In this episode of the Heal Nourish Grow podcast, I share my journey of returning to strength training after a long hiatus. The importance of strength training for longevity and health span, the benefits of starting at any age, and how to overcome common barriers to consistency are topics in this solo episode. I provide practical tips for getting started, understanding progressive overload, and the significance of workout frequency in gaining muscle. I discuss the role of nutrition in supporting strength training goals and resources to find reliable resources for effective training. Science Backed YouTube Channels: Renaissance Periodization with Dr. Mike Israetel, Dr. Menno Henselmans, Dr. Milo Wolfe and Jeff Nippard. Newbie Gains: https://youtu.be/om7ow5PFhSE How to Maximize Muscle Growth: https://youtu.be/55nfFfWXSTM Hume Body Composition Scale, Big Black Friday Discount Plus Code HEALNOURISHGROW stacks on top! Takeaways Strength training is crucial for maintaining bone density as we age. Starting strength training early in life can have long-term benefits. Progressive overload is essential for muscle growth. You can achieve significant results with just two workouts a week. Body weight exercises are a great way to begin strength training at home. Nutrition, including carb intake (GASP), supports muscle growth and recovery. Finding reliable sources of information can enhance your training effectiveness. Strength training is more effective for fat loss than cardio alone. Tracking body composition can provide motivation and insight into progress. Watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/HWPLHXs_s8A?si=vU43KmL5qVrkWMsF Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:01.346)Hi everyone, welcome to the Heal Nourish Grow podcast. Today I want to share with you some things I've learned when going back to gym over the last 16 months. I guess what I really wanted to share is that I know a lot of people are going to start thinking about New Year's resolutions here soon and you know that I usually do some content towards the end of the year and the beginning of the new year around diet, around exercise, about… tips and tricks and things that you can do to make these things easier if you are adding these into your life. And so this has been a lot on my mind lately because I just made a change at the gym and I'll kind of go a little backwards and share with you just some of the things that I've been learning, what has helped me stay consistent and if you're going to start doing this in the new year, some things that you can do to hopefully make it easier for yourself and not make some of the same mistakes that I did going back. So, Just to give a little bit of background for those of you that may be new here, I've talked about this and shared this a bit in the past. I've been super active my whole life. I was a runner for 17 years, had to quit that because of my knees and I love hiking and anything outdoors. I am very excited to do and love doing. I walk almost every day outside. But what I haven't done consistently over the years is lift weights. And there's just been more and more content and research coming out lately around the benefits of lifting and strength training as far as longevity and just better daily life and the ability to live a better life into your old age. And I know if you're out there and you're younger and you're listening to this, you might not think that you need to start thinking about this now, but the sooner that you can implement this in your life and get it started, the better. There's actually research showing that. Children in particular and young adults like building as much muscle as you can when you're younger can actually help you when you get older because if you even take time off from those things from strength training and stuff at some point in your life and you come back to it if you had built a lot of muscle at a much younger age,