Episode 467: Senada Greca: Why Women Fear Weights (And How She Built 6M Followers)

27:12And I always see you exercising or doing your weights or your stuff in bare feet. Is that on purpose? Is there a reason behind it? Yeah, I just feel better connected, better stable. You know, podiatrists actually call shoes the coffins of our feet, as morbid as that is. but it is because it is killing that sensory feedback that your feet are sending to the brain. Our feet have so many nerve endings that are sending input to our brain. And we're deafening that by wearing shoes, shoes, especially shoes that are not appropriate, that are like thick-soled. And yeah, so I prefer to work out either barefoot or with just socks on.

27:58So much better. You know, I, I've just been like, I wear these like shoes that are like for stability. And it's a hundred percent true. Like every like expert who likes, who I speak to says to me, like, don't be working like those. It's the worst thing you can do for your, for your body because you're not, all the strength comes from your feet. And if you are with these shoes, their gate is off. Exactly. Right? And it doesn't really work the proper muscles. It works like other muscles. But it's interesting because I find, maybe you can tell me if this happens, is it harder in terms, is it hard on your feet when you don't have stability?

28:36Like do you get like plantar fasciitis easier or anything? Because it's like so much pressure now. Well, if you, I would never suggest, and again, this is just what I do. I'm not a podiatrist or anything like that. You're not? You're just playing one on TV. No, I'm just kidding. But I think the first, and don't go all straight, you know, from wearing this thick soles to like working out barefoot and maxing out your lifts, you know, always start slow. I did that when I first went from running with shoes to running with like barefoot or like minimum shoes. You run barefoot? I did at one point, but I went, you know, instead of like building up to it, I ran quite a long distance and I suffered the consequences.

29:18But it's always, you know, like every other muscle, there's muscles in your feet that need to get adjusted to working out barefoot. But that's what we're aiming for is to build strength in those muscles that are also in your feet. Your feet are like the least paid attention to muscles. And they should be just as strong as the rest of your body. And that's why I work out barefoot also. It's not just that neurofeedback, but also strengthening the muscles in your feet. I went to this wellness place recently and they had this foot specialist, not a podiatrist, but some other type of brain foot person.

29:57And he was giving me all these exercises with the ball to strengthen my foot so I can do all this because of what we just said. So now I'm trying to work out what I do with my weights with bare feet. And it's such a different sensation. Yeah. Like how your body is, like just the whole, how you're standing, your posture, everything. A hundred percent. It's almost like a euphoric feeling too, because I think there's something to say about like our connection. Like with a lot of things that we do, we've been removed from like our connection, like our primitive ways. Like our primitive selves didn't have, you know, our ancestors didn't have these shoes to walk around with.

30:41that they were barefoot and they had that connection with the ground, with nature. And I think it's almost going back to some of those old ways. Yeah, I agree.

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32:08Do you tell your clients to work out that way? Or because do they work out barefoot with you? Yeah. Do they? Yeah. I mean, it depends on the day and how, you know, people are feeling. But like, you know, Kim has trained plenty of times with barefoot. Yeah, it's definitely something new for her. I'm sure everyone asks you the same question. But how did Kim Kardashian, how did she find you? How did you start training her? Yeah. I know it's like everyone, I'm sure everyone's like, how did you? I mean, what was that process like? Where were you living? You weren't living in Los Angeles, right? I was not.

32:42I was in Miami. And she had found me on Instagram through one of my viral posts. She had seen it pop up in her feed a couple of times and saw it as a sign like, okay, I need to tap her on the shoulder and bring her over. And yeah, we went through the due diligence because, you know, at first I was like, this is this got to be some sort of a scam. Really? Yeah, I thought so. I mean, I've had a few celebrities and one queen of a country that wanted to train. And I'm like, this has to be some sort of a scam. And it wasn't. So it was pretty amazing to have kind of like your work be sort of like validated.

33:20Totally. In a way, because there is plenty of amazing trainers out there. And for me to be selected, it was an honor. So did you move here just for Kim Kardashian? Yeah, yeah. I mean, still went back and forth and have still, you know, kind of roots in Miami. But yeah, I moved here to train with her. And yeah. Wow. What was the schedule? Like every day you were training with her three times a week? Pretty much every day, five, six days a week at one point. Yeah. Wow. Traveling with Kim and training on her, you know, if she was going to film somewhere or if she was going on vacation. Oh, so you were like full time.

34:00Full time. Yeah. Oh, I didn't even realize that. Yeah. How many hours a day were you guys working out? There was a couple of hours a day at some point. You know, we were training, starting, you know, with warm-ups and taking things a little bit slower so that we could truly get into, like I said, like the mind-muscle connection and the proper movement, moving properly and not without injury. So was it all strength training with her for two hours? Strength training. Wow. Yeah. It's the same style that I just mentioned. And I train in the same style of workouts that I have on the WeRise app. When did that happen?

34:36When did it start? That was two and a half years ago. So January of, what, 2023? Right. But you already had a big name. Yeah. It wasn't like she started to post about you and then all of a sudden. You were doing amazing, great things. Everyone I know, all my friends follow you. And we all send each other, like, have you seen this? because I think the big thing is you're known for your abs too. Like those abs, there's no way, like this is why I'm happy you said something earlier in the podcast about genetics because I work out like a fiend and I can work out for 24 hours a day, eat everything proper, and I will never have abs like that.

