piece, whichis also physiological, not just
like emotional per se.
How does training affect yourhormones, your stressors, that
feeling of power, like we canget into all that?
I know how passionate you areabout this.

Well, I'm super passionate, but we're going to
hit nutrition into that at somepoint as well.
But you know, like lift moreweight, first and foremost you
release this amazing thingcalled endorphins and those are
like our body's natural ability,it's like your happy pill and,
first and foremost, a lot ofpeople once you start to tap
into it.
That's why you see peopleworking out years and years and

(32:08):
years later because they lovethat.
They love that adrenaline rushand that's one thing I love too
in the morning when I work out,just that feeling of
accomplishment that I get of,like I checked in for myself.
This is a big deal, you know,and some days not my lifts are
not the best, I'll be the firstto tell you.
Some days I'm like that was ashady workout, sorry.

I don't know if I should have said that it's all
good.
It's all good.

Like you know, and there's other days where I like
I crush that and I into it.
Not going too deep and keepingthis in layman terms is your
body is this amazing mechanismand, like a lot of people don't

(32:50):
realize, like when you start tolift those weights, there's so
much happening in your body andit becomes this addicting agent
where you're like I want tocheck in the next day, I want to
come back, you know, andsometimes that takes time.
Like progress I think that youhit that right on the head is
progress takes time and thebiggest thing is it takes
consistency.

(33:11):
Don't expect to lose 20 poundsin the first month.
First and foremost.
If you did, I'd be able tocrash diet or something.
We all diet culture and you'regoing to get all back because
you're not establishing thosehabits.
You have to create those habitsand progress takes time and
it's it's the more consistentyou are with, like, lifting

(33:33):
weights, like I do.
Something called functionalhybrid training is what I really
specialize in and, again, ittakes time and we really explain
that to clients where it's likeyou know you're going to start
to notice mental changes as youstart to lift and show up for
yourself way before you start tosee the physical changes.
And I think everybody needs toknow that is like physical

(33:55):
changes they will come and theywill come differently for each
people, like I had a client thatwent through 12 weeks and
didn't really see a lot ofphysical changes in 12 weeks,
believe it or not, but she sawmajor changes mentally.
I shit you not after 12 weeks,week four or um, it would have
been 14, 14, week 14.

(34:15):
It's like her body just wentboom, started seeing the muscle
definition.
She started seeing the popping,her pants size was a lot
smaller, she started seeing herabs and it was like her body
just all of a sudden justflipped a script.
And that's the cool thing toois like your body's unique and
it's going to change when itneeds to.
But the biggest thing is youhave to be consistent and you

(34:36):
have to believe in the processand the journey, and a lot of
people tend to tap out beforethe magic even happens.

Yeah, I totally know what you mean.
Just today I was talking to aclient.
We've worked together a longtime.
She's going to go on on her own.
That's usually what I want isfor someone to fire me.
But at the same time I'm likesad.
And we look back at her dataand there was a time early on
where her scale weight basicallystayed exactly the same and she
dropped like four and a halfpercent body fat.

(35:02):
But we looked at her check-insback then and it was like all of
these mental things.
It was like, oh my gosh, I'mdoing something I've never done
before.
Oh my goodness.
And yeah, clothes are fittingbetter and whatnot.
But it's this accomplishmentwin, win, win.
You know whether it isendorphins and dopamine and also
, just seeing, you know the dataas well.
All of it comes together.

(35:25):
Um, it's really empowering.
And you're right, like men andwomen will respond differently.
It'll be based on yournutrition, based on how you hold
onto.
Maybe fluid, if you're gettingsuper like, strong and jacked
quickly, that could actuallycause you to gain weight, right,
like, and you know, and kind ofoffset Right, and so and again,
once they plateau, they're notdoing the training right,
because you should never plateauif you're doing it correctly,

(35:47):
sure.
Yeah, absolutely so.
Then you mentioned consistencyseveral times and there's all
these words that get thrown outConsistency, motivation,
willpower, discipline Did I saydiscipline?
And you also mentioned time andhardworking people who are
super busy, and I can't imaginelike farming, for example,
always seemed to me like a veryhard scrabble, tough, you know,
kind of lifestyle when it comesto finding that time.

