Client Success Story

Today I wanted to share a story from one of my newer clients that I thought could help inspire you on your own fitness journey! This client, who I’ll call “Sarah,” came to me about 5 months ago looking to get stronger, put on a few pounds of muscle mass, and get a jump on possible osteopenia (bone loss) that she knew could occur later in life. Sarah is 37 years old and has a very busy schedule taking care of 4 children. She has every excuse to not put in the work, but she wanted to work with me to optimize her busy schedule to make sure she performed the key workouts she should be doing and eliminate the unnecessary fluff. Before coming to me she already ate a very healthy diet, but mentioned her protein intake could be higher, although she wasn’t tracking her intake at the moment. I knew her discipline would not be an issue, and that her main movers would be adding smart, heavy strength training and making sure she supported this by eating enough protein and timing her cardio workouts effectively. 

Nutrition

On day one I wanted to make sure that Sarah was getting in the proper nutrients to support her workouts and daily life as a mom. She reported eating super healthy, getting in a lot of healthy fruits and vegetables, protein, vitamins, and limiting low-quality processed food. I thought everything was great and didn’t have too many suggestions, as she seemed very cognizant of what she was eating and is a healthy body weight. I did, however, want her to record her protein intake for a few days, because her goal was to gain some strength and muscle mass, and a body scan would show she was starting slightly under-muscled. It reiterated to me how important a body scan is. A recurring problem I see especially for women in their 40’s and older is low muscle-density which can very easily lead to osteoporosis later in life. So even if they are a healthy weight, it is always necessary to look “under the hood” to get a sense of what is happening. 

After tracking for a couple days Sarah saw that there was room for her to add some protein to her diet. She weighs about 140 pounds and was eating about 80 grams of protein. She has since bumped it up to a more desirable 100-120 grams per day. Many of my clients, especially those who eat vegetarian, are well under the minimum protein intake I recommend per day by a drastic amount, and I recommend everyone track their food consumption for just a couple days to get a sense of where they are at. Otherwise, you will not recover or adapt to the workouts and will miss out on huge improvement.

Strength Training

Strength training is always 100% essential for everybody, no exceptions. Now this needs to be adjusted to fit the client’s ability level of course, but it is absolutely necessary for a healthy body. Sarah is healthy and she was able to perform most movements safely on day one. She had a history of strength training and knew some of the exercises we were doing, but she admitted her intensity and exercise selection could use some work. I had her perform some exercises and quickly realized she usually had 5+ reps in the tank after finishing each set, which is very normal for many of my beginning clients. Most people when they start with me don’t realize they can push themselves way harder than they think, and muscle growth will only start to occur if they start to push past these thresholds they have previously set for themselves. 

On top of increasing intensity, we started working on workout structure. I showed her bigger compound movements to focus on and proper technique so she would be comfortable performing them at home on her solo workout days. We focused on upper/lower and push/pull supersets and minimized too much core and isolation exercises. These workouts were more taxing for her but she ultimately felt like she was getting way more bang for her buck and not wasting time on less-optimal, lower intensity exercises. 

Sarah started coming to the gym just once per week for her A-priority workouts, and I trusted that she was doing 1-2 other strength sessions per week at home while she watched her kids. At least 2 hard strength training sessions per week is absolutely necessary for a strong, healthy body.

Cardio

Sarah already had a lot of cardio sprinkled into her schedule. She enjoys getting cardio workouts in because they feel good, but I reminded her that they should come second to the strength sessions. Additionally, I told her to reduce the intensity of these cardio sessions to not stress her out too much and to just get the time in. As many of my clients do, she was relying a bit too much on HIIT training which will take away from the muscle-building strength stimulus. She started pairing these back and relied more heavily on simply walking and staying active on her feet, which started having immediate results and left her less fatigued throughout the day.

Results

After about 5 months of making these changes and amazing consistency, Sarah has started to see some significant results! While her weight has not changed much (which is fine because we are not focusing on weight loss) her body composition has improved significantly. She has put on two pounds of muscle mass, which is a huge accomplishment and will significantly increase not only her strength but also her bone mass, metabolism and improve all her blood markers. In addition to this, the weight on all of her lifts has increased by at least 50%. She is feeling physically stronger than ever while managing her kids and mentally stronger when dealing with stress. She is recovering well and sleeping better than ever. She has made small improvements in all these areas of her life, and they are all supporting one another to help her move towards her goals!

Sarah hasn’t made any changes that everybody I have worked with cannot make. The factors that have led to her success are consistency and prioritization. She has every excuse in the world to not put in the work, as do many other people I know, but she has shown that with a little bit of planning it can be done! I wish you all the same success and encourage you to reach out if you need any of the guidance “Sarah” has used in her journey.