I'm feeling helpful today, so may I present Swole Woman As A Service (SWAAS): You ask me a question about lifting weights, exercise, bodies, eating, and I will either point you to the right column to read or give you an answer right in the replies. Fire away!
I know it's late, but uhm... I have developed visceral fat on my tummy for the last 5 years and I dont like it. How to tone/make it stop growing?
this is for you! askaswolewoman.com/ask-a-swole-...
It seems like the answer in the article is just that we're paying attention to the wrong things?
Yeah.... really great ideas, but also not very helpful for those who know this already but still want change 😅
ISO SWAAS: what should expectations be on exercise when diagnosed with a terminal disease? I want to stay active but it’s getting more difficult. Any workout recommendations?
you might like this book www.thriftbooks.com/w/work-it-ou...
i have heard anecdotally from a few cancer patients trying my LIFTOFF program that strength training was actually recommended to them as a way of preserving quality of life, regardless of prognosis. the most important thing is to learn to attune to how you feel: www.shesabeast.co/self-monitor...
What sort of lower body strength exercises do you recommend for someone with a bad knee (ACL, meniscus repair, and micro fracture surgery)? It seems like everything I try eventually bothers me except maybe a couple specific machines at low weight.
alongside counsel of a medical professional/pt, full body exercises are best; need reasonable progress and good form. building up your hips and upper legs in particular and learning the proper mechanics will also help take pressure of your knees www.shesabeast.co/older-people...
Thanks so much!
Also my wife is a big fan and can now deadlift 180.
wooo that's amazing!!
do you have any top surgery recovery resources? im having a hard time getting info on what a good post-surgety recovery program looks like
i pinged the subscriber discord on this and one member suggested this guide! www.genderconfirmation.com/top-surgery-...
thank you!!
I used to do tons of exercising to something I'd say was clinically unhealthy. Lots of things in life took over, namely working and serving in politics, and now I'm glad I have two big dogs who like long jog/walks in the neighborhood. How can I do a little more than I'm doing without relapsing?
that sounds like something to consult a therapist on! but LIFTOFF (www.couchtobarbell.com) starts very slow, this is the workout for the first phase vimeo.com/919713907?sh...
Thank you!
I'm 56 with a knee injury. I have exercises to strengthen the knee. I want to get toned, not jacked, all over. Can you recommend an exercise or two for each area for me to have a starting workout plan?
full body strength training is much more effective and faster than targeted exercises for different body parts! www.couchtobarbell.com
Who/what are your recommendations &/or favorite resources for coming back to lifting after a back (disc) injury?
If I decide I want to do couch 2 5k, what’s the absolute minimum to do to not lose all my strength and lifting ability? Okay losing some I think
hotel special twice a week would do you well, I think! but also c25k is only 3 months long, iirc, it would probably take you only 4-6 weeks to get back to where you were afterward, even if you did no maintenance www.shesabeast.co/the-swole-wo...
Ty! Very weird to be having these “I want run” feelings lol
Do you long to run through fields of flowers or feel the wind whistle through your beard? It can happen!
I recently got back to the gym and I’m 3 months postpartum! I’m following the LIFTOFF program :) I know I should be eating to lift, but I also have some baby weight/fat I would like to shed while nursing a small person. Any advice on calorie intake for those who are nursing?
oh boy, this is super tricky, and I think any attempt to finesse your calorie intake would put your milk supply at risk. (it might just go down, you would probably be able to recover it, but it seems to really depend on the person.) if that doesn't bother you, there may be a sweet spot of...
caloric deficit + milk supply intact + energy intact, but you'd have to balance your BMR + the caloric expenditure of milk, + additional expenditure of baby care, + additional expenditure of lifting, - a sustainable deficit for body fat loss
but the more i talk here the more i feel like it's hard target to hit, and might be better to just wait until you don't have these additional factors and give yourself some grace!
It is a lot of factors to keep track of, yeah lol. But it feels good to lift again, so I’ll focus on that and eating for mah child! Thank you! 😊
Sleep too is obv critical for lifting recovery but that too is going to be in deficit for a while!
You’re tellin’ me haha
Us dads have it easy
My husband would say otherwise in terms of sleep 😂
I know you weren't asking me, but a lot of people find they lose weight without intending to while nursing. I know 3 most feels like a long time while you're in it, but it's still pretty soon, give it a minute
I appreciate your input, thank you! Considering I’m coming off of maternity leave soon and returning to work, it does feel like a long time. But I’ll try to be patient!
*3 months feels like a long time
Thanks for doing this! Advice for lifting with bad knees?
form form form! having strong hips/glutes and quads/hamstrings can take so much pressure off your knees, and you have to learn to use your muscles www.shesabeast.co/weight-lifti... this program is form-forward: www.couchtobarbell.com also www.shesabeast.co/older-people...
