The Creatine & Strength Mashup Every Woman Needs

0:00This is the Pursuit of Wellness podcast and I'm your host Mari Llewellyn.

0:07Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. Today's episode is a powerhouse mashup all about two major players in the world of fitness and wellness, strength training and creatine. Whether you're just getting started or you've been lifting for years, we're diving into how these two go hand in hand and why they matter at every stage of life. We've got some expert voices joining us including Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, Dr. Andy Galpin, and JJ Virgin with a real world look on how strength routines and creatine use evolve over time from building lean muscle and boosting energy to supporting mood, mobility, and overall resilience.

0:41We'll explore why strength training is one of the most effective tools for lifelong health. And if you've ever wondered what creatine actually does, or if it's just really for bodybuilders, we're here to break down the science, bust the myths, and show you how it can support you in more than just your gym goals. Can you give us the tea on creatine for women? I love creatine. Okay, you love creatine. I love creatine. I would definitely, I wish I'd started this much sooner. I can't believe I didn't. I think it's because when I was training people at Gold's Gym in Venice, it was such a bro dude thing.

1:15I was like, none of that, you know, and I just never looked at it. And then as I started to really look at sarcopenia, there were a couple of things that became very clear. Number one, like, why are we not all taking creatine, especially women who have less tissue sores, as we know? And, you know, especially if you're a plant based woman and you're not getting enough, you're not going to get it from your diet, you're only going to make about a gram. But you look at what it does. Great study in menopausal women helping with depression. So we know it helps with cognition, it helps with bones, it helps with skin, it helps you work out harder.

1:50And I have been amazed because as I've been talking about creatine, I have gotten so much resistance that I'm blown away. Like you might as well just say, take this and you're going to blow up. They're like, but what about my hair, my kidneys, and I'm going to retain water and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Oh my gosh. Like this one, I have gotten more feedback on this supplement than anything else ever. I think it's, is it the water retention weight gain concern is the big one for women? It is. And I am really, so I'm digging into creatine right now, big time. I have been using creatine monohydrate because that was, you know, the oldest, most researched one.

2:34I met the guy who has creatine HCL, who created it. He found me because I was speaking at a medical conference and he tracked me down on LinkedIn and gave me the whole spiel on creatine HCL. And I'm like, okay, well, but you created a creatine HCL. So he goes, this is like the iPhone 15 and that over there is a rotary phone. So I'm really looking right now to see what makes the most sense, which type of creatine, whether it's the most pure form that's 99.9 % pure or the regular form that's 99 % pure. Like how much does this matter? Or is it the HCL that turns out you can use a lot less of and may not cause some of that fluid retention.

3:13So what is the fluid retention? And I'll tell you what I've done to work through this and help people. Some of that fluid retention is amazing. It's in the muscle, right? Which goes back to, you've got to use a biomedic scale because then you'll go, oh, this is awesome. I have more water in my muscles. This is what I want. Right. This is the best thing ever. I did not take creatine and put on body fat. And I don't know about you, but when I started taking creatine, like, where has this been in my life? I can now work out harder. It's fantastic. And you didn't see bloating when you first started taking.

3:50No. And I even did loading. Like I did loading. I did five grams, four times a day because what you have to do is get your creatine stores up okay and but i have now a different way i would teach people to do it based on all the feedback i'm getting from people i just went and was like fine i'll do five days and load it a little a little tummy thing one day i was like nothing really um and i've been taking five grams at least a day ever since but now i'm kind of playing around with the HCL. Now, what I would do with someone is I would start them with a gram. Okay. And then I would take them to two, then to three, depending on their size, I put them and their diet.

4:37If you've got someone who's totally plant based, let's go to five. But depending on your size, somewhere between three to five grams. And then you just always stay there. Now, there might be an advantage to doing that before you go to the gym seems like it at first I was like it doesn't matter because it's tissue stores but it seems like it could be helpful and I always figure I'm gonna get every advantage I can why not why wouldn't I so um that's how I do it as I take it in the morning do my electrolytes mix it all in like a habit yeah I'm just starting to use creatine again I used it so I was keto for a while oh you were how did you like that so I think it's a great tool.

