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

Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins.

You're listening to Habits and Hustle, Gresham.

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You guys, I'm excited.

I'm really excited about today's episode podcast because of what I do.

I have someone who I've been following forever and probably all of you guys follow her as well.

Her name, well, I would hope you do because she's so great.

But how do you pronounce your name?

I don't want to get it wrong.

Sonata.

Sonata.

Okay, good.

Sonata Greka.

Okay, so I just want to make sure.

Sonata Greca is on the podcast.

She is just like an entrepreneur, a fitness, just phenom, in my opinion.

She puts out the best workouts.

And you know what else you do really amazing?

Your food, like the food that you do, like all your recipes, like to make things that are less calories, healthier.

That's actually how I even started to follow you.

It wasn't even the fitness stuff.

Isn't that funny?

It is funny.

And a lot of people actually approach me and they're like, you know, I love your recipes.

And I'm like, really?

That's like a newer development.

I really started that way.

But I guess, yeah, a lot of people just

love the recipes.

Amazing.

It's not that new because I've been like, no, that's not.

I was just saying, as far as like where it started, it was all fitness-based.

And then the recipes slowly started to creep in.

And,

you know, they blow up for most of the part, you know, most of the time.

Because they're easy.

They are.

And they're healthy.

And they're a great alternative to things that are like fattening for you.

Yeah.

But your fitness stuff.

Okay.

So this is.

How many followers do you even have now?

Like six, seven million?

6.1 million.

Yeah.

Just cost that 0.1, 6.1 million.

Oh, my God.

That's crazy.

And let's start from the beginning because now, you know, we trained Kim Kardashian, you've trained a bunch of celebrities, whatever, but you were already, you already were very well known, even before Kim Kardashian and all that.

How did you even, because you came from like the business world, like you were in finance and all that.

How did you even like start in the fitness business?

Like, what was the transition and why did you make fitness your business?

And then how did you, how did you kind of

become such a like phenom on social media?

Well, thank you for

considering me a phenom.

Fitness

movement has always kind of been a part of my life.

It's always helped me through, and I'm sure, you know, maybe you've seen it out there and I've been open about it, but it helped, it's helped me through me overcoming depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.

So it's always been close to my heart.

It's always, I've been an active child and I found joy in movement.

The business aspect of it, it was more, okay, we need to make money and make a living and promoted by family.

Okay, these are the things that you need to do, either be a doctor, a business person, or a lawyer.

Right.

And, you know, I chose the business route.

I was great at numbers and chose that path.

Got my undergraduate in three years, got my master's degree in one year while working full-time.

So it was successful, but just wasn't happy.

I wasn't fulfilled in that role.

So I decided one day to

put out there all of my workouts, the things that had helped me for so long become a stronger, confident, more confident version of myself.

And it helped me overcome so many things.

Like I said, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.

And I saw that there was such a need out there for true, useful workouts for...

for my content.

And I didn't do like, here's three exercises.

And I didn't hold back.

Every day I posted my exact workouts, which started to accumulate a following pretty fast, I would say.

And I was able to then, going from just putting all of my workouts, this free content that somebody could just follow and not need to purchase anything, to then launching a more streamlined program that somebody could do to achieve the results that they wanted, along with meal plan and nutrition planning.

And I was able to let go of my nine-to-five job, which at the time had gone from finance to diagnostic sales.

I got into pharmaceutical sales and diagnostic sales because, again, there was a part of me that always wanted to be close to

the health aspect of somebody.

My dad was a doctor back in Albania.

So,

yeah, that always was close to my heart.

And

I thought that being in that world would somehow get me close to helping patients, but it really wasn't very impactful.

And then this was my

way of impacting people in health and wellness by stepping into the role that I serve today.

Because you've been doing it.

And by the way, we've been holding on to these things.

I know.

We didn't even do it yet.

Okay.

So I was so excited to have you.

Seriously, like, this has never happened because I've had everyone on the show.

And, like, because of what, like I said, I just love

that you're here.

We forgot this.

Okay.

So we do these shots because we want people to be focused and alert while they're on the show.

So we do these like very healthy shots by magic mite now they just came out with a new version i think i gave it to you it's the free and that one is no caffeine so you don't want i don't really do caffeine besides cacao or like matcha i don't really do coffee okay good well then it works for you perfect or caffeine in that sense i guess i guess cacao has some caffeine but it's in the morning it's nothing affects my sleep

i don't know but yeah no these all look really good no it's great this is have you

know i've never had one all right so this is what we keep my supplements at minimum if at all but you know okay well then this could be a good one you need it yeah so wait we do a little

i'm telling you it's really good i would never be forcing my guests to do something that i wouldn't that i don't love because these why and i wouldn't take anything

if i take if i looked at the ingredients was like yeah i'm not gonna do that just because no no exactly it's good and well now and so everyone well not everyone but almost everyone says that they are like much more focused and it's not like a everyone it's just late, it's literally just like a steady energy.

