Building Stronger Creatives

I've worked with many professional musicians over my coaching career, including full time orchestra musicians, DJs, music educators, freelancers and studio musicians. One thing that all these different folks share is that they have very busy, very unpredictable schedules. They're often running around town for rehearsals, lessons, gigs and recording sessions. They work at odd hours including nights...

Every wondered why you aren't losing weight despite lots of hard exercise? Listen to this episode. I recently had a conversation with a friend who wants to lose weight and was upset about the latest weigh-in at her gym. Despite pushing herself and making good progress with her workouts, the scale hadn't budged in several months. She wondered if she should add more workouts or try to go even harder...

John Turman is 3rd horn in the Seattle Symphony and Horn Professor at the University of Washington. He's also a badass powerlifter and fitness coach who can lift a seriously impressive amount of weight. I was excited to speak with John about his fitness journey and how it interacts with his life as a busy professional musician. Some topics covered include: ~How John used exercise to reduce music-r...

I've learned a lot about what it takes to build a strong deadlift. Let me share it with you. Deadlifts have always been my strongest lift. I guess you could say I had some natural talent at the movement. Within a year or so of serious lifting, I set my all time deadlift PR of 150 kilos/330 lbs (shown in the episode tile.) After that, some setbacks forced me to go back to the drawing board and hone...

I recently trained for an open water swimming race while working 60+ hours a week. Here are some lessons I learned. The social media highlight reel makes it look like some people are doing it all - excelling at work, getting in great shape, winning awards and having an amazing social life, all without any effort. In reality, there are always sacrifices, tradeoffs and compromises being made behind...

Musicians need strength training. Including these things in your workouts will maximize your results. You're a human before you're a musician. And human bodies function best when they move in specific ways. Despite this, you do have some unique needs as a musician. You can use your time in the weight room to address some of the physical issues that arise from long hours practicing, creating and pe...

Have you ever fallen off your diet or workout plan? This episode is for you. Nobody is perfectly consistent 100% of the time. We all experience slip ups, illness, unplanned "cheat" meals, vacations and off days. Most of us will also go through seasons of life that are particularly busy and stressful. Any of this stuff can make miss workouts or eat poorly - sometimes just for a couple days, other t...

Goals are awesome. But you can still work out without them. Here's how: If you've ever met with a personal trainer, you know that we always ask about your goals. But what if you don't have clear goals? You might feel overwhelmed or intimidated and just make some shit up. I think a lot of people start working out not because they want to accomplish something specific, but because they have a gut fe...

Listen to my interview with trumpet artist and triathlete John Maurer on how fitness saved his life. John Maurer is a Pennsylvania based music educator, performer and full-time dad. He also has an incredibly inspiring story about finding sobriety - and transforming his life - through fitness. John went from someone whose health was in dire straits to training for Brazilian jiu-jitsu and competing...

Curious about ultimate sandbag training? This episode is for you. I've spoken a lot about ultimate sandbags on this show, and I often show myself using them on my Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/carolinejuster/). And yet, I've never done a full episode about using this awesome tool. I'm rectifying that this week per the request of a lovely listener. Sandbag training has been around for a...

It's the first day of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere! This is my favorite time of year. I'm a big believer in letting the seasons (weather as well as personal and professional seasons) guide the way we organize our lives. Fitness is no exception. It doesn't make sense to pursue goals that don't align with everything else we have going on. For example, summer is a time of beautiful weather,...

Listen to my conversation with musician Callan Milani about how fitness coaching transformed his life. Callan Milani is a Los Angeles based freelance musician and artist. He also happens to be one of my awesome former online clients. I worked with Callan for six months in my most comprehensive coaching program (Stronger. Fitter. Better.) which combines fitness, nutrition and lifestyle coaching. Ca...

Struggling with squats? These tips can help. Squats are a foundational human movement pattern. But they can be deceptively tough to learn and perform well. Even if you already know how to squat, it's easy to get stuck in a frustrating plateau where you can't seem to get stronger or make improvements. I've learned a lot about building a strong squat through my years of coaching (and working on my o...