5:16Right. I answer tools. Yeah. I think it's a great tool. I did it probably for a little bit too long. How long did you do it? Like on and off for three years, to be honest. Um, it wasn't just for weight loss. I also did it for my skin and I felt like it was incredibly beneficial for my skin. Um, but I also found when I did stool tests that I was missing some crucial bacteria. So now I'm eating sweet potato again. I don't respond very well to carbs. I don't feel amazing afterwards. Like potatoes are kind of like my sweet spot. I don't feel great with rice. Like I've had to kind of experiment and figure out the best thing for me.

5:57But I liked it. And I used creatine during that time to kind of like help with the muscle. You know, I felt like I wasn't getting that pump at the gym. And I remember Greg recommending creatine and now I'm starting to use it again And after having so many people on the show, tell me how amazing it is. Yeah, well, especially aren't you trying to get pregnant? Yes, ma 'am. Yes, yes. It helps with that? It's not helping with that. But when I look at pregnancy, I look at a couple different phases. There's before you even think about getting pregnant, where you're doing all of the detoxification and upgrade to make sure that your body's super healthy and, you know, saunas, all that.

6:33Then everything that you want to really maintain is great. nutrients during pregnancy. You start before you get pregnant, then you keep that through, then post with the nursing and the recovery, right? So creatine is a helpful supplement. Creatine is a helpful incarnate. I know you have a focus on aging optimally and focusing on muscle as we age. A majority of my listeners are probably 25 to 30, kind of my age range. Why is it important that we start thinking about that now at this age? Well, let's reframe it to aging powerfully. Aging powerfully. Aging powerfully. And this is the right age to start.

7:10You know, I feel very fortunate I was lifting weights at 16 with the high school football team with the bros. And I grew up, I mean, I went to Richmond, California. I went to a very like rough neighborhood high school and lifted weights with the football team. If in the perfect world we would be doing DEXA scans on girls in their teens and really really seeing where they were in terms of bone density and muscle. And we would start just like in the perfect world, if you had it to do over again, you would start like investing from the time you were born. Your parents would teach how to do it and you would just invest all the way along.

7:45You'd be a gazillionaire. It's the same with muscle. The earlier you start, the better. But the cool thing is you would never tell a 60 year old, well, you didn't start investing, you know, guess you're screwed for retirement. You would say start now. And that's what I'd say here start now but gosh and at this time period i can't think of a better time to really get this dialed in and started than right now because the dividends you're going to get later on in life are crazy amazing like there's all these horrible stats about aging and i can tell you they don't need to be at all if you've got a solid foundation and you just don't stop and so it's never too late to start weightlifting in your opinion no if you're 26 you're fine like i would love if my parents parents were to weightlift, but I don't even know where to begin convincing them because they just didn't grow up in that culture.

8:37Do you have any tips on like how we can encourage our parents to weightlift? Yes, they did grow up in the time of calisthenics and Jack LaLanne. And in the reality, when you look at what a lot of what he was doing, it was bodyweight calisthenics. It still was resistance training with some power training, right? Jumping jacks and things like that. So they grew up with that where I like to to do this I have a very specific progression because my favorite audience is the audience that's new to resistance training like I love that audience like it's easy to indoctrinate the indoctrinated but someone who's never done it first of all the results they're going to get are so much more you take someone who's always resistance trained you know it's like cleaning a clean window like oh I got rid of the spec you take someone who has never resistance training.

9:25It's like you've got a dirty window and all of a sudden you can see the light. It's crazy what they feel. Newbie gains. Yes. So newbie gains. But the cool thing is, and I always like to say, you don't train to get better at training. You train to get better at life. The great thing is, is you'll see it in every aspect of your life. Like everything. thing.

