The Deep Kimchi Pod

Get ready to take notes today, frendos! Dr. Cait Van Damm and I are talking how pelvic health changes in menopause, including painful sex and bladder symptoms, and when to ask your provider about vaginal estrogen. We also get into… What autoimmune fatigue changed about Cait’s own training Leaking during a lift, and what she looks for in your breathing and bracing Upper-body strength and calf work...

“Lift heavy” gets prescribed to midlife women like that’s all we need to know. Sports scientist Patricia Siegel and I spend a good chunk of this episode putting some actual meaning behind it. * How heavy should a set feel? * How close to failure do you need to get? * And why can a 15-pound dumbbell be heavy for one woman while the woman next to her needs twice that? We also get into training for b...

I used to teach intermittent fasting. I wrote a book around it. A lot of women lost a lot of fat with it. I don’t recommend it anymore as my default for women over 40 who want to build more muscle. In this episode, I explain what changed in my own training and nutrition, what the research actually says about intermittent fasting and muscle loss, and why eating enough protein, calories and carbs be...

Testosterone is suddenly everywhere in menopause care. It’s being pitched for libido, energy, brain fog, muscle, bone, mood, and that general feeling that your body has stopped cooperating. I wanted to know what testosterone has actually earned. In this episode, I get into the strongest evidence we have for testosterone in postmenopausal women, what HSDD actually means, and why a low testosterone...

Creatine has survived decades of supplement shenanigans for one very good reason: it works. But women still get warned it’ll make them bloated, wreck their kidneys, make their hair fall out or turn them into something resembling a waterlogged linebacker. So I went through the evidence. In this episode of Muscle Over Menopause , I get into what creatine can realistically do for muscle and strength,...

Red-light masks are everywhere, and some cost enough to require selling a vital organ. So do they actually work for wrinkles? I dug through the better trials, including a 2025 randomized sham-controlled home-mask study, and the answer is: yes, with a buyer-beware asterisk. In this episode: What changed in the strongest home-mask trial Why the researchers saw an improvement that the people wearing...

How do you know when it’s actually time to add weight? I hit a 65-pound weighted pull-up for my 53rd birthday, but I didn’t get there by making every workout heavier. Sometimes I added weight. Sometimes I added a rep, used less assistance, cleaned up the movement or left the damn thing alone. In this episode, I break down how to decide what to change in your next workout, including what to do when...

Women hear plenty about walking. I’m more interested in whether your legs will still get you off the toilet at 80. This week: one five-rep chair test you can do at home, what to notice, and what to do if it’s harder than expected. Try it: Use a regular chair, cross your arms, stand up and sit down five times. Time it. Use the same chair when you check again later. Pain, dizziness, or feel unsafe d...

Some days the dumbbells haven’t changed, but your access to strength has. Sleep loss and mental fatigue slow the lifts, raise perceived effort, and make an ordinary session cost more than it should. I’m talking what grief, heartbreak, and four hours of sleep metabolically do inside a workout, and how to adjust the training without turning one bad week into a verdict on your body. Get inside the Tr...

Stop Doing Math Mid-Lift Two new programs are live in the Deep Kimchi Training Lab. The Complete Physique for your regular workout weeks, Anywhere Strong for everywhere else. Both adjust to you session by session, so you stop doing your own programming at 5:45 in the morning. Get inside the Training Lab: https://deepkimchi.substack.com/p/training-lab In this episode: The two leaks draining most wo...

Michelle details how one of her private clients overcame a body recomposition plateau, achieving significant improvements in strength and biomarker numbers despite nothing else changing but this simple strategy. Takeaways - The importance of addressing plateaus in body recomposition. - Strength gains can occur even with the same routine. - Individualized training plans can lead to breakthroughs. -...

Michelle Burleson shares practical strategies for women to build muscle at any age, emphasizing progressive overload, proper technique, and consistency. This episode debunks myths about hormonal limits and provides actionable tips to enhance strength and muscle growth in perimenopause and beyond for women from all walks of life. key topics Progressive overload in strength training Myth-busting abo...

Your gin-soaked heart already knows the answer, but here it is anyway. In part two of the Q&A, Michelle gets into the stuff you actually live with day to day: booze, carb timing, sugar cravings, picking your starting weights, and where cardio fits around a lifting program (plus the real story on weight vests). This episode: ∙ How bad is alcohol, really — for muscle, fat loss, and sleep ∙ When to e...

