Exercise: How much, what type, and how to utilize cannabis

In this podcast episode, Beth discusses the importance of both cardio and strength training in fitness. She addresses the myth that strength training makes women bulky, explaining that women don't naturally have the same ability to build muscle as men. Strength training is beneficial for building muscle, increasing metabolism, and burning calories even after the workout. Cardio, on the other hand, burns calories during the exercise. Beth emphasizes that the choice between cardio and strength training depends on individual goals and preferences. For building endurance, cardio should be prioritized, while strength training is essential for weight loss and muscle growth. The frequency of workouts also depends on goals, with running multiple times a week for race training and strength training two to three times a week for weight loss. Overall, a combination of both cardio and strength training is recommended for optimal fitness. Hi, my name is Beth and you are listening to the Canna Fitness and Nutrition Podcast where we are hanging out at the intersection of fitness, nutrition, and cannabis. So today I want to talk a little bit more about fitness and exercise specifically because if you've ever wanted to get in shape or lose weight or start to exercise, you may have asked yourself the question, well, how, what should I be doing, what's better, cardio, should I be doing strength, how much, how many times a week, how long? These questions are common. I get these all the time actually. So it's normal to wonder because I think we're in an information age where we have a lot of information but sometimes the nuances get lost and so today I wanted to clear a lot of that up. You know, what's better, cardio or strength? How much of each should you be doing? How many times a week and for how long? And the answer is it depends. It depends on you and it depends on your goals. So I'm going to get a little more specific into that but first I want to really talk about the difference between cardio and strength training and I want to highlight strength training because thankfully, again, in this information age, we're exposed to a lot more information and I'm seeing on social media and in the news, I'm seeing a great emphasis on strength training for women and I love this because historically, there's been a large myth and there's been some hesitancy around strength training for women and I think it goes back to the Arnold Schwarzenegger days and the Jack LaLanne days where we would see these pictures of these bodybuilders. That was the original strength training, right? It was bodybuilding and when you saw a woman, which was rare, but if you saw a woman in that context, they would be all jacked up, they'd be all muscly and I don't love the word bulky but that's the word we use, bulky, right? And it was like this jacked look that turned a lot of us off, quite frankly. I think myself included and a lot of women don't want to look like that. We don't want to look like a bodybuilder. We just want to look healthy and toned and so I think in the early days, we saw a lot of that and it turned a lot of people off. So now I see a greater emphasis on strength training and dispelling that myth that strength training is going to make you bulky because here's the truth is that if you see women that are all bulked up like that, that are bodybuilders, chances are they're taking additional supplements to make them look like that because here's the thing, men are more naturally able to look like that. They're able to put on what we call bulk, right? They're able to really bulk up the muscles, they eat right, they lift weights because they have a lot of natural testosterone and a lot of them take additional steroids for that. So when you see a woman that looks similar, they've been lifting heavy, they've been eating right but they've been taking additional testosterone and additional steroids for that most of the time because women don't have as much testosterone in our bodies, we don't produce it as much as men do so we don't have the natural ability to build a body like that like a man does. So that's one major difference between the female body and the male body is that hormone, that testosterone hormone really plays an important role in our body makeup and men are just more easily able to put on muscle. Thankfully, now that we have more information and more technology to share this, I think we're realizing that you don't have to get bulky by lifting weights. In fact, you can't unless you're going to take additional supplementation. I have yet to work in 15 years as a trainer, I have yet to work with anybody that got bulky, any women I should say. And I think ordinary people like myself, I think this helps too is that we're showing you that we can lift weights as much as we want and not be like that, that you will just be toned if you lift weights. So I'm super thankful for that, that that information is out there more and we're hearing a lot more about that. But what about cardio? So when I say cardio, cardio is short for cardiovascular exercise, which in this context, I'm talking about aerobic exercise. So I'm talking about walking, running, swimming, biking, dancing, things that are getting your heart rate up for 15, 20, 30 or more minutes. So in that, in this context, I'm talking about cardiovascular exercise. So what should we be doing? Cardio or strength training? And how much? Right? But, and again, the answer is, it depends. It depends because when I meet someone, if I meet a client for the first time, my first question is, well, what are your goals? What do you want to work on? And the answer is different for everybody, but there's a lot of common themes. So if someone says, okay, I want to lose weight, well then that's going to change my answer. And if they say, well, I want to run a 5K, okay, that changes my answer. If they have physical limitations or injuries, that changes my answers. Your age, your history, all of those things will change my answers. So with just a couple of quick examples, if you're looking to build endurance, so say you want to be able to walk, you know, a few miles with your friends so that you can do that as a social