(36:09):
So how do you do it all Like?
How do you not make excuseswhen you know life's going to be
chaotic, it's going to be busy?
How do you prioritize that?

Well, for me personally are you talking
clients?
Because me personally, I justknow that if I don't, for me to
give to others and so Imentioned that earlier and I
don't know if you caught thatnugget is I mentioned the glass
half full, half empty, thrownaround a lot, like it's a lot
harder to pour from a half emptycup than a half full, and
that's super powerful, Like ifyou think about it, like when

(36:38):
you have, when you show up foryourself, you have the ability
to give to others because youchecked in with yourself.
And again, it's not beingselfish, it's being, it's
realizing if I don't check alittle time, how am I able to
give to my family?
You know, my husband's superbusy on our farm we're just
gearing up for planting season.
I have two boys that are superbusy and ton of sports.

(36:59):
They're very active, little men, busy and ton of sports.
They're very active little men.
And it's just like I know as amother, like I can't give to
them until I give to myself.
And that doesn't mean I'm beingselfish, it just means I want
to be a good mother and I wantto show them and lead by an
example.
And so when people say theydon't have the time, or come
with those excuses like how do Ijuggle it all is I get up at 5

(37:21):
am.
I'll be honest, I don't have touse alarm clock.
My body just wakes up and myboys know it.
On the weekends it seems likethey love to wake up super early
, and during the week it's astruggle to get them out the
door to school, but on weekendsthey'll mosey up at 5.
Like, sometimes they'll join mein my workout or other times

(37:42):
they'll sit there and watch meand have a conversation while
I'm working out, and I cherishthose moments because I know I'm
showing them how to take careof their body and I love, I love
having my boys join me in thekitchen.
Like they'll make snacks withme, they'll they'll pipe in and
make dinners with me.
I actually have a recipe I'mdropping tomorrow that my
youngest made with me and it'sjust so cool to teach them and

(38:04):
educate them how to feel theirbody, because I was one of those
people that came from a motherthat was always on the hamster
whale diet culture.
Like my mom right now is takingOzempic, which don't get me
started on that Not a fan, not afan, but you know, like she's
always looking for those quickfixes, and same with my sister,
and I didn't want that.
I wanted to show them like, hey, let's do this the correct way.

(38:27):
Let me show you how to like bephysically fit, but also let's
dive into nutrition.
Let me educate you aboutnutrition and feeling your body
and how, what it does to yourbody.
And it's such coolopportunities that I have with
my children where I get toeducate the way, and it's so
cool because then I use thosemoments and I bring it to our

(38:48):
community.
You know, in my space, farm fittraining is like it's not just
me having those moments, it's aton of my clients.
Like we have a community groupchat in my app and I'll have
pictures.
Clients post pictures of themworking out with their kids at 5
am.
Or some of my farmers prefer towork out at the end of the day
and they'll post it.

(39:08):
Or I have have farmers attend.
We do something called Farmcastonce a month where I do like
educational hour hour longeducationals and they'll be in
the tractor listening to me, inthe tractor listening to me, you
know, and it's just like we'rea unique industry.
But again, if your why isstrong enough, uh, the rest.
It will fit into your lifeexactly how it's, but it doesn't

(39:30):
need to be complicated and it'ssuper simple to say that, but
it's, it takes work.

It takes work.
Yeah, absolutely, it takessomething getting over that
initial hump and then, like yousaid, if it's a deep enough
reason, you're doing it.

It's almost inevitable and then eventually
you get to the point where youcouldn't imagine not doing it.
You're doing a step challengefor my community and I wrote my
boys in it.
My son has an Apple Watch.
He doesn't have a phone but hehas an Apple Watch and he
competes with me on steps likemake it fun.
You know, that's the biggestthing is like this should be

(40:15):
something that you look forwardto, you know and it is fun and
something about checking in withyourself.
And so I think a lot of peoplemake it not fun and that's why
they check out so early becausethey view it more as like a task
I have to get done, instead ofbeing like I get the opportunity
to do this, like I can be ableto move my body, I get to be

(40:36):
able to feel my body, body andwhen you, when you view it that
way, just the way you talk aboutit and your language around it,
it's going to impact and it'sgoing to switch your whole
mental health side of things onhow you view what you're doing
for yourself.