Looking for a fun form of cardio that can help you build strength and endurance for outdoor adventures? Rucking may be the solution. I first started rucking for fun several years ago. Since then, I've used rucking to prepare for multiple outdoor hiking and backpacking adventures. Rucking is a time efficient form of exercise that improves both your strength and cardio fitness. It's a great option f...

Are you a sensitive person looking to take on bigger challenges and live a fuller life? This episode is for you. Ashley Pardo (https://www.instagram.com/ashleykpardo/) is a nutritional therapy practitioner and business coach who specializes in working with sensitive, introverted and emphatic people. Many (most?) of the musicians, artists and creatives I work with are sensitive. I'm a highly sensit...

Check out my interview with dance music promoter, manager and entrepreneur Marco Sgalbazzini. Electronic music has been a huge part of my life for the last decade. My passion for house, techno and other types of dance music has allowed me to travel the world and make many amazing friends over the years. One of those friends is Marco Sgalbazzini, an LA-based promoter and artist manager. Marco has w...

The fitness and nutrition industries love to tell you you're fragile. Today's episode fires back. It's all the rage these days to post about all the things that are going to send you to an early grave. In the nutrition space, this looks like those super annoying grocery store videos where an influencer yells about all the “bad” ingredients in a product they grabbed off the shelf. In sleep, it look...

Listen to my interview with bass trombonist Will Baker about the intersection of music, fitness and family Will Baker is a low brass musician based in Northern California. He plays with groups like the San Francisco Symphony, Monterey Symphony and Brass Over Bridges in addition to teaching students of all ages. Will has also been working out for more than twenty years! He really knows his stuff at...

The fitness industry loves to hold onto ideas that are outdated or flat out incorrect. Unfortunately, much of this information gets passed on to people like you who are just looking for ways to get the most out of your limited training time. It's tough to know what's true and what's not - especially when ideas are repeated over and over again by so many people. If everyone is saying them, they mus...

Check out my interview with Cory Cripe on the Building Stronger Creatives podcast. Cory Cripe is a coach and gym owner of Fitness Lying Down in La Crosse, WI. I have a lot of respect for Cory as a teacher, and I also had the pleasure of working with him as my own personal trainer in the first half of 2022. You’re definitely going to want to listen to this episode if you want to learn how to streng...

Don't want to track calories or macros? You can still lose fat. Even though calories are ultimately responsible for whether or not we lose fat, you don't actually need to track them to achieve your goals. Tracking doesn't work for everyone. And ultimately, we all must learn to manage our eating without numbers anyway. If you want to lose fat but don't want to or can't use detailed tracking, this e...

With so much nutrition information available these days, why aren't more of us crushing our body and food goals? The answer is that there's a big difference between knowing what to do and actually doing it. Most of us already know the simple things we need to do to lose fat, maintain our weight or eat healthier. And yet, we struggle to implement consistently for a host of reasons. In this week's s...

Is chasing maintenance the missing piece to your fitness success? Let's discuss. Last chance to join the wait list and save on Sane and Simple Nutrition, my signature 6 week group coaching program here: https://www.carolinejusterfitness.com/saneandsimplenutrition/ Today's episode is an intro to weight maintenance: what is means, why it's so important, when to pursue it and how to get there. For ye...

I speak with Wes Showalter about training to age well and keep kicking ass for years to come. Wes "Showdub" Showalter is a Chicago-based trainer and group fitness instructor. He's also a coach for other coaches, helping to run the awesome mentoring and mastermind group Strength Faction. Wes is a super funny, authentic and down to earth guy. He's also an excellent coach who cares deeply about his c...

Calorie counting can be a great tool for fat loss, but it's not for everyone. In this week's episode of my podcast, I share my thoughts on counting calories and macros. I explain what this actually means, and why counting calories isn't just another diet. I share a bit about my personal experiences counting calories, as well as thoughts about whether counting calories is obsessive or contributes t...