Show Notes
For today's podcast, I’m thrilled to talk about one of my favorite topics—lifting weights! I’m joined by Amy Williams, aka Abs By Amy on Instagram, to discuss everything from getting started with lifting to maximizing muscle growth. Amy shares some unique and brilliant tips for beginners that will make you feel more confident in the gym. We also dive into the common question of whether you always need to be progressing in your lifting or if it’s okay to maintain muscle. If you’re ready to build muscle and feel more at ease in the gym, this episode is for you!
Find show notes at bicepsafterbabies.com/342
Follow me on Instagram and Tiktok!
Highlights
- Amy’s fitness journey 02:33
- Overcome intimidation in the gym 11:34
- Avoiding mistakes 13:33
- Take a video while doing weightlifting 15:22
- Building muscle process 17:08
- Gaining weight experience and scale has gone up 19:26
- Expectations on building muscle 24:33
- Is there an end to lifting weights? 35:57
Links:
Introduction
You're listening to Biceps After Babies Radio Episode 342.
Hello and welcome to Biceps After Babies Radio. A podcast for ladies who know that fitness is about so much more than pounds lost or PR's. It's about feeling confident in your skin and empowered in your life. I'm your host Amber Brueseke, a registered nurse, personal trainer, wife and mom of four. Each week my guests and I will excite and motivate you to take action in your own personal fitness as we talk about nutrition, exercise, mindset, personal development and executing life with conscious intention. If your goal is to look, feel and be strong and experience transformation from the inside out, you my friend are in the right place. Thank you for tuning in. Now, let's jump into today's episode.
Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to another episode of Biceps After Babies Radio. I'm your host, Amber Brueseke. And today I'm just giddy because. I mean, we're talking about one of my very favorite things in the whole entire world to talk about, and that is lifting weights. I am joined by Amy Williams. You might know her as Abs by Amy on Instagram and we are talking about how to one get started with lifting. If you're brand new to lifting and you're intimidated by it, Amy has some of the most unorthodox but like brilliant tips about how she got started with lifting that I can't wait for you to hear, like some of her tips were ones that I just was like, that's such a great idea. But one again like super unorthodox. And then we progress all the way to talking about how to make sure that you're building the most muscle possible and towards the end of the episode we even answer the question that I get a lot, which is Amber, do you always have to be progressing with your lifting like you always have to be getting stronger? Is there ever any point where you're just maintaining muscle. And what does it take to just maintain muscle? And the answer may surprise you and we talk about that towards the end of the episode. So if you're wanting to feel more confident in the gym, you're wanting to build more muscle, this episode is going to cover all of those topics. So let's dive into the interview.
Amber B 02:03
I'm super excited to welcome to the podcast. Amy Williams. Amy, thanks for coming on the podcast.
Amy Williams 02:09
Thank you so much for having me, Amber.
Amber B 02:12
We're just going to be two nerds that are just gonna nerd out about lifting for an hour, and so you guys are welcome to stay around for the conversation, but I'm really, really excited about this. OK. So if somebody maybe doesn't know anything about you, I just wanna kind of give a little bit of a synopsis. Tell us a little bit about you, about how you got started lifting and what your fitness journey has looked like to this point.
Amy Williams 02:33
So I was I'm I'm obviously into lifting now weightlifting, but I was not always I was. So I'm a mom of six kids. I've got three boys and three girls ages from 6 to 17, about every about every two years apart. And after I had my 6th baby, I decided like, OK, now's my time because I'm so tired of, you know, like you get pregnant and then you get in shape and then you get pregnant again and it's like.
Amber B 03:00
You get pregnant again, yeah. Uh-huh.
Amy Williams 03:01
Yeah. It's like this back and forth thing that just goes, it just goes back and forth and it's like, oh, my gosh, it's frustrating. So when I had my 6th baby, I knew, I knew he was my last. And so I was like, hey, I am doing this thing. And so I took pictures and never planned on posting any of this or it was all just for me. But I made a commitment to like, go to the gym and just, just commit that I was gonna do this thing. And so it started out, you know. I had. I was super intimidated by the gym. I had no idea about anything weightlifting. I'd only really ran outside, done biking outside and like home videos like Jillian Michaels and P90X. We've all done those beach body stuff. So anyway, going to the gym was crazy intimidating for me, but I was like, hey, that's what I want to do, so I signed up but got a gym pass and it was a very long learning process. I didn't I I started out with just cardio because it was safe and the cardio zone the weights were intimidating. And then I branched out into classes. And then it was super scary walking through the gym to get to the classes and then I would see girls lifting in the in the weight section. And one day I was like. I I want to learn how to do that and so I stopped these girls and I was like, hey, teach me, teach me how to teach me how to use a barbell. So scary. But they were so nice. And they taught me and ever since then I was like, I love this. This, this is amazing. And it became my passion. And here we are today.
Amber B 04:27
So good. Well, I I I would love you to like expand a little bit more on that because what I heard you say cause someone is listening to this and they're like where you used to be right there. Like I I'm ready to do this thing. I'm ready to be committed, but like, committed to what? And how do I start is all the questions. And So what I heard is that you started with cardio, right? It's like that's easy. I can get on a bike. I can get on treadmill, like I can do that and then you progress to classes which I think is a fantastic way to have a little bit of structure. Have someone telling you what to do.
Amy Williams 04:58
Yeah.
Amber B 04:59
Right, like, yeah introduced to dumbbells, maybe even a bar. Though and then this is where I I love the balls is like you went up to somebody and asked them and said, hey, can you teach me how to do this?
Amy Williams 05:09
Yep, and I actually have a picture of it, because I was going to, I'll have to send it to you, Amber, but I was going to one of the classes, and it was, I called it the Lunk Zone, where all the squat racks were.