35:20And I will never have muscles like that. It's just not my body type. Yeah. There is, and there is something to be said about different body types, but I I honestly haven't always had the abs that I have now. I used to do a ton of cardio. I used to run marathons. And I used to, you know, eat decently. And I never had my six or 10 pack. 12 pack? It's a 12 pack. It's not even a six pack, okay? Like, it's insane. I think it's the years of putting in work with strength training and kind of actually prioritizing protein, which I didn't used to do back when I was like a cardio fiend. So prioritizing protein, really trying to meet that goal.

36:05But also, yeah, like being consistent with strength training and training in the way that I just described, that I train. And again, it's hard to say because I can't take, I can't duplicate another sonata and like see what, you know, she would look like if she did things differently. and like I said, genetics can play a factor in it, but it's not the end-all be-all. No, it's not the end-all be-all. Like you said, like if you, but you have to have a baseline where, like there's some people who just have a body type that it's easier to see results faster, to lose body fat faster. You know, it's just, I think that's just the reality.

36:43Yeah, for sure. And then you have to kind of like modify, like you all, like everything that you say, I'm like this, I'm nodding my head because I agree. It's also like, you know, for some people, they do need to work out five or six times. Like other people, they can do twice a week and they can get the results better. Not twice, like three times a week. So nothing is like a one-stop shop. No, nothing. There's no one answer for everybody. And there's a beauty in it to create that connection with yourself and understanding with yourself that this is what works for you. And when you get close to that intelligence that is your own person, it's just that much more fulfilling because now you come from a place of this is what works for me.

37:29Sure, like the expert advice is great as like a starting point, as a baseline, but then the individual aspect of it is something that each of us needs to work. Like even like what time to work out. Like for me, I think mornings are great because you get it out of the way. Yeah. But there's no specific, some people can work, should be working out at night because they can't do, like have more energy at night. Like, I don't think there's like, even with any of these things, it's like you have trial and error a lot of it. Right. For a beginner, I would suggest like, if it's possible for you to work out first thing in the morning, because again, when you're creating that habit, you don't want to leave it up to chance.

38:06Like that is, it's a habit aspect of it. Like that's huge. Like, what can you sustain it? I always say like every day, can you perhaps put it in your schedule, make it perhaps the same time every day so that you can create that habit. But it is true. Like some people feel more energetic in the morning and some more in the afternoon. Perhaps, again, some people can work out in the evening. I would not necessarily suggest that because now you're increasing your cortisol levels and need some time to be brought down so that you can not go from 100 to zero now when you need to go to sleep. Yeah. Yeah.

38:45I also think, see personally, the reason why I prefer the morning, because I've had this conversation with people like, well, some people are much better at working, they have more energy at night. My, like, what your point is, I think when you work out in the morning, it sets you, it sets you off, like, for the day to be, like, much more productive and your, your, your head is, like, on straight. Yeah. Like, you're more productive, you have more energy, you're, like, more focused, you have much more, you're much more alert. Like, to me, like, all the benefits you get from exercise are actually, like, the, the best benefits is not the physicality of it.

39:21That's a byproduct. Like, you look, right? Right. Like, absolutely. And I think that there's a lot of people who are not getting that, that message, right? Like you'll look good if you just do the work eventually, but that should not be the reason why you're doing it. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah, absolutely. I agree with you. It starts your day off in a completely different manner. You're, you know, that confidence is already up. You've already checked off a win for, for the day. And yeah, it does set that day off to a great start. So I would agree with you. And like, also energy begets energy. Sure.

39:58Right. So when people say, oh, I'm too tired, I can't do it, I don't have time. Well, if you actually figured out a way to incorporate it, you would get more energy and you would find more time because it turns on like these neurotransmitters that will change your brain chemistry. Absolutely. Right. Absolutely. So like what are some of the biggest excuses that you hear and how do people override them? Like, how do you help people override the excuses? Like, I don't feel motivated or I don't have time, like we just said. I think those are the biggest things that come up. Like it's not being motivated, not having time and not being able to stay consistent.

40:36I think consistency is probably like the biggest thing to seeing the results that you're after or just to feeling better, you know? And because it is more important to put in those 20, 30 minutes, even what we just discussed, perhaps that's not enough, but to do that every single day versus to sporadically do a workout here and there once a week or twice a month, it's not going to get you the results. And then the motivation aspect, I think so many people get hung up on, I need to feel a certain way to then take action. While I think of the opposite, take action and the motivation almost comes afterwards.

41:16that that feeling that you're after comes afterwards. You're almost at times blindly take the steps. You perhaps don't want to brush your teeth in the morning, but you brush your teeth in the morning because... Exactly. Yeah. I feel like it's a non-negotiable. Like there's some things in life, there's non-negotiables. Brushing your teeth is one of them. Yeah. To me, working out should be one of them. It is, but it depends on what you want from it. You know what I mean? If you can, and I said, you don't have to work out. Nobody has to work out. Like this is going to sound controversial, but you don't have to work out.