Yeah, I agree, I just did squats today and I'll
tell you, Amanda, that that isthat's the one compound lift
that is always been mentallyhardest for me, right, Because
it's just my I'll call itweakest of all the lifts.
And I know I I'm not going tosay I have to do it I know I
want to do it because I'mprogressing it and I have a
training program and I it's beengiving me great results.

(41:13):
And so that leads me to to askyou this is that, while you can
make things as fun as you can,there is an aspect of discomfort
when we talk about progressiveoverload that you have to face,
and how do people handle thatinitially and then they're
effectively.
That's part of training, yourmind, isn't it?
And that's part of theresilience that you get out of
it.
What are your thoughts on thatpiece of like, the actual hard

(41:34):
part of a really heavy squat ordeadlift?

Well, mine's pull-ups, by the way I hate them
Okay.
You hate them, okay, okay I'mnot a fan, but you, everybody
has to start somewhere.
You have to start somewhere.
When I first started pull-upslike I love push-ups which is
really weird like push-ups aremy jam and burpees.
I love push-up and burpees, butwhen you tell me I have to pull
myself up on a bar, I strugglebecause it's just like it's a

(41:59):
whole different beast for memyself.
And so you have to be willingto get uncomfortable to grow.
And if you're not willing to beuncomfortable to grow, you will
never grow.
And so when you get to certainthings that you don't
necessarily enjoy, just look atit as, like, I am growing.
Here I have the opportunity togrow.
Here it's going to get better.

(42:20):
I'm eventually gonna startlifting heavier weights.
I'm eventually going to startlifting heavier weight.
I'm eventually like women.
A lot of women struggle withpushups, for example.
It's just not their favoritething.
And again, you have to bewilling to be uncomfortable to
be able to grow.
And so what I tell my ladies isyour pushup might not look the
best right now.
Watch the video, pay attentionto the cues that I give you.

(42:41):
Send me videos if you want meto look and critique your form,
but you have to still show upfor yourself and still put in
the work, because anytime youwant to grow as an individual,
you have again.
You have to be willing to dothe uncomfortableness to get
through that.
And and I can relate that tolike public speaking I never
thought I would be on stagespublic speaking about physical

(43:03):
and mental health foragriculture at like ag events
not my cup of tea.
But I know like the more I geton stage, the more I get
uncomfortable, the more I cangrow and become a good speaker,
for example, and so like it'sjust anything in life.
You don't even have to tie itto fitness or nutrition or
anything Like it's just.

(43:23):
If you're not willing to getuncomfortable, then there's not
going to be an opportunity forgrowth.

A hundred percent and yeah, and if we could teach
our kids that, that's evenbetter.
My oldest daughter, we havethem go to something called
gavel club, which is like anextension of Toastmasters for
public speaking, cause youmentioned the nervousness of
speaking, the nervousness ofspeaking, and my youngest loves
it.
My oldest is not a fan, mainlyshe doesn't like the group

(43:49):
itself, but that's a differentsituation.
But she will say the way sheframes it, it's like this
positive reframing.
She's like I'm not really a fan, but I know it's good, I know
it's helping me and it's likeyou know what I mean.
It's like that discomfort ofwe're obviously not going to
force her to do something.
That's just terrible.
But this thing is helping hergrow and she acknowledges that
and I think it's a strong skillto develop.
And the younger you are, thebetter right.
Otherwise, we get into habitsof a lot of negative self-talk

(44:12):
and thinking we can't do andquitting.
Yes.

The only time you fail is when you quit yeah.

Yeah, if you don't make the attempt, you've quit.
That's true.
Yeah, my definition Business.