Amber B 05:20
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Amy Williams 05:21
You have to walk through the Lunk Zone to get to the class, and there was these girls on the squat rack right next to the class door, and in that moment of bravery, I was like, teach me how to squat. They did, and I have the barbell on my back, and my friend who was coming to the class with me, she walked up and she snapped the picture of me the very first time I ever touched a barbell, and so I have that.
Amber B 05:56
So awesome. So they were probably super mean and super caddy and they didn't want to show you anything and they were just really rude, right? Like
Amy Williams 05:54
Absolutely not. That's what you'd think these girls are, but they're so nice. Like these people look fit and intimidating, but honestly, they're so nice.
Amber B 06:04
That is like the point that I want to make, cuz if somebody came up to me and was like, teach me how to squat, I can't think of anything more exciting for me. Like you too, right? Like if someone came up to you, you're like, Oh my gosh, I get to introduce someone to something that I love so much like.
Amy Williams 06:16
Yes, that's exactly how I felt. So I'm like, please ask me. Please ask me, interrupt my workout. Please ask me.
Amber B 06:21
Well, I think like just putting that out there of someone who, like, if you're intimidated and you see somebody at the gym, maybe going for a female, probably first probably would be a good make him feel a little bit easier. But I think most women who are in the gym would love to teach you what it what it is that they know. And what a great way to like make that transition.
Amy Williams 06:39
Absolutely. And I haven't met a single person who has been rude at all.
Amber B 06:42
Yeah. Yeah.
Amy Williams 06:43
Everybody I've ever come across has been so nice and so helpful and willing to answer questions and it's been it's been a really good experience.
Amber B 06:49
Yeah. Again, it again, it's like if you love something, you wanna share that with other people. If you love baking, you wanna share with other people. If you love a movie you wanna share with other people, the people you see at the gym probably love lifting. And all we wanna do is get more people lifting.
Amy Williams 07:03
And it's the really, really fit people that you look at that are scary and intimidating. It's like, no, those are the ones that like they want to help you. They say, please, please, let me help.
Amber B 07:09
Yeah. Yeah. OK. I love that cuz I just, I just think even just opening up that as a possibility for people of like a way to transition to more lifting because I think people think that they have to hire a PT and I love that, but not everybody, it's not accessible to everybody. And so if we can get more options of ways to get started, what a great piece of advice. Love that.
Amy Williams 07:32
Exactly, exactly. And it's and and it's so important too, I feel like a lot of the a lot of the times people fear of failure and just their fear in general is what's holding the holding them back. And it's like everybody starts somewhere. You have to be willing to be bad at something new and realize, like, you're beginner. You're learning. Like, if you're learning how to play the piano, you're not going to sit down and play Mozart right away like you got to learn the basics first. And and that's OK. Like you're gonna be bad at it first, but you'll get better.
Amber B 07:57
Yeah, yeah. You can't get good at something without being bad at it first, right? Like accepting that thing. That's right.
Amy Williams 08:00
Exactly. Everybody start at the beginning. We all start at the beginning.
Amber B 08:04
Yeah. So I am curious, did you because you love lifting now.
Amy Williams 08:09
I do.
Amber B 08:10
Did you, did you always love it? Was it like love at first sight or was that a process or what did that look like for you?
Amy Williams 08:15
It was it was a process, honestly, because I started, like I said, I started with cardio. I went into the the cardio section and and I would do like these hit workouts on the treadmill. You know on the Stairmaster and other stuff, because it was so safe there and I could see everybody and actually I used that to my advantage. I would get on the treadmill and I would watch the people lifting to be like, OK, what are they doing? How are they doing that? And then I would go out there and I started with like dumbbells. I had done dumbbells doing the workout videos and so I was like, OK, no, what I'm doing dumbbells, we'll start here and then I'd still watch people. And then I moved on to the machines because the machines have instructions.
Amber B 08:50
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Amy Williams 08:51
So I like walk around the machines and like what's this for? And I read the instructions and like the highlighted muscle group. And then I kind of learned there and it was it was, it was a good long like a year long learning process for me to get comfortable with weights. But the the game changer for me is when I did start lifting weights more, that's when I started to get results and that is what propelled me to be like this is this is there's something to this. And so at that point, I was like, Oh my gosh, you can you can like build muscle and shape your body. And so I've always hated growing up. I hated my butt. I was really self-conscious of it. And I found out like, oh, my gosh, you can, like, shape it and like make it look and so I spent the next several years like, OK, this is what I'm working on and it's become something that's like I've I've become very good at and. And I'm very proud of the work that I've put in and the results that I've gotten because of that. But it was a very long learning process.
Amber B 09:53
I mean, these are the kind of insider information that, like, I love to be able to give people, like, just the idea of like sitting on the cardio machines and just watching people, like such a great way to transition into, like, just go copy them now you like watch them now, go copy what they're doing and try it out.
Amy Williams 10:09
I still do that to this day when I see person doing a move, I'm like.
Amber B 10:11
Same.
Amy Williams 10:12
I've never seen that before. I'll give it a try. Usually wait till they leave. So it's not like I'm copying it, but like, I'll wait until they leave and then I'll give it a try. I'm like, all right, that was good.
Amber B 10:21
Yeah, I love that. And I think I think there is this like link between results and like enjoying something. So I like, I see this a lot where women it's like you start lifting weights and you don't just love it up off the bat, but you start to see the results and that helps you to start to fall in love with it. And then I do see most women transition away from like. It just becomes something they love, irregardless of the results that it gets right. It just becomes a a happy place, a place where you can see what's possible and push yourself and things like that.
