Steph Wilberding, kettlebell trainer, performer, and founder of Leading Lady Fitness. She joined Thyroid Strong after being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s and Ovulatory dysfunction in September 2021.

Steph suffered from fatigue, low back pain, and other health issues, and went to an OBGYN who diagnosed her with Hashimotos. She then saw an endocrinologist who recommended a gluten and dairy-free diet, and to take progesterone for 14 days on and 14 days off. The progesterone significantly helped with her mood and back pain, and the doctor recommended that she take it daily. At the time of diagnosis, Steph could not work out due to her pain.

She shares her experience of going from lifting heavy, to being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, to doing Peloton to doing Thyroid Strong. She found herself enjoying the cues, and felt the program was designed in a way that supported her Hashimoto’s diagnosis.

In this episode, we talk about:

-What it’s like to be diagnosed with ovulatory dysfunction

-The powerful effects of progesterone

-What Steph got out of Thyroid Strong as a trainer with a strong base of lift knowledge

Quotes:

“And the bottom of the pyramid is where you always have to start after you've, like, if you're having feelings of disconnection, anxiety, whatever these things are, and the first level is always a connection to physical.”

“The connection to our body is so important, and thyroid strong won't only get you into training with weights. It'll also probably inspire other movements in your life that will bring you joy, like power walking, like power walking, like hiking, like anything.”

“The gym can be very overwhelming. . And so that's one thing I should have said earlier. To be able to walk in the gym with a plan and not have to pay attention to anybody else in that space but yourself is worth the price of admission to, to, there's just so much pride in that feeling of going in and doing the work and leaving and feeling like you know what's going on”

“If you can give somebody that throughway to that connection, it's such a gift. It is such a gift. It's such a gift.”

“One thing with thyroid strong is I don't think there's a safer way that somebody could teach people how to move kettlebells around than with your program.”

“Because of some of the resources in Thyroid Strong, I was able to go like, okay, let's, let's pay more attention to protein intake. I am somebody who eats a decent amount of protein anyway, but I was definitely like, I think I could bump it up a little bit more. So that's definitely changed and become more consistent now with what I like to call a snapshot of the plate, right?”

Guest Information:

https://www.leadingladyfit.com/

Steph Wilberding IG: https://www.instagram.com/leading_lady_fitness/

Follow Dr Emily Kiberd and Thyroid Strong on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok

If you want more information on when the next round of Thyroid Strong workout program goes live, join the waitlist: dremilykiberd.com/tswaitlist

If you’re looking to lose weight with Hashimoto’s: https://www.dremilykiberd.com/weight/

If you’re looking to beat the Hashimoto’s fatigue:

https://www.dremilykiberd.com/fatigue/

If you want to learn more about 3 things NOT TO DO in your workout if you have Hashimoto’s and WHAT TO DO instead:

https://www.dremilykiberd.com/strong

If you want to dive right into Thyroid Strong online workout program: https://www.dremilykiberd.com/thyroid-strong/

Steph Wilberding is a fellow trainer.

She trained at Mark Fisher Fitness in New York City and then also

opened her own gym out in L.A.

She has a passion for music and performing, which if you think about

a trainer, being a trainer on stage, doing group coaching is very much like

performing in front of an audience.

And in 2020, when the world shut down, Steph launched Leading Lady Fitness,

which is an online fitness community where she offered online group classes

and private one-on-one sessions.

She was a member of the Thyroid strong community.

She went through Thyroid Strong, the six week program after getting diagnosed

about four months ago with Hashimotos, and she shares her experience of

what Thyroid Strong was like for her.

Coming into it as a trainer, as someone who knows exactly how to do

kettlebells, and she has some great recommendations and great insight into

Thyroid strong as someone who is not a newbie who sits on the couch and never,

you know, only gets 2000 steps a day.

She's coming at it from a trainer with a wealth of knowledge and

learned new things from the program.

So check out her episode.

It was really fun to have her in the program as well as interview

her on Thyroid Strong podcast.

Steph Wilber, welcome to Thyroid Strong Podcast.

Super excited to have you.

Just cuz we, I've been in like the same spheres.

The microcosms.

Yeah.

But have never crossed paths until online.

So I.

Let's chat about your time in New York City.

Okay.

I was there for 14 years.

You were there for 16 and then nine months . And then Covid locked it all down.

So you were first a student and then a coach at Mark Fisher

Fitness in New York City.