9:48You guys have heard me talk about Clear Stem so many times. It is a staple in my skincare routine. It's the first clinically effective skincare wellness routine formulated with zero pore clogging ingredients ever. If you've dealt with breakouts like me, I've had acne for over 10 years, you know that typical acne products dry and damage the skin while traditional anti-aging products can clog your pores clear stem is an all-in-one approach addressing both acne and aging without compromising your holistic health i personally love the cleanser i use the gentle cleanser i also love the body lotion and i use the lips and cute balm on my lips every single day the founders danielle and kaylee both struggle with debilitating acne themselves which means i trust the brand because honestly if i'm working with someone i need to know that they've also had acne to really trust them and they just get it they also believe that acne starts from the inside they have a revolutionary acne lab test so you can receive individualized support from a nutritional therapy practitioner to analyze your blood work identifying underlying acne triggers and implement personalized lifestyle centric solutions to clear your skin from within their products have been clinically shown in third-party trials to effectively improve acne within four weeks discover the clear stem difference and experience clear healthy skin for life go to clearstem.com slash pow for 20 off your first order that's c-l-e-a-r-s-t-e-m.com slash pow going through pregnancy and having my boobs grow more than i ever expected i think bras have been such a pain point for me and thank goodness i have my skims they are truly the only bras i reach for because they're so comfortable and wearing a racer back triangle bra right now it's the best thing ever I think it's so difficult to find bras that are comfortable flattering and look good under clothes and skims does just that before skims underwear was always an afterthought for me they have made it so much easier to feel comfortable and amazing in all my bras I reach for my fits everybody crossover bralette every day and I can't go braless anymore while being pregnant so it gives me support and it feels like a sports bra but still is so flattering they've managed to create a bra that's both supportive and comfortable i highly recommend you guys check them out they come in so many different shades shop my favorite bras and underwear at skims.com after you place your order be sure to let them know i sent you select podcast in the survey and be sure to select my show in the drop down menu that follows ultra running shoes are all about space the space to go further to feel better to do something you never thought possible and this space starts with ultra fit unlike traditional running shoes ultra fit gives toes more room to move naturally so every step is strong balanced and comfortable whatever you're lacing up for stay out there with ultra shop now at ultra running.com that's a-l-t-r-a running.com

12:55the way you feel when you learn how to lift weights and eat well and get strong it's like you couldn't you wouldn't trade it for anything yeah i'm excited to talk to you about that because i think the important thing there is you're not focusing on losing weight you're focusing on getting strong getting healthy and falling in love with those activities and if you live like a healthy lean person guess what will happen and then you stay there which is the hardest part of all. I first track activity and then I get them up to eight to 12 ,000 steps a day. That's kind of the sweet spot more is better, but you know, that's the, you got to hit that.

13:29Then I add some intensity a couple of days a week into that. So maybe put a rucking vest on. I think that my husband loves those. Do you do it? You ruck? I do. Uphill? No, no. Well, I live in Florida. It's a little flat. Yeah. Unless I can find a bridge, I'm out of luck. The way I see a rucking vest, it's a great way to add intensity. It's a great way to put, you know, to strengthen your bones. And if someone's losing weight, and they're concerned about a little metabolic downshift, which some of that we can offset with resistance training and adding more muscle. But the other way we could is like, wear your wrecking vest around, make it home, I'll wear my wrecking vest around and I'll do some treadmill walking with my wrecking vest.

14:08That's how I use it as just more of my sustained activity. Although sometimes at night, we'll go out and crank it. Yeah, with the reckon best. So that's the next step. Then I add in resistance training, but really focusing on compound moves that mimic what we want to be better at in life. Like if I had to pick one, it would obviously be a squat. Yep. And you hear from people, they're like, oh, I can't do that because I have bad knees, bad back, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. It's, I often think the, the reason why you say you can't is the reason why you must. What types of exercises would this be?