Amy Williams 10:49
That's the thing. And I tell my kids that all the time. Like, you have to get past that like I call it the desert of like, my kids are in piano lessons and like, they go through this where it's like, oh, it's fun at first. And then you're like, Oh this is boring. I suck at it. And it's hard and I don't know, I don't really want to know what I'm doing. This is challenging, but then once you get past the the desert where you just kind of long drawn out stuff and you start to get good at it, you start to notice that you're getting stronger. You start to notice that your form is getting better, your technique is getting better, at that point when you notice you're getting stronger and you're like, oh, this used to be hard and now I now it's not. Those are the small wins you're looking for, and those are the wins that will propel you and keep you moving forward into, into, you know, love falling in love with it.
Amber B 11:34
Yes. Yeah, so. So good. OK. So I do wanna spend just a little bit more time. You've already given us some really great tips for someone who feels intimidated with lifting. Yeah, but doesn't know really where to start and some really good ideas of just little steps that you can take. But are there any other ideas or ways that you would help women overcome that intimidation factor? Because I think that is a big one. I do think weight rooms have become more general, neutral than they used to be. I mean, I remember 10 years ago, like you would see marry a woman in the weight section and now it's a little bit more like it's not uncommon, but it can still feel intimidating. For someone who feels that intimidation, do you have any advice for them.
Amy Williams 12:14
Honestly, I I would, I would say try to get a gym buddy, that would be the thing. Yes, that. And that's what I did at first too. Like, I I wanted to go to the gym, but I was terrified of it. So what I did is I reached out on my neighborhood Facebook page, and I was like, hey, does anybody wanna get get a gym pass with me? And so it started out with, like, this group of and a few people commented back to like Yeah, I do too. So started as a group of about I think there were six of us. That we go to the gym every morning and that was a huge a huge game changer for me is just having like a buddy or someone to stay accountable to. And then like when you go into those scary sections, you like, have your support system, right?
Amber B 12:48
Better do with a friend.
Amy Williams 12:49
Yeah. Yeah. So like #1 is is try to get a gym buddy until you get comfortable, like, being in the way, it's by yourself. It's like even my 17-year-old daughter, she she just barely started like she's been coming to my classes and she's been lifting a little bit with us at the gym, but she was terrified to go by herself. And so she brought a friend, and we go with her friend a little bit and then just recently like as if, you know, like a few weeks ago, she just started going by herself because I was like, Ella, you have to go by yourself once, the first time is going to be so scary. But once you get that, once you rip that Band-Aid off and you do it the very first time. After that, it's a lot easier. It's just it's the first initial step in the door that is the scariest.
Amber B 13:33
Yeah, that's really good. So with somebody who is and maybe you can think back, I don't know if you feel like you made any mistakes in your process of like learning.
Amy Williams 13:40
Ohh so many, so many.
Amber B 13:41
So if there's a woman who's like embarking on this journey and she's like, OK, I would love to avoid as many mistakes as possible. What are some mistakes, maybe that you made that you could advise someone against to like maybe not make some of the same mistakes.
Amy Williams 13:53
So first of all I want to let you know you will make mistakes.
Amber B 13:56
Absolutely. Yeah.
Amy Williams 13:57
Everyone make mistakes. Just accept that factors and you are going to learn and that that's the thing is mistakes are how we learn.
Amber B 14:03
Exactly.
Amy Williams 14:04
One of my mistakes is so yeah, I told you about the incident with the barbell and they showed me how to do it. And so like later that week I was like, OK, I know what I'm doing. I'm gonna do this and I had had 25 LB plates on at the time, and so I went back into the lunk zone and I was like, alright, I know I can lift this. I did it before with those girls. And so I loaded up some 25, could not lift. They were kilograms and I did not know, so I was like, so embarrassed that I couldn't even do it. And I was like, OK, I had just got it all set up.
Amber B 14:36
Ohh my gosh.
Amy Williams 14:37
Couldn't do it. Had to rerack it. And so, like, so that was one. And there was another one when I wanted to deadlift, but I was in a squat cage rack and so I had to. Put the bar down on the ground, put the, put the dead lifting. Put the plates on and I go back to dead lift and I'm locked inside the rack. So that was embarrassing too as well.
Amber B 14:57
Yeah.
Amy Williams 14:57
Yeah. Like, yeah. You think everybody's watching you?
Amber B 15:01
Nobody cares.
Amy Williams 15:02
Nobody's like nobody cares. Honestly. So, like, there was that? I mean, I've had so many, so many mistakes like that over there or just bad form. And then I realized, like, when I watch a video cuz I watch YouTube videos to try to educate myself and then like, oh, I was doing that wrong all along. But you know what? That's OK then. And you learn. Or you can ask somebody if you're unsure and you don't want to, you know, make the mistake.
Amber B 15:22
Yeah. Yeah. I think one of the biggest things that I would advise people to do is to like is to video themselves because I think if you're watching videos on YouTube, you can start to see can start to spot good form. The more you get familiar and you may think that you're doing really good form, but it is an entirely different ball game when you start videoing yourselves and you realize, yeah.
Amy Williams 15:41
Did you know that that so I teach weightlifting classes and we can talk more, talk more about that later on. But in my weightlifting classes, I actually love to video people for that very reason. And so, like, when I'm trying to teach somebody form and teach somebody technique, I will video them and then they can, like, watch it and feel it and then see things that I see that they can't see. It's even just a mirror is not enough like videoing yourself is so critical in helping, like you know, self, self critique and improvement. Cause I think about my son who's in football. They watch film every Friday. They watch themselves play football and that's how they get better.
Amber B 16:17
That’s exactly correct.
