Want to feel great as you age and stronger than ever? It’s time to consider your body composition! In this episode, you'll learn how to overcome three common mistakes in improving body composition, what happens when you overlook the importance of nutrition, the kinds of exercises to focus on most, and the type of program to look for to improve your body composition.

As we age, body fat and body muscle are the most important indicators of health. Only looking at weight loss isn’t an accurate metric! I walk through a case study of a recent client who lost weight but saw a decrease in muscle mass due to under-eating and insufficient protein intake. When my clients correctly stick to a progressive strength training program, focus on the correct exercises, and learn to balance nutrition for their bodies properly, their body compositions significantly improve! Learning to achieve your body’s best composition is the way to stay pain-free and active in the years ahead.

Sign up now for The Body Composition Project waitlist HERE!

Topics covered

• Using body weight as a barometer is not effective
• Proof that menopause side effects aren’t forever
• Benefits of a progressive resistance strength training program
• Learn the best exercises for building muscle 
• The relationship between muscle building and nutrition
• Benefits of the Strength Without Stress program

Resources Mentioned

• Listen to Episode 34: Viral Topic - How To Calculate Your Protein Intake Easily HERE
• FREE access to my Strength Without Stress program HERE, where you can upload a screenshot of your podcast review and gain immediate access! 
• The waitlist for The Body Composition Project is now open HERE
• Research on body composition assessment HERE
• Research on the faults of body mass index HERE
• Research on the links between body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness HERE
• Transcripts can be found on the official blog page for this episode at hollyperkins.com/blog

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Find me on Instagram: @hollyperkins

Learn more on my website: hollyperkins.com

Connect with me on Facebook: facebook.com/HollyPerkinsFitness

Disclaimer: Content and information as part of The Holly Perkins Health Podcast is for general interest, education, and entertainment purposes only. The use of information on this podcast or materials or products linked from this podcast or website is at the user’s own risk. The content of this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.

Holly Perkins 0:00

What would it be like if you woke up in just a few weeks feeling strong and lean, free from all of the aches and pains, and loving how athletic your body looks and feels? And imagine if you feel incredible at 60, 70, or even 80. It can be done, and I'll prove it to you. If you want the benefits of better body composition so you can actually enjoy all of the years ahead, keep listening, because today you'll learn three ways to make it happen. Hello and welcome to a brand new episode. Thank you so much for listening in. You might find that this episode is just what the doctor ordered.

Holly Perkins 0:51

If you're new around here, welcome. I'm Holly Perkins, and I am here to help you use strength training and intentional nutrition to become more muscle and less fat so that you can feel good today, stay in the game of life, and out of the rocking chair as you get older. Today's episode is extra special and very much needed because I'm watching a continued trend where women are so focused on weight loss, and it is not serving you. Your body weight does not matter, and here's why. If you were the exact body weight that you are right now but you were tight and lean and strong and fit—all the things—and you had a nice, lean, tight midsection, you felt good in your clothes, all the good things...

Holly Perkins 1:55

Would you be as focused on the number that represents your body weight? Probably not. It's those things, those attributes, that you want. And you're thinking all those attributes come with a lower body weight. They may, or they may not, but they're really not associated. Or, if I helped you lose, let's say, 10, 15, or even 20 pounds or more, but you were soft and flabby and weak and tired and run down—but you were at that lower body weight—would you really be happy about the weight loss or whatever that number was? Now, only you can actually answer that. But if you listen to my podcast, you probably already know that what matters most isn't the number on the scale. It really doesn’t. I'm not just saying that because it sounds PC or like body-loving. It's actually true. What matters most is your body composition.

Holly Perkins 2:57

So if you're struggling with fatigue or feeling soft and fluffy, as the women in my community refer to it, and you hate it, this episode is going to help. If you're over 50 and you're tired of always trying to lose weight, you'll appreciate a new perspective after this episode. And if you're concerned about declining as you age, what I share today will be really essential for you. In this episode, you'll learn three mistakes that aren't helping you improve your body composition, what happens when you overlook the metrics of nutrition, the kinds of exercises to focus on most, and the type of program to look for in order to improve your body composition.

After 30 years in practice coaching women day in and day out to become stronger, leaner, and just healthier overall, I have the great honor of watching and witnessing what actually works for my most successful clients. And the ones who are the most successful have some things in common. No surprise, right? Success leaves clues.

