The Strength Academy

Most of us have likely heard the terms ‘refeed’ and ‘cheat day’ by now, but what do they mean and how do they work? Today we discuss what a ‘cheat day’ vs. a ‘refeed day’ is, ‘cheat days’ and disordered eating, and what you can do if you find that refeed and/or cheat days really derail your efforts. Enjoy!   Find us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/empoweredbyiron We’ve got shirts!! https://femalestrengthacademy.com/shop/clothing/shirts/strongaf-apparel/ Eat for Strength and Eat for Strength - Cut courses are now LIVE: https://femalestrengthacademy.com/shop/courses/eat-for-strength/ Follow us on Instagram and tag us in your posts by using the hashtag #empoweredbyiron Join our women’s only Facebook Group: https://m.facebook.com/groups/femalestrengthacademy Check out our sponsors: Fiercely Fueled Nutrition Coaching - Online nutrition coaching for strength and functional fitness athletes. Coached by our own Dr. Kristin Lander. Bama Brick Squad - Stacy offers various coaching services and packages: all geared towards helping you reach your goals. She works with athletes of all shapes and sizes. Support BBS and check out their merch!   Highlights: 1:14 - What is a cheat day vs. a refeed day? 14:36 - When you can’t stop eating… 30:40 - Instead of a cheat day, do this instead 38:00 - Remember, refeeds are only for those in a caloric deficit! Missed last episode? Listen HERE

Why do all nutrition goals seem to be either cutting or bulking? Why don’t we hear about the third option (i.e. eating at maintenance)?!  In today’s episode we discuss cutting and bulking cycles, what it does to your body, eating for performance, and why having a nutrition coach can be a huge advantage to your athletic potential especially when you’re eating for strength. Eat for Strength and Eat for Strength - Cut courses are now LIVE: https://femalestrengthacademy.com/shop/courses/eat-for-strength/ We’ve got shirts!! https://femalestrengthacademy.com/shop/clothing/shirts/strongaf-apparel/ Follow us on Instagram and tag us in your posts by using the hashtag #empoweredbyiron Find us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/empoweredbyiron Join our women’s only Facebook Group: https://m.facebook.com/groups/femalestrengthacademy   Check out our sponsors: Fiercely Fueled Nutrition Coaching - Online nutrition coaching for strength and functional fitness athletes. Coached by our own Dr. Kristin Lander. Bama Brick Squad - Stacy offers various coaching services and packages: all geared towards helping you reach your goals. She works with athletes of all shapes and sizes. Support BBS and check out their merch!   Highlights: 4:30 - How we look doesn’t determine our value 7:15 - Bulking & cutting 19:00 - Cutting/Bulking cycle - The science of it 25:10 - Eating at maintenance 32:22 - Why having a nutrition coach can be vital to your success as an athlete 40:43 - Let’s talk about body fat and getting StrongAF 53:43 - When is it time to move up a weight class Resources for ideal body fat % for female strength athletes:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18641044 https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/11319760-000000000-00000 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21986696 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4763837/ https://www.nature.com/articles/0803325 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18641044 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5222856/ Did you miss our last episode? Listen HERE!

Are your goals really goals you are working towards or are they just wishes you’re hoping will come true? In today’s episode we discuss what it means to put in the work, letting go of other people’s expectations of you, and how to accomplish goals, you have to love the work. Find us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/empoweredbyiron We’ve got shirts!! https://femalestrengthacademy.com/shop/clothing/shirts/strongaf-apparel/ Eat for Strength and Eat for Strength - Cut courses are now LIVE: https://femalestrengthacademy.com/shop/courses/eat-for-strength/ Follow us on Instagram and tag us in your posts by using the hashtag #empoweredbyiron Join our women’s only Facebook Group: https://m.facebook.com/groups/femalestrengthacademy Check out our sponsors: Fiercely Fueled Nutrition Coaching - Online nutrition coaching for strength and functional fitness athletes. Coached by our own Dr. Kristin Lander. Bama Brick Squad - Stacy offers various coaching services and packages: all geared towards helping you reach your goals. She works with athletes of all shapes and sizes. Support BBS and check out their merch!   Highlights: 1:26 - So you have a goal… 5:17 - Competitive vs. recreational lifter  9:50 - That one time Kristin wanted to do a Triathlon… 15:04 - Love the work 19:30 - Letting go of people’s expectations of you 22:43 - You only fail yourself

