Our next caller is Kristen from Connecticut. Hi Kristen, how can we help you? Hi guys, so my question is, is it beneficial to lift and build strength if mobility is poor? So for myself, I poor mobility my hips. I'm wondering if I should solely focus on mobility or if it's okay to incorporate strength along with that. I love this question. Yeah, no, that's a good question. And people do this often because strength is fun, mobility isn't- You just jump right past. Nearly, it's just nearly not as sexy, but let me change the, let me give you an analogy, right? So let's say somebody runs with a strong limp or a hop. This is just how they run. They've always learned how to run and they wanna learn how to run faster and they wanna get better at it. Imagine if a coach just said, just run faster. We're not gonna change that weird hop or limp that you have.  What do you think would end up happening? Now, if you're thinking that they're gonna probably injure themselves or just get solidify that really bad running pattern, you're absolutely correct. So this is the challenge with getting stronger with poor mobility. Whatever is giving you poor mobility will just become stronger. So you're applying pressure to the hinges, if you will, on your body. More and more with more strength and poor mobility, you are asking for an injury or trouble and you're also limiting your potential. There's only so strong and so good that you can get when your mobility is poor. There's a much higher potential with good mobility. So if you don't address it now, you're gonna limit your potential and increase your risk of injury. There's also a bit of a misconception that we can't get stronger while we focus on mobility. So I think that's important. It's not like an either or. It's not, oh, you can focus on getting strong or you can work just getting on mobile. I mean, you can actually be focused on mobility and build strength. So it's not like it's an either or type of situation. It's just you shift your priority versus neglecting mobility and just training to get stronger to Sal's point. Yeah, that's not the ideal situation, but there's nothing wrong with you addressing mobility while you're also getting stronger. I mean, that's like, that's why maps performance. Are you following any of the maps programs? Oh, that's great. I'm so glad you just said that because I'm running maps performance right now. Oh, there you go. I mean, that's ideal. You will get stronger in that program, but the program really is centered around mobility with the mobility focus in it. Okay, great. Yeah, and, you know, one more question around this. For you personally, what's the challenge? Is strength something that you're really, really after? Does it feel like there's a trade-off to you? Is that why you're asking this question? I just can't get as low in the squat as I would like to. Like if I definitely stand in like a sumo position, I can get low, but if I'm like hip-width apart or shoulder-width apart and my feet facing forward, I can't get below parallel. So just to get those strength gains by getting lower into a squat is really what I'm looking for.  Yeah, I've tried on like a block, like on a weight kind of, but not with squat shoes ever, no. Yeah, I'm just wondering if you can get lower by doing that and that would be a definite indicator that ankle mobility might be something that you want to look into and address because it will provide you a lot more stability and ankle support when you get dropped down into your squat. Do you have access to Maps Prime? Yeah, I have Maps Prime. Okay, use that. Use that, do the compass test, do the priming before your workout, be consistent with that. It'll make a big difference. And then, you know, back to what Adam was saying about increasing strength and mobility, I'm gonna add something to that. It looks different than what you might anticipate. So what I mean by that is, let's say you normally squat 150 pounds down to parallel, okay, but you work on mobility and your squat doesn't go up in weight, but now you're squatting an inch lower in your squat. You've just gotten stronger. So strength gains look a little different than they do when you're just adding weight to the bar. Adding a little bit more of a range of motion that you can control means you got stronger. So make sure you pay attention to that. Don't worry as much about the weight on the bar if you're improving mobility and stability. That means your strength is going. Yeah, you're basically unlocking a new exercise that way. Great. And then I wanna go back to what Justin asked you because you didn't get a chance to answer. When you lifted your heels and were squatting, did you notice you could get deeper that way? Yes, I could, yeah. And that was just body weight, but yeah. Okay, so that, I mean, that's a clear indication that I would be working on your combat stretch. So it make that just a routine every day, regardless of your squatting, every day before you lift. And then if you can multiple times throughout the day, starting to do the combat stretch and start to improve your ankle mobility and that alone should already start to help out the depth in your squat. Okay, great. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you guys. Yeah, that's a good conversation because I can understand like the, it feels like a trade-off, right? Oh, I'm not, I wanna add more weight. That's more important than me improving my mobility. It's more fun or whatever.  But what they don't realize is if they put the work into that, like you actually can produce more force, which means you get stronger and you're able to apply more of this strength in more directions. Well, I've shared on the podcast, it's been a while since we talked about this, but there was a time not that long ago where I could barely break 90 degrees on a squat. And I could easily do 405 back then at 90 degrees. And it took me a really long time to get to the place where I was squatting the same amount of weight all the way I asked for grass. But one of the things that I noticed was the development in my legs with lighter weight. So even though I wasn't lifting as much weight as I was say five, six years ago, because I had a much deeper range of motion, the development in my quads was superior to what it was before when I was lifting more weight. So a lot of times we just think that, oh, if I don't see more weight going on the bar, I'm not making strength improvements. But if you increase your range of motion, like Sal was saying a couple inches, you are getting stronger.