You know, like we're both entrepreneurs, we
both have a fitness business,like there was times in my
fitness business, oh my God.
Like being an entrepreneur is awhole different beast in itself
.
But you know you have to workthrough that uncomfortableness
and and realize like, hey, it'snot going to get better If I
just walk away and throw in thetowel.
Like I have to continue to showup for myself and that goes
with the nutrition.
Nutrition is a beast.

(44:47):
A lot of people struggle whenit comes to nutrition.
Like the actual exercise sideof things.
People can start to get thosehabits and form them.
But tying nutrition to exerciseand tying to filling your body
correctly, that's where a lot ofpeople super struggle because
again, we live in a society thatis all about quick fixes.

Quick fixes yep, and it's confusing so much
misinformation with all themicro stuff that's not important
or doesn't work.

I don't know if you've heard of nutrition, but
this will be interesting if wedive into this.

Oh, nutrition, oh yeah, yeah, no.
So part of our bread and butteris evidence-based, flexible
dieting.
So I highly yeah, yeah, macros,and you know, covering,
covering your micronutrientswith, with a balanced, whole
foods based approach where youcan fit in indulgences and as
long as you're fueling your bodyand getting enough carbs and
not training fasted.

(45:38):
That's one thing.
I don't know if you agree onthat one, but that's generally
what I like to recommend.

I am not an intermittent fast girl.
We're actually on the same page.
So I can't talk about thatbecause that's super important
to talk about.
It's like I am a hugeanti-intermittent fasting.
If you're feeling your bodycorrectly, there's no need to
fast, first and foremost.
And macros for those peoplethat don't know the word macro

(46:07):
means large, so you're focusingon the nutritional value of
foods in large amounts.
So protein, carbs and fats.
Now in my training we reallyfocus on um, high protein.
Um, because protein is abuilding block of life.
But how I educate and teach itis super unique.
Like I don't hand you a cookiecutter nutrition, brilliant.
I more approach it as let'smake this meal that's going to
work for your whole family,because I were, I feed anywhere
from four to eight people duringharvest time, because we have

(46:29):
seasonal health.
I'm not going to make myself ameal and make them something
totally the same, and so Ireally focus on making high
protein meals.
And then what I do is how I cancustomize.
It is different size ortoppings, and that's how I hit
my macros.
And then what I do is how I cancustomize it is different size
or toppings, and that's how Ihit my macros, and so it's more
like sustainable.
But with that being said, ohyeah, if there's an Oreo on the

(46:50):
counter.
I'm totally going to have it.
I'm all about flexibility.
Like we drink whole milk in myhousehold because, first and
foremost, there's so manyamazing benefits from whole milk
.
But you know, like that's thething is.
Like a lot of people are justnot educated properly on
nutrients and they feel like, oh, if I have a little Oreo, there

(47:13):
goes my whole nutrition.
No, it's about building abetter relationship with food,
and a lot of people areemotionally attached to food and
that's why they struggle.
I would and correct me wrong,phil but like um, I would take
somebody that is obese in aprogram over somebody that's an
under eater, because those undereaters is mental health.

It's much tougher, and they might have disordered
eating in the past andeverything and overweight or
people who are obese have have alot of energy to start with too
, and they will make a lot ofprogress when they start
training.

Yeah, Because, like when you take someone that's an
under eater there, you can'teven address nutrition without
attack, like really working hardwith them on viewing food as
fuel.
Um, and you know, the crazything is I actually had a couple
of dietitians go through myprogram that were anorexic and
that was super hard.
I'm like wait, you're adietitian teaching nutrition to

(48:08):
people and you're anorexic.
Like it was a hard strugglewith them, but you know, they
came out great and they actuallystarted seeing muscle and it
was.
It turned out great, but it wasreally that mental health.
Was super hard to work withthem through that because it's
just like they viewed theydidn't view food as fuel.
It was like a negative notationto them shout out to philip pay

(48:32):
.