In this week’s episode we discuss what the central nervous system (CNS) does, how lifting affects it, and how you can periodize your training to maximize neural adaptions. Get ready for another research-packed episode. Enjoy! Find us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/empoweredbyiron We’ve got shirts!! https://femalestrengthacademy.com/shop/clothing/shirts/strongaf-apparel/ Eat for Strength and Eat for Strength - Cut courses are now LIVE: https://femalestrengthacademy.com/shop/courses/eat-for-strength/ Follow us on Instagram and tag us in your posts by using the hashtag #empoweredbyiron Join our women’s only Facebook Group: https://m.facebook.com/groups/femalestrengthacademy Check out our sponsors: Fiercely Fueled Nutrition Coaching - Online nutrition coaching for strength and functional fitness athletes. Coached by our own Dr. Kristin Lander. Bama Brick Squad - Stacy offers various coaching services and packages: all geared towards helping you reach your goals. She works with athletes of all shapes and sizes. Support BBS and check out their merch!   Highlights: 1:00 - Hold up...what is a peer reviewed article anyway? 9:00 - What is the CNS?  11:00 - CNS and lifting  23:52 - Central Fatigue   29:00 - Serotonin and Dopamine 40:10 - Neuro-hormonal implications of CNS fatigue

Sleep! We all know we need it, but why? And how does a good night’s rest contribute to our massive strength gains? In today’s episode we break down what sleep is, how sleep affects your brain, sleep and strength gains, and how to get a better night’s rest. Hopefully after listening to this episode, you get to bed early tonight!  We’ve got shirts!! https://femalestrengthacademy.com/shop/clothing/shirts/strongaf-apparel/ Eat for Strength and Eat for Strength - Cut courses are now LIVE: https://femalestrengthacademy.com/shop/courses/eat-for-strength/ Follow us on Instagram and tag us in your posts by using the hashtag #empoweredbyiron Find us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/empoweredbyiron Join our women’s only Facebook Group: https://m.facebook.com/groups/femalestrengthacademy Check out our sponsors: Fiercely Fueled Nutrition Coaching - Online nutrition coaching for strength and functional fitness athletes. Coached by our own Dr. Kristin Lander. Bama Brick Squad - Stacy offers various coaching services and packages: all geared towards helping you reach your goals. She works with athletes of all shapes and sizes. Support BBS and check out their merch!   Highlights: 2:00 - What is sleep? 6:32 - Two simple states of sleep: REM vs NREM 12:52 - Sleep and yo brain (Cerebrospinal fluid)  19:35 - Sleep and Learning & Memory 23: 55 - Sleep and yo body 28:55 - Sleep and being an athlete  34:31 - Sleep deprivation and exercise performance 36:57 - How to get better sleep

It’s pretty safe to say we all have bad days...both in training and life. While we can’t always control outside factors that influence our lives, we can control how we react and adapt. In this week’s episode we discuss how to recover from a bad training day so that a bad day doesn’t spiral into a bad week, month or year. We’ve got shirts!! https://femalestrengthacademy.com/shop/clothing/shirts/strongaf-apparel/ Eat for Strength and Eat for Strength - Cut courses are now LIVE: https://femalestrengthacademy.com/shop/courses/eat-for-strength/ Follow us on Instagram and tag us in your posts by using the hashtag #empoweredbyiron Find us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/empoweredbyiron Join our women’s only Facebook Group: https://m.facebook.com/groups/femalestrengthacademy Check out our sponsors: Fiercely Fueled Nutrition Coaching - Online nutrition coaching for strength and functional fitness athletes. Coached by our own Dr. Kristin Lander. Bama Brick Squad - Stacy offers various coaching services and packages: all geared towards helping you reach your goals. She works with athletes of all shapes and sizes. Support BBS and check out their merch!   Highlights: 2:45 - Kristin had a bad training day 5:45 - What 23 year old Kristin would have done 9:23 - What Kristin actually did 14:56 - How to be a supportive person 21:36 - We are all going to have bad days  

When you’re in strength sports, you have to realize you’re playing the long game. Strength gains don’t happen overnight. No matter how hard you wish them, it just won’t happen. In today’s episode we discuss newbie gains, how to optimize your strength potential through other factors (such as nutrition), factors that impede strength gains, and comparing yourself to others. We’ve got shirts!! https://femalestrengthacademy.com/shop/clothing/shirts/strongaf-apparel/ Eat for Strength and Eat for Strength - Cut courses are now LIVE: https://femalestrengthacademy.com/shop/courses/eat-for-strength/ Follow us on Instagram and tag us in your posts by using the hashtag #empoweredbyiron Find us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/empoweredbyiron Join our women’s only Facebook Group: https://m.facebook.com/groups/femalestrengthacademy Check out our sponsors: Fiercely Fueled Nutrition Coaching - Online nutrition coaching for strength and functional fitness athletes. Coached by our own Dr. Kristin Lander. Bama Brick Squad - Stacy offers various coaching services and packages: all geared towards helping you reach your goals. She works with athletes of all shapes and sizes. Support BBS and check out their merch! Listen to our last episode HERE. Highlights: 8:00 Strength gains don’t happen overnight 20:25 - Optimize your strength potential 35:23 - Things that impede strength gains 45:18 - PEDs in strength sports and comparing yourself to others

