Combo Movements & What's Optimal for You!

In this episode of the Lifting Lindsay podcast, Lindsay discusses the importance of understanding your personal fitness goals and how this differs from person to person. Lindsay stresses on the importance of context, individual body types and specific goals. She also covers the differences between 'working out' and 'training', highlighting how specific types of exercises such as combo movements or hypertrophy work can affect fitness results differently.

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Creators and Guests

Host

Lindsay

Wife and mother of three. I have a deep passion for learning and teaching. I also really love lifting weights and fitness.

What is LiftingLindsay's More Than Fitness?

Dive into the joy of fitness with Lindsay and other guests exploring how it goes well and beyond the gym floor, the number on the scale, the size of your waist or the calories you're counting.

Lindsay: Welcome to the
Lifting Lindsay podcast.

This is like my 10th attempt
at making this this episode.

So I really hope it
works out this time guys.

'cause the world has just been
against me between me laughing so

hard at my own jokes, not even able
to talk anymore, to me talking like,

probably way too much to my editor
Chris, to children interrupting me.

And finally I'm like,
okay, do you know what?

No, I'm just gonna do it.

I'm gonna do it.

And I'm really excited about this
episode two, like, I'm excited

about every single episode, but this
one I have a very specific goal.

I wanna help you guys be better at
cutting through not even the nonsense

of social media, but just knowing
context and how things apply to you.

I think that that's really important
because I may say like 10 things

and maybe three things apply to
you, and it doesn't mean that the

other seven, eight things are just
like stupid, or wrong necessarily.

It just doesn't apply to you, right?

I think becoming better at filtering
out information of what applies what

doesn't is so, so, so important.

Like even today, I got a question from
a woman, should I excessively arch my

back during a bench press or shouldn't I?

There's a lot of, you know,
information out there telling me what

I should do and what I shouldn't.

I'm like, well, that depends.

Are you a power lifter?

If you're a power lifter,
you're gonna wanna do it.

Why?

Because the main reason why is because
it's actually gonna lower the range

of motion that you need to go through.

It's gonna lower that so that
you can push more weight.

That's, that's the main
reason why they do it.

So if you're listening to a
bunch of powerlifters, just

keep in mind their audience and
what they love and what they do,

it's, it's powerlifting, it's strength.

That's, that's what they're speaking to.

So the other side is going
to be telling you not to do

that, or maybe minimally do it.

Or maybe just if you want to work
more of the lower pecs, then that's

going to line things up better for
them to work is just arching back

just a little bit on a flat bench.

So it's not that one person is
wrong and the other person is right.

Who are you?

What are your goals?

What are you trying to accomplish?

Are you a power lifter?

Because if you are, then
you probably wanna do that.

If you're not, then you
don't wanna do that.

If you're not, you probably don't even
wanna use a bar that much, unless it's

just like a sport thing and you just
want to become really good at the bench.

But if you're into hypertrophy, then.

probably don't wanna be using a straight
bar for a lot of your peck work, you

want to be using more dumbbells because
it allows for actually lining things up

better depending on which division of
the pecs that you're trying to work in.

It actually allows you to have your elbows
closer to your torso, which will allow you

to lengthen out the pecs and line them up
through the motion a little bit better.

So a wider arm path is going to
be lining things up typically

better for anterior adults.

So it just, it depends.

It depends, right?

It's not that one is
wrong and one is right.

It's, it just depends on the context.

It depends on your context, right?

That's what's really, really important.

Now, a lot of times people will say,
well, this is optimal, but for who?

I'm one that loves that word.

But keep in mind that what's optimal for
one person, maybe a bikini competitor,

what's optimal for her maybe is
suboptimal for me because I can't do that.

So keep in mind that optimization
is in and of itself contextual.

I'll see research on nutrition,
different like studies done on

nutrition, and I think to myself,
well that's really interesting

and fascinating and nice to know.

So the next time I have a client that's
in a, that's stuck in a metabolic

ward being fed every single meal.

It's nice to know what's
gonna happen, but guess what?

My clients aren't.

They're at home with their children
dealing with real life and real life

stress, and nobody's making every
single meal and just handing it to them.

So that's really cool that we found out
this new little thing about nutrition,

but how does that apply to the real world?

I think that that's the
most important thing.

Keep in mind that when I'm talking
about optimization, I do try to

keep it as contextual as I can, and
what's optimal for one person will be

suboptimal for another because if you
can't follow the plan, then I don't

care on paper how optimal and awesome
it looks and how it's completely.

