The Strong[HER] Way | Healthy nutrition and habits for moms, routines, strength training for women

If you've ever found yourself cycling on and off, relying on sheer willpower to hold your habits together, or feeling like you have to start over every time life gets hard — this episode is for you.   In this solo episode, I'm sharing a framework I call the behavior triad: identity, mindset, and behavior. All three are required for lasting change, and they don't work in a straight line. They work...

If you’ve been doing everything right with your diet and the scale still won’t move, this episode on perimenopause weight loss resistance is going to reframe everything. Alisha Carlson breaks down the weight-loss mechanism nobody talks about openly: any aggressive calorie deficit pulls from bone and muscle right alongside fat, and if you’re in perimenopause, you may already be losing bone density...

If your motivation in perimenopause feels like it's been replaced by a slot machine, you are not losing your discipline. Alisha Carlson breaks down what's actually happening hormonally when motivation stops tracking with anything on your calendar, including why perimenopause creates bigger, less predictable swings than the cycle you grew up with, and what the research says about the link between h...

If you've ever wondered whether your daily walk is actually doing anything for your body, this episode is going to change how you walk for good. We're breaking down Japanese walking, also known as interval walking training, a research-backed method that alternates fast and slow walking in 3-minute bursts, backed by over two decades of peer-reviewed research out of Japan. Alisha Carlson walks throu...

You were mid-sentence. The word was right there. And then it wasn't.   If you've ever had that moment and quietly wondered if it was the beginning of something you can't come back from this episode is for you.   Alisha Carlson shares the personal story she's never talked about publicly: the word-finding moment that genuinely scared her, the fear of what it might mean, and what she actually did abo...

If you've been training hard, watching what you eat, and still wondering why your body isn't responding the way it used to this episode might answer a question you didn't know you needed to ask. Bone density for women over 35 is one of the most under-discussed health topics in the fitness and wellness space. Up to 20% of a woman's bone mass can be lost during the menopause transition, and that los...

High-achieving women do not struggle with fitness and healthy habits because they lack discipline or willpower. They struggle because they have been trying to change their behavior without changing their identity. This episode is about fixing that. Alisha Carlson breaks down exactly what identity-based habit formation looks like, why behavior follows belief every single time, and three practical s...

If you have ever been completely on plan all week long and then completely thrown in the towel by Friday night, this episode is for you. That cycle is not a willpower problem, a discipline problem, or a character flaw. It is all-or-nothing thinking at work, and for high-achieving women, it is one of the most common and most sneaky patterns keeping you stuck in the fitness restart cycle for good. A...

If you have ever done everything right, followed the plan, tracked the food, scheduled the workouts, and still found yourself starting over on Monday, this episode is going to change how you think about fitness habits forever. The problem was never your discipline. It was never your motivation. It was your brain wiring. Alisha Carlson breaks down the real science behind why traditional habit metho...

If you've ever heard about cycle syncing, and wondered whether any of it actually applies when your cycle is irregular, unpredictable, or doing something completely unrecognizable... this episode is for you. We're diving deep into cycle syncing in perimenopause: what the research actually shows, where the science gets genuinely mixed, and why a rigid color-coded protocol might be the last thing yo...

Are you doing everything right — eating well, training hard, staying consistent — and still not seeing the muscle gains or fat loss results you're working for? If you're a high-achieving woman over 35 and your body feels like it's working against you, cortisol might be the missing piece nobody has talked to you about yet. In this episode of The Strong(HER) Way, host Alisha Carlson breaks down exac...

Zone 2 cardio might be the most undersold workout for women over 35, and the science behind it will completely change how you think about exercise. In this episode, Alisha Carlson breaks down why this low-intensity training approach builds the single most powerful predictor of how long you will live: your VO2 max. If you have ever pushed hard in the gym and still felt like your body was fighting y...

Send us Fan Mail If you're on a GLP-1 medication or seriously considering one there's a conversation about muscle loss that nobody might be having with you clearly enough. GLP-1 muscle loss is real, it's measurable, and for women over 35, the stakes are higher than for almost anyone else in those clinical trials. Alisha Carlson breaks down what the research actually says about semaglutide, muscle...