And so, anyway, so we do these things just for fun.

And so, you let me know now afterwards if you feel

anything.

I actually haven't done the free one that just came today, like an hour before you got here.

So, I want to know if it actually does anything.

All right, well, I always do the like, or maybe you'll notice, you'll be like, Okay, she's she's making more sense now.

I know, right, right, right.

She said, She sounds brilliant now.

No,

okay, so I was gonna say to you, Mos really, you know, social media really goes is like the Wild West and there's so many people on there.

And the fact that you have like really stood out, why do you think that people have gravitated and there's been such traction with your page other than other pages?

Do you think that you were involved or doing it before, like

for so many years prior?

Like, when did you actually start the whole process?

Yeah.

And is it just because you were just so consistent like you think that you think?

Like, what do you, what is your.

Yeah, I think, I think you hit it on the head when you said consistent.

Like consistency, I think, has been one of the key ingredients.

I have since 2019, probably not taken more than one day off from posting on social media or, you know, filming for posting for social media.

It's just been that consistency and always providing value.

Not just throwing out.

content just to

fill a page, but providing that it's always been kind of like the questions that I ask myself, like, is it going to add value?

Is it going to be useful to somebody?

Is it maybe perhaps entertain to some degree?

What is the purpose behind it?

And, you know, I think that's what's made it take off, so to speak.

And from the very beginning of 2019, I just provided as much content as I can, as I could for my own workouts every single day, seven days a week.

That's crazy.

So, but that's not even that long.

So you haven't been doing it for that long, six years?

As far as like having a presence on on social media, on Instagram, because that's my biggest platform.

It's yeah, since 2019, I've always been active before that.

But in 2019, I decided that I need to share my gift, if you will, with the world.

That's insane.

So like in six years, you went from like zero to six million people.

From like 2000, from having, from posting just like personal things, a picture here and there randomly to now, okay, I'm going to be committed to doing this every day, no matter what, You know, whether I was away on a sales meeting that started at 8 a.m.

and we had been up till midnight or two o'clock in the morning and still having to get up at 4:35 in the morning to film, having no sort of following to speak of, kind of like being a little embarrassed in the hotel gym while there's coworkers around looking at me filming myself, like we're

doing.

But I just kind of like

as shy as a person as I've been, I kind of was able to shut that down and just commit to myself that this and to the audience started to accumulate that this is what I was going to do no matter what.

Is it mostly women who follow you, or is it like, what's your demo?

Because there, there is a small percentage of men, but it is mostly mostly women.

Yeah.

Like, I'm curious, is it mostly, what's the age bracket who follow you?

From the biggest age brackets from like 25 to 45.

And there is a little bit under, a little bit over,

like the biggest age bracket.

Because I would think, like, because I'm in my 40s, like, you're such an inspiration for women, like, because people are like, how do I look like that?

And it is slightly like that high,

yeah, of course.

Because, yeah, well, not of course, but like, because you like, you give great, those your exercises are always different.

You don't do the same thing, you don't always use equipment.

You give, it's very versatile, so which is what I like about you.

Yeah, I think that's the other thing, too, while the the page took off is because I provided novelty because working out for a lot of people, we as people, as humans, we need novelty.

Like that's one of our basic needs is novelty.

And sure, there's people that can do the same thing day in and day out.

And there's nothing wrong with that, with doing squats, RDLs, like the basics.

But if you start to introduce novelty, then it just becomes a lot more fun besides it being effective.

Because I'm not taking and throwing you for a loop and just doing one day, you know, squats and another day, I don't know, jumping jacks is like squats.

But what other forms of equipment can you utilize to make that same movement just a little bit more interesting?

Well, because I want to know what your exact daily routine is, of course.

But and also, you're not, you're like strength, which is why I love it.

Like, you're really, you promote the idea of like being strong.

And I think that message is great for women.

But women are really scared of weight still.

It's crazy.

Like, people who know know, but there's still these

lot of women are cardio junkie, you know, and it's really hard to kind of get away from the cardio.

It's a psychological thing.

It is.

I mean, it's been ingrained in us for so long.

So it is something that, you know, I don't blame most women for doing cardio because it's almost like the generational detail that's been passed down and what you see maybe

what they've seen for so long.

portrayed out there, you know, aerobics.

And then you correlate strength training to perhaps bodybuilding only images.

And that's not, you know, that's not true.

That's not, you're, as I always say, like, you're not going to get to that bulkiness level of a pro bodybuilder.

Because first of all, I mentioned this before, like there's, there's so much work that goes into it.

And perhaps when you're at like this.

this extreme level of competitive bodybuilding, there's other things that are being utilized.

And most women are not going to get to the bulkiness level that they picture, you know?

And then there's genetics, you know, I am thankful to

have had been gifted good genetics, I think.

I'm glad that you said that because people never say that.

No, for sure.

But genetics without the work is nothing.