Researched, scientifically backed that
this is the best program in the world.

If you can't do it in the gym because of
time constraints, or you can't be super

setting two machines, three machines at
the same time, then it is suboptimal.

It is not optimal for you.

In fact, I would actually say when
I very, very first launched my

training app, that was one of the

biggest mistakes that I made is I
forgot that people lived in the real

world and they couldn't be taking
two machines at the same time.

So if you were one that followed me when
I very, very first launched my app.

I had a lot of super sets so that
we could compact time, we could even

like a pre-ex exhaust po exhaust, like
post exhaust, all of these things.

And, um, it, it was beautiful.

It was beautiful on paper.

It was so beautiful.

I would've made like my mentors
proud, but in real life it

wasn't working for anybody.

And, and I heard about it from app users.

And I listened to 'em and I was
like, you know, you're right.

Before I moved to where I'm at right now.

I had my, a really nice gym in my house
that I loved, and I was working out

there a lot and I could super set all the
things and I had all these machines to

do so, but my clients couldn't do that,
and my app users couldn't do it, but it

was so optimal, but not in real life.

So I am so glad that these
women spoke out and was like,

Lindsay, that's a nice thought.

I can't do this.

Like people are hating me in the gym.

Or maybe one machine is like clear
crossed and they're like doing cardio

just to get to that machine or whatnot.

I am so grateful that I've had so
much time being a coach because every

month, every year, I'm just growing.

Constantly questioning
what I think I know.

Constantly getting feedback from
individuals and realizing that

optimal on paper can be so not
in real life application, okay.

So that's one piece of information
that I wanna give you too.

I was listening to somebody on
Instagram, a coach saying that

like, all super sets are stupid.

And I thought, well, that's
kind of a stupid remark.

I think your remark stupid.

No, I'm just kidding.

But I thought to myself, well,
that's too bad that he's completely

turned off from all super sets.

One, we have research showing
that as long as there's no kind of

crossover between the muscles, we
can easily superset them without it,

it's not gonna affect hypertrophy, right?

It's not at all.

And also, supersets can be such a great
tool to get more work done in less time,

but he was so set on on these just.

Few studies that he was so turned off to
a lot of other information showing that

no, they can actually be wisely done.

And actually, depending on the stimulus
that you're going for it, it might

actually be the the best option for you.

So there's just like all of these
things, all of this information on social

media and I wanted to help you guys.

I.

just kind of navigate some of that.

So I'm gonna be talking a lot today and
sharing some stories of people that I've

talked to just within the last week.

I mean, two people today stopped
me and asked me some questions.

I, I'm, I'm an introvert, but I got out.

That was kind of a big deal and it,
I, I got out of the house and it.

It wasn't at the gym, which
is even a bigger deal.

Anyways, one woman's talked to me and
she, she's like, I, like I follow you.

Can I ask you a few questions?

Another woman sees me at the
gym all the time and she wanted

to ask me a few questions too.

I'm going to share some conversations
I've had just in this last week

that I'm really, really hoping
help you understand context and how

we need to bring everything into
context and how that applies to you.

So first off, I just
wanna explain something.

There's a difference between
working out and training.

Okay?

And I've explained this
before on Instagram.

Maybe I should share this again.

Working out is just, just
movement that you love.

It could be whatever
really you want it to be.

You get your workout for the day,
whether that's hiking, whether it's

like some, I don't know, aerobics
class, some bouncy, bouncy circuit,

whatever, like I don't care.

I don't care, workout.

And, and find something that you just
love, that challenges you, but also

that you just, you just love, like
that's working out, that's, you know,

getting that energy out is so important.

I want to encourage
everybody to, to work out.

Here's where my concern is some people
think that working out will get them a

very specific outcome, and it doesn't.

Okay.

Training does.

So if you've been working out for a while.

And you're like, man, I just
like, why aren't, why don't I have

like some femininely fit arms?

Or why aren't my biceps getting built?

And, and a lot of times what
people do is they out workout,

workout, workout, workout.

They do all of these things that
they love and they get that energy

out and it's so good and it's so
beneficial for 'em and, and it keeps

them moving and healthy and happier.

Then they're disappointed because
they, they're not getting this

other result that they want and they
say, oh, I'll just never have it.

It's just not in the cards for me.

It's not my genetics.

And that's where I'm kind of like, but
you're working out, you're not training.

So that's like saying, I
really wanna be a really good

basketball player, so I'm gonna,

I'm gonna go play soccer every single day.

Like, but, but if you want a certain
outcome, then it doesn't matter that

you're playing with the ball, right?