Max (48:33):
I know philly for a long time.
I don't know how passionate heis about healthy eating and body
strength, and that's why Ichoose him to be my coach.
I was no stranger to dietingand body training, but I always
struggled to do it sustainably.
Philip helped me prioritize mygoals with evidence-based
recommendations while notoverstressing my body and not

(48:54):
feeling like I'm starving.
In six months, I lost 45 poundswithout drastically changing
the foods I enjoy, but now Ihave a more balanced diet.
I weight train consistently but, most importantly, I do it
sustainably.
If a scientifically sound,healthy diet and a lean, strong
body is what you're looking for,philly Pape is your guy.

Let me ask did they , when they started moving more
or lifting or whatever programyou had them on?
Did that tie into a betterrelationship with food, just on
itself or Over time?

over time.
When they first started, theycouldn't even lift five pounds
because they didn't have thesuper weak and so we really had
to hit the nutrition side ofthings and the mental health and
the coaching and really tapinto that.
So I am actually certified um,uh, in psychology.
Like we had to really tap intothat first before we could even

(49:49):
uncover and get them doingprogressive overload and any of
that talk.
And so it was.
It was, it was hard, but it wasso worth it because now they
look fabulous and it makes mefeel better because they're the
ones that are legit dietitians.
They're out there working atmedical facilities and it's like
how could you have spent allthose years being a?

dietitian.
I know what you mean.
There's definitely a lot ofdichotomies like that.
I've had coaches who coachother.
They're nutrition coaches andthey seek me out because they're
certain.
It's almost a form of education.
They're seeking a bettereducation with you.
I think is also, even thoughit's for themselves.
It also is for how they canhelp people.
So you probably just helped atleast two people and then
everyone else they helped in thefuture, which is fun?

(50:36):
Yeah for sure.
Yeah, Cause it's not about theinformation, it's really about
the support, accountability,finding what works for you.
So wait, you said psychology.
That's an interesting onebecause I'm wondering from a
psychological perspective, whenwe talk about some common things
today, like anxiety, a lot ofpeople seem to have anxiety.
Again, I don't know howclinically diagnosed that is or

(50:56):
if it's just people talkingabout it.
Like we said, people talkingabout it, A lot of people are
overwhelmed, highly stressed.
Where does training and wheredoes strength?
Where does nutrition fit intothat as potentially a protocol
for it?
You know, without any othervariables changing, let's say, I
know we're not talking aboutsomebody who needs, like, some
deep mental health or, um, youknow what?

I'm saying Psychology is, uh, through ICF.
Have you heard of thatInternational coach federation?
Um, yeah, it's one of thehighest standards of Psychology
teacher is through ICF.
Have you heard of thatInternational Coach Federation?
Sounds familiar, yeah.
Yeah, it's one of the higheststandards of qualifications you
could get, and the reason I gotthat and I'm actually continue
working on it I'm working onNeurologistic Programming Master
and Practitioner as we speak.

Oh, NLP.

But the reason I even dabbled into it is because
of the fact that when you startlike I've had countless women on
antidepressant pills when theyjoined the program and again
we've dabbled into this as likeas you start to work out, like
the hormones and just theamazing benefits that come from

(51:58):
that it also pays into thatbecause a lot of people might
take an antidepress pill.
Some people actually need themclinically need them.
I'm not anti, like if youclinically need it, that's a
whole different part.
But if you take it because itwas subscribed and first and
foremost, I hope every doctor istalking to everybody about

(52:18):
nutrition and exercise beforethey subscribe a pill, which is
not the case but, with thatbeing said, is like when you
start to dive into a physicaland nutrition and start to
simplify that like anxiety let'stake that one is as you start
to go through it and build thosehealthy relationship and create
a sustainable system foryourself.

(52:39):
The biggest thing we talkedabout was consistency earlier on
is a lot of people get anxietywhen stuff is not routine or
it's out of their comfort zoneand they get overwhelmed with
situations, and the thing hereis when you start to really
start to pay attention to yourbody and the cues and what it
gives off.
Your anxiety is actually goingto diminish or not because

(53:03):
you're more intuitive of whatyour body needs.
And same with antidepressantI've had countless women go off
antidepressant pills after theyjoined.
My program is because theyrealize, hey, I can actually
show up for myself, you know,fit it in my routine and it's
going to start to change mymindset and then I'm feeling

(53:24):
myself next thing.
You know I don't really needthis antidepressant or this
anxiety medication because I'mnot as overwhelmed and you also,
like, your hormones start tochange as you go through that.
I don't know if you want to gohere.