41:49You don't have to do anything at all. You don't have to absolutely do anything. You don't have to eat, right? But can you be 100 % okay with that? Can you stop having that discussion with yourself? Like, you know, I wish I could do this. I wish I could work out. I wish I could look a certain way or I wish I could be healthier. I wish I didn't have to go see this doctor or that doctor or down the road when you do have to see those doctors. Like, can you 100 % be okay with that? Most of us can't. We're still going to have that argument with ourselves. Like, I wish I could eat healthier. I wish I could work out.

42:24And that's when it comes to making choices. That's what it comes down to. Like, what are the choices that you'd rather make? Is it being okay with just not doing anything, which is totally fine. You know, like I do this talk sometimes where I talk about how there's a huge correlation between exercise and like being physically fit and success in life. Because I think there's like a massive correlation. I think fitness and like exercise teaches you like life, fundamental life skills, right? Like discipline. Resilience. Resilience. Being patient, right? Like being patient. Delayed gratification. Like all these things.

43:03Putting in the work when you don't want to. Right. Absolutely don't want to. Showing up. Showing up. Yeah. Showing up day in, day out. And that's the patience piece. Like, you know, like maybe you won't see the results in day 10 or 20, but if you keep on showing up, you will. And I think these are like fundamental life skills that play in every other area of your life. It's just getting somebody to a place where they stick to it long enough that they can actually see that. Right. And people give up before they even put in the proper time to get that shift. Yeah, I think because also there's that, the delayed gratification for a lot of us nowadays is becoming even more of a problem just because of the instant gratification that we get from social media and just everything, you know, chat, GBT, everything.

43:54Exactly. You know, without having to put the research behind it. So we almost have to fight a little bit of that uphill battle, but we almost owe it to ourselves and to the generations to come to put in that work so that we lead by example that this is what accumulates success in everything. Yeah, I think it's true. I think that you can't, I really can't point to somebody who like is physically fit, like who works out diligently every single day and they have that discipline and that doesn't show up and correlate in their success in other areas of their life. Like I haven't yet met somebody like, you know, like, and I'm not, that's what I'm saying.

44:35Like sporadically doing it doesn't, doesn't like move the needle. And how you do one thing in life is how you do everything in life. 100%. Right. So that to me is like, that's what I noticed right away when I, that's like when someone is like takes care of themselves, that's what I noticed right away. Like that means that you're going to be probably someone who is going to follow through and it's okay with delayed gratification, has discipline in their life, blah, blah, blah. How important then is the nutrition aspect? Like we talked about the protein is so important. Tell me what you eat every day besides the protein.

45:08I want to know like actually what you eat. And like, yeah. So I want to know like how, what do you think it is? Is it like 90-10? Or what do you think the ratio is? Of good, of support, decisions that support my health. Of nutrition. Like you can work out all day. And if you eat like crap all the time, you're not going to see results. Yeah, yeah. I mean, honestly, I've heard some research say that it is almost more important, like the workout aspect than necessarily like the nutrition aspect. Like you could have somebody that perhaps is overweight or obese, but if they're putting in the work, if they're strength training, if they're working out consistently, they're healthier than somebody that is thin, that is, and again, you can discuss the nutrition behind that because it doesn't, But they go hand in hand, obviously.

46:06They go hand in hand. And again, it's individualistic too when it comes to nutrition as well. I think it is important and the studies are undeniable as to how important protein is, especially for women. Especially as you get older. When you're 20, it doesn't matter. You can eat anything. Exactly. Exactly. The absorption of protein as we get older diminishes. So it's even that much more important to increase the protein intake so that we can make up from that malabsorption of amino acids of that protein. I never thought in a million years when I was a little girl, like when I was 25, that I would be like so pre, like I would be so overly concerned and thinking and talking about protein as much as I do in my 40s.

46:52It's crazy. That's all me and my friends talk about. How much protein we're having? What are we having for protein? There's only so much chicken that you can eat or steak you can eat. Like, tell me what you eat. I want to know exactly. I will. I mean, honestly, like, I don't like to obsess over anything. So if it's taking over your life. Yeah, well, it's ridiculous. If it's taking over your life, then it's like, okay, maybe take a step back. Well, we can't help it because all you see is protein, protein, protein, right? Of course, of course. It is important. But again, like I said, I try not to.

47:23Can you eat too much protein? Honestly, like, the guidelines keep increasing. I know, it's so true. I know. I don't know. Like, obviously, people that have kidney issues or their underlying issues should monitor that. And again, I'm not a doctor who discloses that, but, you know, the studies on protein are undeniable. Again, the visual aspect comes in as to how your body processes things. And you're going to be able to tell straight away if something is not sitting well or if it's not reacting well. So just listen for those signals in your body. You're your own best expert. Yes. All right. What do I eat?

48:04Yeah. I want to know what time you wake up. I want to know like your whole daily routine. It's called habits and hustle. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't get up super early. My wake up is like 6, 630. That's early. Because I value sleep and I'm not the best sleeper. I'm perhaps genetically predisposed to not having the best sleep. So whatever sleep I can get, I am appreciative of it. So I will not do the ridiculous, you know, 3 a.m. I'm just joking. By the way, that's so stupid. I'm like, come on. Can I tell you something like— What time are you going to sleep? But that to me is so absurd. I cannot stand when people say that.