You know, you could take, you know, somebody with the same genetics, but if they don't put the work, it's not, that's not going to yield anything.

But, but you're right.

For so long, we've been just shoved kind of down our throes like cardio, cardio.

And then we fear not just the bulk, but maybe we fear injury from, from, from working out.

And once you start to learn like the benefits of strength training and you start to learn proper form, not only does it get almost like addictive, like the feeling that you get in your body, like you tell me, you know, but also, you know, then you start to promote all these other positive aspects, like gaining more confidence.

And then, you know, if you think down the road, like the longevity, quality longevity aspect, because it's not like we only want to live longer.

We want to live longer, better.

Better, right?

Yeah.

Funny thing is, I think you get more injuries with cardio than you do with strength training, which is the irony.

Like I, I'm one of these people where I know intellectually, right?

Like how much, how important weights are, but I don't get the same endorphin or the same high from when I run.

However, running breaks down your lean muscle.

It does.

It like you get like your body does not, your body composition is, I think, much, much different than when you just purely focus on strength training.

You actually don't look as good when you're a cardio junkie.

Like, and so, how would you tell people, or especially women, when they are cardio junkies, how can they psychologically transition themselves into strength training to get all those benefits?

Because it's one thing to know, it's another thing to actually be able to execute because of what they've, but it's been so ingrained in us for so long.

Yeah, I think it just takes, just takes trying it out, just takes almost leaving aside all the notions that you've been told or that you've been taught about what strength training feels like or is like versus cargo.

So now you're going with a preformed conception into it.

I would say, I understand like what running does to you.

I used to run marathons and I used to, you know, get those endorphins, but I also know how much it broke down my body and it broke down, you know, the fat, even in my face.

Like my face got really thin and yeah, and my knees were hurting at the time.

And, you know, I now lift for years and I don't have any of those pains that I used to get from

better.

Yeah, I feel better.

Yeah.

And so there's no like,

you know, I can talk all day about how important strength training is to longevity, to your hormones, and how actually a lot of cardio affects those things negatively.

You can talk about strength training and like Alzheimer's and how beneficial it is, especially for women, because two out of three people with Alzheimer's are women.

So I, but some,

I feel like there is this disconnect still and non-acceptance

because again, that's like that, that psychology has been so ingrained.

So all I say, just give it a try and go in with almost a clean slate and perhaps even try to to talk yourself into like, yes, I might still get those endorphins because I do get endorphins from strength training.

It's because I don't have that notion that pre pre-formed concept in my head that strength training is not going to give me those endorphins almost like go in as a with a beginner's mindset with a blank slate and see what that does for you and and i also when i do strength train i'm not taking super long breaks in between not that that's not beneficial you can do that i i incorporate a lot of supersets so my body is always moving and kind of also besides strength training getting into that cardio zone as well.

So keeping that level consistent and it does get me into that hyped up mode, if you will.

Yeah.

So just like, so like, just tell my audience, like,

kind of like expand on that.

Like, what is the best and most efficient, effective way to strength train when you don't have a ton of time, but you are, you are now committed to, you know, to doing it.

What's the best way to do it?

How often a week should we be strength training to like get the most for the for the least like you know biggest bang for our bucks so to speak yeah i mean at the absolute minimum i'd say three four days a week of strength training i aim to do at least five days a week of strength training and then i'll have my one or two days to just do things that i that are fun whether it's like a full body workout circuit that you know or run

or other things that they that you might find enjoyable like you said cardio or running, like include that.

That's like

the joy, finding the joy in that movement.

No one finds joy.

I don't find joy in it.

Do you?

I hate it, but it's like punishment for me.

But afterwards.

I know.

It's

afterwards.

I always think of things as like how I feel after, not how I feel before.

Exactly.

Because in the moment, if you are thinking about just the reward in the moment, more likely to make decisions that are not going to support your long-term goals versus thinking afterwards, like eating a burger right now.

I eat burgers, you know, just say,

Do you eat meat?

I hope you eat meat.

But like, let's say, you know, your, your goal is to lean out and build muscle.

Oh, and burgers are a bad idea because I eat burgers, but like, you know, you've

a pint of ice cream, all right?

A pint of ice cream in one sitting is not necessarily going to support your, your goals of like losing weight, building muscle, right?

In the moment, that's going to feel this tastes so good.

Afterwards, you're going to feel like crap.

100%.

Yeah.

And working out is the opposite.

It's like in the moment, you're probably not gonna feel like doing it, but afterwards, you're gonna feel amazing.

So, kind of always evaluate: like, what do I gain from it now?

But, what do I gain from it long term?

Or what do I lose in the moment versus what do I gain long term?

And just to go back to your question as to like what, for me personally, what my week looks like, I do two minimum, but three lower body days.

I do a lot of supersets again to keep it efficient.

That is doing two exercises back to back.

So, squats and an RDL.

I'll finish a set of squats, go straight into a set of RDLs, back into a set of squats, another set of RDLs for three to four sets.