Yes.

Which has a very, like, if people don't know, has a very

particular vibe and clientele.

The people who come to classes are called ninjas.

Everything is very neon and there's lots of unicorns.

It's an amazing place and it still is.

And I think it's hitting, I think it's in its 10th year now, maybe 11th.

And I was there as a ninja, as a client, as a ninja after

having worked with Mark Fisher.

Before we, we met doing a, a show together, a theater show.

And then I did one of his, his program where he was just renting space in

the middle of Midtown Manhattan.

And, and then that took off so quickly that he then needed

to open an actual space.

And then I went there and I was a client and a ninja.

And then one day after class he pulled me aside and was like, , what are

your thoughts about working here?

And I was like, oh, you mean like on the business team or on the front desk

or like, I just did not assume coach.

And he was like, no, no, no.

I mean, as one of our trainers, like I think you have a very I think your

journey is very relatable and you know, Move like an athlete you always have.

So like, I don't need to worry about you not being able to coach

from that side of it, you know?

But I would take you under my wing and kind of teach you

the way I want you to teach.

And I was like, okay, can I think about it?

Cause I was really taken, you know a back and I think I texted him two

hours later and I was like, I'm in.

Love it.

Yeah.

So good.

So how, how did your journey progress because you were diagnosed

with Hashimoto's lastyear.

Actually not even this past September, so four month ago.

Yeah.

So did it progress from like your trainer, your training clients?

Yeah.

Covid craziness to getting diagnosed?

So I spent 2018, I moved to LA and opened a gym.

I had my own kettlebell group, fitness studio, and I actually

think I probably developed.

Around 2020, if I'm really looking back to the way I was feeling.

I also went into ovulatory dysfunction with all of this, and that happened

sooner, and I obviously noticed that because I stopped getting my cycle.

But it was a lot, it was a lot of going back and forth with physical

therapists to diagnose this low back pain I couldn't get rid of.

There was a lot of hip and pelvis stuff.

I.

Trying to figure out.

And and then I moved back to New York a year ago, so 2022.

And I was setting up my care, my medical care in the city

and I went to a gynecologist to set up care and she did sub.

She goes, we're just gonna do some basic blood work.

You know, you haven't had your period in a couple years, so

let's just rule things out.

Probably just early menopause.

Or in menopause.

And so that came back and she's like, your thyroid needs, we need

to get you to an endocrinologist.

She started me on thyroid medication right away until I

could get into the endocrinologist.

Three months later I got into one more blood work, went to see him and

he was like, you have Hashimotos, and do you know when her labs were?

At the time when you're gynecologist?

Kind of was like, we're putting on your meds.

We're sending you an end.

Y yes.

I mean, I'm, I don't have, I could not repeat to what they say

But and it was all honestly, the gynecologist was like, we're gonna

do blood work to just make sure we're not missing anything, but

you are most likely in menopause.

And that was actually the hardest thing for me.

Mm.

I.

Knew I probably was never gonna get pregnant because of the age

I'm at in life circumstances.

But that was the harder thing for me at the time, was to really sit with

that expiration date on my body.

I mean that subway home was pretty, like my baseball hat was really

low on that subway ride home.

But then fast forward to the endocrinologist and him

asking me questions like, have you been in like pain?

You can't really explain.

I was like, yes.

Have you been suffering from anxiety and depress.

, yes.

Like all these questions I had yeses to, and then when he told me I had Hashimotos,

it was like this light bulb and I barely had an emotional reaction to it.

I was just thankful that it all made, it was all being explained.

Yeah.

Almost like a, it's not in my head or Right.

There's finally some logical explanation to it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

. So what, what happened after you saw the endo?

Like what kind of, what kind of steps was he like, okay, we're gonna walk this path?

Yeah.

Was it more, okay, here's meds, this is what you're gonna be on, these

are the symptoms you're gonna have?

Or was it a little more like, Hey, let's talk about food and

so maybe some other pieces?

I mean, he was pretty, like the, mind you, this was all happening in September

of 22, so just four-ish months ago.

And I.

already planning my exit out of New York.

So I was trying to get all these doctor's appointments in before I

left, and I was planning my own one woman show and doing all this stuff.

So everything was happening very quickly, but he he essentially

said, zero gluten, right?

You need to like get, and, and I was pretty much, I've been

gluten-free for a few years.

and then he's like, and then I'm going to say no to low dairy.

