Do you feel like you've been working out and putting in the work in the gym and eating healthy,
but you don't actually look like you work out or you're not as lean or as strong as you really
want to be? Watch this video right to the end, because I am going to show you how I went from
this, fairly fit but not super lean to this, strongest and leanest I've ever been
after two babies. I've been a personal trainer for over 15 years. And let me tell you, I have learned
a lot in the last 15 years about blasting body fat, building lean muscle to appear leaner
and stronger. We're going to break down the three mistakes this girl was making,
young trainer in the game, just is looking at fitness magazines, wants to look like the girls
on the cover of the fitness magazines. Really, really working hard in the gym to appear leaner,
but she was making three mistakes. And then I'll show you what this girl does.
This is me now, two babies later, the leanest and strongest I've ever been. I'm going to show
you what I do in order to achieve this figure and stay this way all year round even after
two babies. And I'm about a year and a half postpartum with my second son
and still was able to achieve this body. I've been really excited to share this video with you guys
on my channel, because I get this question all the time. "I'm working really hard in the gym. I'm
eating healthy. But why don't I look like I work out? Or why aren't my arms leaning out? I want to
have a more toned stomach. Why is it not working?" I get this question so much. So I'm really hoping
this video is helpful for you as well. And using myself as an example, because I've been on the
exact same journey as all of you guys over the past 15 years, rediscovering what actually works.
I'm going to share all my tips and tricks with you in this video today. But just quickly,
if you're new here, make sure you subscribe to my channel and hit that bell to be notified for
new videos coming out every single week, fitness tips, fat loss tips, full follow along workouts,
nutrition info, all things to help you on your fitness and fat loss journey. Okay, so let's
dive right in. Here are the top three mistakes I was making as a young trainer in the game,
fresh out of university with my degree, excited to become a fitness model on the cover of a fitness
magazine. I was working so hard. I was pushing myself in the gym. I was eating right. I was
doing all of the things that I thought would help me get lean, but I didn't necessarily
get as lean as I wanted to. And here is why. First mistake I was making, I was restricting
myself way too much. There is no way looking back I was eating enough calories to fuel my body for
how much movement and exercise I was doing. Again, remember, I was a personal trainer. I
was starting my business. So I was working on the floor, working with clients 8, 10, 12 hours a day
sometimes. So, one, I was burning a whole bunch of calories there. I was also very restricted
of my diet. I watched everything I ate. I tracked everything I ate. I stayed within a calorie goal,
which looking back was way too low. I used to do sober January. I used to do no yam fries
for a month. I used to do all kinds of things. I remember going into Starbucks and seeing all
the baked goods and being like, "Ugh, I can't have that." I only would drink black coffee,
no cream in your coffee because that's extra calories. Don't drink your calories. All of
these things. I was very, very, very restrictive of my diet. And what I have learned over the
past 15 years, and what I'm not doing now is restricting my diet as much as I was back then.
I can honestly say that I did not have a good relationship with food. Again, being
a young trainer in the game I was like, I have to lead by example. I have to eat super healthy.
I cannot eat cookies ever. I can't ever have anything bad because I have to lead by example.
And again, back then the goal was to look like a personal trainer. I wanted to look
lean. I wanted to have abs all the time. And this literally drove my eating. I wouldn't say
that I had an eating disorder, but I definitely didn't have a positive relationship with food.
The thing that I've learned in the past 15 years that I didn't know back then that I
know now is that food is fuel. You are allowed to eat food, everything in healthy balance. So what
this girl now, currently, everything is the 80/20 rule. I don't track anything I eat. Again,
if you are just starting out, I highly suggest you track your food at the beginning of your journey.