And I'll do that with multiple exercises throughout, you know, my leg extension with a leg curl again, back and forth, just to not pause for too long, just not to take too long of a rest between each set.

Because when you're working out opposing muscle groups, then you don't necessarily need to rest for as long.

You know, when you're doing squats, you're mostly working quads and glutes.

And then when you're doing RDLs, you're working to a lesser degree, glutes on the squats.

But then when you're doing RDLs, you're working out more hamstrings and glutes.

So don't need to take as long.

Yes.

That was like the long answer.

No, no, no, sorry.

Yeah, actually, like, I think this is great.

So basically, you're saying that to be the most effective and to get the biggest bang for your buck, you should do strength training minimum three or four times a week.

Right.

You recommend super setting it, which is basically two exercises back to back for three or four sets.

Do you progressively load or how, what is the next thing?

Do you have

super, super heavy?

I do progressively load to where my 11th or 12th or let's say last two reps are my hardest reps and maybe I can go for one or two more reps after that, but no more after that.

So close to failure, not necessarily all the way to failure.

And I don't necessarily go insanely heavy to where I'm doing perhaps four reps or six reps.

I value more that mind-muscle connection, like truly focusing on the muscles that I'm working, slowing down the movement.

A lot of the times people see like me touching and feeling like the muscles that are working.

And that's again to create that muscle connect, mind-muscle connection, but to also tell your brain, like, these are the areas that we're working because now that's where the neurotransmitters are going to fire up.

That's what's going to fire up and get activated, which then will improve results.

What do you think about if someone's working out four times a week versus five or six?

Yeah, you know, I've been, you know, I've been my research, they've said that it says that, you know, if you work out twice a week versus three times a week, there's a massive difference in terms of like the results.

Three to four times, not like, not that big of a return.

But, and, and then after five, it's kind of, you don't really see much difference, right?

Like, do you believe in that?

Like, do you think if you work out six times a week, you'll see much better results than if you do four times, or is it so nominal, not really?

Not necessarily, but I always say, and this is not an answer that everybody's going to love.

It's like, we're so, we're so bioindividual, we're so different from one another.

Like, how the energy reserves that I have that I need to expend might be different than yours.

And I need to stay active, perhaps more than you or somebody else.

And then that is something that you need to gauge for yourself.

So if you feel like five, six days a week are leading you to burnout, then do not do that.

But if, but I do

think and studies show that three and four are like where you minimally should be strength training.

Three and four, four, you know, three is like absolute minimum four great and then five and six those are how you feel I personally need need that fifth day six days like I said my play day but in those five days just to finish I was saying like three days lower body and then two days I'll do upper body and core so I'll combine upper body exercises with core exercises and then i heard you also sprint though on those days i do sprint on those days okay at least once or twice a week but ideally twice a week, just 20, 30 second all-out sprints.

And by sprints, I don't mean just like running, but I'm roaming, assault bike, battle ropes, anything to get to almost that 100%

effort, all-out effort for 20 to 30 seconds, five rounds.

Five rounds.

Five rounds, yeah.

Do you do that in between the upper body and core?

Do you take it like a circuit or you do it at the end?

I do it at the end.

At the end.

I'll do typically on, again, on my upper body.

I'm giving you all my secrets.

Yeah.

They're on my app anyway.

So they're on the WeRise app.

But I'll do, typically, I'll do an upper body and a core, again, supersetting, like I mentioned before.

So let's say I'll do pull-ups with like a hollow body.

I'll superset that.

I'll do rows with a dead bug, let's say.

So for every upper body exercise, I'll have a core exercise to superset it with.

And at the end, I'll do the sprints.

And go have some water.

Okay, because I'm going to make you talk a lot.

Okay, so how long do you think the minimum amount of time is that we should be doing each workout?

30 minutes, 40 minutes?

Truthfully, like, don't give me, oh, five minutes will, because we all know five minutes is not going to do the trick.

I mean, if you only have to do that.

Have you listened to me say that before the five minutes, but it's a place to start.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I don't know.

It's just to create that habit.

I'm joking.

Yeah, five minutes is not going to get you the results that

you're after.

But if what you're after is creating a habit, then it will get you that.

How long, again, it depends on the person.

Like, if you're starting to feel like at 45 minutes or an hour mark, you're like completely depleted, then maybe again, back off and go for a shorter period of time.

But I think at minimum, like 45 minutes to an hour, my workouts last from anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour, an hour and a half, an hour and a half, usually on lower body days, just because they're a little bit, it tends to be a little bit slower than an upper body workout.

Totally.

And you don't do abs on the days that you do your lower body, correct no i don't right just on the

you're you're in my book and again some some studies show that um you don't want to tire out your core muscles your core is what's supporting you so if you are but if you are going to do core do it at the end of a lower body day just don't combine it throughout so don't superset uh lower with um and again that's just my statement no i love that people i did it more than before tell us tell me more about because weakening your core before you do a lower body workout then you have less of a connection.