You might just need to explore that on your own.

And then he bumped up my thyroid medication just a little bit and then

put me on progesterone because of my ovulatory dysfunction as he described it.

And he said, I want you to take it for 14 days.

on and 14 days off for the first few months cuz we're gonna see if we

can actually bring your cycle back.

And then if that doesn't happen, we will take it from there.

And so that's what we did for a few months.

And then just before the holidays we did a tele session and he, you know,

followed up and my cycle never came back.

So now he's like, you can just take progesterone every day now.

And cuz it, I tell you, the progesterone.

really, like my mood and my distraction levels just changed so much.

My focus was so much better, and I would say within two weeks my low

back pain was gone almost 70 to 80%.

I mean, that's incredible because I mean, progesterone is anti-inflammatory,

protective, and you know, coming from a, from a chiropractic angle.

You could have seen PT and chiropractors all day long, but yeah, you

wouldn't, it wouldn't have helped.

You would've keep coming in and been like, oh, like, I still feel it, so.

Mm-hmm.

. Yeah.

How, what, how were your workouts at that time?

Nonexistent.

Nonexistent.

I mean, not non-existent.

Back if we backed a little bit to, when I was still in LA I was

in so much pain all the time.

I had a physical therapist that somebody else in the fitness

industry recommended to me.

It was during Covid.

We did a lot of Zoom sessions and I told him, I said, I'm really like

mentally struggling because I haven't worked out in a year and a half.

Really?

I, I do a lot of walking and hiking.

And he was like, well, you could, you could cycle, like that's

not gonna hurt your lower back.

Cause we didn't know what was going on.

So I got a Peloton, so I.

on my peloton all the time.

But I wasn't training, weight training at all.

Did you notice a difference in muscle tissue, right?

Because you have a training background, right?

Yeah.

So you know what it's like, oh, weight train, have muscle tissue, versus maybe

something that's quote unquote low impact.

, maybe a little more cardio focused.

Did you notice a difference in your muscle tissue or in body composition?

I'll tell you when I noticed it, and maybe I'm fast forwarding too quickly

in the interview, but I noticed it when I started working with you.

Oh.

Because I was so mentally like the word coming to me is like mentally like,

Stuck in pain that I didn't even, I didn't even care how strong I was.

I just wanted to get out of pain.

And so I noticed it when I started training with you.

I was like, oh yeah, we've, we've lost a lot of our strength.

It will come back.

But I didn't really notice until I re-entered strength training.

Yeah, it's very humble.

to step away for a little bit, for whatever reason, right?

For pain, for like autoimmune flare up.

And sometimes I would just have these memories of when I have come

back and I warm up with a 1 35 hex BART deadlift, you know, and I'm

like, oh my God, this is so heavy.

And I'm thinking back to like when I used to train consistently and that was.

That was like, oh, this is like my light warmup.

And then, you know, re-entering feeling like, wow, this is really . One

day after I found myself scrolling on my phone to find these old

videos from Mark Fisher days.

Yeah.

And I had done this program with my friend Amanda Wheeler,

who was at Mark Fisher with me.

And she had a strength program I did.

And I had worked up to like a double.

20 or 22, double 22 squat for like a set of three or something

that's heavy and it's heavy.

He b that's like 80, 90 pounds.

Right.

And I watched the video and I was like, oh God.

And I was holding a 12 kilogram single bell thinking, oh my God.

Yeah.

It's humbling.

It's very humbling.

How did you find thyroid?

This is why the internet is so great.

Okay.

So there are so many days where I'm like, I need to take my

eyeballs off this damn screen.

I'm going to get to be 90 years old, hopefully, and be like, it's spent

my whole life looking at the screen.

But.

. As soon as I knew that I had a pathway forward out of pain, I

started like researching everything.

And I didn't know, I don't know, I didn't know a lot about Hashimotos.

I, I knew a bit about it from some other clients.

And so I literally think I googled Hashimotos and like.

Your website was there.

So great SEO, . And I was scrolling and I was like, this woman's in New York.

Interesting.

And then I went to your Instagram.

I'm like, no, she's not.

And then I went back to the website and as I was scrolling, there

were like some pictures of a few people in the room doing something.

And I noticed Matt Seric and Matt had come to Mark Fisher many times and

done some in-service work with us.

Right.

So I literally was.

Well, if Matt works with her, she's legit.

Let's move forward and I reach out to you.