Send us Fan Mail What if your workouts weren’t about how you look, but about how long and well you live? In this episode of The Strong(HER) Way , Alisha Carlson challenges traditional fitness culture and invites you to rethink your approach to exercise through the lens of longevity, function, and identity . Instead of chasing aesthetics or short-term results, this conversation focuses on building...

Send us Fan Mail If creatine has crossed your radar but you've always assumed it was for someone else aka the guy at the gym, the serious athlete, not you... this episode is going to change your mind. Alisha Carlson breaks down exactly why creatine for women over 35 is one of the most research-backed, underused tools available to busy moms right now  and why the benefits go way beyond the gym. We'...

Send us Fan Mail If you've ever told yourself "I'll start fresh Monday" after one off day — this episode is going to change the way you see yourself. Today we're diving deep into the brain science behind all-or-nothing thinking, and why so many high-achieving women struggle to build consistent habits — not because they lack discipline, but because their biology is working against them. If you're a...

Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever scrapped an entire workout because you only had 10 minutes, this episode is going to change how you think about movement forever. We’re diving into micro workouts (also called exercise snacks) — short, intentional bursts of movement scattered throughout your day — and why the science says they’re not a consolation prize. They might actually be the smarter strategy....

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever felt like a stranger in your own body even though you used to have fitness completely dialed in? You had the routine. The rhythm. Exercise was just part of who you were. And then life happened: kids, career, the relentless pace of doing everything for everyone, and that version of you quietly got set aside. In this episode of The Strong(HER) Way , host Alisha Carlson...

Send us Fan Mail You're doing everything right. You're moving your body, eating reasonably, getting some version of sleep. And yet your midsection has opinions, your energy is gone by 2pm, your sleep is wrecked, and your mood is doing things you don't recognize. Nobody warned you this was coming. This episode is your reality check and your permission slip. What This Episode Is About In this episod...

Send us Fan Mail You know the drill. Monday you're all in the workouts are scheduled, the meals are prepped, the alarm is set for 5 AM. By Thursday you've missed two sessions, eaten cereal for dinner, and you're already mentally drafting your "starting over Monday" speech. Sound familiar? You're not failing. You're stuck in a cycle that was never designed for your actual life. In this episode, we'...

Send us Fan Mail What if your obsession with "healthy eating" is actually making you less healthy? In this episode of The Strong(HER) Way podcast, fitness and nutrition coach Alisha Carlson tackles the uncomfortable truth about orthorexia: the eating disorder disguised as wellness that's silently taking over the lives of high-achieving moms everywhere. This isn't about demonizing clean eating or t...

Send us Fan Mail If you're a mom over 35 and the scale won't budge no matter how hard you try, this episode is for you. You're doing all the "right" things—tracking food, working out, cutting carbs—but your body isn't responding like it used to. Sound familiar? In this episode, we're breaking down exactly why the old "eat less, move more" approach stops working after 35, and what you need to do in...

Send us Fan Mail Tired of feeling like a failure because you can't stick to the perfect 5 a.m. morning routine? In this episode of The Strong(HER) Way podcast, fitness and nutrition coach Alisha Carlson debunks the toxic hustle culture around morning routines and reveals why sleep is the most underrated tool for fat loss, muscle building, and hormone health... especially for women in perimenopause...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Strong Her Way , I sit down with Kayla Girgen , rucking expert and author, to break down exactly what rucking is, how it’s different from regular walking, and why it’s one of the most underrated fitness tools for women—especially in their 30s, 40s, and beyond. Rucking is simply walking with weight , but don’t underestimate it. When done correctly, rucking ca...

Send us Fan Mail Tired of setting New Year's resolutions that fail by February? You're not alone—research shows 91% of people abandon their goals within months. In this episode, host Alisha Carlson reveals why traditional resolutions fail and shares the exact framework that helps busy moms over 35 build sustainable fitness habits that actually stick. If you've been caught in the cycle of "New Year...