If your core gets weak, you have less of a connection

with it when you're doing lower body.

So let's say you've,

and then how that core is supporting you throughout these strong lower body movements can be compromised.

No one's ever said that before.

Yeah.

So basically you're saying, I want to make sure I'm like, I'm taking this all in.

So if you're, the days that you do lower body, you should not be doing your core because you don't want to tire out your muscles that keep you stable to do the lower body you can do it at the end yeah just don't do it either that makes sense or or as a superset because again you're you're compromising your core for your lower body workout yeah and i always see you exercising or doing your waist or your 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, the diatrists 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.

You know, all 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.

So much better.

You know, i've just been like i i wear these like shoes that are like for stability yeah 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 your gait is off exactly right and it doesn't and it doesn't it doesn't really work the proper muscles it works like other muscles and it's but it's interesting because i find and 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 like do you do you get like plantar fasciitis easier or anything because it's like so much pressure now like you're

well if you i i'm 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 just playing on tv now i was kidding but um i think the first and don't go all straight you know from wearing this thick soles to like working out barefoot and and and maxing out your lift you know always start slow i i did that when i first went from running with shoes to running with like barefoot or like minimally

i did at one point but i i went you know instead of like building up to it i i i i ran quite a long distance and i suffered the consequences but so always you know like every other muscle there's muscles in your feet that need to get adjusted to to working out barefoot.

But that's what we're aiming for is to build strength in those muscles that that are also in your feet.

Your feet are like the least paid attention to muscles.

Totally, 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 think that's, I mean, that's like, I went to this

wellness place recently, and they had this like foot specialist, not a podiatrist, but some other type of like neuro, I mean, hit like brain foot person.

And he was giving me all these exercises exercises with the ball to strengthen the nerve, like strengthen my foot so I can do all this because, because of what we just said.

So now I'm trying to work out what I do with my weights with like bare feet.

And it's such a, you, it's such a different sensation.

Yeah.

Like how your body is like just the whole, you're, you're, every, how you're standing, your posture, everything.

100%.

It's almost like a euphoric feeling too, because I think there is, 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.

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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You did.

Do 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.

I'm sure everyone asked you the same question, but like, how did Kim Card ask you?

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.

I was not.

I was in Miami and she had found me on Instagram.

through one of my viral posts.

She had seen it pop up in her feet 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 has got to be some sort of a scam.

Like, 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 totally in a way because there is plenty of amazing trainers out there.

And for me to be to be selected is it was a it was an honor.

So did you move here just for Kim Kardashian?

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, still went back and forth and had, have still, you know, kind of roots in Miami.

But yeah, I moved here to train with her.

And yeah.

Wow.

Every, like, 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.

And traveling with Kim and training on her, you know.

if she was going to film somewhere and or if she was going on vacation.

Oh, so you were like full-time?

Full-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, 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 yeah

i train and the same style of work as that i have on the we rise app when did that happen when did it start that was two and a half years ago so january of what 20 2023 right yeah but you're already you already had a big name like that was like it wasn't like she kind of like started a post about you and then all of a sudden like you were doing amazing great things like everyone i know like all my friends like follow you i mean and we all you know send each other like have you seen this because i think the big thing is you're known for your abs too like for those 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 yeah and I can work out for 24 hours a day, eat everything proper, and I will never have abs like that.

And I will never have muscles like that.

It's just not my body type.

Yeah.

You know, there is.

And there is something to be said about different body types.

But I honestly haven't always had the abs that I have now.

I used to, I used to do a ton of cardio.

I used to run marathons

and I used to, you know, I eat decently and I never

had

my six or 10, 12.

Some people,

okay.

Like it's insane.

I think it's, it's the, the years of putting in work with strength training and, 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.

But 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 duplicate another sonata and like see what 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 is, it's easier to see results faster, to lose body fat faster.

You know, it's just, I think that's just the reality.

Yeah, for sure.

And then you have to kind of like modify, like you all, like you, like everything that you say, I'm like, 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 it is, nothing is like a one, 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

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.

Sure, like the expert advice is great as like the 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, like some people can work, should be working out at night because they can't do it, 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.

Like 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.

I also think the, see, personally, the reason why I prefer the morning, because I've had this conversation, people are like, well, some people are much better at working out and they have more energy at night.

My, like, to what your point is, I think when you work out in the morning, it sets you, it it sets you off like for the day to be like much more productive and your, your, your head is like on straight.

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 best benefits is not the physicality of it.

That's a byproduct.

Like you look

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 the day.

And

yeah, it does set that day off to a great start.

So I would agree with you.

And like, like, also, energy begets energy.

Sure.

Right.

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.

I 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 than 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 always almost comes afterwards.

That feeling that you're after comes afterwards.

You have to 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 that are just 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're, 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.

You 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 couldn't, I didn't have to go see this doctor or that doctor down the road when you do have to see those actors.

Like, can you 100% be okay with that?