48:41I'm sorry, but it's not normal to be like, yeah, I wake up at 3. What are you trying to prove? What are you trying to do? Who wakes up at 3 or 4 in the morning? Unless you have a night shift. Unless you have to. Like, you're not winning any prizes by doing that. Like, it's just stupid in my opinion. You're just winning views on social media. You're just... It's also not even. Like, it's so dumb. Yeah, yeah. Well, we'll just skip off. Well, the fact that you're like, oh, I don't wake up that early at 6, 6.30. To me, that's, like, very early. That's, like, a normal early. Yeah. I have to wake up at that time because of my kids.

49:20But, like, to me, I begrudgingly do it. I don't want to wake up at 6.30 or 6.15. I find that very early. You know, like these... I go to bed at 9.30, so it's like 9.30. I don't know what time you go to bed, but I try to go to bed at like 9.30. Again, I value that like that first few hours of sleep that I sleep, sleep are so important. I wake up, I try to... My mornings are slow. I don't try to rush and increase that cortisol right off the bat. So I'll do a bit of meditation and breath work, which have been super helpful in actually helping me alongside with strength training, diminish anxiety because I tend to still, you know, have remnants of that.

50:03And it helps with what stabilizes my mood again, along with strength training. Well, how long do you meditate for? All right. So when I got back from Bali last year, I was meditating for an hour every day. but because of different requirements of life and having to do all of these things you know sometimes that's not realistic i'll still do it i'll just won't necessarily won't be like my first the first thing in the morning so if i have time i'll do it later in the day it'll be 30 minutes to an hour especially on days that i needed it's incredible once you establish that habit it's it's your body craves it it craves just kind of going inward and and finding that inner peace yeah but In the morning, it would be 10, 15 minutes of meditation and breath.

50:47We're just kind of like reset, get ready for the day. Take a walk with my dog. Do about 30 grams of protein, which in the morning will be either a smoothie or most of the time a yogurt with some nuts and walnuts typically and blueberries, getting those good antioxidants. What kind of yogurt do you like? I get full-fat Greek yogurt. Okay, full-fat. You drink great. I do, yeah. I try not to, because again, when you're going, sure, look at like your whole day and what that, you know, where you're getting fats from. And if you can afford it, I'd say try to go for that. Because the more that you go for like the skim and whatnot that's being processed a little more.

51:27So you're eliminating some of the processing steps by going with like a full fat. And I can, my body's okay with dairy. It's also more satiating. Like you don't feel. It is so much more satiating. It keeps you fuller longer. Yeah. Yeah, it does. And I think that's like a misconception. People think they're going for like the low calorie, but then usually they take the fat out and put sugar in that. And then it's even worse for you. Yes. Or some sort of a fake sugar that is just not what I enjoy. So it's, again, like just keeping things more natural as much as I can. I'll do then for lunch another protein forward meal.

52:04So it'll be like perhaps ground chicken with eggs. I like including eggs daily because of the nutrition aspect that they provide. And that will be protein pack. It'll just be like a half a pound of chicken with like three eggs. That's what I eat too. I love that. It's like the best. Yeah, it is so good. And I'll include, I'll always try to do my best to include some sort of a vegetable that provides like the, again, antioxidants, like leafy greens, a ton of those at lunch and at dinner, and then fiber in terms of like, or in the form of, I prefer to do berries. and it's not like I'm against fruits.

52:41I was in Bali, I was just having a big fruit bowl right before bedtime and, you know.

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54:38Do you think people can overeat fruit? Because I eat, that's my weakness. Like when I want sugar, I'll have like pounds of grapes, which by the way is terrible, I know, because you can gain weight from eating like five pounds of grapes. It's sugar. It's still sugar. But what is your idea? Because there are some people that says don't eat any fruit. What else are you eating in your diet? Fruit is carbs. If that's your preferred way of having carbs, I don't see anything wrong with that. I just mentioned to you, I came back from Bali and my preferred way of eating carbs was eating literally a gigantic bowl of different fruits that had bananas and watermelon and all of their exotic fruit, like mangosteen and just different mangoes.

55:28And I lost weight. I didn't gain weight from having. But then we go again to that individualistic response. How does your body respond to fruit? How does your body respond to more protein? And just keeping an eye out for those cues. But I don't think that there's a general rule of thumb that like eating fruit should be banned. No, not bad, but moderate. I would say moderate, not bad. Yeah. And again, there are studies that say if you're, and this is even more important, if you are not balancing your lifestyle with like working out is to balance your blood sugar so that you're not getting those blood sugar spikes when you're just having fruit that's unaccompanied by like a protein or a fat, but you know, a good idea could be to do that so that you can keep the blood sugar levels more controlled versus it spiking up and then just dropping.

56:24And so for dinner, what did you say you eat? Dinner. So again, I start with the largest bowl of greens that you could ever see just because I enjoy, I love greens and I'm just so happy. They bring me joy and I'm happy to have all of the antioxidants. And then again, I'll do like last night I did chicken and I did this, you know, mix of like broccoli and kale that were like sauteed with a little bit of quinoa in there. And yeah, that was my dinner. Do you snack? I don't snack throughout the day. I'll do perhaps like a post-workout again, protein shake or yogurt. I love yogurt. Yeah, I can see that.