Amazing.

I love Matt.

Yeah, I love that guy.

He's great.

He's so great.

I, he commented on something I shared at some point and, and I was like,

it's cuz of you that I found her.

But I knew left my own devices.

I would probably, even though I'm a trainer, I knew my program design

needed to be more specific for me.

Point and I really just wanted to get back to the gym safely and not overdo it.

And that's why I just reached out and I said, I don't know if I need 12 weeks.

Cause I, I do know how to manage kettlebells and handle them.

And you said, Nope, you need six.

And it was great.

and I did every single workout.

I have to say, you are very much the personality type, like you give you a

plan, you execute, which is amazing.

That's like the dream person, right?

Because a lot of people are like, well, I haven't started because mm-hmm.

my kettlebells are downstairs and I work out upstairs and.

You know, just whatever comes up.

Funny.

That's so funny you said that cuz my friend I'm living with here

right now in Dallas, I'm just in Dallas for like a blip of time.

We were chatting the other day and he said to me, he's like, I forget what

word you use, but like you're, you're an executor, you're an executor 100.

And I was like, I am.

Maybe that's why it's so hard to run my office.

The checklist is too long.

I, I'm the same way.

Yeah.

I'm like, just gimme a plan.

I just wanna feel better.

Mm-hmm.

, just give it to me and I'll do it and yeah.

It was interesting on my end cause I was like, oh, here's a trainer who

knows, kettlebells knows h knows the form, like every single form q I say,

she's kinda like, oh yeah, I know that.

Yet You found value in the program.

completely.

I, I, I think a coach always needs a coach to some extent, not

maybe every day and every month.

Right.

We have seasons where we need it.

Yeah.

I have a, a former client of mine who trained with me, who's now

a coach, and I still coach her and she's like, I need the time.

Right.

But anyway it felt couple things.

, it felt really nice to have someone lead me.

And there was, you know, attention to detail and cues that I either hadn't

heard before, like, your, your variation on things or it had been a while and

I was like, that's a good reminder.

Specifically the attention to some breathing stuff I

found really, really helpful.

, namely in some pressing stuff that we did on our back and not

having an arch in my lower back.

Right?

Like, I intellectually understand why we cue it for most people, but

for me it just never feels good.

And the, the, yeah, a lot of that breathing stuff has been

really game changing for me in my tr in my continued training.

It also felt.

. You know what felt really great is because I was following a program

and someone was telling me what to do, and I was just gonna do it.

Is that if I got to the gym at one o'clock, did the warmup, did the workout,

and it was 1 35, I was like, done.

I didn't have that.

Like I should stay and do more.

I'm not here long enough.

Like I just felt really taken care of.

Cause I knew it was so thought out.

Yeah, almost like that permission to.

kind of on earth.

Like, okay, so I'm working out for my body where it is in this

place in time, which is like, yeah.

On in the beginning journey of having an autoimmune condition.

Yeah.

And going into ear early menopause.

Yeah.

Your body feels different.

It's, it's so crazy to think like, I'm like, no man's gonna like really

feel that like, experience on like a, under the skin kind of level.

. Right.

I mean, you think about it, and this isn't like any, you know,

male bashing, like any change that really happens is just a natural

circumstance of age and or maybe injury.

I hope not.

Right?

Yeah.

But none that, none of it is like built in . Yeah, right.

We have built in changes that we cannot.

we cannot avoid.

Yeah, I mean, I bring it up because I think culturally, and again, it's not like

man bashing, but it's culturally, it's sometimes there's such a strong messaging

of, you know, eat less, work out more, move more like push through the fatigue.

Mm-hmm.

, you know, like kind of like giddy up man up, like kind of Yeah.

Push yourself to overcome.

I'm like, no, dude, you don't get.

, if I overdo it, I literally like can't finish my sentence for like two days.

. Right, right.

Yeah.

Like it, it was also level.

Yeah.

It was also important for me because once I kind of got per like

information that, let me rephrase that.

Once my pain was explained a little bit more and I understood

there was a path forward.

In addition to training, I'm also a performer and I was in so much

pain that I was like, I don't know if I can do eight shows a week.

Like if this is the kind of work I'm trying to get and I can't physically

do it, I need to figure this out.

Right.

So training to be able to do my job if one, if, if one comes my way

was also really important to me.

Yeah.

Cause that's like, that's what fills the soul, right?