From a farm in Ohio to an internationally competitive powerlifter, our guest today has overcome many obstacles, both in lifting and life, in order to get her where she is today. In this episode, we sit down with Becci Holcomb and discuss her journey into powerlifting, the curse of social media, and knowing your worth...and so much more. You are not going to want to miss out on this one!   Where you can find Becci: Instagram: @prettystrongbec Coaching Website: https://corvusstrength.co/becci   Check out Female Strength Academy - The only online resource created by and for female strength athletes: https://femalestrengthacademy.com/ Eat for Strength and Eat for Strength - Cut courses are now LIVE: https://femalestrengthacademy.com/nutrition-courses/ Follow us on Instagram and tag us in your posts by using the hashtag #empoweredbyiron Find us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/empoweredbyiron Join our women’s only Facebook Group: https://m.facebook.com/groups/femalestrengthacademy Check out our sponsors: Fiercely Fueled Nutrition Coaching - Online nutrition coaching for strength and functional fitness athletes. Coached by our own Dr. Kristin Lander. Highlights: 6:45 - What is single-ply lifting? 16:30 - Mindset of training through an injury 26:50 - How has the barbell empowered Becci 36:30 - Living her authentic life 42:00 - Body positivity & self confidence through powerlifting 48:40 - What advice would you give your past self knowing what you know now? 56:14 - Having a significant other who lifts

We hear it all the time. You HAVE to maintain a work-life balance, a life-hobby balance, a relationship-work balance..whatever it may be, you have to be balanced, right? Well, maybe not. In today’s episode we discuss living life purposely out of balance when training to achieve big goals. You won’t want to miss this one.   Download our free 10 Week Strength Training Program: https://femalestrengthacademy.com/shop/training-programs/10-week-strength-training-program/ Check out Female Strength Academy – The only online resource created by and for female strength athletes: https://femalestrengthacademy.com/ Eat for Strength and Eat for Strength – Cut courses are now LIVE: https://femalestrengthacademy.com/nutrition-courses/ Follow us on Instagram and tag us in your posts by using the hashtag #empoweredbyiron Find us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/empoweredbyiron Join our women’s only Facebook Group: https://m.facebook.com/groups/femalestrengthacademy Check out our sponsors: Fiercely Fueled Nutrition Coaching – Online nutrition coaching for strength and functional fitness athletes. Coached by our own Dr. Kristin Lander: http://www.fiercelyfueled.com/   Highlights: 1:50 - High achieving people have to live out of balance...sometimes 10:15 - What are you willing to sacrifice? 16:00 - Breaks are important for your mental health Miss our last episode? Listen to it here: https://empoweredbyiron.com/visualization-creates-champions-alyssa-ritchey-episode-99/

To be the best of the best requires dedication, hard work, extreme self-confidence, natural abilities, and a touch of crazy. Today we sit down with one of USA’s top Olympic Weightlifters, Alyssa Ritchey, to discuss her herstory in sports, the mindset of an athlete, and nutrition. Keep your eye on this one, she will likely be one of our next Olympians. Where you can find Alyssa: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alyssaritchey1 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW6SPOcKENnK115TW1kG-0A Bodybuilding.com Podcast ft. Alyssa Ritchey: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-63-alyssa-ritchey-from-farm-to-weightlifting/id1159921915?i=1000436937407 Download our free 10 Week Strength Training Program: https://femalestrengthacademy.com/shop/training-programs/10-week-strength-training-program/ Check out Female Strength Academy – The only online resource created by and for female strength athletes: https://femalestrengthacademy.com/ Eat for Strength and Eat for Strength – Cut courses are now LIVE: https://femalestrengthacademy.com/nutrition-courses/ Follow us on Instagram and tag us in your posts by using the hashtag #empoweredbyiron Find us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/empoweredbyiron Join our women’s only Facebook Group: https://m.facebook.com/groups/femalestrengthacademy Check out our sponsors: Fiercely Fueled Nutrition Coaching – Online nutrition coaching for strength and functional fitness athletes. Coached by our own Dr. Kristin Lander: http://www.fiercelyfueled.com/ Need to catch up on Empowered by Iron Episodes? Check out our latest episodes HERE