57:06I'm like go-to. You love yogurt. I'm Albanian originally. I know, I know you love yogurt. Yes. That was the thing, the go-to thing in Albania. Like yogurt. My mom made homemade yogurt. So that was always on hand. It's also an easy protein just to grab. Yeah, it's an easy protein. You just throw some nuts in there and blueberries or raspberries and you're good to go. Yeah, I love that. And then I do have a sweet tooth. That's where the recipes come in. that I post. So are you like a, so are, because you said to me before we started, like, oh yeah, that's like a newer thing that I'm adding all this food stuff.

57:41I'm like newer. I thought you were doing it for years. But was that like, have you always done that stuff? Like you, like these like quick alternatives or did you have to like learn that to kind of, do you want to expand your page with more food? Is that like how you learned it? Like I said, I've always had a sweet tooth and for me, it's never been like eliminating things. Now I'm just going to like not eat sweets. It's like, how can I perhaps utilize different ingredients to satisfy that sweet tooth? And again, I'll still have like a regular carrot cake, you know? I love carrot cake. It's my favorite.

58:17So it's not like about completely eliminating things. It's like, okay, have this carrot cake every so often, but like, what about the other days? Like you don't want to have a big slice of carrot cake every night, perhaps. I don't know if it works for you, fine. It doesn't work for me, please. But how does it work for me? So I need to find replacements. Do you have an alternative for a carrot cake? I never saw that. I did make one. You did? Yeah, some time ago. Yeah, it was really good. How did you make it? It was really good. So you make, you start with carrots. Yeah. Okay, good. I can't remember the whole recipe, but like, I love the icing.

58:54And how I made the icing was like mixing vanilla protein powder with, I think, like a coconut milk or something like that. and creating this like thick consistency. And it came out really, really good. But it tasted like legit carrot cake. Can you send me that recipe? Because I didn't see that on your page. That's like my favorite thing ever. Sometimes, you know, it's the algorithm. Like, you know, it depends on how many people like carrot cake and then it gets pushed out or not. You're 100 % right. What's really popular now in terms of like in the fitness space? Like what are people you said, like with the algorithm, that's how you can track like what's popular.

59:32I know just from like my, I know that like menopause is super popular. And so now everyone's putting menopause specialists on their podcasts and doctors who are doing that. Like you can, that's how people track these things for podcasts. But in the hardcore fitness nutrition space, what have you seen has been very trendy? 3am wake ups. Oh God, I know. I thought that was really over with. Oh, my gosh. Honestly, sometimes the algorithm is a guessing game even to myself. Really? It's like banging your head against the wall. Right. It's like how much harder can... It's really hard to like... It is.

1:00:09You provide... Here you are. You provide... I was thinking the other day and it gets frustrating because I feel like I'm truly providing value. I'm out there... Yeah, you are. Filming, you know, just really putting in the work with coming up with workouts and filming workouts and putting out content that I think is really valuable and useful. And then you'll have other things that sometimes I find ridiculous. Take traction. It's like, okay, I cannot compete with that because I never do anything like that myself, you know. That's what I like about you, though, because you're not gimmicky. There's no gimmicks with you.

1:00:43It's like what you, like you actually give like very, like you said, very quality content. I try to. I mean, I think recipes always do great for me. So like people are interested in recipes. They just need to do more of them. Yeah. Well, they're hard to like, do you think of them? In between like moving and everything. And, you know, I'm always filming like a little corner of the kitchen because I've been at an Airbnb for so long. And people are like, why are you filming in a corner of the kitchen? If I had a better area, I would film in a better area. Really? I just have like a, yeah, because I chose location versus, you know, spacious.

1:01:19space. Exactly. Do you think of all the recipes yourself? Yeah. Or a good inspiration. Like I'll see a recipe here and there and I'll just try to figure out how to make that healthier. You know, I've done cheesecake before. I love cheesecake. I've posted my legit like regular no sub cheesecake. Really? I make that at least once or twice a year. It's delicious. That sounds good too. I'll look at that one. What's your thoughts on fasting and women or fasting for women, I should say? Again, I'll go back to like studies, like it's not supportive of women and their hormones, like fasting is not something that we should do.

1:01:59So don't do it. No, I agree. And it's like later as we get in like late 30s, early 40s and beyond, like it gets even more important to not fast and to not wreak havoc on our hormones. Maybe when we're younger, it's a little bit more forgiving, but even then you're still affecting your hormones by fasting. And there is times in your cycle where you can be a little bit more lenient with that, but fasting, especially training fasted is worse. If you're not heavily training, maybe you have a little bit more leeway, but if you're training fasted, that's a big no-no in my book. I don't do that. I don't even understand how people can't be a hardcore exerciser and then fast.

1:02:53It doesn't compute in my brain. To your point, if you're somebody who's not really exercising, okay, maybe you could figure out a balance or make it work. But if you're a woman who works out every day hard, not just like the five minutes, but like an hour, let's say, I don't even see how it's possible to fast. Cause I'm star, you're just like me, I'm speaking, but in general, like, aren't you going to be starving and your body, like your body like needs those calories consistently and the hormone thing. The other thing is, you know, like cold plunges, you know, I was, I was like all the research I've, I've seen is that cold plunges for women is really not a great idea.