Basketball plays with the ball,
soccer plays with the ball, like

they both play with balls, right?

So as long as I play with the ball, then
I'm gonna get what I want in the end.

No, you still need to have specific
training towards this end goal.

Now, if you just want to play
with a ball and go out on a field

and do whatever, then good job.

Congratulations.

You're doing it right?

Just like the person who's
like, I just wanna work out.

Good job.

Congratulations, you're doing it.

But as soon as you say something like,
I want to build or I want to have, I'm

like, okay, be cautious because now
you are entering the world of training.

And you have to, to a degree, you have
to shift that energy out to be geared

more towards that specific outcome.

So if you're like, well,
I, I'm kind of sad.

I, I work out all the time and I, I go
to this woman's class and she has the

most amazing delts and I do everything
she does, but it's just, just not in

the cards for me, just not my genetics.

I just can't, I had somebody say that
to me about calves the other day.

I'm like, nobody ever
compliments my calves.

But this woman at church was
like, oh, you have amazing calves.

I, I, I'll never have those calves.

I'm like, oh, really?

So you do calves twice a week?

She's like, well, no.

Oh, okay.

So you actually don't know.

You don't know if you could
ever have it 'cause you haven't

put in the work to do it.

Don't like, don't compliment me guys.

'cause you'll get into, I'm just kidding.

This poor woman.

I was like, if you really
want calves, come and see me.

We'll get you some calves.

But until you're ready to put in
the work, don't ever tell me that

you can't.

Don't ever tell me you can't get it.

But you have to do specific training.

I don't just walk around
and have these calves.

I actually train calves and
that's how I have calves, right?

So as soon as we start getting a specific
goal, we have to realize that the training

that we're doing, or I should say the
working out that we're doing, especially

if we've been doing it for long periods
of time and our body looks the exact same.

We've got to actually enter the
world of training and now train

towards that specific goal.

That's really, really, really important.

So I'm gonna walk you through
a few scenarios that I walked,

some pe, some individuals through
this week, and I'm hoping.

That it helps you filter information
out a little bit better, and I'm hoping

it gives you a little bit of context
to your specific needs or wants.

Probably more wants than needs.

You know, needs are, I'm
a healthy, happy person.

Wants are, I want delts, right?

So delts are fun to have, but
they don't bring true joy and

happiness into this world.

So that's really important
to understand, right.

So this is a want.

You want to have it.

And there is some level of happiness doing
something hard and getting the reward.

So don't get me wrong,
but it's not the doubts.

Don't get confused about
what brings the reward.

The reward is you did something
hard and you're feeling good about

yourself because you pushed into the
hard, and actually that's where the

real joy starts coming from, right?

Pushing into the hard,
challenging yourself.

Doing something new, and it's pretty
cool to get the outcome, but the

journey is actually what brings the joy.

So this morning a woman stopped me and she
said that she followed me and she said,

she's like, I have a question for you.

What do you think about, oh,
I forgot the name of it guys.

They're popping up all over Utah.

Bootcamp, burn Bootcamp.

Is that what it's called?

I know what they are, but
I just forgot the name.

So it's something about burning and
it's a bootcamp that makes you burn.

So something along those lines.

So this woman said to me, this
young woman, she's like, so

what are your thoughts on it?

I'm like, what?

What do you mean?

What are my thoughts?

And she's like, what
do you think about it?

Let me ask you a few questions
because I wanna give you the answer

that's gonna help you the best, okay?

Why are you thinking about it?

What are your goals?

What do you want?

Because my opinion
actually doesn't matter.

Like opinion about what?

Like, do I wanna do it?

No.

Unless they're going to help me increase
my deadlift or get 600 pounds on a

leg press, no, I don't wanna do it.

Why?

Because that's where my joy
comes from, is feeling like I'm a

freaking strong mom who, when my
son lost something under the couch.

I didn't crawl under the couch.

I was lazy and I just deadlifted it.

And because, 'cause that seemed like
more fun than getting on my hands and

knees and crawling under the couch.

I just deadlifted the couch.

And my son looks up at me
and he goes, whoa, whoa, mom.

You're so strong.

I'm like, yeah, that's
what I'm going for in life.

That's what I'm going for.

Sweating.

Burning.

No, but my son looking at me
telling me, mom, you are so strong.

Mm-Hmm.

Yep.

That's what I want.

But you know what?

That's my, that's my desire.

That's my life.

Not this girl's.

She's just this young woman.

I wanted to know, like, I wanna give you.