Most of us can't.

We're still going to have that.

that argument with our with ourselves like i wish i could eat healthier i wish i could work out and that's when it comes to making choices that's 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.

Cause 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.

Putting 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, 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.

Exactly.

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 look, you know, like, and I'm not, that's what I'm saying, like 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 notice right away.

Like that means that you're going to be probably someone who is going to follow through and that'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.

I want to know like actually what you eat and like,

yeah, so I want to know like how what's the, what do you think it is?

Is it like 90, 10 or what's your, what do you think the ratio is?

Of good, of support, decisions that support my nutrition.

Like you could work out all day.

And if you eat like crap all the time, you're not going to, you're not going gonna see results yeah yeah i mean honestly but i've heard some research say that it is almost more important like the workout aspect than necessarily like the nutrition aspect like you you could have somebody that perhaps is 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 i and yeah i need to you know discuss the nutrition behind behind that because it doesn't but um

they go hand in hand obviously they go hand in hand and again if it's it's individualistic too when it comes to nutrition as well i think it is important and and and the studies are undeniable as to like how important protein is uh especially for women

it is especially as you get older when you're 20 doesn't matter you've got to eat anything exactly like 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 of of um 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 it'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 and there's only so much chicken that you can eat or steak you can eat.

Like, what 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, 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, you can overprote

it.

Can you eat too much protein?

Honestly, like the guidelines keep increasing.

Oh, 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.

I'm going to disclose that, but

the studies on protein are undeniable.

Again, the individual aspect comes in as to how your body processes things.

And you could, you, you're going to be able to tell straight away if something is not sitting well or if it's not reacting well.

Or so just listen for those signals in your body.

You're your own best expert.

Yes.

All right.

What do I eat?

Yeah.

I want to know what time you wake up.

I want to know like your whole daily routine.

It's called habits and hunger.

Yeah, yeah.

I don't get up super early.

My wake up is like 6.30, 6, 6.30 because

I value sleep and I'm not the best sleeper.

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 already doing it.

But then

I'm like, come on.

Can I tell you something?

What time are you going to sleep?

But that to me is so absurd.

I cannot stand when people are like say that.

I can't.

I'm sorry.

But like, it's not humanly, it's not normal to be like, yeah, I wake up at three.

What are you trying to prove?

Like, what are you trying to do?

Like, who wakes up at three or four in the morning?

Unless

you have a night?

You're not.

You have a night shift.

Unless you have to.

Like, you're not winning any prizes by doing that.

Like, it's not, it's, it's just stupid in my life.

You're just winning views on social media.

You're just

it's also not even.

Like you're so dumb.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, like

just get forward.

Well, the fact the well, the fact that you're like, no, 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.

But 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, these these things.

I go to bed at 9, 9.30.

So it's like 9, 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 are

deep 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 and actually helping me alongside with strength training diminish anxiety because I tend to still you know have remnants of that and it helps with with with 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 need it.

It's incredible.

Once you establish that habit,

your body craves it.

It craves just kind of going inward and finding that inner peace.

But in the morning,

it'll be 10, 15 minutes of like meditation and breath work, just kind of like reset, get ready for the day, take a walk with my dog, do

about you know, 30 grams of protein, which in the morning will be either a smoothie or most, most of the time, yogurt with like some nuts and walnuts typically and and blueberries getting those good kind of yogurt students

um i get full fat greek yogurt okay fat you do 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 fat from and if you can afford it i'd say try to try to go for that because the more that you you go for like the skim and whatnot that's being processed a little more so you're eliminating some of the processing steps by going with like a full fat.

And I can,

my body's okay with

dairy.

So it's also more satiating.

Like you don't feel so much more satiating.

It's longer.

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, they're just keeping things more natural as much as I can i'll do then for lunch another protein forward meal so 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 packed which will be like a half a pound of chicken with like three eggs that's what i eat too i love that it's a good 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 you know it's not like I'm against fruits like I was in Bali I was just having a big fruit bowl right before bedtime and right you know

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Do you think people can eat 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.

What is your idea?

Because there are some people who say, don't eat any, don't eat fruit, whatever.

How, how, like, what else are you eating in your diet?

Like, fruit is carbs.

So,

if that's your preferred way of having carbs, there's, I don't see anything wrong with that.

Like, I just mentioned to you, like, I came back from Bali and my preferred way of eating carbs were eating, like, literally, like, a gigantic bowl of different fruits.

It had like bananas and

watermelon and all of their exotic fruit, like mango steam, and

just different mangoes.

And I lost weight.

I didn't gain weight from having.

And, but then we go again to that individualistic response.

You know, 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 banned, but moderate.

Moderate.

Not moderate.

Yeah.

And again, there is, there are studies that say if you're, and this is more, 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.

And so for dinner, what did you say you eat?

Dinner.

So then I start with the largest bowl of greens that you could ever see just because I enjoy it.

I love greens.

And I'm just so happy.