Fills the soul and.

. Oddly, as a trainer, I don't need to be in as in that kind of shape.

Like I can train somebody in pain, right?

Which seems odd, but I can, and I have for the last, I had for two and a half years.

And that was mentally tricky, right?

To be like, let's swing this, blah, blah, blah.

And then in my head going, I can't do that right now.

, was there any imposter syndrome when you were, like, were there any like

feelings that came up like that?

Tons of that and tons of like, you know, back in the day when I first started

in the fitness industry, I had a few interactions with other people in the

industry that made me feel really judged.

And it was all like, . Oh, you work at, you work at the, you

work at Mark Fisher Fitness.

Oh.

And then a lot of like looking up and down, like I don't look like a trainer,

and I struggled with that for a really long time, and then I did kind of look

like a trainer, whatever that means.

But you know, I was able to kind of transform my body the way I wanted

it to feel, be, and feel strong.

And then not being able to train for so long and.

Not even the size of my body, but the, the weakness that I felt it, it felt

really shitty to be completely honest.

. Yeah.

And that has felt good again, like just even I do a lot of Zoom

one-on-one coaching, and even to be able to like, pick up the couple

kettlebells I have here and get on the floor and get back up again.

That was hard six months ago.

Yeah.

I mean, huge transformation.

So after thyroid strong, you kind of continued, right?

Because yeah.

I mean, autoimmune condition is definitely a journey.

You've continued this journey.

Mm-hmm.

, I'm kind of in a cycle where I'm at the gym about three days a week.

And then I'm doing a ton of power walking and I love.

It's like one of my, it's like my go-to piece moment.

I love it so much.

And currently I'm not quite a this week I'm, I've had my hip is slurred

up a little bit from some other stuff, so I'm kind of taking it easy.

But that's kind of my thing.

Two to three days of strength training and three, three mile power walks a week.

And I just feel great, which I think is important.

Right?

Cause I think sometimes the perception is, We need to be in the gym five

days a week, six days a week.

Right.

Yeah.

That's a hard thing to well, it's hard.

That's a hard mindset to shift in ourselves, but also in your clients.

And I have some people right now working with me online in this new program I have.

And it's the new year, which is also tricky.

So there, there's a lot of like, I wanna do this program perfect.

I wanna do this program.

I was.

. Just remember that the, one of the tenets of this program is to

create a long-term lifestyle and not work out six days a week.

Yeah.

And it's really hard.

People wanna pay for big transformation really fast.

Yeah.

I mean, that's tricky, right?

Because then let's say the transformation's, weight loss, let's

just say hypothetical, like losing muscle tissue is part of that weight loss, right?

And then like how do you preserve muscle tissue?

, try not to lose too much of it while still changing your body composition, you know?

Mm-hmm.

losing fat, having that big transformation.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

What were some of your favorite things about Thyroid Strong?

I loved, I did, I loved the I loved the weekly lives.

I thought those were really helpful.

For a few reasons.

One, as a participant, it was really helpful to hear other people's

questions and just listen in to like what other people are doing to

navigate around things and then to listen to you coach them through that.

As a coach, it was really fun to watch you coach people.

. I learned a lot.

You that was what was cool about it too, right?

Like if somebody came on and they had some questions, you're like,

great, grab your kettlebell, right?

And we were like, here I am watching you coach somebody.

And it was really.

Fascinating.

I love that about it.

So and I do think the access, right, having that access and and then

seeing people and being able to take advantage of it was really great.

That was one thing I loved.

The other thing I loved is even though I was going to a gym to do this because

of where I'm living right now, I don't have a lot of weights with me.

This gym had plenty of kettlebells, but still, like,

I kind of use three every time.

You know?

Well, you don't eat a.

, you don't need a lot.

You don't need a lot.

And I was able to just like, kind of grab a few things, set up my

own little corner of this gym and get my shit done and leave.

And and then I will say the day we finally got to do swings, , I was like, oh.

And I waited.

I actually waited.

I followed the rules and I waited.

So the, so I guess the thing about the program that I should say to that

note is the build, it was, it's a really smart, well thought out build

up to the baller moves, if you will.

Right.

The things that make you feel like such a badass that are also wildly

beneficial, but the buildup is so it, you've, you're so taken care of.

You really take care of people in this program.

Yeah, I, I when I first programmed Thyroid strong, which is like the six week.