The best answer possible, but
in order to do so, I need to

understand what is it that you want?

And she's like, well, I
want to drop body fat.

I'm like, okay.

Have you done it before?

Do you find that it's easy, hard, what?

Do you struggle with it?

And she's like, no,
actually, it's pretty easy.

Once I change a little bit of my
lifestyle, move a little bit more, I

actually drop weight pretty easily.

I'm like, oh, okay.

And I said, do you like what you
look like when the weight comes off?

And she goes.

No, that's the problem.

Every time I lose weight, I'm just a
smaller version of what I looked like

before, and I don't wanna look like that.

I want to have a little
bit more defined arms.

I want them a little bit more curvy.

I want to look toned.

And when I just drop weight, I don't.

And do you know why I
asked her these questions?

Because I needed some insight.

I needed to know, do you just want
to lose weight and you love what

you look like when you do lose
weight, or is there something

more that we need to take care of?

Do you also need to build some muscle?

Or genetically do you just have muscle?

I don't know.

She's always wearing like a long
sleeve shirt when I talk to her, I

can't really see her body 'cause it's,
she's usually wearing a, a dress.

I do some service work for my church
and me and her serve together.

So I had to ask her.

And also, it doesn't matter what I
think, it matters what she thinks.

So I needed to know, okay, do
you struggle losing weight?

And then when you do lose weight,
do you feel like you have the

muscle, the body you want?

No.

'cause that's gonna change
actually, what I tell her.

You see, if she told me I just wanna
lose weight, I would say, okay,

get into a calorie deficit and.

Do your burn, bootcamp, bootcamp,
burn, whatever it's called.

Do it.

Sure.

Sounds fun.

Like if you enjoy going there and
if it's a joy to you and not like

a, Ugh, I have to do it again,
but it's like a joy, then do it.

All you have to do is get into a calorie
deficit, and move more because even

just like moving more, I mean, you may
with cardio only lose muscle tissue.

That's kind of another layer
to this conversation, right?

But that's another layer that we can
get into once she's kind of established

a routine and is enjoying her overall
health and fitness journey, right?

So that's nothing that I'd be like,
well you have to do this and give

like some long lecture on, right?

What I found out was, uh, she doesn't
have a lot of muscle genetically, so

when she does lose weight, she's not
gonna be one of those three month miracle

transformation because she doesn't
genetically have that muscle tissue.

So if somebody already has that
muscle tissue, genetically, or

they lean more towards having a
little bit more so that they can

get some easy gains and lose weight.

At the same time.

They may be this miraculous
three month transformation.

Most people aren't like that.

That's why you see those
people posted everywhere.

Just a fun reminder for you all
that a lot of these coaches that

are posting those pictures, they
have a hundred other clients that

either didn't qualify or didn't look
as good because they don't have the

genetics, or they just didn't like.

They didn't like actually put in the work.

And I'm not saying that everybody
who has a me miraculous three month

transformation didn't put any work in.

I'm just saying most people after three
months still have a ton of work to do.

Either they lose weight and they
realize, oh, I still want muscle tissue.

Or their transformation's
a little bit different.

Theirs is more of mental.

And maybe after three months they
made some big mental breakthroughs.

But their pictures aren't showing that
right now, so they've gotta wait for

another 6, 9, 12, and that's okay.

That's okay.

I, I actually really, really
hate glorifying these three

month transformations.

I've never liked it.

I think it gives, gives people a bad
idea of how long changing lifestyle

and your body actually takes.

So I always, when clients would
come to me and tell me, well, look

at this three month transformation.

I'm like, awesome.

So show me the three month post, that
three month transformation, and I'll tell

you whether that person really transformed
or not, because it's usually three months

after they're right back to where they
were, because they usually do something

extreme, not always, but most of the time.

So just keep that in mind.

So anyways, this young woman, she comes
to me, she wants to know what do I think?

Well, what I think is that that
bootcamp burn or whatever, it's

not going to get you to your goals
because your goals are going to

come through hypertrophy training.

So you could probably start with
three to four times a week, going

to the gym, she asked me, so what,
how should I set up my programming?

I said, why not make it super easy one
day lower body, the next day upper.

Rest the next day.

Lower body the next day, upper.

Rest two days.

So just Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

Like, that's it.

Lower body, upper body.

Lower body, upper body.

Just like she's never done this before.

Yeah, you can use my training app, or
you can just kind of get in and start

building a little confidence on your own.

Just kind of get used to the machines,
get used to general movements.

See what you enjoy.