I've been doing this for so long that I can eyeball things. I know exactly by listening to my
body and eyeballing portion sizes, I have a good idea of exactly what I'm eating and calorie-wise
and protein-wise, because I've been doing this for so long. So now I'm at a position where I don't
track anything. I eat. If I want a cookie, I eat a cookie. I don't eat a whole box of cookies. I
have one or two cookies and move on with my life. If I want to take my kids to the donut store on
the weekend and have a donut, I have a donut. I drink cream in my coffee because YOLO. Again,
I have two kids. Coffee is life, and a little bit of cream in my coffee is not going to make
the difference of being lean and not being lean. The main thing to remember for fat loss is calorie
deficit, not diet, not starving yourself. So knowing the exact amount of calories you can eat
and still drop body fat, but still eat enough to fuel your body, feel energized, and build muscle.
If you are looking to achieve a lean figure but you're not fueling your body with enough food,
you are not going to be able to build muscle and look leaner because your body is starving.
You are not going to be able to push hard in the gym. You're not going to have the energy
to do all these things. So that's the one thing the Michelle 15 years ago didn't understand is,
food is fuel, eating carbs, eating fats, eating proteins is okay in moderation, making sure you
hit your protein goal and that calorie deficit. If you are looking to know more about calorie
deficit, I've got a free calorie deficit guide. I'll link it in the description below.
You can also check out these videos. I talk all about what calorie deficit is and how to calculate
your own calorie deficit. And if you are currently eating under 1200 calories, because you're trying
to lose weight or lose body fat, I want you to go and watch this video as well. I talk more about
what I was just saying about fueling your body properly. So go watch all of those videos. I'll
go more into detail about what I'm saying here, but that's my first mistake as to why I wasn't
getting leaner, I was not eating enough food. Mistake number two that I was making that was
keeping me from losing body fat and building lean muscle to appear leaner. I was doing too much
cardio. So here's a little backstory about me. I literally grew up playing sports my entire life. I
was an athlete. I was an elite athlete, high level soccer, high level basketball. I played university
basketball. So, let's just say cardio was part of my life as a soccer player, as a basketball
player, I was always running. So when I went to the gym on my own, the first thing I went to was
the treadmill because I actually really enjoyed running. I enjoyed sprints. I enjoyed intervals.
So naturally I thought in order to lose body fat, I needed to do more cardio, which is a very common
misunderstanding out there in the world. And again, the Michelle 15 years later knows that
is not the way to do it. But this is what I used to do. I would go to the gym and I
would run or jog on the treadmill for 15 to 20 minutes prior to doing my weightlifting.
Then I would go and do strength training. And if I didn't do the treadmill before I would do the
treadmill after, or I would do treadmill sprints in between my weightlifting sessions, like I'd do
a couple sets of an exercise. Then I'd go hop on the treadmill and do more running because it was
that mindset, in order to get a good workout, I need to sweat. I need to be dripping in sweat,
otherwise it was not a good workout. And this is, again, another common
misunderstanding I hear from a lot of people. "If I didn't sweat, if I'm not sore the next day,
if I'm not crawling out of the gym, it wasn't a good workout."
This is wrong. This is a mistake young trainer Michelle thought. Again, now 15 years later,
new, leaner, stronger Michelle knows that's not what you have to do. So after saying all that,
the old Michelle was a cardio, what you could call a cardio bunny. I still did strength training,
but I definitely prioritized the cardio. I feel like coming from my athletic background, I just
loved cardio and I loved to sweat. And I loved riding the bike. I loved going on the elliptical.
I loved doing the treadmill. I loved putting the treadmill up and down and running backwards
and doing sprints, all kinds of things because it felt good and it was what was common to me.
I still did strength training again, but I did not prioritize my strength training over my cardio. So
here is how I fixed that and changed things up. The Michelle 15 years ago also had a lot more
free time. I was still working very hard. I also had a lot more free time to work out. The Michelle
now has two kids, a husband, a house to keep up, two businesses, an online training business and
an in-person personal training business. And I'm very, very busy, which means I don't have all the
time that I did before. I need to be the most productive in the 30 to 45 minutes that I have
to exercise. So now I don't prioritize my cardio anymore. I prioritize strength training.