They bring me joy.

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.

I love yogurt too.

Albanian original.

I know I 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.

Yeah, it's an easy protein.

You just throw some nuts in there and blueberries or

raspberries and you're good to go.

Yeah.

Yeah, I love that.

And then I do have a sweet tooth.

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.

I'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 you want to expand your page with more food?

Is that like how you learn?

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,

carrot cake.

It's my favorite.

So 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 how if it works for you fine it doesn't work for us but having it doesn't work for me so i need to find replacement you have an alternative for a carrot cake i never saw i did make one yeah some time ago yeah it was really good how did you make it really good so you make uh oh i love yeah you start with carrots yeah yeah okay good i can't remember the whole recipe but like i love the icing and how i made the icing was like mixing vanilla protein powder with 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 just seen that on your cake

that's like my favorite thing you know it's the algorithm like yeah you know it depends on how many people like carrot cake and then it gets pushed out or not that's you know you're 100 right what's what's really popular now in terms of like in in the fitness space like what are people you said like with the algorithm algorithm, that's how you can track like what's popular.

I 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.

Right.

And the hardcore fitness nutrition space, what have you seen has been very trendy?

3 a.m.

wake-ups.

Oh, God.

I know.

I thought that was already 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 really hard to like

you provide, here you are, you provide.

I was thinking the other day and it gets frustrating because you, you know, I feel like I'm truly providing value.

Like I'm out there

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, how 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.

It'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.

Yeah.

Do you think they're in between like moving and everything?

And,

you know, I'm always filming in 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,

spaciousness.

Space, exactly.

Yeah.

Do you think of all the recipes yourself?

Yeah.

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.

Oh, I like that.

I've posted my legit like regular no sub cheesecake.

Really?

I make that at least once or twice a year.

It's delicious.

Yeah.

That's 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.

So don't do it.

No, and it's again, it's

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.

Like 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 like be a hardcore exerciser and then fast.

It doesn't make, it doesn't compute in my brain.

Like to your point, if you're somebody who's not really exercising, okay, maybe you can figure out a balance or like make it work you know but if you're so if you're a woman who works out every day hard not just like the five minutes for like an hour let's say i don't even see how it's possible to fast because i'm star you're 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 like consistently and the hormone thing yeah 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 yeah 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 lot a little a lot different like women are not just smaller men like they are they're not they they're they have all this complexity of holding hormones and and uh neurological responses that are completely different from a man.

So

while cold, 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.

And it would be so hard to implement that, like in 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 you've strength trained it's just kind of like logistically it doesn't make sense so I choose to to sauna if if I have access to it me too sauna is definitely a much more much much more beneficial thing than 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.

It's 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.

Yeah.

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

because they saw...

Joe Blow doing it.

And it's like everything in life.

There's always that pendulum that swings.

There is.

There's more research.

Until there's more 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 also losing all your muscle and your face is gaunt.

And we don't know the long-term effects in terms of

no one does.

I've never been myself, personally speaking, one 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.

Yes.

I can try to, you know, make healthier decisions when it comes to nutrition, even in a,

when you're given things that are not like the best for you, you can still kind of figure out

what can now be taken away from you.

That's what I always try to think.

Right.

And also like, how about supplements?

Like, what's your take on supplements for the same reason?

Do you, do you rely on any specific ones that you think are like really like really important or you just think, you know, 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.

And 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 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 my belief.

And by the way, again, like, this is like, you're very practical.

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.

It'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 it all is know what your levels are.

Exactly.

Because

I do take two and a half grams.

I take a half of the five grams.

I take Momentous.

We talked about it earlier because it's really clean.

And I like the company.

I think they do a great job with like their, 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 the research says it's great for brain health.

Yeah.

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 has shown to be helpful with cognition.

Strength training is like undeniably proven to be helpful with cognition and preventing Alzheimer's.

So, why, why not do that?

100.

But, my mother, unfortunately, just got diagnosed recently with alzheimer so um i'm sorry thank you i appreciate that and so i'm like hyper like vigilant and and uh sensitive to this so i'm all the thing like the strength training and like you said the creatine the strength training is massive though you know when my mom was visiting me she 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

thing, but like I said to, 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, don't be easy on her.

Like, don't give her three pounds, give her, try her with five, eight, whatever.

And 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 her, like she she was better with her, like verbal communication.

Like, 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,

it does, like, like incrementally, there's a difference.

Absolutely, absolutely.

And if you, 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

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.

Totally.

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.

Yeah.

What would you give?

What would you say?

I personally love Bulgarian split squats.

So why do I love that?

It's because it includes, and I'll give you, maybe, how about you want five or you want two?

Give me three if you want.

Yeah.

How much time do we have?

As 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.

Includes 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, 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 lifting heavier, but also like challenging that balance, which is so important for us to work on, especially as we get older and maintain.

For an upper body exercise, I would pull-ups.

Pull-ups, because it's working that grip strength, it'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 back.