So much this! Until my quads/hamstrings got good and strong (and my form get consistent) I used to have some knee pain squatting. No longer!
thanks!
Question! When I was working out frequently, my trainer would heavily push me to use BCAAs to help prevent muscle fatigue/pain. Another told me to include Biotin (Vitamin K) into my vitamin/supplements to do the same thing? Are both viable? Are both good? Your experience?
BCAAs are not magic, they are just like gatorade without the carbs (flavored water). biotin is a b vitamin; no supplement is more effective than a nutritious diet, unfortunately, a lot of nutrients are interdependent on each other so supplementing one or the other just makes expensive pee
What are some good shoulder exercises if you have a mild impingement?
this is unfortunately more of a physical therapist question, per other replies
Was gonna ask the same question, lol
I’m in PT for that right now and it’s a lot of lat and scap stuff.
How to gain muscle if one is very thin?
girl you gotta eat eat eat www.shesabeast.co/how-to-eat-m... stuff like this www.shesabeast.co/a-bunch-of-m...
Exactly! When I work out, I get smaller. And don't even really look toned. Thank you so much for your advice!
Thank you. I eat lots! After perusing the article you sent (thank you, again), high calorie food may be the ticket. I'm a vegetarian, so that's a bit difficult? All I can do is try!
My favorite (yummy) add protein and calories while vegetarian tip I’ve gotten is adding a big spoon of natural peanut butter to oatmeal while it’s hot. Melts right into it.
Thank you! Good idea!
(and then just a regular lifting program will do, but there's no point to doing any muscle/strength building workout if you don't support it with food to repair your muscles) www.couchtobarbell.com
Is there a women over 50 dumbbell weightlifting community to join? Just joined Bluesky.
the only one i'm aware of is that in my subscriber discord there is a room for people over 40!
And it’s awesome! Lots of support and community there.
How did you get back into lifting after having a baby? My child is 13 months old, and I still haven't started it back up.
i'm still not back into really purposeful strength-building, but i had tapered off that long before having my baby too. so stakes are low, i'm more or less maintaining, lifting twice a week, still squatting/DL/bench but not pushing up on weights www.shesabeast.co/how-to-do-a-...
however, this is ~my job~ in a way its not for most people, so go easy on yourself! start with even 15 or 20 minutes and do only what you have energy for, like this kind of thing www.shesabeast.co/the-swole-wo...
Thank you!
What's a good idea for cheap weights? I have tried water bottles but they are quite awkward. I use elastic bands which are great except they seem to have a slight detrimental impact on my tendons. I'm prone to tendinopathy.
list of makeshift weights here: askaswolewoman.com/ask-a-swole-...
Hi Casey, I started an arm toning workout with 1kg hand weights and it felt great but it seems to have aggravated a shoulder impingement and now I worry about making it worse. No PT avail atm, I'm now afraid to continue, where can I find suitable exercises that won't make it worse? I'm 60. Tks!
How did you deal with body dysmorphia? I’m getting stronger but I’m shifting from a lot of cardio (distance running) to more varied and strength based exercise but the change in my body is really hard to get out of my head.
did a good recent one about this: www.shesabeast.co/help-i-start... But this is also a classic: askaswolewoman.com/ask-a-swole-... As well as askaswolewoman.com/ask-a-swole-...
Thank you so much! Love your work!
I'm always concerned about my form and never quite confident I'm doing it right. (I watch the videos repeatedly). I was considering getting a trainer in the short term to instruct me on proper form when lifting. Is that a good idea for someone relatively new to lifting?
a great idea! an underrated idea too is engaging a physical therapist who is versed in strength training/compound lifts; often similar in price but with more credentials
Thank you so much! 🙏🏾 I'll be looking into it.
Not sure where you're located, but I work with Stevie Rock. She designs a program for me through an app, and I send her videos of my work for form check: www.rockyour.fitness
44 year old man, weigh 175-80 lbs, pretty active, lifted a lot in my life so I think my form is pretty good, have a home bench, had some shoulder trouble in the past. What’s a legit, safe but challenging target for how much/how many reps I should bench press?
5 at a time is a good number if you are building strength! Sweet spot of "enough space to tax yourself" without feeling like you're doing a lot of work. I wrote this program for anyone with no lifting experience; form is extremely important for protecting shoulders in bench! www.couchtobarbell.com
Tell me about it! I hurt it, I think, overusing it and suboptimal bench form. I’m pretty confident in my form now at very low weights, but a little gun shy about getting heavier.
i just linked this in another reply, but this piece has some strategies for that! askaswolewoman.com/ask-a-swole-...