Hi friends, welcome back to my channel and a very special welcome if you're new here. My name is Jen, I'm a Certified Weight Loss and Nutrition Coach and I'm on WW Personal Points. Happy Friday friends, it is Friday, it is September. And I don't know about you, but when it turns September first, it is fall. I am here for all the fall vibes, the fall candles, the fall foods, the pumpkin, spice, everything. September, when it turns September, my heart is fulfilled. I am so happy as fall is my very favorite time of the year. I'm super excited to change up my background to fall, hear from my videos to decorate my house for fall. This is our first holiday or fall in our new house so I can't wait to lay out my decorations, place them around my house and feel all the fall vibes for the next few months. I've already been into fall foods, I've already purchased some pumpkin spice foods, we've made some pumpkin inspired, fall inspired recipes in my meal prep. I am so excited that it is September and my favorite time of year is here. It automatically puts me in a good mood. It automatically gets me motivated to finish out the year strong. So this was a good week. I was very excited to get into the fall spirit. I will say on a side note that the only bad thing or my low this week is that it's my least favorite time of the month.  We know that it makes me pretty miserable, especially the first few days. So of course I'm going to share with you how my week went. We'll set some goals for September for next week. We'll talk about my weigh in and of course this week's WW workshop topic. So if you're excited to give this video a thumbs up, subscribe if you're not because I do a weigh in every Friday and I do upload five videos per week. Check out the description box down below for nutrition coaching. You need to know your macros and calories and if you need accountability, I have one-on-one coaching as well. This is how I've lost over 123 pounds. So I'll link that down below for you as well as links and discounts to my favorite things. And don't forget, come into our Facebook group. It's free and we would love to have you. So let's jump into my week, my weigh in and the WW workshop topic. Happy Friday again, happy September. I hope you had an absolutely fantastic week. I had a really good week. Overall, I had a really good week. One thing I did this week, which was something that I haven't done since hiring my fitness coach, since getting into a fitness routine is I actually took a legitimate, legit rest day on Sunday. I did not close the rings on my Apple Watch. I did not take my walk like I do every Sunday. I took an actual rest day. This is huge for me. I always have an active rest day. I still take a 30 minute walk on Sundays. But this Sunday I decided, you know what? You're gonna take an actual rest day because your body soar from all the working out and you need a break, you need to focus on getting your meal prep done, getting some work done. So I didn't do any intentional movement on Sunday and it was glorious. It was fantastic. I even found that it helped me stay on track because I didn't get in that physical activity that I kept thinking about, well, we definitely don't wanna overeat it all today because we didn't get in our physical activity. It was great to take a rest day, to relax on Sunday, enjoy a Sunday, which is supposed to be a day of rest and really focus on nourishing my body and my mind and my soul and I really enjoyed it. It's definitely something I'm going to do more often. Come Monday, I was back in the gym and I have finished out the week strong as usual. This week was six days of intentional movement and again, enjoying a day of rest on Sunday. Even though it's the week of my cycle and even though I was extremely, extremely hungry the first part of the week, I literally was an empty pit. I could just eat, eat, eat all day long, which I did. I mean, I actually ate quite a bit the first part of the week because I was ravenously hungry and no matter what I ate, protein packed, fiber packed, I was still hungry. So I allowed myself to have a little bit higher calorie days the beginning of the week to help compensate for that hunger. Like I mentioned in last Friday's weigh-in that I do a lot of carb cycling and calorie cycling and yes, so many of you commented and said please, please, please share a video. So that is coming your way. I'm definitely going to be doing a video on calorie cycling, carb cycling and how it's beneficial for health and weight loss. So I really focused on cycling my calories this week, eating more on the days that I was really hungry, listening to my body, which is part of how I've healed my relationship with food is to really intentionally listen to my body and when it's hungry, feed it, fuel it. My weight was all over the