Empower Her Fitness

In this episode, I am joined by Jen Dugard, who is the founder of the Body Beyond Baby movement and the creator of the Safe Return to Exercise accreditation for fitness professionals. Jen has over 13 years of experience within the Fitness Industry in a range of roles from Personal Trainer, Outdoor Group Fitness, business owner, and educator. Jen is a mum of two and her personal mission is to raise...

My client Barbara shares her journey from overtraining and undereating; to learning the value of spending time at maintenance and training more effectively.  Over the past 6 months, Barbara's mindset around training and nutrition has transformed dramatically, and I think her story is one that will resonate with many. She shares how she went from exercising 6 days a week for up to 2 hours a da...

So you've gone over your calories, you're feeling guilty and wondering what to do to "fix it".  This is a topic I'm so passionate about because the most important thing here is to stop expecting perfection and understand that slip-ups are part of the process. It's how we respond and move forward from this that matters.  Topics covered: Dieting perfectionism Understand...

In this episode, I’m joined by a good friend of mine and fellow coach Michelle Maher, who is also Irish and living in Australia. We chatted about the things we wish we had known at the beginning of our fitness journeys and things we have learned along the way.    Topics covered: Learning to decipher fact from fad in the fitness industry Endless cardio won’t get you results The importance of spendi...

Plateaus. They’re never fun. But they’re a sometimes inevitable part of any fat loss journey.  Before you jump to the conclusion that you've hit a plateau we are going to look at what a "real plateau" looks like versus just one or two days where your weight has spiked! Topics covered: How to identify a plateau Checking your adherence  Energy in Vs Energy out NEAT Doing a food diary...

This week's guest is Jordan Syatt, all the way from NYC, one of the world's most successful and best-known coaches. Jordan is someone I've looked up to in the industry for a long time and this was definitely one of the most fun interviews yet.  We chatted about: His coaching story- from flying around the world coaching Gary Vaynerchuk to now working online Fear around the scale and...

Have you ever tried to eat clean to lose weight? Have you ever cut out an entire food group like carbs or sugars in the pursuit of your dream body? Or even just because you thought it was going to help you achieve a higher status of "healthiness"?  The research has shown that this kind of black and white thinking often backfires - the more you restrict something the more you crave it.  I...

In today's episode, I'm joined by Luke Tulloch to chat all things muscle growth! Luke is a leader in the personal training industry, he has studied Neuroscience and has an innate ability to simplify the most complex health and fitness topics.  We discuss:  how muscle grows  accounting for recoverability and fatigue  why we experience DOMS  the difference between being sore after a workou...

In this episode, I'm going to share some of the basics to consider when setting up a successful fat loss phase from the point of view of nutrition and lifestyle factors. Topics covered include: setting your calories and adjusting them throughout your diet setting your macros and what to focus on why fibre matters how to eat more and lose weight mental readiness and dealing with hunger your en...

In this episode of the podcast, I spoke to Online Coach, IFBB Bikini Competitor and Owner of @prettyprincess_fitness Maeve Kavanagh. Maeve is another Irish online coach living in Australia and she has a real no-nonsense approach to health and fitness! She left her job as an air hostess 3 years ago to move to Perth and since then has turned one of her passion for fitness into her business.  Some of...

This week's solo episode is all about metabolism and metabolic adaptation. Most people misunderstand metabolism and often talk about it like it's something we can "boost" by eating breakfast, drinking green tea, or running faster. You've seen the articles headlined "Boost your metabolism" or "kickstart your metabolism with this tea"  In this episode, I&...

Today's episode is all about the psychology behind emotional eating, and how mindfulness can be used to retrain the brain and overcome self-sabotage.  This is an area that I am extremely passionate about as I believe that the stories we tell ourselves can massively impact the outcome of any dietary intervention, and understanding your mindset is often the missing link in many failed dieting e...