Holly Perkins 4:17

What I love most about my work is getting to see firsthand the proof that, regardless of your age, you can become stronger and leaner and better. I see it all the time with my clients, and it's so gratifying. As a woman over 50, I personally know how challenging this stretch can be. It is not for the faint of heart. Your body is changing. If you're around the age of, let's say, between 45 and 55 or 56, around those hormonal change years, it is challenging, without a doubt. Hormones play a big role in body composition, energy, and muscle tone.

I also know that there is a common misconception that everything goes downhill after 50 and that a woman just has to accept that her body weight is going to go up, her muscle mass will go down, and the belly fat is here to stay. I get calls from women like this all the time, and I think there is something societal that leads us to think that around the menopausal transition—whether it's perimenopause, during menopause, or even after menopause—there's this notion that this is just what you're stuck with. And it's really cool because I'm seeing the proof that it's not true. And I think, to some degree, I'm also proof that it's not true.

Holly Perkins 5:50

My most successful clients are proving it every single day. You can improve your body composition so that you are more muscle, less fat, stronger, and leaner at any age. And it's worth the steps and the energy investment that you will put in to achieve this. Now, I like to be honest and not sugarcoat things because I think it does women a disservice. As I just said, these years from 45 to mid-50s, late 50s, can be very challenging. Some women just sail through menopause. That is an option. It does happen for some women.

So, while on the one hand, I'm acknowledging you if you're struggling during these years, you're not making it up. It is legitimate. As I've always said, the menopausal years are like an earthquake to your biology. And there is a lot that you can do. There are so many things that you can do to become better, to improve your body composition. And I'll be honest, it's not easy.

Holly Perkins 7:15

If you're going about trying to improve your body composition and you feel frustrated, you feel like you try what they're telling you to do, or you try everything under the sun, it isn't easy. I will say that, okay? But when you get the right programming, the right protocols, and the right guidance, it's actually not as hard as you think it should be. Most of the time, when women come to me and they're struggling and they've tried everything, it's because they didn't land on the right mix of things that they needed to do. And it is a bit tricky.

So, I want to illustrate this. Right now, one of the participants inside of my coaching program, called The Body Composition Project, is working to:

Increase her muscle mass.

Decrease her body fat.

Achieve a lower number on the bathroom scale.

Now, not all of my participants care about the bathroom scale. This one does. And all in all, she's doing great. Her photos are showing clear progress. Her body is reshaping. She's smaller and tighter and leaner. All kinds of good things are happening, and her weight on the scale has gone down. Isn't that thrilling? Maybe, and maybe not...

The only thing that matters as you get older is how much of you—at any body weight, at any age—is muscle and how much of you is fat. This is important because body fat percentages above 30% are linked with heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. The facts prove it. We just know that even if you're at a healthy body weight, if your body fat percentage is too high, you are at an increased risk of almost every disease.

Number two, because of sarcopenia, which is muscle loss with aging, you're losing muscle right now. Every single one of us is, as we get older. Even if you are a strength training fiend, you're still losing muscle. So it's hard to preserve muscle. It's even harder to build muscle. But your muscles are what will keep you in life as you get older and out of the rocking chair.

And lastly, it's important to keep an eye on these numbers because of bone mass.

So just like sarcopenia, as you age, you are losing bone mass and bone density. It just comes with aging, and there's a lot that you can do. What we know, though, is a lot of the bone density and bone mass loss that happens as you get older is because of muscle loss. You are not just losing bone mass by itself as a standalone etiology, if you will. But it's the loss of muscle mass, often due to lack of activity, that adds to brittle bones.

Your body composition screening is going to reveal all of this so that you know what you need to do in terms of your programming to improve things.

One of the biggest mistakes I see women make before they start working with me is thinking that exercising more or just working out harder is going to improve their body composition. It's this almost blind effort of, "If I just try harder, push more, do more, it's going to improve my body composition."

And this could not be farther from the truth. It's not how your body works, especially after 40. Improving your body composition is both an art and a science. I wish it was easier—it's not.

So the first way to get better body composition is, instead of just blindly trying harder, do this: Get your hands on a progressive resistance strength training program created by a certified expert with real experience working with women your age, and do it religiously for at least four months. The longer, the better.

The law of specificity says that your body will respond to a stimulus in accordance with the parameters of that stimulus. So if you want to get, let's say, better at running, you wouldn't swim three times per week, right? If you want to improve your body composition, you can't follow a weight loss protocol.