1:03:34Yeah, yeah. There's more and more studies out there, again, and doctors speaking to that when it comes to women specifically. Again, men's makeup is a little bit different than ours, not a little different. Like women are not just smaller men. Yeah, they're not. They have all this complexity of hormones and neurological responses that are completely different from a man. So while you can still cold plunge, the temperatures have to be higher and for shorter periods of time. Do you cold plunge? I used to. I don't anymore. I used to. And I would never do it, especially if I'm strength training to gain muscle.

1:04:18And it would be so hard to implement that logistically. Like, okay, I got to do it at least eight hours. Right. You know, give like time, eight hours or more after you've strength trained. It's just kind of like logistically doesn't make sense. So I choose to sauna if I have access to it. Me too. Sauna is definitely a much more beneficial thing than cold plunging for women. But again, a lot of people do get that like they feel good cold plunging or taking a cold shower. is just don't, if you could, possibly not do it for as long or for as low of a temperature. I think the issue probably is that people see these things on social media.

1:05:03Yeah. And then they're like, oh, okay, I guess this has to be good for me. And even though they don't want to do it and they hate it, they force themselves to go cold plunging. Well, because they saw Joe Blow doing it. Yeah. And it's like everything in life, there's always a pendulum that swings. There is. Till there's more research. And it's like, don't do it. Exactly. I think this is what's going to happen with all these GLP-1s and stuff. Like, yeah, it's great. You're losing all this weight. Yeah, but you're also losing all your muscle and your face is gaunt. And we don't know the long-term effects in terms.

1:05:36No one does. I've never been, myself personally speaking, want to jump on any bandwagon because I always think of like, what are the long-term effects of all of these things? And plus, what can you rely on that cannot be taken away from you? Like working out in nutrition can never be taken away from me. Like I can work out on top of a mountain. I can try to, you know, make healthier decisions when it comes to nutrition. Even when you're given things that are not like the best for you, you can still kind of figure out what cannot be taken away from you. That's what I always try to think. Right.

1:06:15And also like how about supplements? Like what's your take on supplements for the same reason? Do you rely on any specific ones that you think are really important or you just think if you eat well? I think if you are able to eat well, and again, rely on that to get your protein and to get all of the supplements that you need, your vitamins because you're eating vegetables and fruits. But if you need to supplement, you know, creatine and protein powders are so well researched and have been around for so long. So those are things that I'm not opposed to taking. And I do, you know, supplement with protein powders, as I mentioned, you know, protein shakes every so often.

1:06:58And then creatine, you know, I'll stick to, you know, I don't do five grams. I do about three grams a day. And I'm not necessarily super consistent with it because, you know, I love all of the research behind it. But I also have checked my levels of creatine before I even took creatine and I never, and they were perfect. perfectly fine because I do consume red meat and all of the other foods that are a good source of creatine. So it's like, do you need to, what's your baseline? And then you supplement from there. That's what I believe. And by the way, again, like this is like, you're very, like, this is what I like, this is why I like you because you're so practical and it's not, there's like, there's no, like I said, there's no gimmicks with you.

1:07:44It's no hype. Like you say it how it is. And that's true. Like we can get our creatine, we can get everything from food and then what we should all be doing before we start supplementing at all is know what your levels are. Because I do take two and a half grams. I take a half of the five grams. I take Momentus. We talked about it earlier because it's really clean. And I like the company. I think they do a great job with like they have this NSF certification. So it's very high standards, but I've only been taking two and a half, but I'm taking it not for my body. I'm taking it because of the research says it's great for brain health.

1:08:20Yeah. And that's why I even supplement, you know, because again, while my levels are fine, there is that research there for brain health and cognition. Exactly. And knowing, again, like I said before, the two women, two out of three patients with Alzheimer's are women. That is a scary statistic. So whatever we can do, and again, creatine is shown to be helpful with cognition. Strength training is like undeniably proven to be helpful with cognition and preventing Alzheimer's. So why not do that? 100. But my mother, unfortunately, just got diagnosed recently with Alzheimer's. So I'm sorry. Thank you.

1:09:03I appreciate that. And so I'm like hyper like vigilant and sensitive to this. So I'm all the thing like the strength training. And like you said, the creatine, the strain train is massive though. You know, when my mom was visiting me, I'm Canadian. She came here to visit recently. And I had a trainer who trained her every day with weights, like heavier weights, not two pound. But like I said to the trainer, I want you to train my mom like a person that you would train who needs to get physically strong and fit. And don't be easy on her. Don't give her three pounds. Give her, try her with five, eight, whatever.

1:09:45And if she can do it, give her a heavier weight. Anyway, I did that for a week. And I'm not kidding. I actually saw my mother's like cognition and her ability to, like she was better with her like verbal communication. She was not losing her words as often. She, her memory was like slightly better. I'm not saying like in a week that it changes, but I'm saying like that just shows you like if you're actually challenging yourself with these things, like incrementally there's a difference. Absolutely. Absolutely. And the longer that you do it, I know we don't think of it when we're younger. It's like more like aesthetics and what, but if you start from as early as you can, keeping in mind like what these things will do for you long-term and down the road, like your future self will thank you.

