The Balanced Bodies Blueprint

Creatine is the most researched, most effective, and most misunderstood supplement in fitness. In this episode, Vinny and Dr. Eryn break down exactly what the science says about creatine — muscle growth, strength, ATP energy regeneration, cognitive function, loading vs. maintenance dosing, safety, myths, and who actually benefits the most. We cover: • How creatine actually works to regenerate ATP • Whether timing matters (before vs. after vs. whenever) • Why most lean mass increases are intracellular water — and why that's a good thing • What 100+ randomized controlled trials and multiple meta-analyses show about strength & hypertrophy • Cognitive benefits backed by RCTs (memory, reasoning, mental clarity) • Safety in healthy adults and considerations for kidney disease • The truth about hair loss, dehydration, and “creatine is a steroid” myths If you lift weights, want to build muscle, or care about brain health — this is your guide to creatine done right. Coach Vinny Email: vinny@balancedbodies.io Instagram: vinnyrusso_balancedbodies Facebook: Vinny Russo Dr. Eryn Email: dr.eryn@balancedbodies.io Instagram: dr.eryn_balancedbodies Facebook: Eryn Stansfield LEGION 20% OFF CODE Go to https://legionathletics.com/ and use the code RUSSO for 20% off your order!

In this episode, Coach Vinny and Dr. Eryn sit down with Dr. Ashley Dwyer, PharmD, a former pharmacist turned coach who's holistic without the nonsense. She blends holistic coaching, western medicine, anecdotal data, and clinical data to help women optimize their health without falling for the pseudoscience, overtesting, or fear tactics that dominate the functional coaching space. They dive into: Why she left pharmacy to help women through education, not endless prescriptions How she applies evidence-based strategies to her coaching The red flags that separate real health coaching from functional fluff Her personal journey from NPC competitor to a balanced, sustainable approach to fitness and life If you're tired of influencers selling “detoxes” and hormone “fixes,” this conversation will restore your faith in what real coaching looks like. Coach Vinny Email: vinny@balancedbodies.io Instagram: vinnyrusso_balancedbodies Facebook: Vinny Russo Dr. Eryn Email: dr.eryn@balancedbodies.io Instagram: dr.eryn_balancedbodies Facebook: Eryn Stansfield LEGION 20% OFF CODE Go to https://legionathletics.com/ and use the code RUSSO for 20% off your order! About our Guest:Dr. Ashley Dwyer is a licensed Pharmacist, ACE Certified Health Coach, and former NPC athlete who, after going through a slew of her own health issues due to extreme lifestyle habits, left the traditional western medical model to start her own company and really help others through holistic healing. Her team, TeamBDN coaching, specializes in holistic nutrition, macro tracking, hormone optimization, individualized fitness plans, accountability, and community, helping women eat more and reach their health goals. Dr. Ashley is also certified in plant-based nutrition, Health Mindset Coaching, Prenatal & Postpartum Coaching, and Functional Nutrition and Metabolic Science. Her goal is to help as many women as she can feel their best and reverse years of metabolic adaptation + hormone disruption! Website: www.teambdncoaching.com Instgram: @dr.dwyer

You may not want to hear this, but your habits are hurting you way more than your genetics ever will. In this episode, Coach Vinny breaks down one of the biggest excuses in fitness, blaming your genetics for why you can't lose fat, build muscle, or look a certain way. Yes, your DNA matters. Yes, your genetics influence how your body responds to training, diet, and recovery. But the reality is this: your habits decide how those genes are expressed. Coach Vinny explains why comparing yourself to others destroys motivation, how to play the best hand you were dealt instead of blaming the dealer, and why habits, not heredity, are what shape your long-term body composition and health. He shares real client transformations from people who thought they had “bad genetics” until they optimized their nutrition, training, and mindset, unlocking the best version of themselves. If you've ever said “my genetics suck” or felt stuck with your body type, this episode will give you a powerful mindset shift, one that turns resentment into appreciation and frustration into action. By the end, you'll understand that you can't change your DNA, but you can change your decisions, and that's what creates lasting transformation. Coach Vinny Email: vinny@balancedbodies.io Instagram: vinnyrusso_balancedbodies Facebook: Vinny Russo Dr. Eryn Email: dr.eryn@balancedbodies.io Instagram: dr.eryn_balancedbodies Facebook: Eryn Stansfield LEGION 20% OFF CODE Go to https://legionathletics.com/ and use the code RUSSO for 20% off your order!