Amy Williams 16:18
Same way goes for the gym.
Amber B 16:19
Yeah, that's exactly right. And I think that's such a good way to especially I, I do think watching things like YouTube and watching people who have good form, you start to learn and be able to recognize what good form looks like. And so then when you watch your stuff, you can at least start to see I don’t look like that.
Amy Williams 16:33
You can compare it, yes, and you said, Oh my, my, my elbow was bent or my back was round Or, you know, just stuff like that. Like you'll pick those things up where you don't realize you're doing it unless you film it.
Amber B 16:43
Yeah. So you only started lifting six years ago, is that right? Like.
Amy Williams 16:48
So my youngest boy is he'll be. He'll be seven in January and I actually started. He was born January 1st, he’s New Year's baby and I actually took my pictures January 5th, so I mean, that's really close after. But I yeah, so January 5th. So that's when I started. So yeah, so almost seven years, it'll be seven years.
Amber B 17:08
Awesome. So you've been able to build a pretty appreciable amount of muscle mass in, you know, a six to seven-year period.
Amy Williams 17:13
Yeah.
Amber B 17:14
And so what are some of the factors that led to that? Like what helps build muscle, what speeds up the process. Obviously we want to be lifting, but is there anything else that for someone who's wanting to build an appreciable amount of muscle in a shorter period of time? What would you say to them?
Amy Williams 17:28
Food, food, food and food, and more food.
Amber B 17:32
Yeah.
Amy Williams 17:32
So that's, that's the funny thing about that is most people will come to me like, what supplements should I be taking, what supplements it's. Like. No, no. No, no. Supplements are very last on the list like you have got to make sure your diet is in order and you're eating enough because I tell people all the time that building muscle is biologically expensive. You cannot build muscle from nothing, and if you are not fueling your body with enough food, there's no way that it's gonna, like take the extra effort to to build muscle. And so like if you're eating in a in a deficit or or maintenance, you basically are lifting muscle to maintain what you have or I'm sorry, you're you're maintaining what you have with you know your diet and your protein that you're eating, but you're not really gaining.
Amber B 18:17
Yes.
Amy Williams 18:17
At that point, but if you want to gain and put on muscle, you need to be fueling that process with food.
Amber B 18:24
Mm-hmm. I think that's a really tough pill for a lot of women to swallow because so many women spend so much time in a deficit and they want to have.
Amy Williams 18:31
A diet mindset.
Amber B 18:32
Yeah. And they want to have that best of both worlds and be able to build an appreciable amount of muscle. And I mean, at the end of the day, you're never gonna build as much muscle eating in the deficit as you are going to be eating more food like it just. It's expensive. Like you said, it's biologically expensive.
Amy Williams 18:46
It is biologically expensive and it and it requires, and it really does require a lot of food, so you cannot be afraid to eat because like you think about it, like your car is going to perform better if it's if it's filled up with gas and the oil's changed and it's got all of the things inside of it, that's going to make it run properly. And so if you're constantly, like, trying to diet and eat as little as possible, your body is basically going to be in like a diet is a threat on your body, you know, and the bodies are so good at survival. And so they're gonna adapt to that and adapt to, you know, like ohh, we're in scarcity here and we're good at survival. So it's just gonna be like hanging on to what it can instead of like fueling and progressing and moving forward.
Amber B 19:26
Have you gained weight throughout this process of adding muscle? Like, has the scale gone up for you?
Amy Williams 19:31
100%.
Amber B 19:32
OK, so how do you get OK with that? Because that I mean, that's such a roadblock for so many women is like, the idea that I would intentionally want and celebrate this scale going up just feel so foreign to them. So how did you wrap your mind around this idea that I may need to weigh more.
Amy Williams 19:47
I I would honestly like you have to condition yourself because like you've been and all of these women like have been conditioned that like, ohh, we're supposed to be, you know, slender and lean and skinny and the smallest version of ourselves. And so like, that's how we've been conditioned. So if you want to condition yourself with a healthy mindset, you need to put yourself in those positions like. Follow people online who who promote you know, muscle gain and fueling your body, and it's OK to be to be gaining weight and stuff like that, like like, indoctrinate yourself and flood yourself with those types of people, follow those types of people. Talk to yourself about it like. A lot of a lot of the times it's just it's all in your head and I recently did a pulse. It's like your dream body is going to weigh more than you think it should because muscles heavy and it's dense and you're going to grow and your legs. But your waist is going to get smaller, but you're not a look. It's not a number on a scale that you're going for. It's a look. And so helping, helping talk yourself through that is so helpful because in my journey so I started out. I'll just give you numbers. I started out like 175 lbs and that's what and that's where I started. And then I through through the process and the journey. Like for the first couple of years, two years in, I lost. I lost a bunch of weight and I got down to 130 lbs. So that's at this significant weight loss and the reason being I was so lean is because I did a a competition, but that's that's a story for another time so. Anyway, from the competition 130 lbs. Since then, it's been four 4 1/2 years. Since that and I have put on 25 lbs so like I've both grown. You know, I put on a lot of muscle. I'm so much stronger and put on weight but the thing is like I still feel like I'm decently lean and I'm in a very healthy body fat percentage with putting on all of that weight.
Amber B 21:37
I mean, I love that you're willing to share the numbers cause I think
Amy Williams 21:39
Oh yeah.
Amber B 21:39
The numbers like it, it's just it makes it so real to people of like you put on 25 lbs. And I think for most women, 25 lbs would be like this is the. It is a disaster.
Amy Williams 21:51
No, it’s not.
Amber B 21:52
And this is why following people like you is so important. And I love that idea of like, let's flood your feed with people who are really strong and like way more than you think that they might weigh.