place this week, which is to be expected with the week of my cycle and of course, lifting heavier weights, skipping a day in the gym, having a rest day can all play a part in weight fluctuations. And I have to say one really positive thing this week have been coming more and more to terms with the scale. Even my coach made a comment in last Friday's check-in about how I've really made progress in healing my relationship with the scale and not letting it impact my life, which is actually a perfect conversation for today's WW workshop topic because it is how to stay inspired no matter what the scale says. When I heard that this was the topic, I literally was like, yes, this is such a perfect topic and something that needs to be talked about, not just for myself, but for a lot of you who have reached out to me and said, what is happening with the scale? It is not moving fast enough for me. What do I need to do? How do I stay motivated? So before we talk about my weigh-in for the week, let's talk about how to stay inspired when the scale doesn't do what you needed to do. It can be really hard. I mean, really, really hard when you're on a weight loss journey to not focus on the scale. I mean, the whole purpose of being on a weight loss journey is to shed extra weight, which shows up on the scale. So when the scale isn't cooperating or when the scale isn't showing all the work that we've put in, it can be really uninspiring and really be unmotivating. So you need to focus on measuring your progress and success in other areas. And I'm speaking to myself when I'm talking about this because for the last month, I've been talking about this a lot in my Friday weigh-ins, how I have had to learn to measure my success in different ways, not relating to the scale in any capacity. So what are successes that have nothing to do with the scale? These are called non-scale victories. I share a ton on my Facebook group. I post pictures, I give raw stories and moments about non-scale victories. So like I said, if you're not part of my Facebook group, definitely come join us. It's free and it's a really loving and supportive community. And I share a lot about NSVs or non-scale victories. Progress isn't related to a number on the scale. It helps us see the bigger picture to stay inspired. And that is the definition of an NSV or a non-scale victory. So how do you determine what non-scale victories you're seeing or what non-scale victories you want to see as you go through your health journey? The first thing you wanna do is list three things that have changed in this past month for you. None of these are relating to the scale. Maybe you went down a size in clothing. Maybe you put on a shirt or a pair of pants that never used to fit you that now fits substantially better. List three things non-scale related that have changed this month. Are you struggling to fill in these lines? Ask yourself if the scale didn't exist. If it was obsolete, how would you measure your success? Consider these things, healthy habits, like starting a wake and walk routine. Yes moments, maybe you aren't so wiped after work or your clothes fit better. Changes to your health or new to you experiences like trying a Zumba class or learning to cook both of these count. Now that you have your list, let's dive a little bit deeper. Think about what all these wins, these NSVs, these non-scale victories really mean. Recognize the impact of each one. Maybe cooking more means you enjoy healthier, fresher meals or fitting into your favorite clothes makes getting dressed feel just a little bit easier. Zoom out to see the big picture. How do you feel reflecting on and celebrating these types of wins? How is it different from when you focus only on the scale? Now sure, it feels pretty damn amazing to see the number on the scale go down, but it feels even more damn amazing to see other non-scale victories and other parts of your body changing as you lose fat. Scale changes are far from a sure thing. We have zero control over the scale. We do have control over what foods we're eating, how we're moving our body if we're drinking our water and what we're doing to better our health and our relationship with food. Plenty of factors can slow that number on the scale. I know for me the minute I implemented a fitness routine and started lifting weights and focusing more on changing my body and building lean muscle, the scale did not cooperate. It has been months and the scale is doing this. Sometimes a lot of this. And I have to come to terms with the other changes that I'm seeing in my body. More muscle definition. I've went down an entire size of clothing. I feel more confident, more lean, more toned up. All of that I have control over. The scale, I don't. Just like your why goes beyond scale related things, so do your wins. All of the changes that you see in your body, the changes that you see with your relationship with food. Do you no longer binge on foods?  