1:10:39Totally. Yeah. What do you think about, just in terms of like some like exercises, like do you think if people don't have a lot of time, let's just go with this for a few seconds. Do you think that squats is the best lower body exercise? Or do you think there's a better, like if you can give me like the top five exercises that people should do no matter what, what would you give, what would you say? I personally, I love Bulgarian split squats. So why do I love that? It's because it includes, and I'll give you, how about you want five or you want two? Give me 30 if you want. Yeah. How much time do we have?

1:11:20As much as you want to give me. Squats are great. Deadlifts are great. So those will be on the top of my list. They're great. Include those. But can you include something that challenges your body with balance as well? And that's why I love Bulgarian split squats. And I just discovered and did this. I don't know if anybody else has done that before. But going from a Bulgarian split RDL into a squat, it's an incredible exercise. Give it a try. Really? Yeah. Yeah, so back leg lifted, you're going into that RDL, almost like supported RDL, and then going into a squat after that. You can definitely progressively overload in terms of like lifting heavier, but also like challenging that balance, which is so important for us to work on, especially as we get older and maintain.

1:12:08For an upper body exercise, I would pull-ups. pull-ups because it's working that grip strength that's working most of your upper body, even your core, your arms. So it's like all of these exercises that you get the most bang for your buck. So those, you know, if I was to... Bulgarian split squats. And then for upper body, it is pull-ups. Pull-ups for sure. Not chin-ups, right? Like actual wide? Chin-up's fine too. Yeah. Again, because you're working on that upper body strength, you're working on that grip. Similar muscle groups that you're working on, you're working on your lats primarily. So in each group, those kind of would be my two.

1:12:52And then farmer's caries are a great exercise, again, because of that grip strength that is so important. It's an indicator of longevity as well. Yeah. How about a core exercise? A core exercise. I love leg raises, like hanging leg raises, but there are so many other things that you can do. Just the other day, I recorded a single leg. So you're holding one leg up, one foot is planted, doing kettlebell curls to forward press because it's utilizing your core for stability. So I love specific leg core exercises, like say hanging leg raises or knee tucks again that's kind of working your grip as well and working your core to to a high degree almost isolating it but i also love incorporating some of those other movements that are more stabilizing of your core but you're doing one leg it's like when you're like that like the bulgarian because we're also we're so about i think we're very imbalanced right yeah and it's good to do that just in terms of balancing our body but that stability piece is like really really important And that's why I'll always include on lower body days, you'll see people have four exercises.

1:14:11And it'll be like a squat and an RDL and a hip thrust and an abduction. It's like, where is your stability component? You know, sure, if you're just looking to maximize just glutes, but I love to think of all of the other aspects that you can include without taking too much time. Yeah. efficiency but also being effective not just in an isolated way but in a long-term way as well what do you think of hip thrusts i like hip thrusts i include them on most of my lower body days do you not i don't i also find it's not working well like i feel like it's like you have to be in a perfect position yeah the setup is definitely so you you have to figure out what setup works for you and your physique.

1:14:58There is certain hip thrust machines that just don't work for certain people. And there is a setup with a barbell that doesn't necessarily work for everybody, but also you have to having to adjust your feet to where it works for you. You just have to try what works out best for you. And you don't, there's, I don't think there's one exercise that you absolutely have to include. You can find variations of that. You know, You can perhaps instead of a hip thrust because it doesn't work well for you, you can do glute focused back extension. It's just with that, you can't load as much weight as with a hip thrust.

1:15:37Right, because it's hard on your back. It's hard, yeah. It's just hard, period. Also carrying it. Carrying it. What about plateaus? I think that we talk a lot about when someone's a beginner. What happens when someone's actually intermediate or more advanced and they're working out a long time for many, many years and they're very consistent, but now they've hit a plateau? How can we, like, how can we kind of, what do we do? What do we do when we get to that place? Have you changed a routine? That's what I would look into. Like, have you been doing the same thing over and over again? then perhaps it's like time to just change things up.

1:16:14And, you know, you can still perhaps utilize, let's say an RDL, but can you perform it slightly differently? You know, can you perhaps do a Bulgarian split RDL? Just changing things up. I know sometimes we get into like habits. I can get into that myself. And it's just like, yeah, changing things up. I think it can do wonders. For me, like I change things up pretty frequently. I still keep the basic, the movements are the same movement, but I'm just like slightly altering them so that I can satisfy, you know, just again, my novelty desire, but also not plateau. So you don't really plateau? I don't think so.

1:16:56You're so lucky. Well, no, because I think when you do it for such a long time, we all go into like the, I mean, I know that I do, but we go into autopilot. We'll do the same things we do all the time because it's like - Changing things up. I mean, and I think, you know, again, if you listen to yourself and if you apply a little bit more of that intuition, like I'll have times when I'm like, again, when I went to, I just came back from Bali, I incorporated a lot of power yoga when I was there. So I was still strength training, but I was also doing an hour, an hour and a half of power yoga on a lot of days, on most days.

1:17:33So it's just incorporating new things, challenging your body in a different way could be very helpful. I forgot to ask you about those things. I was going to ask you about Pilates and yoga. Pilates is a big one because it's super popular for women, for girls. They love going to Pilates. What's your take on Pilates? We're actually just bringing Pilates onto the We Rise Out. We're starting a new challenge. and maybe by the time that this is live, the challenge would have started, but it'll still be available in the app. Okay. So it's great. Yoga Pilates, like I love incorporating them, but never in the place of strength training.