activity, well then you need to be working on building aerobic endurance. And so I would say, I would have you prioritize getting aerobic exercise and really working on that. Now I would have you be doing strength training as well because that's important, but I would have you prioritize your endurance right now. If you are training for a 5K or half marathon or something along those lines, again, I would have you prioritize your cardio and endurance because you're going to need that. Now again, I'm always going to encourage both. If you are trying to lose weight, I would have you prioritize strength training, but again, also be doing some cardio. Now here's the thing, here's the thing about strength training, is that strength training burns calories after you exercise and cardio burns calories while you exercise. Now that's just a simplified version of the truth because cardio, if you're going to go out and run, say you go out and run a mile, right, you're going to burn X amount of calories while you do that. If you lift weights, so say you come to a training session or you go to the gym and you lift some weights for, you know, a half hour, then you aren't going to burn as many calories while you do that, but you're building muscle and muscle is what we call metabolic. So muscle burns the fat in your body. Your muscle burns the calories for you so that you don't have to do as much cardio. Okay, so it does take a little bit of time to kind of let that sink in, but again, think of it as this, cardio, you burn calories while you do it. Strength training, you burn calories while you don't do it. Okay, so that's why strength training is so, so important. Not only does it make us more functional, it makes us strong, we're able to do things and move better and feel better, but because that muscle mass, the greater muscle mass we have, the more calories we're burning at rest. And if you really think about that, that's ideal, right? Because we want to be able to do less and not have to do more to burn more. And I'll give you an example. Actually, one of my clients asked this earlier and I gave this example. When I was younger, in my late teens, early twenties, I was a runner. So, for example, say I started running, you know, three miles a day and I would burn, you know, X amount of calories. Well, that works great and I saw changes in my body for a little bit, but then your body gets used to that. And then suddenly, in order to see change, I needed to burn more calories, so I had to run more. So, as time went on, I ended up running, you know, after years and years, you know, now I have to run 10 miles a day just to keep burning more calories. So, I kept having to do more in order to keep up with it. Whereas, if I had known then I would have been lifting weights and I wouldn't have had to do more, I could have just gone heavier and been more challenged and done different things to be able to burn more without having to do more or longer. Because, again, I didn't know at that time that muscle was so metabolic and it was the muscle that was burning the fat on my body, not the running. The running burnt calories in the moment, but the muscle I had was what was really changing my body. And, again, I'm super thankful that now this information is out there more. We're seeing it more on social media. You see it in the news. You're seeing people of all ages strength training. I think this is really important. It's an important message. When it comes to which is better, cardio or strength, strength training is always going to be a priority. Always. Even if you are training for an event, if you're training for a race, or if you want to be walking and you need endurance for that, you're still going to need to strength train. But because of your goal, you're going to want to prioritize your cardio. So, which is better? They're both good. How much should you be doing? Okay. Now, that's a good question, too. And that comes down to, again, your goals, right? So, if you are trying to prepare for a race, if you want to run a 5K, you need to be running a few times a week. At least several. At least three, I would say. Be running three times a week to build the endurance and the discipline to run a 5K. If you are trying to lose weight, you need to be strength training two to three times a week in order to see real change in your body. But you also need to be getting some steps in. You need to be moving and getting steps in and getting a little bit of cardio. If you have limited time, then you need to be fitting it in when you can. You know, this is the thing. Again, lifestyle is a huge factor. If you are a mom, a full-time working mom with little kids, you don't have hours to just be working out. You know, my philosophy, and science backs this, is that little bits of movement from day to day, daily, makes a huge difference, which is why I start everyone with ten minutes. Ten minutes of exercise a day. Just find ten minutes, because everybody has ten minutes, and I know that because I know how easy it is to spend ten minutes on social media. So if you've got time to scroll on Facebook, you've got time to do something for ten minutes. So again, lifestyle is a huge factor, right? So how much should you be doing? As much as you can within the constraints that you have, right? Daily movement, I do recommend daily movement of some sort. Again, ten minutes is fine. If you take a walk around the block, that's awesome. I'll be honest. Some days, that's all I have time for. There's a mile loop right around my neighborhood, and sometimes I just do that. One mile. One mile. That's it. That's all I do some days, because that's all I have time for, right? And I try to balance it. I'm living a balanced life, and so it depends. You know, if you have a little more time, then you might be able to devote a little more time to exercise. How many times a week? Same thing, right? That depends on your lifestyle, but the more movement and the more you can incorporate some sort of movement in every day, the better you'll feel. That's the reality of it. And again, if you can do a mile one day, and if you can stretch one day, and then maybe you do a 30-minute session one day, and then maybe you do a two-mile walk one day, you