14:43And again, when you're first getting someone moving, a lot of it is how the nerves, you're training your nervous system. Like so often when you first start the first month, you're not going to see any real muscle hypertrophy because you're getting more of neurological learning. So can you explain what that means? Hypertrophy. So hypertrophy is your muscles getting bigger, which we know starting at around age 30, your muscle size starts to go down. It's anywhere from three to 8 % a decade. Doesn't have to. The scary part actually isn't that the muscle size is going down. It's the muscle quality problem.

15:17A lot of it is our muscles getting infiltrated with fat. Think ribeye versus filet, right? And we're losing strength. Two to 4 % of strength versus 1 % muscle. But we're losing even more power. Strength is how much could you pick up one time? Power is how fast could you do it? And when you think about what translates to everyday life and why you see people breaking a hip and never recovering is they can't catch themselves right yep they can't dart out of the way fast isn't that one of the leading reasons that older people end up in the hospital and die young i don't know how many of them how many people break a hip i can't remember that stat i do know this stat if you do if you are one of those people um and right now like sarcopenia it's something like four to 11 % of 50 to six year olds have low muscle relative to their weight sarcopenia.

16:11And then it of course just gets worse, but it doesn't have to again, doesn't. But if you are one of those people who breaks your hip at 65, it's, it's a third of those people die within a year, like never get out of the hospital die within a year. And half of the people there, they're never where they were. Yeah, you know, they lose muscle, they can never get back that's why it's so important not to get injured as you age you would start with things like doing an air squat i mean i literally i'm doing this with someone right now who is morbidly obese and we've gotten him to see back to the person he used to be which was a you know professional tennis player right and so the first thing that we did was squats but they weren't even squats over a chair because he couldn't go down that far easily like he has to pull himself out of a chair there was a squat over just the side of the chair you know an air squat next we'll go down to the chair right and then we might add a little a little handheld weight yeah but you just the form is always the limiter and then when you think about it like how many things in life involve you getting up off of something a toilet a chair a car so i would start with a squat with no body weight then you can add a little dumbbell that you hold then you You can also, once you get that foundation, you can do a squat with a jump to add some power in.

17:32Yep. One of the ways we can test a vertical jump is just take a pen, a pencil with and mark it and then jump as high as you can and mark it again. And you can get the norms for that. So that would be one. One's obviously a deadlift. And the caveat is I hear from people, well, I can't do these things because. and again if you have bad knees when i blew my knee out at 17 and then did the dumb thing again they're like you need a knee replacement i go all right i'll come back and i came back 30 years later and literally they were like i we don't know how you're walking you are bone on bone like how are you doing this but i'd strengthened everything else so much yeah that i was able to do it and then i trained for the knee surgery so literally i never used a walker i never used anything three weeks later I was on stage and so you know it's like you have to think of these things differently right so if they started with a squat they started with a deadlift what's the deadlift it might be just them doing the movement and then maybe they're picking up water bottles yeah right um them doing push-ups like in the perfect world you would go in for a physical you would get a dexa with a vo2 max you'd have to do push-ups and you would have to do like a jump test.

18:50It would be amazing. And then you'd have to do a balance test. So are you generally recommending people strength train? Of course. Have you heard of muscle mommies? Oh my gosh. I have not. This is like a, this is something I love doing when men come on the show. I have to bring up all the phrases. I'm loving, I'm learning so much from you. Yeah. You could like name programs like the muscle mommy program. Like Dr. Gabrielle Lyon is a muscle mommy. You know, That's a perfect example. Okay. She's definitely both of those things. Yep. Yep. Very much a mommy and very much a muscle. But it could also apply to someone who doesn't have kids.

19:25They're just like super muscular. I think the confusion for a lot of girls is the amount of weight that's needed. Because I think with Pilates, they feel this. I don't know if you've ever done it, but you feel this like crazy isolated pain in one area. So they're like, oh, it's, this is growing my muscle. in the early 90s, mid 90s, all the way up through like the early 2000s, we still very much dealt with strength training. These anaerobic things were a male, right? No matter how much we fought that battle, there was a couple of problems there. Number one, there was not a lot, female sports were still not accessible media wise, right?