Amy Williams 22:02
Yeah.
Amber B 22:03
You know, I I think the truth is, is that your leanest body will never be your strongest body. And coming to terms with that of like, you can either be lean or you can be like super, super strong and those will not be the same.
Amy Williams 22:14
Yes, and you feel so much better when you're actually fueling your body.
Amber B 22:19
Amen.
Amy Williams 22:20
So many women are like Ohh, I'm just tired all the time I have no energy. My hormones are off and it's like that is because you are not fueling your body properly. If you actually ate the amount of like carbs and proteins and fats that you need to eat, you would have a lot more energy and you'd feel better. Your hormones would thrive because like your hormones get tinked when you're constantly eating in a deficit like it's gonna pull from those sources and you're going to feel like trash.
Amber B 22:44
Yeah. One of my favorite things that I'll have clients say to me sometimes is especially women who have come to me have always been in the deficit, have always been trying to lose weight, right, always under fueling, and have been going to the gym and we get their calories up and we get them eating more. They'll come back to me and they're like, Amber, I feel amazing at the gym like I've never had so much energy like I'm lifting, but like. They just have never experienced lifting while fueling their body.
Amy Williams 23:08
And you're so energetic.
Amber B 23:09
And you have so much more. And I mean, it's just, it's night and day difference for them. And so I I I just echo this idea of like you feel better. It's it's not even a matter of, like, do I look better? But it's like you feel better. You have more energy, you have more vitality. And those are the things that we want in the long run.
Amy Williams 23:25
And that's what I I get a lot of questions about like, OK, what should my body fat percentage be? What should what should my macro numbers be? What should and honestly I say don't get over weight if that's nothing, don't get hung up on the numbers. It is truly about how you feel and what you're capable of, like how strong you're feeling. And and when you get hung up on the numbers a lot of the times, those are just gonna hold you back.
Amber B 23:49
Yeah.
Amy Williams 23:50
Because like, as soon as you start progressing in the gym and getting stronger, it's like, oh, the scale is going up. You're like, oh, no, no, no. And then you try to dye it back down and then you lose your progress.
Amber B 23:57
And you need your progress saying you're backward.
Amy Williams 23:59
Yeah. Like, if you have a bad relationship with the scale or with numbers or stuff like that, that get rid of it, it just go with how you feel and how strong you feel. What you're capable of, it is a feeling, health, health and fitness is a feeling and what you're capable of.
Amber B 24:15
I love that. That's so good, so good. So how you know? I I said earlier, I said you've only been lifting for six or seven years. You've built so much muscle in six or seven years as if that was a short period of time because in my mind that is a short period of time when it comes to like building muscle. Right. I've been lifting since like 14.
Amy Williams 24:32
Yeah.
Amber B 24:33
So. But I recognize that for a lot of people six to seven years may seem like an eternity. Yeah, right. So it's ironic, but, you know, for someone who is getting frustrated cuz it's not happening fast enough, can you kind of set some expectations or help walk somebody through, you know how long it takes to build muscle and and what that process looks like?
Amy Williams 24:56
I think a lot of the times is people get really hung up when they see like transformation pictures and they're like, oh, here's my three month transformation. Or here's my 90-day transformation. A lot of the times those are posed in certain lighting versus flexing or they were in like an extreme deficit. They lost a bunch of weight and then like that is very, very hard to maintain. And so like if you follow that person later on, a lot of the times like they they put the weight back on to get to a healthier place because it was so drastic. And so I think that if you have in your mind that you're going to make this huge transformation in 30, 60, 90 days, you're setting yourself up for disappointment because it is so slow, and it is such a slow process, I tell. I tell my clients like you need to think in years.
Amber B 25:43
Yeah.
Amy Williams 25:44
And that might sound sound daunting or frustrating or discouraging, but like, truly, there is no end to a fit lifestyle. Like there's no like, once you get there, you gotta keep going to maintain what you've got. And so like it, it's a lifestyle. And so that's why it's. Like. When you are. You just get started. And you're and you're trying to, like, get results and stuff. If you focus on the results only, you're going to be disappointed. You need to focus on the process and the habits you're creating. Because I tell people all the time that you are establishing your root system like bamboo. You know the plant, the plant, bamboo. It's, you plant the seed and it takes I think. It's four years. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's it's it's a very long time. We'll just say it's a very long time that the roots have to be established. And so you do not see any growth above ground as those roots are getting established because bamboo is so tall. And so those roots have to go in really deep to support the plant, but. You don't see it, but there is progress being made and then as soon as it's above ground, the bamboo shoots up at an incredible speed and it grows so fast. So that's why I tell people. Like you might not physically see the results you're getting, but you are laying the groundwork and you are establishing your root system to carry you on when life starts lifing and things get tough. You need those strong roots and not strong foundation because life will happen and it gets stressful. It gets busy, it gets chaotic, but you need a good strong root system/ foundation.
Amber B 27:20
I love that. That's so good. We were laughing before we hit record because I was mentioning one of Amy's Instagram posts that she just did where she was talking about how she's been lifting for six years and then her 17 year old Son comes and like lifts the same deadlift weight and. It's like, what the heck?
Amy Williams 27:34
Ohh my gosh. I know that's the difference between men and women. But it's too slow.
Amber B 27:37
I know, I know. So it you know, it sounds like your kids have been influenced by this, and that has has led them, you know, you talked about your daughter and and lifting as well. What is that been like for you to be that example or to like help bring this into your kids life and transition them early on into the love of lifting?