Awesome! I’m long past caring about what weight I can hit, but I’ve noticed I quickly stall out if I don’t have something to at least try to shoot for….
You're a real SWAASbuckler
Felling in love with lifting, doing your programme! Then I developed severe spinal arthritis. Any advice for getting back into weights for those of us with bad backs? Thank you so much!!
that's awesome, thank you!! keep focusing on form and go at a sustainable pace www.shesabeast.co/older-people...
Terrific! Looking forward to taking my iron supplements externally again.
Casey I’m still not eating right. Pantry staples for when you’re too depressed/exhausted to even wash out a stupid blender?
Blender hack- immersion blender. Sooo much easier to clean. Also easier to hurt yourself so pls unplug right after you’re done blending.
I have one somewhere, shall experiment. Thank god kitchen is too small to leave it plugged in for any length of time!
well blenders are super annoying! Greek yogurt + protein powder (I eat a lot of cereal w this), cheese sticks, trader joes microwaveable meatballs + rao's sauce, goodles, those microwavable daal/curry packets (varied brands)(ones with good fiber content, some are just basically sauce)
Ooh microwaveable meatballs!!!
they have both turkey and plant-based!
(the rao's frozen ones are also microwavable and more expensive but really, really tasty)
Thank you! This is a terrific suggestion.
What’s the most accurate TDEE calculator out there?
accuracy does not super matter because there are additional factors a TDEE calculator can't account for that can make any number it spits out go up or down by a couple hundred calories a day (metabolism, NEAT, stress). Best to take it as a guideline and adjust to your situation
arching your back during bench press: yay or nay?
thats not funny
wait it wasn't a joke, I hear different things from different people, please share your wisdom with a lowly lifting peasant
here you are! askaswolewoman.com/ask-a-swole-...
thank you!
my partner got me one of these for benching and it's a lifesaver. i went without it the other week and was like, "oh wow no wonder so many people are scared of bench" feels like trying to set up and brace on a slip n slide
📌
That's a great take on software as a service.
What's the best way to get back into a gym habit? I have been going back for 1-3 times a week for the last 3 weeks but I'm afraid I'll give into my old excuses of being too tired and having no energy (insomnia is also a problem for me)
(plus perimenopause!)
I do all of my strength training in one workout. I was told I should spread it over two or more, but I could find no evidence that this makes any difference. Thoughts?
depends a little on where you are at in your journey, but increasing frequency from 1x/week would eventually prevent any backsliding that would happen post-session adaptation. 2x/week is good for maintaining and 3x/week usually considered minimum for strength/muscle building
My goals are mostly mobility and good bones as I age. I’ve been super-consistent with my workouts for 2+ decades. I like my cardio so much, that it’s hard for me to break those sessions up. I also do rowing and hill climbing, which I convince myself is some added strength during cardio.
that said, if you enjoy it and are getting what you want out of it as is, you're doing great! www.shesabeast.co/how-to-do-a-...
Thank you.
I read your post(s) denouncing collagen and I am on board! but as I approach 40 my joints hurt, both when I lift and just generally moving around. is there anything specific you recommend?
yes! per those posts, any more complete form of protein would be more helpful than collagen alone; collagen is just a super-inadequate source of weak and lame amino acids. if you want it to be a supplement, just a protein powder will do
📌
thank you for sharing your knowledge with the community 🙏✨ any suggestions for yoga aficionados? is bodyweight training enough?
bodyweight training is vastly oversold, imo, low hanging fruit runs out quickly and it's difficult to progress (especially for legs). but this subreddit has been around a long time and bodyweight enthusiasts seem to like it www.reddit.com/r/bodyweight... www.shesabeast.co/the-myths-of...
I’m not allowed crunches or sit-ups (severe endometriosis). Low impact abdominal/core with controlled intensity?
Just popping in to say the one thing that really built my core strength (and got me past a major back injury even better what PT could do) was : belly dancing. Tribal, specifically.
That’s a fantastic suggestion 🙂I used to, but there’s no classes near me. I usually ride horses, but long story, had to stop for a bit. Trying to get some strength back.
crunches and sit ups suck anyway! no one likes this answer but it is the best one: letting your core do its passive isometric job during full-body lifts. imo. deadbugs and the good old plank (on knees to make it easier) are simple and good for direct core challenge askaswolewoman.com/ask-a-swole-...
Thanks 😊 this is helpful!
Is there a heart rate monitor that you recommend? I’d like to add some cardio alongside my strength training and read about cardio / HRM on tacticalbarbell (on your rec)
i got a garmin watch training for a trail race a couple years ago and tbh had never hated a piece of technology more in my life. I'd get the most bare bones thing you can find, nothing with a subscription, seriously like www.bestbuy.com/site/amazfit...