know, this is all great. These all will make a difference in your body, I promise you, if you do that consistently. It's not necessarily how much or how long, unless you are training for something specific. If you're trying to run a 5K, you need to build up to 5K, and you need to be able to run that distance for however long it's going to take you and have that endurance. If you're training for a sport or an event, then you need to be able to have that much, that level of endurance or strength. And how long? And again, I go back to my 10 minutes. You know, again, 10 minutes is where I start, people. Ten minutes can make a huge difference if you do 10 minutes every single day because that is, again, I use this term a lot, but it's better than nothing, right? And your body loves to move, and a body in motion stays in motion, and you're going to be more likely to keep doing it. And if you enjoy it, you're going to start doing it, finding other ways to do it, and you're going to start sneaking in. Next thing you know, it'll be 15 minutes. Next thing you know, it'll be 20 minutes. So it'll build it over time, and you'll find time because you feel better. So injuries and limitations. Here's another big one because a lot of my clients have injuries or limitations, and that's one of the biggest reasons that people hire a personal trainer is because with injuries and limitations, it can be really confusing to know what to do, right? I mean, I had two knee replacements, and I feel for people that have that issue or have knee replacements or any kind of joint, hip replacements, joint surgeries because you don't know what to do, right? How would you know what to do? Suddenly now, you aren't able to squat, and you aren't able to, you know, lunge and do things or walk necessarily for exercise yet. It takes a little while. So you have to know what you can do. And one of the coaches online that's popular, they call it the trainable menu. And so that's what I do is I come up with a trainable menu for people so that you know what you can do because here's the thing. No matter what you have going on, there are things that you can do. There are absolutely ways that we can move your body and help you get stronger without having to be limited by an injury or a limitation. Now, just to kind of pivot a little bit here, when it comes to cannabis, like how does that fit in, right? That's a question, and that's a great question. I love CBD for every type of exercise. CBD to me is like medicine. CBD is like a vitamin. It's non-psychoactive, so you're not going to be high. But it does, again, it helps with anxiety. It helps with clarity. It helps with sleep. So if you're looking for a daytime help with anxiety, for example, like I use, so a CBD is going to give you more clarity, it's going to make you more mindful, and it's going to enhance your mind-body connection. So what that means is you're going to be more focused when you do exercise. So using CBD while you strength train is actually going to help you get more out of your workout because you're going to be able to focus on what you're doing. Have you ever tried to work out, but your mind is thinking about work or a relationship or something that happened that day or what you're going to make for dinner or what you need to do, and your mind wanders easily. And that's fine, but you're not connecting fully to your muscle, and you're not reaping the benefits of your muscle the way you could be if you were entirely focused on it. So CBD can be a great way to enhance that and stay focused on your goal. So I like CBD for everything, for lifting, for cardio, for stretching. Again, because it's not psychoactive, it doesn't interfere with anything. Now THC, which is the psychoactive type of cannabis, now that's a little different. I personally love a low dose of THC for walking. I think that my walks are just meditative, and my mind gets to wander in beautiful places if I take a little bit of THC before a walk. And that makes it just very enjoyable for me. And a lot of people have said the same. Now it depends on your type of cardio too, and it depends on the level of THC you're taking. So if you like to be stoned, you may or may not feel like or want to exercise, especially you may or may not want to go for a run. But there are people who do love going for a run after they've used it. What I do love is, with a more moderate dose, is stretching. And using THC when you're stretching is amazing. And this is one thing that in my dream of dreams is one day that I'll be leading stretching classes where we utilize THC. Because of that mind-body connection, you're able to get really deep into your muscles and feel each stretch. And you can better feel your body where it is in space. You can better connect to your body. So you get a really amazing, amazing stretch. So if you love THC and you've never tried stretching while you're using it, then give that a try because it is fantastic and it feels so, so good. But again, if you're not a THC person but you're interested in CBD, the non-psychoactive kind, that is also great for stretching and it also enhances your mind-body connection. So you're getting more out of what you're doing for your body. So that's my little summary about what we should be doing for exercise and how to use cannabis at the same time. So if you have any questions about that or if you have any questions in general, please send them to me. I love questions and they help me come up with topics for this because I want to be helpful and I want to answer the questions that you have. I want to be able to help you utilize cannabis in your fitness and with your nutrition to really accelerate that and feel your best. So thanks again for listening. I really appreciate all you listening and for the feedback you're giving me and I appreciate the sharing. That means a lot. And if you want to give it a rating, apparently that's how we get more likes on the podcast is by giving ratings. So feel free to do that. You can reach out to me. My email is now best at cannafitnessnutrition, all one word, .com. And I'm on Instagram, best underscore cannafitnessnutrition. And feel free to reach out. I love questions. And, again, thank you for listening and have a great day.