Amy Williams 27:56
Honestly, the the thing that I've noticed the most is it's helps their confidence because like when they especially my like 17 well my daughter, she started lifting when she was 13. Ish. I I brought her to my classes and that's just kind of a gentle place for them to just get familiar with. You know, the barbells and the plates and stuff and so I bring them as kids and then we kind of started going to the gym a little bit and The thing is, is that I've watched my oldest daughter cause like. You know, 14, 15, that's a very, very tender age for girls. They're, you know, they kind of get a little bit insecure. They're comparing against other. And So what I noticed in my daughter is when she found out how strong she was and what she was capable of, and she would come home like, Oh my gosh, I just deadlift 135 LB. Like, it was a huge deal for her and her confidence shot through the roof because of what she was capable of and I love that because when I was that age, I remember being so insecure about my big thighs and I hated them and I was like, Oh my gosh, I got these big legs and are so insecure. But like she talks about how much she loves, how strong her legs are and she's like, legged. It's such a flex for me and I love it. Because it's like kids who are confident and like they'll change the world. They're they're they don't fall victim to peer pressure. They're kind to others because they feel good about themselves. And so that's what I would say has helped my kids the most is it's. I've literally watched their confidence grow because of it.
Amber B 29:21
Yeah, yeah, I think, I mean, we build confidence when we do hard things and we see that we can have something hard and we can accomplish it and that builds our confidence and the the gym and weights just become a really beautiful place to work that out of. Like you literally have something that is heavy and hard and then you can accomplish it and that naturally just builds that confidence. I just, I love that area of play for women in general. But you know, obviously teenagers and kids to be able to develop that. That sort of confidence and and women have the same experience, right?
Amy Williams 29:50
Oh, yeah.
Amber B 29:51
It's like you you you didn't think that you could do this thing and you worked and you, you know, had a process and you were able to accomplish it, and if you can do that in this area of your life, what else can you do in other areas of your life?
Amy Williams 30:01
Exactly. And and I see that you like weight lifting is more than just weight lifting. It's about doing hard things like challenging yourself. It's uncomfortable. It's hard. Yeah. But you take that, that grit that you're developing and that discipline that you're developing in the gym and it translates into the rest of your life. And you're like, I can do hard things. You do. And patience too. We talked about how long it takes to build muscle and how patient you have to be. Like you established patience and you're you embrace delayed gratification. And it's like all of those things translate into the rest of your life.
Amber B 30:34
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And that that's that is to me, is the beauty of, like, a fitness journey, is that it is not just about the aesthetics or the weight or the even the pounds that you're lifting, but it's like, how does, how does this translate into other areas of your life, how does it make other areas of your life better.
Amy Williams 30:46
So much more.
Amber B 30:47
So good. So there's this. There's this line between pushing hard enough to be able to create a result in your body, pushing hard enough to be able to stimulate muscle growth without pushing too hard, that you're getting to that place of them you can't recover, right. There's that sweet spot that we're looking for to be able to create that muscle mass. So do you have any advice for women who? I I would say on both ends of the spectrum you have any advice for women who find it hard to push themselves because I see that there are some people who get so in their head about being afraid to fail or afraid of getting hurt or whatever that they just never even go anywhere near. Pushing themselves hard enough and then there's and there's the other end where it's like these people who are, like, going way, way too hard and not recovering or sleeping or getting enough calories and they're like burning themselves out. So maybe we'll start first with the person who struggles to push themselves hard enough.
Amy Williams 31:35
Yeah. There's definitely a balance to be had between both of those extremes, but that's. That's the one thing is like. I I've seen a lot of clients come into my classes and they they don't realize, number one, that they're stronger than they thought they were.
Amber B 31:49
Yes.
Amy Williams 31:50
Because it's like, oh, I'm just gonna stick with the 15. I don't know why the 15 LB dumbbells are so popular, but.
Amber B 31:53
It's like in the middle, right? It's like not. It's like not light, but it's like I'm not too scared of it.
Amy Williams 31:58
For some reason the 15 LB dumb bells are like so popular and so it's like you don't realize. Like you can pick up a heavier your your toddler's 40 lbs like you can pick up something heavier and so that's the number one thing I I see a lot of people like they don't realize how heavy they can go because they don't thrive so it's like. Why not? Just just try, you know, just picking everyone. Like, if you're usually picking 15, try 20 and you never know. You're probably surprised yourself.
Amber B 32:35
Yeah.
Amy Williams 32:36
And then second second thing, I see a lot is they don't realize how much you need the intensity in order to stimulate muscle growth. We talked about food being very important. The very next thing to that is intensity. You have to have intensity if you do not. Then you're not going to go. You're not going to make the progress you want to see. So that means, like, if you're like, age 12, you know, counting your reps like, 11 and 12, you're you're not pushing hard enough. Yeah, you need to be like, ohh, you know, struggling, making the face is like, really pushing. It gets ugly, you know, that's that's the intensity we're looking for. And it will show on your face. If you are making a straight face, you're probably not looking heavy enough or having enough intensity like you can make any weight difficult. I I say heavy. Because you know heavies harder usually. But like, if you you can make any weight hard by by increasing the intensity like slowing down your reps, doing more reps and so it's like. You just need the intensity there.
Amber B 33:29
Hmm yeah you need to get to that point where it's challenging and like, like you said, you don't know if you can finish it or like you're at that end. And I think you're right that so many women don't know where that is and what a great model for life of if you’re, you don't realize your strength in this area, are there other areas of your life that maybe you are undercutting yourself,
Amy Williams 33:49
Right.
Amber B 33:50
Or that you're actually stronger than you think you are, but getting to that, those limits one is vital for building muscles. You can't build muscle unless you get to those limits, but 2 is part of the thing that builds the confidence, that builds the mental capacity that builds the strength to realize that you were stronger than maybe you think you are.