20:05It wasn't actually until recently where female sports had really any TV time coverage, stuff like that. But even if you go back to history, women didn't even start running the marathon, start doing other activities like this until decades after men did, right? And then the participation numbers were tiny. This was growing scientifically, but you had a whole generation of females from that 1990s who were like, well, I'm kind of getting into strength training. I'm kind of getting into these things. I'm getting into sports. But there wasn't social media. There wasn't media out there. well these people turn into mds and strength coaches and scientists and now they're 30 and 35 and 40 and 45 and they're the gabrielle lions right and now these because but these are girls that got inspired in the 80s and 90s to do these things it's now coming to the forefront which is great because we've been arguing this and when you asked that question earlier about toning i'm like oh my god like for 25 years we've been fighting fighting the toning war sure and it never worked because it was dudes like me telling girls like you that don't worry you're not going to get bulky yeah which is not effective at all we needed in like honestly those female scientists and stuff to start coming forward and being the face of those movements that's largely happened and so the the muscle mommies is probably a reflection of the last you know five to seven years of folks like that and abby smith ryan and all these other folks coming from these different communities and saying i've been lifting my whole life look at me and like oh shit yeah huh you don't look like what I thought I was going to look like.

21:35If you do want to look big and jacked and bulk, I don't care as a female. Like again, you define what is good or bad. Like I don't care at all. And I don't think Gabrielle would care at all what people say, right? So you tell me what you do and don't want to look like. And we can program to that. It just had, it took a while for us to come from the female voice. You throw on top of that, such mounting colossal amounts of peer reviewed high quality scientific evidence for things that touch female pain points. And then you started getting belief in buy-in. And so I think we're probably right at the beginning of that climb because yeah, you will definitely see more there.

22:11And men have been saying this for a very long time, but some men don't like muscular women. A lot of men do. So you, I think this is certainly how I'll raise my daughter and how my wife is and how she'll raise her. It's like, you look however the fuck you want there will be some man who cares about you if you care about that but you don't have to worry about playing sports because you're too worried that like boys won't like you yeah um that will happen of course but i mean you sure hope like every amount of education we can instill in them it's like that should never be a reality that you have to deal with if you want to be strong and get all the health benefits of that we can do that in a way that doesn't make you look how you don't want if you care or even better yet hopefully you don't even care.

22:53Hopefully you just look how you ever want to look. That makes you happy and healthy. And we can hopefully by the time my daughter is at that age, that these things don't matter as much.

23:07If you're like me and you drink a lot of water and you're always looking to make drinking water easier, you will want to hear this from AquaTrue. Having safe, clean water is the last thing you want to worry about. But unfortunately, according to extensive research by the Environmental Working group three out of four homes in america have harmful contaminants in their tap water i want my kids to grow up healthy and strong and i want greg and i to have access to the best water and that's why we use aqua true it uses a four-stage reverse osmosis purification process and their countertop purifiers work with no installation or plumbing it removes 15 times more contaminants than ordinary pitcher filters that are designed to combat chemicals like pfas in your water supply pfas are found in 45 of us tap water i'm so grateful arquitru is certified to remove these contaminants greg and i have the under the sink option so we feel really good about what we give the dogs what we give ourselves but you can also get the installation free countertop purifier long-term exposure to high concentrations of pfas can lead to adverse health effects like cancer and endocrine disruption and liver toxicity which is why it's so important that arquitru removes PFAs.

24:17I can truly taste the difference compared to my old water filter. If you have family or pets you'll want to be using the best water possible. It gets delivered straight to your home and it's so easy to set up. I was always hesitant about drinking tap water and now I don't have to worry. With AquaTrue I know it's purified. AquaTrue comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, even makes a great gift. Today my listeners receive 20 % off any AquaTrue water purifier. just go to aquatrue.com that's a-q-u-a-t-r-u.com and enter code pow at checkout p-o-w that's 20 % off any aquatrue water purifier when you go to aquatrue.com and use promo code pow p-o-w at checkout you guys know i love my red light therapy it's something i've continued to do during pregnancy i find it to be so relaxing and beneficial for my skin and i personally love the brand Boncharge.