No, no, that's good .
I'm thinking like they had asense of uncertainty and
overwhelm and now they have asense of control, confidence,
structure, purpose.
Even if it is like getting intune with your own body signals,
you do it in a structured way.
That's like somebody's guidingyou to say okay, we're going to
look at this information aboutyourself, we're going to ask you
questions, we're going to helpyou reflect, and then, before

(53:57):
long, and then you hit theweights and you hit the
discomfort of the gym and you'reprogressing there too.
It's just an amazing soup ofimprovement going on.

Yeah, and it's like , honestly, like good fitness
coaches out there, we need to berecognized because, like, yes,
there is some pretty shittyfitness coaches out there, but I
think you and I are on the samepage as far as everything is.
When you find a good coach,that is like you're not just a
cheerleader in your back pocket,but somebody that's very
knowledgeable and able to helpyou work through those, it can

(54:29):
be life changing, it can besuper transformative.
And so, like I always like tosay, instead of calling myself a
fitness coach or a wellnesscoach, I like to say I'm a
transformational coach, becausethat's truly what we are, at the
end of the day is we're notjust talking about fitness with
you, we're not just, you know,educating you on nutrition or,

(54:50):
you know, helping you createthese habits for yourself.
We're really transforming yourlife to something that, if not,
where you were super healthy atone point, to even better, one
of the stigmas.
So I'm actually gettingcertified in youth coaching and
the reason for this is a lot ofcertifications going on.

Well, it's good, it's good.

The youth coaching already done.
I'm certified through NFHS.
I'm a level three coach, so Iactually already completed it,
and the reason I did it isbecause there was a lot of
school coaches out there that Iwas questioning their habits and
I'm like I want to know whatthey want they have to know, and
so the biggest thing there is,like it's they talked about the

(55:33):
interscholastic coach orinterscholastic coaching, which
is like your student at top andthen your parent and your coach
are equal and how they all needto work together as a triangle,
and I loved it and it just mademe really eye-opening to the
coaching around our area is.
A lot of those coaches don't dothat.
They're all about the W andespecially in like sixth grade,

(55:55):
it shouldn't be about the W.
It should be about developingthat foundation and getting them
excited to be able to be a partof that sport and move their
body, and so that's why I wentdown that rabbit hole and got
that certification, um, whichI'm already for you.

Good for you, because that's there's like
child abuse going on in some ofthese coaching practices with
kids losing weight for wrestlerswho are teenagers, like all
this stuff?
Yeah, I totally agree they need.
You need to have thatsystems-based and team-based
approach to help the athlete asa person for sure.

But I'll be the first to tell you I'm not part
of the status quo over here.

So no, no, it's okay, we're all trying to break
the mold.
We're trying to break the mold.
So I like how you said.
I like how you saidtransformation, Cause that is
like a deep seated change inyour identity over time.
Um, I, I use terms like systemsor engineering your life,
engineering your body.
It's the same idea, right,which is different terminology.
And then, like you've mentioned, you know you go from I have to

(56:50):
to I get to.
There's a lot of reframing.
I wanted to ask you about thattoo, Cause, again, we're talking
about psychology, we're talkingabout mental health.
How much of this is reframingas part of your identity shift
and that is you.
Eventually, everything is moreof a positive lens, you know,
more of an optimistic lens, youknow, even though bad things
happen.
What are your thoughts on that?
Like positive psychology?