I told her three sets of 10
to 12 rest for like 60, 90

minutes, or not 60 to 90 minutes.

Wow.

60, 90 seconds to, up to two minutes.

Just kind of rest until you feel
better and then like you can hit

it again hard and, and then go.

So just start from there.

That's just an easy way to get into it.

And if she loses body fat as easy as she
says, then that's not gonna be an issue.

She's gonna go, she's gonna get into
a calorie deficit, start dropping body

fat, and she's gonna start building.

And she's a newbie, so she'll have
those newbie gains, she'll see

some good progress pretty quick.

So that was her answer to her question.

Now I've had women come to me saying.

I lift at home.

I don't want any more muscle tissue.

I want to maintain.

I need help with nutrition.

We put them into a calorie deficit and
then we find out what do you like doing?

What's enjoyable to you?

What's fun?

How can we bring weights in?

It just to create enough
tension on the muscle.

At least two times a week to
maintain as much muscle tissue

as possible during this cut.

And honestly, with a lot of them
are like, I like combo movements.

I like bouncy, bouncy.

I'm like, okay, okay.

If you don't care about muscle tissue and
all you care is you wanna see a reduction

in fat loss, and you don't even actually
care what you look like, you just wanna

see the scale move down, you wanna be a
smaller version of what you are right now.

Then the training doesn't necessarily
matter, maybe one to two times a week.

We need to get minimal
resistance training.

We need to get a little volume on
your tension created on your muscles

just to maintain so that you're not
losing a lot of lean tissue during

your cut, because that is going to
impact your RMR, your metabolic rate.

Like we don't wanna do that.

So we want to, whether the client
tells me, even if the client's

like, no, I don't care about muscle.

I don't care if I lose it.

I'm like, but you do, you do actually.

So at minimum we need to be doing this
one to two times a week, full body.

And that can actually be
through combo movements.

So, having the person do squats to
leg press, having the person do R

dlss to back rows, like different
movements like that that they actually

really enjoy and think are fun.

They challenge them metabolically
and they also provide a

little tension on the muscle.

So the other day I brought up combo
movements and, and people lost their minds

over this because I said, combo movements
are not good for hypertrophy, period.

They just aren't, sorry, sorry, not sorry.

I, I haven't changed my mind on that.

But the goal of this person was just
to work out and to see fat loss.

It wasn't body recomp.

So if somebody comes to me and is like, I
really want to lose body fat, but I want

to look fit, so when the body fat comes
off, I actually care what I look like.

I want to look toned.

I want to have little definition.

Um.

And I won't be programming
combo movements.

I'm going to be programming
hypertrophy work.

And the reason why is because we want
them to grow in a calorie deficit.

So combo movements already don't
provide enough tension on the muscle.

Plus you're in a calorie deficit, which
lowers your chances of putting on muscle.

So combo movements are fun for people
who want to lose weight and don't

care about anything other than that.

They are not going to work for
somebody who wants to lose weight,

plus put on a little bit of
muscle, and let me explain why.

I actually have a full YouTube
video on this that I'll put

in the show notes as well.

This is why I say that
they are suboptimal.

They're not good for hypertrophy when
you really want to maximize your body's

ability to put on muscle either in a cut
or even at maintenance or in a build.

The reason why is, let's look
at the RDL and the back row.

This is one that I see all the time.

So combo movements are when we take two
exercises and we combine it into one.

And a lot of times what people think is,
they're like, I'm gonna save so much

time by doing these two things at once.

It's awesome.

Unfortunately, that's not what happens.

It ends up just taking
a lot longer to build.

And let me tell you why.

So an RDL, when I do R dls,
I am loading the bar anywhere

between 190 to 225 pounds, just
depending on rests sets, and reps.

Okay.

So that's the range that I'm working on.

So for me to put on muscle, that's
the range that I'm working on.

That's what really tests my
glutes and my hamstrings.

That is going to put enough tension,
and then I'm going to be working high

intensity, meaning closer to failure.

And I'm gonna be making sure that
throughout the week I have a good

amount of volume on my glutes
and on my hamstrings or whatever

muscle I'm trained to work.

Right.

So when it comes to a back row, well
just a few days ago, I was doing

bent over lat rows, I was doing
them unilaterally, getting little

external stability through a bench,
but it was with a 60 pound dumbbell.

So if I have two 60 pounds,
that, and that was my top set

and I was doing about eight reps.

So 120 pounds for a lat row.

So if I were to do an RDL and at
the bottom of the RDLI paused and

tried to do a lat row, I can't
do a lat row with 225 pounds.