Now don't get me wrong. I still do cardio. But if I'm going to the gym and my focus of that workout
is strength training, I do strictly strength training. Maybe little intervals of battle
ropes in between, but for the most part that would be in my finisher. I am strictly focused in that
workout on strength training. And then I have other days where I'm doing steady state cardio
or I'm doing a metabolic HIIT type workout that you'll find on my YouTube channel here. Just 20 to
30 minutes of body weight HIIT training, skipping, burpees, squat jumps, all of those kind of things,
but those are less frequently throughout the week as opposed to strength training.
So if I do three strength training workouts a week, I'm usually doing one to two cardio workouts
a week. And one of those workouts will most likely just be walking. So, steady state cardio,
I'm taking my kids outside for a nice long walk, or I'm going by myself and just doing some steady
state, slow, low intensity walking. If you want to know why walking is so amazing for fat loss,
I made a video about that too to help you guys out. Check out that video. I'll link it in the
description below. If you're not walking on a regular basis and you're one of those
people like I used to be, and you're doing sprints and hardcore intervals on the treadmill all the
time and it's not working, go watch this video. I'll explain it all for you there.
So, in conclusion, mistaken number two. Old Michelle was doing way too much cardio and
not focusing enough on her strength training. Again, cardio is not a bad thing. Just try to
prioritize strength training over cardio. Three strength days, one to two cardio days versus
vice versa. Four cardio days and two strength days. So, that's my tip there, is if you're
looking to build lean muscle, blast body fat, you want to prioritize your strength training,
still getting in cardio, but just a little bit less cardio, more strength training. And last but
not least, mistake number three old Michelle was making, I was not lifting heavy enough.
I was not following any kind of progressive overload and I wasn't challenging my
body like I really should have been. Again, I was an athlete. I was a cardio
bunny. I just loved sweating. Coming from my sports background, I could push myself for
hours and hours on the treadmill. I could do all kinds of crazy sprints. I could run wind sprints,
skipping, rope, plyometrics, all of that stuff. It came natural to me. Although I learned a lot
in my university degree and my certifications and my mentorships all of these things about strength
training and heavy lifting, I applied these principles to my clients but when it came to
myself for some reason, I just didn't push myself as much as I should have been. And it's not about
worrying I was going to get bulky, because I know that is a common misunderstanding out there.
That women, especially if I lift too heavy, I'm going to get bulky. That is not true. That's not
what I was worried about. I just didn't challenge myself. So what do I mean by lifting heavy enough?
I mean, if I was doing a dumbbell row, I would pick up say, a 20 pound dumbbell and I was able
to do 10, no problem. I probably could have pushed to 15 reps. No problem. Which means in that case,
I should have been lifting a 25 or a 30. So you want to make sure you're lifting heavy enough
in the eight to 10 rep range, really heavy six to eight rep range, where when you get to that last
rep, either the eight rep or the 10th rep you can can't do anymore, you are maxed out. That means
you are lifting the correct weight and you are challenging yourself enough to build lean muscle.
So none of this low weight, high rep, like I'm going to pick 10 pound dumbbells up and do 30
bicep curls, that's not going to help you build lean muscle. You really need to challenge yourself
and lift heavy. So what does the Michelle now do? I am constantly challenging myself. So, let's
just tell you one prime example. The Michelle from 15 years ago was not able to do a single
chin up, pull up, nothing. I literally worked so hard. I was doing lap pull downs. I wasn't lifting
heavy enough. I clearly wasn't. I was challenging myself, but I wasn't challenging myself enough in
other exercises to help build up my back muscles, my core strength, all of these things. I was very,
very strong. Don't get me wrong, but nowhere near as strong as I am now. And I am able to bang out
10 chin-ups, 10 pull-ups on a good a day. Let's say minimum five. I can do five solid
chin-ups or pull-ups any day, on a good day I can get 10. It all just depends. But
I am so much stronger. I am able to deadlift about 225, 235 pounds. And this is all after having two
babies. So, I have progressively built my strength up. I am constantly challenging
myself. Single arm dumbbell row, I'm able to do a 60 pound dumbbell. Which back in the day
I would've never even thought was possible, or I might not have even considered doing it because
I just didn't challenge myself. So that's the third mistake I was making that I don't want any
of you guys to make is, don't lift a lightweight over and over and over and over and over again,
week after week after week. You are not going to build muscle that way. The body will plateau and
the body adapts to all of the stressors put on it. So if you're consistently using 15 pounds in your
single arm dumbbell row over and over and over again, your body is just going to adapt. And
you're never actually challenging your muscles enough to continue to get stronger. It's not a
complete waste of time, but if you are looking to get leaner and drop body fat, you need to
keep increasing your weights. Once you get to that 10th rep and you probably could have pushed to 12,
that's when you need to go up to the next weight. So if you were lifting a 15, you go up to 20.