I see this mistake all the time, and in the fitness industry, there really is a lot of complexity to programming. Sadly, most—99.9%—of the messaging and programs out there are focused on weight loss. A weight loss program is very different from a program specifically designed to help you become more muscle and less fat.

If you feel like you need help with this, there is a new round of The Body Composition Project coming up in March. You can get on the waitlist at hollyperkins.com/bodywaitlist—that'll be linked in the show notes. More on that later.

So the first way to get better body composition is by getting and using the right program.

A few pointers to help:

Your program must include at least two dedicated strength sessions per week. My rule of thumb is, if you want to maintain and just kind of do the bare minimum, you could do two sessions per week.

And this really applies to anything and everything. If you love yoga and want to get better at it, two sessions per week will give you benefits. You'll love it. You'll enjoy it. But will you actually progress?

The body generally needs a little bit more than two exposures per week, and I see this a lot with strength training. If you actually want to improve, it has to be more than two dedicated strength sessions per week.

My favorite is three—sometimes four—dedicated strength sessions each week. But if you're like, "Getting me into a strength workout two times a week is all that's gonna happen," anything is better than nothing.

Second thing: There should be rest between sets.

There are a number of different ways this can happen, but a program that has you constantly moving is not a true progressive resistance plan—it's circuit training.

Circuit training is good for calorie expenditure, muscular endurance, and general fitness. And these are good things! But notice I didn't say it's the best for building muscle.

So your strength training protocol should feature some rest between some of the sets, if not all of them.

Then lastly, more is not always better. Each week, there should only be about a 20% increase in your volume of work—so 20% more reps, or 20% more weight load, or 20% more sets, etc. You want enough consistency from week to week and month to month so that your body gets a consistent stimulus.

You don’t want to be program-hopping, "muscle confusing," or doing something new every single week.

Okay, up next, I've got two more things you can do to get better body composition.

But first, the second way to get better body composition is by doing the right exercises that are better at building muscle. Some exercises provide a better stimulus than others.

Building muscle is really hard—and even harder if you're a woman over 40. I cannot stress this enough. It is so hard to build muscle!

Just like my client example—she's been trying, and yet it's still so hard.

You need the added edge of exercise selection to have the best chance of building muscle. Some exercises are better at building muscle than others.

The other day, I was scrolling on social media, and I came across a very compelling fitness influencer whose post was all about the best exercises to build a better butt.

She was demonstrating exercises that you do with just your body weight on the floor, almost like Pilates-style or calisthenic-style—things like leg lifts, fire hydrants, donkey kicks, and leg circles.

These types of exercises can tighten or even tone up your muscles a little bit, absolutely.

But I guarantee—based on my entire career—that you will never build muscle with these types of movements. You just won't.

The reason is that you're only using the weight of your body as the resistance, so it's not progressive. Your muscle will only adapt to the weight of your body.

This is why you never see a muscular yoga person—ever.

It's also why you almost never see a muscular long-distance endurance runner. You just don’t see that.

The only way to make your muscles stronger and/or bigger is to force them to push and pull against increasing resistance. And you can't do that with just your body weight—you have to add some kind of stimulus beyond it.

Another mistake I see is being scared or nervous about doing more advanced exercises like deadlifts, squats, and bench presses.

These are the best for building muscle because they are what's called complex compound movements—they involve more than one joint during the movement, and therefore, they engage more than one muscle group.

These are the Mac Daddy exercises where you can really challenge yourself and expose yourself to ever-increasing weight loads.

Certainly, you'll want to learn excellent technique—because good technique is important on these moves. But I have women of all ages and experience levels doing these types of exercises inside my program, The Body Composition Project.

If you feel intimidated by some of these exercises, just know—it can be done.

Women of all shapes and sizes are doing them. It's just a skill you need to learn.

Again, she was low on calories and low on protein, and that's enough to change how your body composition responds to your programming. The metrics of your nutrition are so important now. Do you have to obsess? Not at all, but you might find that if you do get a bit more attentive to detail, you get way better results, and sometimes that's a small adjustment. If you want to get better body composition, you've got to be eating in a way that supports it, because clearly, it's not about just weight loss. My client lost the weight and she looked better, but she didn't actually get better, and that's what we're here to do, follow. In fact, after reviewing hundreds of DEXA scans, I've discovered that getting your calories and protein right can be a bit tricky, and that's why it helps to have a coach supervising you. But first, a person can build muscle in a slight calorie deficit.