Today's episode is all about my favourite topic- the fact that cardio is NOT necessary for fat loss. What if I told you that fat loss and transforming your body composition is actually achieved by doing LESS or even ZERO cardio? Would you believe me? The reality is, cardio has its benefits, but they do NOT include losing body fat or achieving a body composition transformation. In this episode...

In this episode, I am speaking to "The Glute Guy" aka Bret Contreras. Bret is not only the go-to guy for all things glutes, but he also has a Ph. D. in Sports Science and is a Certified Strength & Conditioning coach, researcher, author, and owner of The Glute Lab . In this episode we discussed… how Bret became known as the Glute Guy and where the barbell hip thrust came from how he h...

Do you freak out when you are in a situation that involves eating out while you are trying to stick to a diet, track your macros and stay on track with your goals?  Well, you don’t need to stress! You can still eat out and enjoy the occasional meal at your favourite restaurant while staying on track. You just need to be smart about it!  In today's episode I talk about how to track restaurant...

Today I'm joined by Accredited Practising Dietitian Crystal Austin who specialises in gut health and IBS treatment.  In this episode, we chat about what exactly IBS is, why you might be feeling bloated after certain foods, and how IBS is diagnosed and treated. Listen in as we chat about how the FODMAP diet works and why you shouldn't freak out thinking that you'll have to eliminate...

Are cheat meals and weekends ruining your diet? If you’re busting your ass during the week and wondering why you aren’t making progress, it could be because you are doubling your weekly calories at the weekends. This mistake is exceptionally common. “Oh but it was a cheat day!” Well, the only person you are cheating is yourself. In today's episode, I talk about how common this mistake is, you...

In today's episode, I'm sharing a chat I had with my client Hannah about her journey over the last year of working together. Hannah is a mum of two, who works part-time, runs a charity AND has a hubby who owns a confectionary store (so lots of tempting goodies to resist on a daily basis!) Her story is typical of a lot of my clients - she had been focused on her fitness for some time befo...

In today's episode, I discuss: what is it about 1200 calories that lures so many women into trying this to lose weight? And why is it that they cannot successfully lose weight on such low calories? This episode will be of interest to you if you've been trying to diet on low calories for some time but you're feeling like you are spinning your wheels. I discuss a few common reasons wh...

In this episode, I interview Accredited Practicing Sports Dietitian, Aidan Muir who specializes in working with strength athletes both face to face and online through his business Ideal Nutrition. He is also known on Instagram as @aidan_the_dietitian where he shares lots of fantastic content and food comparisons.  We discuss a number of topics including: - How common under-reporting calories reall...

Have you ever wondered HOW exactly fat loss works? I'm breaking it down for you in today's episode where you'll learn about how the body uses energy from food and what exactly happens to bodyfat when you're in a deficit.  Finally, I briefly cover the topic of exercising for fat loss results and why "the fat-burning zone" is a MYTH!  "You have to work in the fat-b...

In today's episode, I'm sharing a chat I had with my client Elena about her journey over 6 months of working together. When Elena first reached out to me she was feeling confused by nutrition, and doing lots of cardio (running 7 days a week) but still wasn't seeing the results she wanted. Over the last 6 months she has lost 16kg, we did this by cutting down on cardio and instead tra...

What is flexible dieting? What are macros? What difference does tracking macros make compared to counting calories?  Today's episode will answer all those questions along with explaining exactly how to set your macros. If you haven't already listened to episode 5 where I talk about calories, you will need that first in order to get your macros so go back now! There is a FREE pdf that goe...

Although tracking your calories and macros is a great tool, it's not the only way to lose weight. In today's episode I'm going to tell you about the step in between and that's a non-tracking approach to fat loss. Believe it or not, when I first started my fitness journey I lost my first 8kg without tracking calories and macros! So it is possible and here's how you can do i...

In today's' episode, I'm going to explain exactly what a calorie is so that you can impress people with your scientific knowledge! I'll also be talking about why everyone has different calorie needs - have you ever wondered why some people can eat SO much and not gain weight? Or why two people of the same height can eat the same amount of calories per day, yet one person will g...