Well, first and foremost, when you start
anything, you're going to talknegative about yourself, like,
let's be honest, like there's somany times I've, especially
after having my second child,I'd look in the mirror and be
like I'm fat, like only if I hadthis, only if I had that.
Like how you talk to yourselfis a huge indicator too of like,
hey, you have to take thatfirst step and be uncomfortable,

(57:34):
and you know, a lot of peopledon't realize like the way you
talk to yourself has a negativeimpact on your life.
It really does.
And you know, I always saw mymom fluctuate with weight and
talk so negative about her bodyand I was like no, so like, one
of the things I do with my boysis I don't talk about losing

(57:54):
weight, I don't talk aboutrandom, like a negative
terminology.
I always talk about beingstrong and I'm like, I'm like so
, for example, they would comein on one of my heavy lift days
and I'd be like mom crush thatshe's on fire.
She is strong, you know.
And it's just like I'm reallyvocal about it because, like,

(58:15):
when you start something, again,sometimes we talk negative and
we're our own worst critic andwe don't even realize it and
it's just that frame ofswitching your mindset to
feeling like you know what.
I showed up today, like yourdaughter, for example.
She hated the speaking a thingand she's like you know what?
I don't like it, but I knowit's good you know.
So it's a lot of that is partof a fitness journey as well.

(58:38):
It's like you might suck atsomething in the beginning.
We all suck.
That's the thing.
We all suck in the beginning.
But as you keep going, it'sjust like your, how you talk and
how you frame things and howlike I get to instead of I have
to.
Those are huge part of theprocess as well.
And you know and be like I getto show up today or I get to go

(59:00):
to a basketball game with mykids or I get to feel our family
Like I mean, do I like cookingevery single day?
Like I'm the cooker in ourhouse?
I don't know about you, but myhusband does not cook, so if you
cook, phil, you're like up onhim.

I do about 10, 20% of the cooking at this point.

He doesn't even know how to make mac and cheese,
but I love him, it's okay.

It's old farm, like the farm wives always go
summertime, the grill comes out,then I cook a lot more.

I'm, I'm the griller.
Well, he does.
He does dabbling, grilling.
I do love him.
He's actually starting to getout of his comfort zone there.
But, like you know, that's thething is like there was times,
like when my boys were younger,I'm like, oh, I got to cook
again.
Or uh, here we go again.
And now it's like I get to, Ilike enjoy it.
I'm like I'm cooking somethingthat's nutritious for my whole
family, like I get to buy theseingredients to make this really

(59:49):
yummy dish that I know they'regoing to love.
Like yesterday, me and myyoungest just made these really
awesome, uh, nut bars that I'llbe posting tomorrow and it was
so fun to make it with him andlike show him how to cook.
And so it's just like I takethose opportunities and I'm like
, hey, I can teach my boys howto cook.
And like I get this opportunityto teach how to fill the bodies

(01:00:10):
, and so it's just like, goingback to your question, I long
winded that, but you know, justchanging your mindset of how you
speak to yourself is huge.
You know, instead of saying Ihave to say I get to yeah, and
that will be a huge differencein your life.

Philip Pape (01:00:26):
That is a simple one, right there, applied to
everything what.
There's somebody in our groupprogram.
She calls me a positivity bullybecause I would do that with
her early on.
She would say things like that,talking bad about herself, and
I say, how about we reframe this?
How about this about herselfand say, how about we reframe
this?
How about this, how does thissound?
And now she's an expert.
It's like a skill you know, youdevelop, and now she's the one

(01:00:46):
helping others.
So we love to see that.
Do you have time for like threerapid fire questions?
Go for it, okay.
Favorite lift.

Amanda Nigg (01:00:51):
Favorite lift.
I'm a booty girl.
I love Bulgarian spots are dead, oh my.

God.
That's like hated across theworld.
That's good for you.
I love booty.
That's like hated across theworld.

That's good for you , bootylicious booty.
And those are my two favoritelifts, like if I had to pick one
or the other.
Seriously, I couldn't pickbetween the two of them.

And the deadlift is great.
You like conventional or sumo?
What's your flavor?

RDL.

Okay, great.
Good for the hammies too, yeah,awesome.
What is so, walking or cardio?
I am not a cardio person.

So I'm not either.

I am a weight training like which is crazy,
Cause in college I was so cardioperson Like I ran a half
marathon because you didCrossFit.