So something has to suffer either.

I can do the row, but then my
weight comes down to 110, 120.

And then what does that do?

So I can do the back row.

Awesome.

But 120 pounds is nothing for my
legs, for my glutes and my hamstrings.

That's nothing like,
I'm pushing 2 25 guys.

So something has to do.

You see that there's a
mismatch in strength.

I.

And so there's going to be a
mismatch in the amount of tension

that can be created on the muscle
that I'm actually trying to build.

So a another thing, I see people
do bicep curls to shoulder presses.

Okay?

So when I'm doing shoulder presses,
I have 40 pounds in both hands.

When I do bicep curls, I don't
have 40 pounds in both hands.

I have 20, 25 pounds,
dumbbells is what I'm curling.

So once again, if I'm trying to do a
curl to a press, something has to give.

So either my shoulders can awesome,
be tested and do the press, but then

I can't even complete a bicep curl.

Or I can complete the bicep
curl, but then it's kind of easy

for my shoulders to do the 25.

Right.

So do you, do you realize when it comes
to hypertrophy trying to do two exercises

blended, something's gotta suffer?

So that's why it is not
optimal for hypertrophy.

When I shared this the other day, I had a
lot of people very upset and frustrated,

probably because they really, really,
really love their combo movements.

Once again, if you wanna work out
and do combo movements, I don't care.

But if you want to maximize your
body's ability to put on muscle

combo movements are something that
is going to be suboptimal for you.

So when I shared this, I, I had
some women even send me send

me other people's accounts and
they're like, look at this woman.

She has the most incredible
body and she does combos only.

Or look at this woman, um, she grew
so much and she only does combos.

I've had numerous people send me those.

So we have to realize that
everybody's body is so different.

So I actually went to one of the accounts.

I'd never heard of this person before.

Um, I really only follow like usually
researchers or coaches who have been in

the industry for a really long time, who
really, really just know their stuff.

So I'd never heard of this person.

I looked her up.

She's so cute.

Just this adorable creature.

Oh my goodness.

And.

So I looked back and, and tried
to see like, okay, so where, where

are the before and after pictures?

Right?

So I looked, look, look, look like.

Okay, so this person's
body's never changed.

It like looks the same as
it did like in high school.

It looks like she's just
this cutest athletic girl.

This is like this cute body.

Oh my goodness.

I love it.

And she has no desire to build her
muscles, so that's actually the

audience that she's speaking to.

She's not like over there preaching,
like do this technique to build hyper.

She's just like, you
want a 10 minute workout?

Do this.

You want to do some hit, do this.

Like, that's who she's speaking to.

She's just speaking to people
who wanna work out and just

want to move, which is fine.

And that's great.

Remember the context
though that I told you.

So this person, adorable human being,
oh my goodness, I just love her.

But her context is, here's a
fun little 10, 15 minute combo

move that will get your blood
going, that will get you burning.

That will, you know, that's
what she's speaking to.

And she has the cutest body in the
world, but it's never really changed.

It's, so we have people like that.

That are in the fitness industry.

Then we also have another group.

We have those that actually did spend a
lot of time in hypertrophy and developed

and grew in the way that they wanted to.

And then now they're just kind
of moving towards maintenance.

And in maintenance, anything
really, as long as you get about

a ninth of the volume that you
got before with your hypertrophy

training, you will maintain a ninth.

That's nothing.

So if I decided today that I wanted
to not grow anymore, all I would

have to do is show up at the gym
one to two times a week, and then

just kind of stay an active person,
and I would maintain really easily.

Now, I still just love strength,
so even when it comes, the day

comes that I'm done growing.

I'm probably just gonna move into more
of strength work and not necessarily

get the higher volume that hypertrophy
has, but keep low volume and just

work strength and that will help
me maintain what I have right now.

Yeah.

You're seeing people who genetically,
they have a really nice muscle base

and so anything really kind of works
to have them maintain what they have.

Or you have people who actually
spend a good amount of time in

hypertrophy for years, and now
it's like, oh, I'm, I'm there.

I'm, I love where my body's at now.

I'm just maintaining.

So now I can really do anything
to maintain just very minimal

amounts of tension on the muscle.

Combo movements will work great.

You also have people who have done
blended work, so you've had people

who have done like half hypertrophy.

And then maybe they'll finish up with
some combo moves that are really fun.

And what they do is they only show
you the fun stuff on Instagram.

They don't actually show you
the like the boring basics that

got them to actually build.