The idea, the person in mind was the woman with Hashimotos who has worked up

before, maybe touched a weight, but maybe injured themselves or burnt out and just

kinda wanna do it better and smarter.

Mm-hmm.

and a lot of people were coming to the program who.

Only we're walking 2000 steps a day maybe.

And it was interesting to have to kind of like transform the program,

like almost put a beginner piece.

Mm-hmm.

does, you know, the actual program now, I guess could, could be

beginner, inter intermediate maybe, but yeah, it was interesting to.

just connect with women and mm-hmm.

, hear them be like, yeah, this is great.

You know, I had to kind of go through it twice.

Once with a lighter weight, once with a heavier weight mm-hmm.

, and then create something to kind of tack on the beginning to progress it slower.

And I was nervous.

I actually, the original program was programmed with a

little bit more reps, right?

Mm-hmm.

, like, some of it's like three reps, like mm-hmm.

, like three reps.

, but I really had to dial it back cuz in the beginning Matt and I

actually worked together of like, okay, what would this look like?

Cuz we were treating women with Hashimotos in person.

Right.

And for the online piece, I actually had to dial it back more.

Yeah.

Because people were coming in at kind of all different entry points.

So Yeah.

And I mean, I have to say, like, I thought about this a lot.

Well, I was going through the pro your program because I, I guess started at

the intermediate part whatever, right?

Yeah.

But I thought a lot about it, and as a coach, training with Kettlebells

is really hard to do virtually.

It's really, it's really hard.

So anybody listening who is working with Emily right now and

you have amazing technique is because she's an excellent coach.

It is really hard.

It's hard to train people with kettlebells in person.

. Yes.

So the attention to detail in your program, you know, To get people six

weeks in holding a kettlebell properly on an offset squat or an overhead

press is a feet in and of itself.

It really is . Yeah, so it really good job . Thanks.

So , what did you, did you change other than like gluten-free, dairy-free?

Did you change any other factors in how you were eating or your,

kinda like your food journey?

Yeah, I your Instagram and I'm like, can she come over and cook?

I know.

Well, and I also happen to be living with a friend right now who's an

amazing cook and he's like willing to do gluten-free stuff with me.

But you know, because of some of the resources in Thyroid Strong, I was

able to go like, okay, let's, let's pay more attention to protein intake.

I always ki I am somebody who eats a decent amount of protein anyway,

but I was definitely like, I think I could bump it up a little bit more.

So that's definitely changed and become more consistent now with

just what I like to call like a snapshot of the plate, right?

Like looking and going, like, do I.

protein and is it enough?

Right?

Like one egg isn't enough or whatever the thing is.

So really paying attention to my protein levels and just focusing that the plate

has everything I know I need on it and it doesn't need to look like something I

would serve at at a dinner party, right?

It just needs to be something to like get me through the day.

I think that's a big hangup people have with food.

They're like, can I just eat this?

I'm like, yeah, you can just eat a piece of chicken.

and a piece of toast with avocado on it if you want.

And they can be separate things on one place it doesn't need to be.

So just remembering and kind of dialing back cuz I love to cook.

Dialing back on my breakfast and lunch most days and being

very simple and what I like.

I love it.

Si simplicity.

100%.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I have salt for spices, , that's about it.

Yeah.

And interestingly enough, I went to this fitness.

Conference in August.

Oh my God.

August.

November.

And in Austin.

Austin in November came out as August.

And because of my kind of reset on food with your program and just knowing what's

going on with my body, a lot of ideas around my food coaching came from it.

, right, of like, we need to make this simpler and easier.

And so now I'm using this, some of these new ideas in my own coaching programs.

I love it.

Tell me about your coaching program.

Leading Lady Fitness.

Leading lady fitness is my brand, so to speak, which I came to me working

with Jill and Shante actually.

Mm-hmm.

For those of you listening that aren't theater people, when you are in a

show, there is like a leading lady of the show or a male lead of the show.

And I had heard an interview a long time ago by a very famous Broadway actor

and he and somebody said to him, what is your responsibility as the lead?

And he said, my responsibility is to care for the energy of everybody involved.

Wow.

Whether it's onstage, offstage, the usher, the lighting people, whatever.

And I thought, oh, that's cool.

I like that.

So that's where Leading Lady Fitness came from.

I like that.

And also my advice, it's a lot of weight on that person.

It's a lot of weight.

But also my, and I knew, cause I knew I wanted to like bring my training

back to the Broadway community somehow.