So those, you know, if I was Bulgarian, Bulgarian split squats, and then for upper body um it is pull-ups pull-ups um not chin-ups right like actual wide chin-ups fine too yeah yeah again because you're working on that upper body strength you're working on that grip similar but muscle groups that you're working on you're working on your your lats primarily so in in each group those kind of would be like my two and then farmer farmers carries are a great exercise again because of that grip strength that is so important it's a 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.

You know, you can the other, 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 like core exercises you know like say hand

hanging like 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 what you're doing to show what you like it's like when you're like that like the bulgarian because we're also we're so balanced i think we're very imbalanced right yeah and so it's good to do that just in terms of balancing our body but that stability piece is like really really

important that's why you'll i'll always include on you know lower body days you'll see people have four exercises and it'll be like a squat and an rdl and a hip thrust and a 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.

So 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.

You 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, setup is definitely.

So

you have to figure out what setup works for you and your physique.

There is certain hip thrust machines that just don't work for certain people.

And there is a setup with the 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

I don't think there's one exercise that you absolutely have to include.

You can find variations of of that.

You know, you can perhaps instead of a hip thrust because it doesn't work well for you, you can do

glute glute-focused back extension.

It's just with that, you just can't load as much weight as with a hip thrust.

Right, because of the, you can't, it's hard on your back.

It's just hard, yeah.

It's just hard, period.

Also carrying it.

Carrying it.

What about plateaus?

I think that like 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 all that?

Like, have you changed a routine?

That's what I would look into.

Like, have you been doing the same thing over and over again?

Perhaps it's like time to just change things up.

And, you know, you can still perhaps utilize, let's say, an RDL, but can you perform, perform it slightly differently?

You know, can you?

perhaps do a Bulgarian split RDL?

Yeah.

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 movements, 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.

You'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 I do, but we go into autopilot.

We'll do the same things we do all the time because it's like it.

You're 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.

So it's just incorporating new things, challenging your body in a different way

could be very helpful.

I was actually going to, 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 and like for women, for girls, they love going to Pilates.

What's your take on Pilates?

We're actually just bringing Pilates onto the WeRise app.

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.

It's great.

Yoga Pilates, like I love incorporating them, but never in the place of strength training.

Like 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 gives brings me into a certain type of flow and while i can get in the flow with 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 in replacement of strength training yeah i i i tend to agree but i think people everything becomes like you were saying trendy yeah and then 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 and they're very, but like, usually that's the whole, that's their body type.

Like, I don't, like, I think that you can get a stronger core from doing Pilates.

And I think it's a great, it could be a great workout.

But like you said, I don't think that it supersedes the strength training, the benefits.

Yeah.

And and a lot of the time, it's like

what you're not seeing behind those lean bodies that's painting a better picture.

And what you're not seeing is perhaps the lack of muscle

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.

If 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 if your choice of movement is that, and that's absolutely the only thing that you want to do, then that is, that is fine.

There's no absolutes in my book.

It's again, it's the, you know, you know the benefits to everything, the strength training, to simple movement.

It's like your choice at the end of the day, what you want to do with those

options.

Options.

Yeah.

Do you train anybody else or is it just Kim Kardashian now?

Or because you have your clothing line, you have your app.

I train millions.

I was going to say

I was going to train millions.

You train anyone one-on-one.

I don't train anybody else one-on-one.

It's just there's

there's no time and delay.

It's just so tasking like 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.

And I'm always looking for quality and that quality comes with the price.

Yeah.

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 it's just the quality was unbelievable we're producing in in portugal but uh unfortunately i 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 we rise app which is you know Clothing is great, but like my mission in life has been to help as many women as I can to step in the strongest and and healthiest versions of themselves and all aspects of life.

And 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.

You actually work out with me, but that's besides that.

Besides that,

let's say I think I'm going to be.

I want to go back in time.

Tom, we need to.

You promise?

Yeah.

I'm going to closer 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.

Exonada.

Sonata.

I don't know.

I know there's so many people that come and like, you know,

watch me and then 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.

Sonata Greg.

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?

You said TikTok, YouTube.

I have a following there as well.

Just the largest is on Instagram, but YouTube, TikTok, yeah.

And the app is called WeRise.

WeRise.

WeRise.xyz is the website.

And Sonata.greka 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.

Anyway.

You look amazing.

Oh, God.

Thank you.

Thank you.

But listen, you see the veins, the arms, the shoulders.

Thank you.

But listen, I look,

this is amateur hour compared to you.

So, seriously, it's amazing.

Okay, well, thank you for being here.

Thank you so much for having me.

I appreciate it.

It's been such a pleasure.

It's a pleasure is mine.

And I'm going to keep you.

I'm going to hold you to what we just said.

Yeah.

And

this worked.

Did you like it?

I like it.

Say, Magic Mind.

Did you hear that?

Okay.

All right.

If you want to work, listen at them.

Yeah.

Let's have a hook you 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.

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.