25:08Boncharge's mission is clear to empower individuals to live more fulfilling lives through science-backed beauty and wellness products. It can be really challenging to fit in these self-care moments, especially when you have work, families, you're trying to stay active, keep up with the skincare routine. It can be a lot. With the Boncharge red light mask, it is incredibly easy to incorporate in my routine. I just do it for 10 minutes a day and I'm on my way to clearer, firmer and more radiant skin. It's become my go-to skincare device, allowing me to feel refreshed and confident between spa visits.

25:42I also feel like it's so easy to habit stack with the red light face mask. You can wear it while cooking, watching TV, making the bed, whatever you need to do, you can kind of wear it on the go. I struggled with acne for 10 years and I definitely have hyperpigmentation and scarring and red light is probably the number one thing I've seen a difference with. so I really like to make sure I wear it every single day. Also I'm 31 and I've started noticing more fine lines and wrinkles prop up and this has definitely made such a big difference. Bond Charge red light devices promise a non-invasive approach that utilizes specific wavelengths of red and near infrared light to penetrate skin offering a range of benefits that continue to garner attention from researchers and health professionals alike.

26:24They ship worldwide ride in rapid time with easy returns and exchanges and a one-year warranty. Go to bondcharge.com and use coupon code PURSUIT to save 15 % off. That's b-o-n-c-h-a-r-g-e.com and use coupon code PURSUIT to save 15%. Ultra running shoes are all about space. The space to go further, to feel better, to do something you never thought possible. And this space starts with UltraFit. Unlike traditional running shoes, UltraFit gives toes more room to move naturally. So every step is strong, balanced, and comfortable. Whatever you're lacing up for, stay out there with Ultra. Shop now at ultrarunning.com.

27:10That's A-L-T-R-A running.com.

27:18what are some of the other benefits of having muscle mass or strength for women going at the longest end of the spectrum everyone wants to live a long healthy life of course people are aware generally of lifespan and wellness span at this point right but then there's a new a new awesome term that we call strength span and so what this effectively says is your your wellness span is going to be dictated in large part by your strength span. Because as soon as you start losing strength at age, then nothing else will function. Really easy example here. Most people are familiar by now with the importance of things like VO2 max, cardiovascular fitness as you age.

27:56This is the entire crux of the wellness span versus lifespan argument. That said, if we were to go outside right now and walk from the bottom of the stairs all the way up here, right? And I cut your leg strength down by 80%, you wouldn't make it up here. Your cardiovascular system would be going nuts. You would be at max heart rate and it would have nothing to do with your VO2 max. It's the fact that your legs are super weak. Your legs and your hands are the things that make you move throughout the world. And so that I call them, they are your interface with the world. So we know that if you have a strong interface, you're more likely to do any activity that you choose to see fit.

28:33More importantly, probably, is you won't opt out of them. Easy examples like, oh, I'm not going to take that trip. I'm not going to go to the grandkids. I'm not going to do whatever else as I'm aging. Why? Because I know I have to carry my luggage throughout the airport. It's going to be a huge pain in the butt. I'm not strong enough to put it in the overhead bin. All the steps. I don't want to do that activity. Why? There's research now that'll suggest one of the biggest driving factors of social withdrawal as you age is sense of burden. When people feel like they're a burden, they don't want to do anything.

29:06Because you've been this healthy, functioning, autonomous being for six decades, seven decades, eight decades. And now everyone is honking at you. You know, you're holding up the whole line. The entire thing's going to wait and you feel really bad about that. And so, you know, you can't do anything about that. And so you're like, I'm just not going to take that trip. I'm not going to go to that outing or whatever that thing is. That becomes a problem. It becomes a problem because it, as I mentioned, leads directly to social isolation, which is a massive driver of long-term joy, connection, purpose.