And once you can do the 20, two about 10 reps and you probably could have pushed to 12 that's
when you go up to the 25 and you go back down to six to eight reps and build yourself up that way.
Same with dead lifts, same with squats. All of these movements, you have to continue
progressive overload and continue to increase your weights to get stronger. Once you get stronger,
you're building more lean muscle. Your body's actually burning more calories when you're just
sitting down, while you're working out, after your workouts, all of these things,
because your basal metabolic rate will speed up. So once we've got our basal metabolic rate up
from building more lean muscle, you're going to burn more body fat. I've got a video on that too,
basal metabolic rate and total daily energy expenditure, learn all about that there. Oh there
you have it. Those are the three mistakes that I was making that got me pretty fit and pretty lean,
but nowhere near as lean as I am now. And I don't want you guys to make any of those mistakes.
So let's go through them all again. Eat in a calorie deficit, but do not restrict yourself
and do not eat less than 1200 calories a day. Make sure you're hitting your protein goal. Number two,
make sure you're not doing too much cardio. Don't prioritize your cardio over your strength
training. Make sure you're getting at least two to three heavy strength training days a week. And
then the rest can be cardio workouts on your off days. Remember, walking is amazing. And the third
mistake, make sure you are lifting heavy enough to challenge yourself, progressive overload, and
make sure you're repeating the same exercises on a consistent basis to continue to challenge yourself
and increase the weights in those exercises. Don't switch up your workout every single time
you workout. Because it's harder to adapt and harder to progress with progressive overload if
you're consistently doing different exercises. I always say, try and pick a few compound lifts
that you're going to do every single week, such as bench press, squats, dead lifts,
bench over rows, pull ups. Any of those compound exercises you want to continue to repeat. I break
down all the compound exercises that you want to be doing on a regular basis to really blast
body fat in this video here. I'll link in the description below. And I also made a quick
form tutorial for all of those exercises right here. I'll link that in the description below.
You guys, I'm doing this to help you out. I've got so many different resources on my channel.
I'll leave the links below to all the videos that I think you should check out if you're really
looking to blast body fat and build lean muscle. Again, learn from my mistakes. I'm in a much
happier place now. I eat what I want, when I want within moderation, healthy balance, 80/20 rule,
I feel super strong, I feel lean, and I can still have fun and enjoy my life without restriction
or any food guilt. I am the busiest I've ever been. I actually work out less than I ever have,
but I am very focused in my workouts. When it's 30 minutes or 40 minutes, I prioritize the right
things. And I'm doing the right things to fuel my body outside of those workouts and it's working.
And I want to share all of those tips with you. So make sure you give this video a like if you
guys enjoyed this video, and leave any questions in the comments below,
I'm always happy to be in the comments, answering your questions. You can also shoot me a DM on
Instagram. I really hope this video was helpful for you guys. Remember, be the new Michelle,
don't be the old Michelle. I really want you guys to learn from my mistakes and take my advice,
and trust me, it will work. And make sure you share this video with anyone you know who's a
cardio bunny, not prioritizing strength training, not fueling their bodies properly, and not lifting
heavy enough in order to get lean. If you know someone with a goal of getting leaner and getting
stronger and blasting body fat, send them this video, because I really hope we can help as many
people as we can build a healthy relationship with food and a healthy relationship with
exercise. Don't forget to subscribe if you're not yet subscribed, and I'll see you guys next week.