All of these are even bigger than that number on the scale. Research shows that reflecting and focusing on non-scale victories keeps you even more motivated. Yes, I said more motivated than that number going down on the scale. Make a plan for how you're going to keep popping the proverbial champagne. How are you going to keep the excitement going?  And none of that has to do with the scale.  Don't let it affect your life. And if you don't have the healthiest relationship with the scale, stay off of it. Do not weigh yourself every day. Do not even weigh yourself every week. Maybe you weigh every two weeks or once a month. If the scale ruins your day, stop stepping on the scale. The more you focus on things you can control, the happier and healthier your health journey is going to be. Take it from me. I am the epitome of focusing not only on the scale but other parts of my life and my health journey, my relationship with food, my athletic ability that have changed for the better when the scale isn't changing at all. So as you know, I love this topic. It is something I talk about all the time. I literally have this conversation with all of my coaching clients on coaching calls about how the scale isn't the only measurement of success. So what I want you to do is this week focus on something else. Focus on a non-scale victory that has nothing to do with the scale. In fact, down in the comments, let us know what is a non-scale victory that you've noticed even if the scale isn't moving. Give us inspiration down below. Inspire us. Motivate us with all the NSVs that you've seen on your weight loss journey. Speaking of weight loss, let's talk about this week's weigh-in. Speaking of the scale and not focusing on the scale. Like I said, I had a good week. I took a rest day on Sunday. I got in my exercise. I drank my water. I ate a little bit more the first few days of the week, which was fine. I was still in a calorie deficit, just not as much of a calorie deficit. So I honestly didn't know what the scale was going to do this week and really truly didn't care. I had so many NSVs this week taking a rest day. Eating and listening to my body and when I was hungry, feeding it, even if it meant going over my calories or points for the day. And when I stepped on the scale in the midst of my cycle, I am still down 0.4. That's a pretty big win for me. I didn't expect to see the scale move and honestly, I was completely okay with it. That's crazy. It's crazy to say that even though I'm on a weight loss journey, I'm okay if the scale didn't move this week because there were so many things that didn't have anything to do with the scale that were huge non-scale victories for me this week. I will go ahead and put here on the screen my total weight loss and I'm happy that I'm starting September off with the weight loss even if it's 0.4 because point this and point that add up to a pound. Before I let you go, I do want to share with you a non-scale victory because I think that this is really, really important and it relates really good with today's topic. In my Facebook group on Monday, I posted this picture where I talked about how I put on these shorts and I almost took them off because of all the loose skin on my thighs. And then I told myself, stop it. Who cares about the loose skin? Focus on the fact that number one, you're wearing a size eight short when you started this journey as a three X, you've lost over 123 pounds.  For me, this was huge. The way we talk to ourselves and the way we look at non-scale victories and the scale can either hinder or help our weight loss journey. And for me, this was quite an epiphany to realize that I'm gonna rock these shorts and be proud of the body that I'm in, battle scars of loose skin and all. So this week, focus on the non-scale victories. Don't focus on the scale.  Think about the things that have nothing to do with the scale. Be proud of where you've come, where you're going and keep pushing whether the scale indicates your success or not. Now I wanna hear from you guys. Let me know how your week was. Did you gain? Did you lose? What are your non-scale victories? Let me know down in the comments. Give us some inspiration. Give us the motivation we all could use it.  Subscribe if you're not because I upload five videos a week and Friday is always weigh-in day, WW workshop topic day. And don't forget, follow me on Instagram and join my Facebook group to keep up with me a little bit more day to day. And I highly recommend personalized macros and calories to reach your goals scale related or not. Thank you again for watching friends and I'll see you all in tomorrow's grocery haul. Happy Friday. Bye.