Most people think informed consent is just a signature on a clipboard—but it's so much more. It's the foundation of medical ethics and your right to know exactly what's being done to your body, why it's being done, and what your real options are. In this episode, we break down what informed consent really means, why it's not just paperwork, and how it empowers you to make confident decisions about your health. We'll uncover the fine print of modern medicine—from vaccines and procedures to the ethical tug-of-war between personal autonomy and public health. Whether you're a patient, parent, or healthcare professional, this episode will challenge the way you view “consent” in medicine and make you think twice before ever saying, “Yeah, go ahead.” Coach Vinny Email: vinny@balancedbodies.io Instagram: vinnyrusso_balancedbodies Facebook: Vinny Russo Dr. Eryn Email: dr.eryn@balancedbodies.io Instagram: dr.eryn_balancedbodies Facebook: Eryn Stansfield LEGION 20% OFF CODE Go to https://legionathletics.com/ and use the code RUSSO for 20% off your order!

Everyone talks about calories and macros, but almost nobody talks about micros. In this episode, I break down why your diet's nutrient density is the difference between thriving in a fat loss phase and feeling like absolute garbage. You can hit your macros and still be undernourished if most of your food is ultra-processed. That means lower energy, higher cravings, slower recovery, and worse results. I'll walk you through why vitamins and minerals are the real drivers of performance, metabolism, and consistency, and how to build a diet that supports your hormones, mood, and metabolism instead of fighting them. If you want to feel great while getting lean, this is your blueprint: calories set the stage, macros build the body, but micros determine how well that body performs. Coach Vinny Email: vinny@balancedbodies.io Instagram: vinnyrusso_balancedbodies Facebook: Vinny Russo Dr. Eryn Email: dr.eryn@balancedbodies.io Instagram: dr.eryn_balancedbodies Facebook: Eryn Stansfield LEGION 20% OFF CODE Go to https://legionathletics.com/ and use the code RUSSO for 20% off your order!

“Eating for results” and “eating by intuition” are not the same thing. In this no-BS episode, we break down why you can't be in a calorie deficit and call it intuitive eating. We'll unpack what intuitive eating was actually designed for (healing chronic diet fatigue and rebuilding hunger/fullness cues), why fat loss requires intentional energy manipulation, and how hunger hormones (leptin ↓, ghrelin ↑) make “intuitive dieting” a contradiction. Tracked → Informed → Intuitive. Building plate-awareness, portion-eyeballing skills, protein anchoring, and pattern recognition help the results become sustainable autopilot later. Use intuition in the right phases (post-diet recovery, maintenance, long-term lifestyle) and use structure when you're changing your body. Guessing is not knowing; awareness is earned.

Your baby's health starts with what you eat, but “eating for two” doesn't mean doubling your calories. In this evidence-based episode, I break down exactly what you need (and what to avoid) for a healthy pregnancy, trimester by trimester. You'll learn the truth about calorie needs, recommended weight gain, and the most critical nutrients for your baby's brain, bones, and growth, from folic acid and choline to omega-3 DHA. We'll cover how to handle common pregnancy challenges like morning sickness, heartburn, constipation, gestational diabetes, and preeclampsia risk, plus safe foods, supplements, and the ones to skip entirely. Whether you're in your first week or your final month, this is your no-nonsense guide to fueling a healthy pregnancy and preparing your body for labor and postpartum recovery. Connect with us: Coach Vinny Email: vinny@balancedbodies.io Instagram: @vinnyrusso_balancedbodies Facebook: Vinny Russo Dr. Eryn Email: dr.eryn@balancedbodies.io Instagram: @dr.eryn_balancedbodies Facebook: Eryn Stansfield LEGION 20% OFF CODE: Go to legionathletics.com and use the code RUSSO for 20% off your order!

