Make Fitness Make Sense

In this comment and response episode, coach JK makes sense of: - Building strong legs without barbell back squats - Planning recharge days before you feel wiped out - Noticing what better eating does for your workouts and daily life - Getting honest about the goal you actually want ------- 7-day trial of 3-day full body program ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HERE ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 7-day trial of 4-day lower/upper split program ⁠⁠⁠⁠...

This episode makes sense of: - How to think about weight gain when some of it may be muscle, - Why feeling exhausted after losing 60 pounds might not be a motivation problem - How identifying your “high-risk days” can help you stay consistent without constantly needing to lock back in. Plus, the debut of a new segment JK’s Not Kidding , with a serious conversation about boundaries, unsupportive pe...

In this Ride With Me to the Gym crossover episode, Coach JK talks about recording your lifts in the gym. How can you use video to check your form and track progress without ignoring gym rules or making other people uncomfortable? A few simple ways to use video as a tool to get better while still respecting the space around you. -------- 7-day trial of 3-day full body program ⁠⁠⁠⁠ HERE ⁠⁠⁠⁠ 7-day t...

In this comment-and-response episode, Coach JK makes sense of: - Using a timer versus judging when you’re ready for your next set - Realistic rest periods for compound lifts, accessory work, and supersets -Closing the gap between your current habits and your ideal targets - Why joining the 4 a.m. club starts with what happens the night before - The important difference between doing the bare minim...

In this Q&A episode, Coach JK makes sense of: - How to maintain muscle while losing body fat - Whether progressive overload still matters during a calorie deficit - What happens when your food intake can’t support your training - How to adjust your workouts if you feel like your shoulders are getting too bulky - The difference between educating a client and qualifying someone to coach others -...

In this crossover episode, JK responds to this post: "As someone fairly new to health and fitness, can someone please explain to me how the **** y'all can afford to own many multiple flavors of protein powders that cost $50-$75 a pop?..." ----- 7-day trial of 3-day full body program ⁠ HERE ⁠ 7-day trial of 4-day lower/upper split program ⁠ HERE ⁠ Subscribe for a free weekly workout (...

In this Q&A episode, Coach JK helps make sense of: - Full-body workouts versus body-part splits - How to make a repeated workout more effective - When focusing on a specific muscle group may require more training volume - Making fitness work while caring for a toddler or managing a changing schedule - The biggest programming mistake JK made as a new personal trainer - Where the seasonal cycle...

In this Q&A episode, Coach JK makes sense of: - Why a calorie target that worked before may no longer create the same deficit - What to assess before deciding that a new workout schedule is not working - Why being busier does not always mean being more active - The problem with drawing conclusions from a couple of weigh-ins - Why “simple” fitness advice is not always easy or helpful - How soci...

In this comment-and-response episode, Coach JK makes sense of: - Why a challenging week can reveal whether your training plan is sustainable - What may be behind bloating and scale weight increases after eating more protein- Why increasing protein does not have to begin with supplements - How to start when the fear of failing has kept you stuck - Four books that can help bring structure to a focus...

In this Q&A episode, Coach JK answers questions about building strength, improving cardio, and deciding whether fitness-tracking technology is worth the investment. Topics covered include: - What actually counts as progressive overload - Whether you need to progress on every exercise during every workout - Why muscle soreness isn’t proof that your workout was effective - How run-walk intervals...

What happens when you improve your eating habits but the scale still goes up? Do you need pre-workout? And should every workout be better than the last? In this Q&A episode, Coach JK covers five topics: - Why “eating healthier” doesn’t always lead to immediate weight loss - The difference between observing and judging people in the gym - What to do when weights feel harder than they did the we...

What does it really take to build your strongest body? In this episode, JK sits down with Betsy Foster , a certified strength and conditioning specialist with a master’s degree in human performance and 15 years of experience as a personal trainer. Betsy specializes in helping women build strength, visible muscle, and confidence through training that supports their goals and fits their real lives....

On today's Q&A episode, JK covers the following topics: - How to build running capacity for HYROX when you hate running. - What prolonged soreness may reveal about your workout plan. - Whether good exercise form looks different on different body types. - Working out on vacation versus intentionally taking the week off He also explains why advice from a coach should carry a different level...

In this Q+A episode, Coach JK answers questions about: - What to do when you know strength training is good for you, but you have lost the motivation to do it - Whether creatine can make you feel hungrier - Making progress when money, equipment, and food choices are limited - Why people wear the same outfit in before-and-after photos - How personal trainers can keep learning without becoming overw...

Coach JK shares his persepctive on body recomposition in a way that makes the goal, the process, and the expectations easier to understand. Body recomp is often talked about as the best of both worlds: losing fat and building muscle at the same time. But that can also make it confusing, especially when people are trying to compare it to a more traditional fat loss phase, muscle gain phase, or weig...

In this episode, Coach JK talks about how identity-based habit change fits into the fitness conversation. Insipred by ideas from James Clear’s Atomic Habits , JK explains why lasting fitness habits usually require more than a checklist, a plan, or a temporary goal. This episode will help you make sense of what that identity shift can look like in everyday life, from food choices and social setting...

Cortisol gets blamed for everything right now: belly fat, poor sleep, stress, fatigue, hormone issues, and even people’s workouts. But is cortisol really the villain, or has the internet turned a normal human hormone into another thing to fear? In this episode, Coach JK shares his perspective on the cortisol conversation in a way that is less panic-driven and more practical. He looks at what corti...

Welcome to episode 1 of Make Fitness Make Sense with Coach JK McLeod. This podcast is for people who want fitness, nutrition, and healthy habits explained in a way that actually makes sense. In this episode, JK answers three common fitness questions: Is collagen protein worth taking? Why does recovery feel harder after 30? And how do you deal with guilt when old habits, old thoughts, or old insecu...