This one kicks off a Q&A two-parter on the pod and Part One is the foundation every woman who weightlifts should understand. I opened with the actual Deep Kimchi deal: * I’m not your drill sergeant, I’m not your hype squad, I want you strong and staying that way, * Why creating beats consuming when it comes to your mood and your muscles, and The line I haven’t been able to shake lately: * You’re n...

Sleep Is Where the Muscle Happens True confession for my closest internet friends (that’s you): at 48 my body quit sleeping and started wringing me out in sweaty sheets at 3am, no warning, no say in the matter. If that tale of woe reeks of familiarity, this one’s for you. In this episode we get into: • why your sleep went sideways in perimenopause • the plot twist that you actually build muscle an...

You're Not a Smaller Man — So Quit Training Like One You've been running some dude's program. The stronger option is live in the Training Lab — today. I need you to hear this episode before your next workout, not after. It runs a few short minutes and it might save you wasted reps, wasted muscle, even a wasted year. Quick picture, the one I see daily: a woman in the gym, following some dude around...

You're Losing Muscle on GLP1s. Here's the No Fail Fix On Ozempic or Wegovy? A quarter to half of what you lose is muscle. Keep yours. -- Sunday I told you what a GLP-1 does to your muscle. Today’s episode is the playbook for keeping it. I walk through Eve’s actual day on the medication — six small feedings instead of three big meals you can’t finish, front-loaded early before the appetite checks o...

Inside the Program: Why You're Doing Everything Right and Getting Nothing Back Four reasons your body won't budge. One is probably yours. Doing everything right and getting nowhere? It's one of these four walls. Sometimes all four. -- If you’ve been training, eating reasonably well, actually trying, and your body is not budging — this episode is the diagnostic. There are four walls that women with...

The Protein Memo Nobody Sent You You had Greek yogurt for breakfast. Chicken for dinner. Maybe a protein bar in between. You're probably at 60 grams of protein. You need double that. If you’re a woman over 40 — especially if you’re in perimenopause, menopause, or on a GLP-1 like Ozempic or Mounjaro — your protein needs are significantly higher than what most calculators tell you. And the reason no...

Inside the Program: Why Your Back Day Matters More Than You Think A 5-week back, glutes, and hamstring training cycle for women in perimenopause and menopause. - Why posterior chain training matters after 40 - How to deadlift without wrecking your lower back; and - What's inside the new Deep Kimchi Training Labs app. Every month I pull back the curtain on what Deep Kimchi subscribers are training....

You’ve been showing up. Training hard. Hitting your protein. Doing everything right. So why do you look worse than you did a month ago? If you’re over 40 and strength training, there’s a recovery strategy built into every well-designed program that most coaches skip, most influencers have never heard of, and your body needs more than it did at 25. It’s called a deload — and it might be the missing...

“The energy you put out in the world really does come back to you.” - Annette DeNoyer If you’ve ever felt a creative calling in your life, give this episode a listen. You’ll hear: A pro writer’s tip for clearing creative blocks The influence of fate and energy in our lives The truth about leaving corporate America for a creative life How Annette and her husband, Dustin, manage their writing profes...

In This Episode: Rachel Macmanus “Allow yourself to try.” - Rachel Macmanus Jonni & Michelle get into the rollicking deep kimchi with Ireland’s fitness phenom, artist extraordinaire and all-around badass, Rachel Macmanus . Rachel worked in the fitness industry for 14 years, notably as a: - personal trainer - fitness class instructor - gym manager and owner - kettlebell competitive lifter; and - ke...

In this episode we go deep with animal communicator and star of the The Telepathy Tapes, Ditte Young . Ditte is more than the animal communicator elevating elite equestrian athletes, starring in the #1 podcast The Telepathy Tapes , helping animal actors in tv shows like Money Heist on Netflix and assisting everyday pet owners with their present and departed furry and feathered friends.   Ditte is...

Season Two of the Deep Kimchi Pod is all about the incredible women we know, want to know and who the world needs to know now more than ever. Kicking off our new season is Lisa Rousseau … Lisa is a strategist, storyteller, and accidental stand-up comedian. By day, she’s the COO of DogsThat , one of the world’s leading online dog training companies. Lisa helps scale a thriving business while keepin...