In this episode, Coach Vinny Russo challenges one of the most common (and most harmful) mindsets in health and fitness: trying to change your body out of self-hate. If you've ever started a diet or workout program thinking, “I'm disgusted with myself, I need to fix this”, you're not alone. But here's the truth, change rooted in self-judgment never sticks. It burns out fast, leads to self-sabotage, and keeps you trapped in the same cycle of failure. Today, we're flipping the script. You'll learn how to: *Stop using shame as your main motivator (and why it never works long-term) *Build lasting fitness habits from a place of self-respect and care *Reframe your goals to finally achieve sustainable fat loss *Create identity-based habits that transform how you see yourself forever This isn't about another “quick fix.” It's about making health and fitness something you do because you value yourself—not because you want to punish your body. “You can't hate yourself into loving your body. Real transformation starts with self-respect.” Listen now and learn how to make this shift for good. Connect with us: Coach Vinny Email: vinny@balancedbodies.io Instagram: @vinnyrusso_balancedbodies Facebook: Vinny Russo Dr. Eryn Email: dr.eryn@balancedbodies.io Instagram: @dr.eryn_balancedbodies Facebook: Eryn Stansfield LEGION 20% OFF CODE: Go to legionathletics.com and use the code RUSSO for 20% off your order!

Is fitness snacking helping you build momentum—or secretly holding you back? In this episode of The Balanced Bodies Blueprint, I break down the rising trend of fitness snacking—short, 5–10 minute workouts done throughout the day—and ask the hard question: Is it actually effective for fat loss, muscle gain, or body recomposition? We'll cover: *Who fitness snacking is great for (beginners, busy professionals, those coming back from injury) *Why it's not ideal for building lean muscle or losing serious body fat *How it can keep you in a loop of comfort and mediocrity *The difference between movement and stimulus *When to graduate from fitness snacking to structured training *What a real training plan should look like for lasting results Whether you're using fitness snacking as a stepping stone or relying on it as your main routine—this episode will challenge you to rethink your approach. DM me “REAL PLAN” on Instagram @vinnyrusso_balancedbodies if you're ready to level up your training. Subscribe for more episodes on evidence-based fat loss, muscle growth, and the truth about what actually works. Coach Vinny Email: vinny@balancedbodies.io Instagram: vinnyrusso_balancedbodies Facebook: Vinny Russo Dr. Eryn Email: dr.eryn@balancedbodies.io Instagram: dr.eryn_balancedbodies Facebook: Eryn Stansfield LEGION 20% OFF CODE Go to https://legionathletics.com/ and use the code RUSSO for 20% off your order!

In this episode, Coach Vinny Russo breaks down a phase most people skip but absolutely shouldn't: the Primer Phase. Think of it as the “warm-up” before you sprint into a fat loss phase—your chance to get your metabolism, mindset, and habits fully primed so that dieting is easier and more effective. Coach Vinny explains why the Primer Phase is the missing link in most fat-loss journeys. Learn how to boost your metabolism, balance stress, dial in sleep, and build a strong foundation before cutting a single calorie. You'll get a step-by-step approach to: ✅ Eating for nourishment, not restriction ✅ Building sustainable movement and strength habits ✅ Managing stress and improving recovery ✅ Fixing your sleep patterns ✅ Setting realistic expectations for lasting success Whether you're brand new to dieting or a seasoned lifter who's hit plateaus, this episode is packed with practical strategies to finally break through and keep the fat off for good. Get ready to prime your body and mind for real, sustainable results. *** For our 2-on-1 coaching, yes a Nutritionist + Board Certified Physician coach YOU, just email Coach Vinny using the email below*** Coach Vinny Email: vinny@balancedbodies.io Instagram: vinnyrusso_balancedbodies Facebook: Vinny Russo Dr. Eryn Email: dr.eryn@balancedbodies.io Instagram: dr.eryn_balancedbodies Facebook: Eryn Stansfield LEGION 20% OFF CODE Go to https://legionathletics.com/ and use the code RUSSO for 20% off your order!