So I did a lot of Zoom training over the pandemic, as many people did.

And there's only so many hours in the day and so many ways

you can juggle time zones.

And so I was trying to figure out a way to coach more people

in a one-on-one capacity.

And so I launched in the New Year leading Lady Fitness Online.

and essentially all programs are delivered over the app.

True Coach, and people can do them at home, they can do them at the gym.

It's very dumbbell focused so that people can have easy access to it right now.

And They, yeah, so it's all online and we just started, we're in week two.

I do, I do still one-on-one train a handful.

You know, I have a, I have some clients that I do that.

But it's been awesome.

I have people in la, New York, London, and I miss coaching a lot of people, like

in a group setting, in a group setting.

And this is kind of giving me a little bit more of that brain

that part of my brain that has to like switch quickly for people.

So I'm really enjoying.

It's still new, so we'll see.

, I love it.

I love, love it.

Yeah.

It's interesting from the pandemic, I've had a lot of trainer friends who had to

pivot, obviously to Zoom coaching, and it was one-on-one and some of them taught

group classes and you know, those weren't happening and yeah, that, that yearning

for it, like they really missed it.

Yeah.

I actually did, I, I started the pandemic with Zoom classes group.

Like I'd have a screen of people with like wine bottles or books,

like anything they could find.

Cuz everybody bought all the weights off the internet.

Right.

Kett bottles and $400 . Yeah.

Yes.

And so I did zoom classes on and off up until this past December.

Wow.

And then I finally, they're done . Yeah.

Yeah.

Was there just like an energetic shift?

You're like, I'm exhausted.

Yeah, it was energetic shift.

The size of classes started to taper off a little bit.

And I, I knew that I wanted to shift my business a little bit

and I didn't wanna have that set class on the schedule all the time.

And it was a hard decision because I felt like I was making the decision.

for me and not for the people.

And that's hard for me.

Mm-hmm.

But I want my business to be a little bit more location not

location, independent cause it is.

But I wanted less things on my calendar that I had to change.

Got it.

Because more flexibility.

Flexibility.

I'm auditioning.

If I were to book a job, I would need to like move things around.

I don't wanna disappoint all these people taking class.

So it was just time to kind.

Say thank you and move on.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Amazing.

I love it.

For the woman who is maybe on the fence about doing thyroid

strong, what would you tell them?

I would tell them that the investment is future.

It's like a future investment we have to make right now, right?

Like , it's about setting up a foundation that you can rely

on for a very, very long time.

And something I have discovered with myself over the past six months, or not

even six months, four months, and, and since I was able to start moving pain free

again with, with thyroid Strong, is that.

The connection to our body is so important, and thyroid strong won't

only get you into training with weights.

Again, specifically with kettlebells.

It'll also probably inspire other movement in your life that will bring

you joy, like power walking, like power walking, like hiking, like anything.

I had to do a dance combination the other day for an audition.

Wow.

I'm terrible at it, but I was able to do it . So it's interesting cause I

have a lot of women who come to Thyroid Strong and they're like, I work out.

I walk and I'm like, well, it's different.

And usually I kind of dig a little bit with questions of like, oh, well, after

a certain period of walking, does something ache, you know, or do you, does

anything come up, you know, in terms of injuries and like, oh, well sometimes

like my low back aches or my SI joints ache and I kind of share that, you know,

if you build a foundation of strength, maybe you could be walking further.

So like that thing you love to do.

Yeah, you just do it more.

Right.

Because you can build that foundation.

Some of my favorite days are when I train and walk, like it's fun.

I'll like go train and then I'll go take a walk to like celebrate it.

, I think it's an interesting like, conversation around language

in our industry specifically around working out and training.

Yeah.

You know?

Yeah.

Like people, like what do you do for your workouts?

Well, I do this, I do this.

Versus like weight training, right?

Yeah.

So and there's still a lot of fear around it.

I get.

. People see kettlebells being thrown around in very peculiar ways, and they

get a little scared, you know, so one thing with thyroid strong is I don't,

I don't think there's a safer way that somebody could teach people how to move

kettlebells around than with your program.

I love it.

Thank you for that.

You welcome.

One question that I'm just curious about is I've noticed, and maybe it's just like

my social media feed, that there's this.

. You know, a lot of women ask, oh, well I'm scared.

You know, lifting, awake, getting bulky already.