Amy Williams 34:07
Exactly. And and another another thing, if if you're like. OK, well, how do I know if I'm lifting intense, like, yeah. Am I making the faces or stuff? Another thing is, is if you don't need super long rest periods or if you can do burpees
Amber B 34:20
Yes.
Amy Williams 34:21
or jump around during your mix.
Amber B 34:23
This kills me.
Amy Williams 34:24
You're not. You're not having the intensity. You need to have. Like, you need your rest periods.
Amber B 34:29
When anybody's like. Well, what are you doing between sets? I'm. Like, I freaking sit my butt down on the on the ground and I rest like, yeah. What do you mean? What I do between sets? Like, I literally can't do anything else.
Amy Williams 34:42
100% like my compound lifts. Yeah. It's like a three to five minute rest period and then like, smaller muscle groups will be like, I don't know, 2-2 minutes, 90 seconds to two minutes. But like, if you're lifting with the intensity, you need those rest periods. And if you find that you're not or you're like, ohh, I can have a shorter rest period. Pick up some heavier weight or go with more intensity. Do some more reps. Like there you go.
Amber B 35:04
Yes, that's that's such a good cue for people. It's like you feel like you can do something after you just lifted it. You probably didn't do it hard enough or heavy enough for enough reps or like, we gotta make it harder in some way. And this is not just because, like, hard is fun or hard. It is essential for building muscle. If you're saying I wanna build muscle, you have to go to that place. Your body doesn't just build muscle Willy nilly like you said, it's it's biologically expensive. The only reason your body builds muscle is if it is forced into it, and the way that you force your body into it is by pushing to those limits.
Amy Williams 35:34
Yeah, because I talked about an adaptation at first, like our bodies are so good at adapting and survival, and that was another thing is like, you have to constantly push that envelope and push those limits for your body to adapt. Like Ohh I, this is hard. I need to grow muscle to be able to do this. And then and then as your body adapts to that, then you go heavier or you do more reps. As your body adapts and that's a slow process, but that's how that works.
Amber B 35:57
Yeah, that's right. So what do you say to somebody who is like, well, Amy that sounds like this would never end like. Am I just gonna keep, like, always go? Like is there an end to lifting weights and what do you say to that?
Amy Williams 36:11
You know, I I feel like. That's really hard because, like, there's people that are in their prime and they're young and they're feeling good and they can, they can push the envelope a lot harder. I'm almost 40. And so it's like I am very careful because, you know, with getting older, like you get to a point where it's like you don't really wanna push. I still train with intensity, but I'm not really trying to push that envelope and like add more weight, although I. I still am. It's a very, very slow process. It's been like it'll take me. Here's a good timeline for you. It'll take me like a year to get maybe 2-3 more reps on a compound Grover I had, I had to get dressed. Weight of. Let's see. I think it was like 495 and I I could do. I could do 8 reps of it and it took me an entire year to get to 10 reps of that weight. And so it is so slow. But. Like you know, so I don't know. There's like you look at these bodybuilders and stuff and it's like they'll get older and there's an end insight, you know. But like, until that time comes, like, you can continue to, like, push that envelope and train with intensity.
Amber B 37:16
Yeah. Yeah. And I think as you get older, cuz I've seen this too in my training. It's like as you get older. I think it's really important to realize that you need to keep the same intensity, but you might bring down the volume right when you were able to do 5 days of intensity. You know heavy weight lifting all that and you could recover from that as you get older, you may need to pull that back to three or four days and you can still have the intensity there on those days that you're lifting, but you may just have less volume and and be doing it less days.
Amy Williams 37:45
Exactly. And honestly, that's kind of the point where I'm at like for the first few years of my journey, I was doing like 6 days a week. Maybe not 7, but yeah, six days a week and then now it's like, you know what I feel like I have better quality lifts if I do like three to four days at the gym because I'll I'll recover more and then I can push harder. So I'm not like over training. And I think that's just like a gradual. Yeah, thing that happens all the time.
Amber B 38:08
Yeah. I also think you know, I have people who come to me who's like, OK, I've built the amount of muscle that I want to build. How do I transition to just, like, maintaining the muscle? And you can maintain muscle on a lot less volume than it is to like, build the muscle.
Amy Williams 38:19
Oh yeah.
Amber B 38:20
You still. Like you said, we're still lifting heavy. We're still challenging ourselves, but the amount of volume that are the reps and sets that you need to do over a week is much, much diminished when you're just the goal is just to maintain what you've already done.
Amy Williams 38:31
Yeah. And you can all go back down the intensity too if you're not trying to get stronger or build because like the people that are like, I'm not growing muscle, it's like, well, the intensity is not there, but they're maintaining. Yeah. And so the same thing is, like, you can you can back down the intensity and you'll maintain just fine.
Amber B 38:45
Yeah, yeah. Maintaining is a lot easier than building is.
Amy Williams 38:48
100%.
Amber B 38:49
And I think it's also important to recognize at the same time that building becomes harder as you get older, so there is this argument to be made of like wherever you aren't at is now the best time to be building muscle because it's only gonna get harder as you get older and you only lose muscle mass as you get older. So maintaining what you've built is a lot easier. Like get it done early and then we have a lot of years that we can maintain that with a lot less intensity, a lot less time in the gym.
Amy Williams 39:13
Yeah. Oh, I know. I wish I would have been able to start lifting when I was younger. But you know, we are better late than never.
Amber B 39:17
But that's what I'm saying. It's like the best time is to start now. It's like if you if you didn't start yesterday or 10 years ago, the best time is to start now, whether you're 30, 50, 70 or 80, like the best time is to start now.