1:18:15Like you cannot replace strength training by doing Pilates or yoga, unfortunately. I'm sorry to say that, but there's nothing that replaces strength training. It's great additives. There's a place and time for that. And it does definitely help in other aspects, You know, I love yoga because it brings me into a certain type of flow. And while I can get in the flow with strength training, there is a different kind of a flow that yoga or Pilates will bring me in or create a different connection with the body. So I think all of these components have a place and time, but never in replacement of strength training.

1:18:53Yeah, I tend to agree. But I think everything becomes, like you were saying, trendy. Yeah. And it's all or nothing. Right, exactly. And I think what happens is we see some girls who go to Pilates or not. People see people who go to, and they look super lean, and they look like dancers. But usually that's their body type. I think that you can get a stronger core from doing Pilates, and I think it could be a great workout. But like you said, I don't think that it supersedes strain training. benefits. Yeah. And a lot of the time it's like what you're, what you're not seeing behind those lean bodies, that's painting a better picture.

1:19:37And what you're not seeing is perhaps the lack of, of muscle. If you're, if you're not strength training, there is, I mean, I ran into a Pilates teacher at the gym and she was asking me about different things that I do and what I'd suggest, because she's like, I've been teaching and doing Pilates for so long that I lost my butt. Yeah. And what did you lose there? You lost muscle mass. Yeah. So unfortunately, that's the reality of things. And again, like I said, we're bringing on Pilates and yoga in the future, but never in replacement of strength training. And I'm going to give a caveat to that.

1:20:15If that at the end of the day, though, is the only thing that is going to help you move, then by all means, then do that. But it's like, don't be surprised at the results or be okay with the certain type of results from just doing yoga or just doing Pilates. And that's okay. It's again, it's your choice. and if your choice of movement is that and that's absolutely the only thing that you want to do, then that is fine. There's no absolutes in my book. It's, again, it's the, you know, you know the benefits to everything, to strength training, to simple movement. It's like your choice at the end of the day what you want to do with those options.

1:20:58Options, yeah. Do you train anybody else or is it just Kim Kardashian now or could you have your clothing line? You have your app? I train millions. I was going to say, I was going to train millions. Do you train anyone one-on-one? I don't train anybody else one-on-one. It's just there's no time in the day. It's just so tasking to do all of the filming and providing posts and then being running the WeRise app, being the head of the company for the WeRise app. And Zentoa, we unfortunately shut Zentoa, the clothing line down. You did? We did just a couple of weeks ago or something like that. It's unfortunately being a small fish and the clothing line industry is really difficult to get the pricing that will help you stay competitive.

1:21:50And I'm always looking for quality and that quality comes with the price. And, you know, once we actually lowered the prices and people actually mass tried the clothing now they're they're like can I get more I'm like sorry really yeah just the quality was unbelievable we're producing in Portugal but unfortunately just couldn't compete and when the return on investment is not there then those resources can be taken and applied to to to like the WeRise app which is you know clothing is great but like my mission is life has been to help as many women as I can to step in the strongest and healthiest versions of themselves in all aspects of life.

1:22:33And that's what WeRise is there to do. I think the resources are better applied there. That's amazing. Is there anything else I forgot to ask you? I don't think so. I don't know. It's actually going to work out with me, but that's besides that. Besides that. Let's say I think everyone else. I'm back in time. We're in town. We need to. You promise? I'm going to hold you to that. Yeah, absolutely. I'd love to. Because, I mean, even that little RDL Bulgarian, I love that. Yeah. So for people living under a rock, if you haven't heard, I don't want to say your name. Sanada. Sanada. I don't know why.

1:23:08I know. There's so many people that come and, like, you know, that approach me and see me, like, just walking around or whatever. And they're like, I've been following you for so long, but please can you tell me your name? Exactly. Sanada Greca. I mean, that's the thing. I keep on, like, I'm like, okay, I don't want to say it wrong. Follow if, you know, she's got great stuff on Instagram. Are you also on TikTok? TikTok, YouTube. I have a following there as well. Just the largest is on Instagram. On Instagram. YouTube, TikTok, yeah. And the app is called WeRise. WeRise, yeah. WeRise.xyz is the website.

1:23:43And Sonata.Greca is me everywhere on Instagram. I love it. You guys have to see her workouts and her abs. It's like sickening. But anyway, I'm not jealous at all. you are you look amazing thank you thank you but listen i can see the veins the arms the shoulders thank you but listen i i look this is this is amateur hour compared to you seriously it's amazing um okay well thank you for being here thank you so much for having me i appreciate it it's such a pleasure it's my it's a pleasure is mine and i'm gonna keep you i'm gonna hold you to what we just said yeah and this this this worked did you like it i like it okay Magic Mind, did you hear that?

1:24:24Okay. All right. We want to work with Sonata. Yeah. I'm going to hook you up to them right now. There you go. There you go. So there you go, Magic Mind. We have another one. We've converted another newbie. No, it's good. I don't know what it is, but I feel awesome. It's great. And you didn't even have the caffeinated one. No, I'd probably be just like running in circles right now. Wow. That's amazing. Spider woman. That's amazing. Wow. Okay. Well, I'm going to hook you up with them. All right. Cool. Bye, everyone. Bye. Thank you.