There are messages out there that say you'll never build muscle if you're not eating enough, and that is not true, because again, I've seen the research. Oh, by the way, I've linked some relevant research in the show notes with this episode. As always, you can build muscle in a calorie deficit. It's just a little trickier, and this is helpful if you're someone who wants to achieve a lower number on the scale. And if you don't get your macros right, weight loss often means muscle loss. This is the exact problem that we are now seeing with the GLP-1 inhibitors. People are losing weight, but the majority of that weight is coming from muscle. There is a lot of muscle loss that comes with weight loss. It's terrible.

So the third way to get better body composition is to get intentional with the metrics of your nutrition. And in particular, number one, your daily calorie intake should match your need or desire for weight loss. If your body fat is above 35%, you'll want a slight calorie deficit. And if you don't really care about the number on the scale, you're going to want to eat either maintenance or even a slight surplus of calories. This will help build muscle a bit more easily. Number two, then you've got to ensure that you're getting the minimum effective dose of protein each day. And again, here, more is not better. Eating more protein does not build muscle. And I know there are a lot of very legitimate experts out there that are telling you that it's just not that simple.

Check out episode 34 of my podcast, the Holly Perkins Health podcast, so that you can learn how I teach my clients to calculate protein intake easily and effectively. And then number three, I've found that protein-heavy diets are not superior for building muscle because you need sufficient carbs for muscle growth and recovery as well. So again, I'm not saying protein's bad. We know that it's really, really important, but just more, more, more protein-heavy isn't the solution either. It's about the balance. So don't neglect carbohydrates because you're overemphasizing protein. You still want to make sure you're getting sufficient carbs. Okay, whew, there you have it. A lot of details.

And some simple steps to get better body composition. I hope that you found this helpful. And if you're someone who tends to get overwhelmed with the details, just know this: it's actually not that hard. I provide the insight behind things because so many people really want to know the why behind things. I'm that way. I'm a science nerd, and I really like to understand the science behind the science. But really, the steps are pretty easy once you adopt them. And if you truly want to be better and healthier, it's not going to happen by chance. If you want to be better, if you want to improve your body composition, it's helpful to invest the time to educate yourself. It's an investment in time now, but you'll be better off forever.

So it's time well spent, in my opinion. I hope you enjoyed this episode. And one more thing: did you know that if you post a review of this podcast, you'll get lifetime access for free to my four-week Strength Without Stress program? Just last week, a woman told me that she has been using this program for several months, and for the first time ever, she feels free from muscle pain, joint aches and pains, and soreness. So this is a specially designed program that I actually kind of fleshed out for probably eight years before I actually sat down and created it. It's quite a sophisticated program, even though it appears simple on the outset. So it's a program that minimizes the types of strength exercises that load your muscles the most in a stretched position. So when the hardest part of an exercise loads the muscle while it's stretched, it creates more stress and damage to the muscle, which then requires more recovery, and there's a greater tendency for delayed onset muscle soreness.

So, and this isn't bad, per se, but it can be problematic depending on how these exercises are showing up in your programming. So for example, this is why you get really sore after walking lunges. That's because, at the bottom of a walking lunge, your muscles are in the stretched position, and that's also where the muscles get loaded the most at the bottom. That's not a bad thing, per se, but too many of these types of exercises in one workout can cause some issues, especially if you struggle with autoimmune disorders, fatigue, chronic muscle soreness, or you just don't feel like you're ever getting stronger.

So instead, I created this special program, Strength Without Stress, to feature more movement patterns where the muscle is loaded in the shortened position. So, for example, like a hip thrust or a glute bridge. This is where it's hardest at the top. Your muscles are loaded the most at the top of the move when your glutes are in a shortened position. So, this all may sound super technical to you, but what you'll notice when you use this program is that you get stronger faster, you don't feel wiped out after your strength workouts, and you don't experience much, if any, at all, muscle soreness. And I would even say, if you're someone who's struggling with any type of autoimmune disorder, this is the program for you, and yes, it's free.

I know this might sound like it's like a commercial to sell it, but it's actually not. I'm just so passionate about this program, and I realize I haven't talked about it a lot, so grab Strength Without Stress before I do start selling it for $197. All you have to do to get it for free is simply write a review of my podcast. Wherever you're listening, grab a screenshot of your review and then post your review. Come over to hollyperkins.com/review and upload your screenshot. You'll get immediate access to Strength Without Stress so that you can literally start tomorrow. I'm so glad you're here. Thank you for listening, and stay tuned for another brand new episode on Tuesday of next week. Stay strong, my friend. Stay you.