And that is one thing that's been
really hard when people will tell

me, well, so and so has amazing
whatever, and she does this exercise,

you're saying is suboptimal.

Like, okay, but, but does
she only do that exercise?

No, chances are she actually puts
in hard work doing some really solid

exercises, and then she throws these
in at the end and is recording herself.

Because I am speaking from experience
guys, when I post the boring

basics, it's like three likes.

If I post something new and original,
like a different way of hitting the

lateral head of the tricep, people
are like, whoa, that's amazing.

That's what I'm missing.

I'm like, no, like this is actually just
for specialization programs, but sure

you can throw it in for fun, that's fine.

But I'm telling you from experience, the
boring basics that help people build,

they don't get showtime on Instagram and
TikTok and it's the creative crazy stuff.

So usually influencers don't show the
boring basics that actually got them.

And, and some of them don't even know
that the boring basics are what they

got them to where they are right now.

They just want to show these, these little
different maneuvers that will get kind

of the likes and the attention and stuff.

And I'm not saying that's right
or wrong, I'm just saying that's

typically what we see, and I've even
seen that in the gym myself, watching

some people who were influencers.

I went, I used to go to a gym lifetime
and it had tons of influencers,

and I saw that all the time.

The boring basics that they were killing
is not what showed up on their feed.

It was all of these weird, crazy movements
and people were like, oh, this is it.

This is amazing.

Right?

So we've got to keep those things in mind.

That oftentimes we're not
seeing the full story.

I hate to say, well, it's just genetics.

That's not what I'm saying.

These people go in and they work hard.

But we can't ignore the fact that if
somebody has a really good muscle base,

they, you know, get some newbie gains,
which most people their first year

can go in and really do anything and
they're gonna see some, some newbie

gains, and then it's after that.

So I always tell people like it's actually
the third and fourth and fifth year.

If their body's still changing, they
know what they're talking about.

They know what they're talking
about because they's no way they've

already hit their newbie gains.

So that's a really good measuring
tool, but also another measuring

tool is are their goals, your goals?

Are their bodies, your bodies?

No, they're usually not.

So I just wanna end with this.

If your goal is just to lose body
fat and you don't really care about

muscle, then you can literally get
into a calorie deficit and do whatever.

Whatever fuels, just get in and get energy
out and find joyous ways to do that.

Now there is a second layer to that
that I would just like to add that

there's a lot of wisdom in, you know,
if you really, really just love your

your circuit training or your, um, like
your, your bike, your cycle training.

Like you go in, you do cycling.

You just love it.

And that's all you're doing.

There really is a lot of wisdom
in throwing in one to two times a

week a full body weightlifting day.

And the reason why I say that isn't
because I'm over here like I am

religion hypertrophy, training,
and everybody needs to do it.

It's more of I know what it does for you,
and that even though you may think you

don't care about muscle, you actually
do because as you age, those who work

hard to put on muscle, maintain muscle.

They actually handle things like peri
and menopause way better, way better.

During a time in your life when
you start having major hormonal

changes and you start seeing the
scale stays the same, but your body

composition completely changes because

body fat is actually increasing
and muscle is decreasing, but the

weight is staying the same, which
is so common for peri and menopause.

Post menopause.

I tell you, you are going to thank me
for encouraging weightlifting because

this is your largest metabolic tissue.

If you want a healthy metabolism, if
you want to eat more, get more muscle.

If you want those carbs to have a nice
place to go besides body fat, muscle.

That's have it drive into muscle, right?

So it's not just about, I want you
to have the glutes of your dream

or the delts of your dreams, and
I just want you to be healthy.

I want you to have more muscle so
that you age well and you stay strong.

And strength training has a huge impact
on mobility and stability as you age.

It's the people that are losing the muscle
tissue, that are having the problems with

balance, and strength, and falling down,
and bones breaking, like which, strength

training can have huge impacts on.

Positive impacts in, in fact, even
with flexibility and balance, they

compared weightlifting to yoga and
they found that there was no difference

that that weightlifters had the same

ability as far as balance and even
stretching and weightlifting have

shown a range of motion increases
the exact same with both stretching

modalities and weightlifting.

Range of motion, flexibility with
weight, and there's so many benefits

that weightlifting crosses into each one
of these different training modalities.

I just strongly encourage you guys to do
it at least once or twice a week, right?

Just to be your healthiest, happy self.

So even if your goal is, I don't care
about muscle, believe me, you do.

You really, really do.

You just need it once or
twice a week just to maintain.

Okay.