That that computes, that computes.

I used to be a hardcore.

I did create a 12 week running program.
I'm going to test it out beforeI make it public.
But, um, and my son's in crosscountry.
So I am certified as a runningcoach, by the way.
Uh, I am getting back intorunning.
Uh, if you had to tell me like,walk on the treadmill 15
minutes or for 20 minutes at 15incline with a weighted vest, I
will hands down.
Do that over.

I hear you.
I've just got into sprintingmyself, but I do not like
running, running.

Hey, that's better than long distance running.

I'm there, yeah and the last one is um.
What do you tell yourselfduring a hard lift?

oh gosh, actually I listen to meditation music when
I lift as crazy as that soundslike the tibetan, like uh chimes
and stuff like that.
No, I have a meditation musicthat I have on my.
I used to listen to music likeheavy, hardcore heavy metal.
This year I switched tolistening to audiobooks or
meditation music and I can'ttell you like it's the most

(01:02:34):
amazing thing ever.
I I don't know.
It's just like the nuggets yougrab from listening to auto you
book when you left.
I know some people are thinkingI'm nuts right now.
I listen to podcasts when Ileft.
Don't, it's, not it's it's, it'sthe time that I get, but, um,
when I tell myself, on heavylift is one more, one more, you
got one more.
Like, keep pushing yourself,like you can do one more.

(01:02:55):
Now I'll Like, I just like,especially on our training, you
know as many reps as possible,like on a training day.

Yes.

Always tell myself would you get last round?
You can crush that Like onemore, you know, and it's
sometimes we have to remindourselves that, like we always
can, like the way we speak toourselves during that moment
says a lot about our characterand says a lot about our
persistence, but also shows that, like the mindset is so
intuitive to your body, yourmind, your body will go where

(01:03:26):
your mind tells it.

Oh yeah, your body has far more capacity than your
mind usually allows and if youallow it, it can outperform more
than you imagine.
And it's funny, there's twodifferent types of hards I
always think about when it comesto heavy lift.
It's like either volume work,where it's the reps, or it's
heavy and and you know you don'thave a lot of reps, but now
each one is just this massiveundertaking, right.
So either one.

(01:03:49):
This morning I did volume workand, just like you're saying, I
did 10 sets of three squat, butthey were fairly sub-maximal,
but by like or not set 10, butsix sets and by like rep five.
I'm like my quads are tellingme can I really do this?
Of course you can do it, justyou gotta do it, you know, I
mean your mind.

if your mindset, and don't your body, will go
where your mind tells it, Like Imean really, you can do
anything as long as you couldlike.

believe in yourself .
It is true.
It is true it's it's like atrite thing we say, but it is
100% true and you got to believeit.
All right.
So I know we covered a lot ofdifferent things.
There's probably a lot wedidn't cover, but is there
anything you wish I had asked?

Oh my gosh, we covered a ton.
I don't think so.
Like I mean, if anybody's everinterested in my story, they can
obviously find me.
But I mean, if they want toknow about agriculture, I mean
I'm an open book.

All right.
So you kind of alluded to wherepeople could fight or what you
provide, but where can they findyou?
So I can throw that in the shownotes.

Awesome.
Well, first, thank you forletting me get on.
You can find me on Instagram,facebook and X as FarmFitMama.
It's FarmFitM-O-M-M-A.
I am on TikTok, but I will tellyou right now I do not post on
it.
I kind of deleted that out fornow and I'm not on Snapchat, so
don't find me over there.
And my business page is FarmFitTraining and it's on all those

(01:05:07):
same platforms Instagram,facebook and X.
And then I also have a website.
Go check that out.

It's farmfitmamacom All right, we'll throw those in
the show notes for sure.

Thank you so much, amanda, for coming on.
This was fun.
Appreciate you taking your time.
Yeah, thank you for having meon.
I really appreciate it.

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How Strength Training Enhances Mental Toughness and Reduces Stress (Amanda Nigg) | Ep 301

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}How Strength Training Enhances Mental Toughness and Reduces Stress (Amanda Nigg) | Ep 301