Amy Williams 39:28
So my parents. And so they they come to my classes. My my mom is 67. She just turned 67 in August. And my dad is 70. And they they started coming to my classes, my weight lifting class is about four years ago when I started teaching them. Just just purely to support me because they were being, you know, it was like, well, we'll come support you. Over the years, they have my mom. My mom does like these decks of body scans. She goes and sees the Wellness doctor that has her do these these body scans and over the last four years she has decreased body fat percentage and and increased her muscle mass. At 67 years old.
Amber B 40:07
Love it.
Amy Williams 40:08
And she's gotten stronger. Like I watched her hip thrust 95 lbs. And she can hip thrust 225 lbs now at 67.
Amber B 40:16
So awesome.
Amy Williams 40:17
And so like, it can still happen. Like you can still grow. Like you said, it's never ending, but it's just, you know, they work out twice a week instead of five days or six days a week.
Amber B 40:25
Yeah, I find that's really the biggest thing is like. As you get older, it just takes more recovery. You have to be more deliberate about your recovery and and prioritize that. And so you have may have to pull back the number of days that you're that you're working out, but you can still make progress, right? Very obviously.
Amy Williams 40:40
100%.
Amber B 40:41
That's so good. OK, last question that I want to approach because you know you're a mom of six, so this is obviously something that you have to deal with is how do you find that balance between taking care of yourself, prioritizing the gym, Obviously, on some point, it's a career for you as well. But I have to imagine that there is some struggle between being a mom, but then also taking care of yourself and prioritizing your goals at the gym. So how do you walk that line for somebody maybe to get some advice of a mom who's maybe struggling with prioritizing her needs and prioritizing her health and fitness?
Amy Williams 41:13
So there's a couple of you've heard, you've heard the term like any mom will say this, they're like, I will die for my kids. Like any mom will be like I will. I will walk in front of a bullet and take a bullet for my kids, you know. But will you live for them? Will you take care of yourself because, like, maybe when they're younger or stuff you don't, you don't see, you don't see that, but like you're training for your old lady body and you're training for, you know, seeing your kids get married like your grandbabies being born, being able to play with your grandbabies and being able to. You know, have a good quality of life later on. So it's like, yeah, you'll die for your kids. But will you live for them? And so keep that in mind because I know we get the mom guilt. It's like, oh, I'm taking this time away from me. And The thing is, you can't pour from an empty cup. You need to have your time for you to work on you. I mean, like, your mom. Mom, mom, all the way, all the way. All the day long. But like, you need Amber time. I need Amy time. I need time. Where I'm Amy and I'm not mom, you know? And so that is so critical in, like. Helping, you know, facilitate you when you're taking care of you. You can take care of others better.
Amber B 42:17
Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, so good. OK, last question for you. What are some of your current health and fitness goals? And I asked this because I think. Sometimes hearing the goals that other people have can kind of spark something and people are being like, oh, that's a really cool goal to work on or I, you know, I'd love to be able to do that someday, so I'd love to hear. I don't know if you have lifting goals, if you have performance goals or what, what you're, what are you working on?
Amy Williams 42:39
Uh, yeah, the funny thing is like I I I don't know my goals truly now have have shifted from me to other people like I genuinely love helping other people and teaching other people and like watching other people succeed like that really brings me so much joy. So while my goals, like I always have a goal to get stronger, that's that. Always feels good and you know, but. But I I truly find so much joy when when I can help other people and, you know, bring them to the gym, teach them, watch their wins it. It's a it's a game changer for me. And so yeah, I would say that that's that's probably the biggest thing that I'm working on now. I do. I do like getting stronger. So that's always that's always the thing too, it's like. That's that's a constant. That's a constant. But yeah, just helping people and getting stronger and living my best life.
Amber B 43:28
I love it so good. OK, Amy, if someone wanted to connect with you, how are they going to find you?
Amy Williams 43:33
I'm on Instagram. My Instagram handle is absbyAmy. I have my websites absbyAmy Fitness. I also have an app that has all all of my. We talked about my classes that I teach, so I teach in Lehigh, Utah at Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:30 AM. I teach weightlifting classes. It's all just, you know, squads, deadlifts, military presses, you know, all of those. All those basic things I helped and walk through form. So teach those twice a week and then I also on my app I have my classes on my app as well as all of my lifting programs, nutrition guides, everything that I've learned. So like I told you at the beginning. How the process I went through in the learning process like in my app it's like man just just skip right ahead, just skip right ahead to where I started making progress and get a head start, get a jump start through my app. So I put it all on there to help other people and you know, get them. Get them working on their lifestyle and their fitness goals.
Amber B 44:25
Awesome, that's fantastic. We'll link all that up in the show notes so that you can find all this stuff. So thank you, Amy. Thanks for sharing your expertise and your love of lifting. I'll jam lifting with you anytime.
Amy Williams 44:34
Sounds good, Amber. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Amber B 44:37
Awesome. I hope you enjoyed that conversation when we hit stop on the record. Amy was like, wow, that flew by so fast and I just had to agree. I could sit and talk about lifting with her all day long, but I hope that that gave you some ideas about how to get started in the gym, how to continue making progress about maybe what that translation looks like as you get older or. Or hitting that point where you're wanting to maintain muscle. We covered so many amazing topics in that episode. One last small request, if you loved this episode, if you love Biceps After Babies, will you take just a few minutes and leave a rating and review on whatever podcast platform you're listening on? That really, really helps the podcasts to get out to more people. It helps to more people to learn about the podcast, and it's just a great way to say thank you for the free content that I put on here, so thank you if you've done that and thank you ahead of time if you are about to go do that. That wraps up this episode of Biceps After Babies Radio. I'm Amber, now go out and be strong because remember my friend, do anything.
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