If you are really wanting to see body
fat come off and muscle increase,

you are going to see better results
doing hypertrophy training and

letting go of those combo movements,

just so that we can create tension on the
muscles that you really, really want to.

Now, I've had clients before when
I was writing one-on-one training

protocols, I had clients who really
wanted hypertrophy upper body, and none

lower body, but they wanted to keep the
muscle that they had on their lower body.

They just didn't wanna put any more on.

And that was fun because we would do combo
movements, that they really enjoyed so

that we could get a little lower body
work without it being like pushed to the

intensity levels that growth would happen,
but they could still have fun getting

the lower body work done and then it
was taxing and working their upper body.

So I would blend it in to training
because I know that they enjoyed it.

And so you can blend it in, but the
primary movements you choose for

the muscles you really want to see
grow should not be combo movements.

So that should be primary.

Then if you really want to just
for fun, end your training program,

maybe with a little burnout or some
fun combo just so you can get that

fun piece that you really enjoy.

But save that for after, because
you don't wanna go into your

hypertrophy program taxed.

So hopefully this has helped
answer some questions, maybe

enlighten you a little bit more.

I did forget to mention, I, I
did have one other woman that

I was gonna tell you about.

Maybe I'll just be really quick.

She came to me and she's a, a yoga
instructor and she loves cardio and

she's like, I really love my upper
body, my abs, my stomach's really lean.

But my lower body's always been a
trouble spot for me and, I talked

to her a little bit about it.

It seems like we really
do need some body recomp.

We, we do want to bring the body
fat down, and we want to increase

the muscle tissue there that will
give her the look that she wants.

That is going to happen
through different ways.

Let me first say she doesn't
carry a ton of extra weight.

She's pretty lean, pretty small.

I actually wouldn't suggest for
her to be in a calorie deficit.

I would suggest for her to sit at
maintenance and include lower body

days, two to three times a week.

Really just pushing lower body and
then she can maintain her upper body

that she really likes just with the
yoga, just continuing doing that stuff.

She doesn't even necessarily need to
bring any upper body strength training

just 'cause she doesn't want to.

And her thing is she really wants to focus
on her lower body and I think over time

without excessive dieting or anything
like that, she would actually see over the

next few years her lower body just change.

Just totally change.

And it wouldn't have to be a total
lifestyle shift where she's, you

know, tracking everything because
she seems like more of a mindful

eater and she's pretty good at it.

So she would just need to make
sure she, she, her protein was on

point and just bring in lower body
work two to three times a week.

So it is really interesting when
I sit down with people and talk to

them oftentimes like my suggestions
are very specific to their needs,

which is why I love my community,
Be Strong, because every other week

we're doing lives and people have
the chance to ask me questions.

One-on-one, and I love being able to talk,
look at them and talk to them on Zoom.

And really be able to ask them
these important questions.

Like I ask these other women like,
okay, well what are your goals?

What do you really want?

And it's kind of fun to
be able to tell them like.

Okay.

Instead of doing this training
program on the app that you're

doing, you need to do this one.

And maybe, um, I told somebody the
other day, you really wanna build

lower body than do my train with me.

But she could only train
four times a week, not five.

I'm like, that works perfectly.

Just do the three lower bodies I have
and include one upper body that I

have, and ignore the other fifth day.

So I'm able to really give far more
specific guidance on what their training

should be like, where they should be
landing on nutrition, being able to

talk to them and really understand
their goals because everybody's goals

are so different, and some women who
come to me and talk to me, I'm like.

Just do my three day a
week training program.

That's it.

And keep in your, you know,
marathon training or whatever

other type of training.

So everybody's body is different,
everybody's situation is different

and so optimized for you, will be
very different than for somebody else.

So I really hope that just walking
through all of those different scenarios,

helped you a little bit today to
kind of be able to filter information

a little bit better on Instagram.

And even just kind of who you're
receiving information from and

knowing that they're not wrong.

Does what they teach, pertain to you and
your context and your goals and your body.

That's the most important
thing to really ask yourself.

Thank you so much for joining me
today on The Lifting Lindsay Podcast.

If you have any questions,
you can always message me on

Instagram at Lifting Lindsay.

You can always go to be strong dot
lifting lindsay.com to sign up for

my courses for training programs.

It's actually all included, and that
includes the meetings, the lives

with me where I, I help you out.

There's so much information on there.

If you enjoy my podcasts, even if you have
somebody writing training programs for

you or a nutrition coach, just there's so
much information and courses in Be Strong.

I know it's gonna help you
out and you're gonna love it.

You guys have an amazing week.