It's already difficult to lose weight with Hashimotos.

And I feel like there's this trend right now of like, being strong is embraced.

It's celebrated.

Mm-hmm.

, like the kind of Kate Moss wavy is, is like not as popular.

And I'm like, is this just my Instagram feed or is this like across the board?

I think it's, I think it, there's a lot more of.

Consistent conversation around women and weight training for sure.

I think the don't get too bulky is like just this like annoying lingering

narrative that was in the early two thousands that isn't true and.

and the science behind what it takes to get bulky.

People don't want to like, it's like they just don't, they just

say, I don't wanna get bulky.

I'm like, would you understand the sci, the science of what

it would take to get there?

you would be eating.

Like, it's just, they don't, they just don't wanna look a certain way.

But then they see, but then a lot of times I've had a conversation like, well, tell

me what you do feel like you want to feel and aesthetically what you're looking for.

And then they'll like maybe show you a picture or a a, I

don't know, show you something.

You're like, well, that person lifts weights.

, right?

Yeah.

And so but no, I, I agree.

I think there's a lot and I think it's awesome because I think the more the

more familiar weight training can become, the better I think for all people, but

specifically for women, when you tap into that physical strength, it really just,

So much good for your, for your like personal power in the world.

100%.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's this really interesting documentary right now

on Netflix called Stutz.

Have you heard about this?

I haven't.

S T U T Z.

It's the last name of this man who is a therapist to Jonah Hill.

Yes, yes, yes.

Okay.

Okay.

Yes.

So I'm only bringing this up because, and I'm gonna butcher

this, so if you're listening and you wanna learn more, go look it up.

But he talks about your life force, and there's a pyramid.

And the bottom of the pyramid is where you always have to start after

you've, like, if you're having feelings of disconnection, anxiety, whatever

these things are, and the first level is always connection to physical.

Come back to your body always.

And as trainers, as very specific niche trainers, you're way more niche than I am.

If you can give somebody that throughway to that connection, it's such a gift.

It is such a gift.

It's such a gift.

There's a lot of people.

Do you know how many women and one man have reached out to me and say they have,

they've had Hashimotos, they haven't.

Like so many, like I got diagnosed this long ago.

You were in my most recent newsletter.

I linked you.

So I don't know, people are coming your way.

But like so many people, they're like, I've had it for four years

and this, that and the other.

And my endocrinologist actually told me that there's a huge upswing in

autoimmune as a result of the pandemic.

Ah, interesting.

and the stress that it put on people's lives.

Yeah, I could totally see that.

Yeah.

Steph, thank you so much for sharing your journey.

I mean, it was so fun to have you in the program.

It was actually like a little nerve-wracking at times.

Cause I was like, she's a trainer and she's legit.

She does kettle bets and she did it.

Mark Fisher.

She's probably like, what is the three reps?

But I'm so glad that you enjoyed it.

I like it just so many times.

Sometimes I see thyroid strong as like the vehicle to get out.

, the stuck whatever is making us feel stuck.

Yeah.

To just start, it's like, like I see it as like the ignition sometimes.

Yeah.

Where can people find you?

You can find me on Instagram, leading lady fitness.

Underscore leading underscore lady underscore weird.

Website is all linked there.

And my website has like blogs and recipes.

I'm, I'm trying to get a little bit more thorough with that kind of stuff.

But I just wanna say one more thing to those listening, especially people

who are women who have Hashimotos.

The gym can be very overwhelming.

. And so that's one thing I should have said earlier.

To be able to walk in the gym with a plan and not have to pay attention to anybody

else in that space but yourself is worth the price of admission to, to, there's

just so much pride in that feeling of going in and doing the work and leaving

and feeling like you know what's going on.

It's so good.

So it's, it's worth every penny for that alone and then

some, but Yeah, come my way.

If you have any more questions, people I will.

I will send you.

I will send you to the program.

Always . Thank you lady.

Yeah.

And you also have a podcast people should check out.

Oh yes.

Leading Lady Fitness podcast on the Broadway podcast Network.

Awesome.

And you interview Broadway.

I interview a lot of Broadway performers, mostly women, but

not all around their journey.

Body, self, food all the relationships that are intertwined with all of that.

And yeah, we are, we have two seasons that are up and we'll, we'll probably

dive into season three here soon.

I love it.

Yeah.

Thank you so much for being on there.

God, thank you.

It was such an honor to be here.