You may have written about this previously, but did you find that breaking up with your phone had any effect on the quality of your fitness routine?
haven't written about specifically this! But it's definitely easier to focus and I feel calmer, and my rests don't go on too long because I want to finish just this one more article, or whatever
many great q's already, keep em coming. im cooking
this is so much more fun than doing the work i'm supposed to be doing
I’m pretty out of shape but I want to make a lifting schedule/program but I truly have no clue where to start building that for myself. Do you have any resources, tips, etc?
I have a whole (short, readable) book! www.couchtobarbell.com
Does this program work at home?
there are three phases and two of them are at home, depending on the equipment you have/are willing to get! you don't need any machines at least
My doc told me that my chronic back spasms were exacerbated by doing planks. Is he right? Or was I just doing planks wrong? And regardless, are there bodyweight exercises that generate an equivalent core workout but are extra kind to your back?
could be both or neither! planks should actually be helpful, generally, if done right; you might benefit more from learning to brace properly/"engage" your core generally (paid article here but it includes this video) www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeKv... www.shesabeast.co/the-last-art...
(Oh, sorry, should add: long time first time.)
I'm setting a depressed-person goal of getting to the gym once a week for at least 15 minutes. I'm not expecting physical results from this, but how can I maximize time for a mental boost and towards building a gym-going habit?
(My last gym-going was heavy lifting 3x/week, which I did for about 6 months in 2023ish)
this is great! you can do something super-simple, this is the workout i do when i feel like i barely have the tolerance for getting going www.shesabeast.co/the-swole-wo...
Thank you!!
is it acceptable to bring a metal file into the gym to file down a very small pointy nub in the knurling of a gym's barbell
imo yes
Any favorite exercises for grip strength? I started using straps for some of my heavy pulls, which is really helping my back training, but I want to make sure and compensate for my forearms losing stimulus
grip strength building suggestions: www.shesabeast.co/how-do-i-imp... But also, make sure you are grabbing the bar correctly: www.shesabeast.co/grip-strengt...
The first link on your first recommended post is dead sadly www.thehairpin.com/2016/09/ask-...
i will fix but it's just this post www.shesabeast.co/grip-strengt...
Tried this at the gym this week and it has genuinely transformed my entire gym routine. Thanks so much for writing it!
Doesn’t swole mean steroids? ask me how I know
no! www.shesabeast.co/natty-or-not...
I’m 54 and want to really start lifting. I’m not in amazing shape but I’m determined and making progress walking with 10 lbs on back, rowing for 45 minutes, and watching my diet. I need a good starting point that doesn’t assume I can’t lift more than 3 lbs.
this program assumes you can lift no pounds at all to start! www.couchtobarbell.com
Is 250g protein too much or too little for a 6'5" 230lb. man who has been lifting consistently for six years?
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if you were trying to get like stratospherically jacked hip flexors… what would you do
i think first i'd want to know why i'd want only my hip flexors to be jacked
oh incredibly fair. the problem is my entire mental health is based on whether i get a speed skating pr this season
What does creatine do for me re: weightlifting? How much/often should I be taking it?
creatine basically helps your muscles hold more energy. 5mg a day is a good starting point for most people www.shesabeast.co/things-that-...
Thank you!
how to get enough protein as a 70 year old woman??? bought your book a few months ago and lifting heavy weights (for me) and LOVE the program and results. but it is impossible for me to eat 1 g protein/lb of body weight. Unless I eliminated all foods except for protein. How important is this?
i hate to argue with my elder but even 200g/protein per day is only 800 calories! focusing on more protein dense foods may help you: www.shesabeast.co/protein-sour... this may also help: www.shesabeast.co/big-rocks-me...
My struggle with this is that protein dense foods are also providing long-term satiety such that trying to get even 1g per lb is forcing myself to choke down heavy feeling food when I’m not even hungry every single day. It sucks and I can’t keep up with it :/ any advice?
protein powder takes a lot of the weight off! one scoop with milk is 32g, when i'm building muscle i have 1-1.5 scoops per day
Yeah that’s the whole struggle— if I drink a single protein powder and milk shake in a day I struggle to eat anything else for many many hours, it ends up taking the place of a meal and the next one has to be smaller as well.
that sounds like you might have something else going on digestively; one scoop of protein and milk is only like 250 calories, and whey protein is specifically meant to digest quickly. you could try another protein source (eg types of vegan protein)
I mean there’s the oil to cook a lot of the protein in, there’s the need for fruits and vegetables, and their is the emotional need for some grains (and wine.). So yeah, if I ONLY ate protein, I could manage it. But can’t/not willing to do that
I have the same problem and had the same question….especially at my age (70) I simply lack the appetite for this much protein dense foods
for you too! bsky.app/profile/case...