Pam Peeke, MD: Hi, I am Dr. Pam Peak, and this is episode number 544 of the Bold and the Brave, her podcast Now today. I am so excited to be joined by a new best friend, oh boy. And her name is Karen Weinstein. how do I know this amazing person? Because I live in the world of fitness.

That's right. And she has an extraordinary background, in yoga and strength training. and also really is looking at the aging woman's body, over the years, over the years, 20, 30, 40 years old, 50 years old and beyond. You know, we wanna stay on top of it, but how do you do that?

Karen is a certified personal trainer, corrective exercise specialist. and she is a, 500 hour certified yoga teacher. That's a hell of a lot of yoga. Okay. Who's been teaching yoga, meditation and mindfulness since 2008, long before it was cool, and strength training since, 2016. Now. Karen, you were a varsity, you athlete, right?

What were you?

Karin Weinstein: Yeah, I played volleyball at Rutgers University, so shout out to Rutgers in

Pam Peeke, MD: Okay, shout out.

Karin Weinstein: I'm now officially a Jersey girl.

Pam Peeke, MD: Okay. You're a Georgia girl and that's because you're tall. You are.

Karin Weinstein: Yeah, I'm five 11.

Pam Peeke, MD: There you go.

Karin Weinstein: Yeah. Although I have to say the players now would dwarf me, so I've been back to games and they're 6 2, 6 3. So yeah, it's amazing what changes in a couple generations.

Pam Peeke, MD: It's pretty crazy, isn't it? Oh my gosh. Because I'm five foot nine and I played volleyball. I mean, I, they'd use me as the ball. I mean, come on now. Um,

Karin Weinstein: Yep.

Pam Peeke, MD: they've, they've all gotten so. just crazy athletic and everything. Oh my gosh. So listen, you and I have had many talks about, you know, just women and fitness and really sort of redefining why women want to get fit in the first place. And that really starts with, an examination of.

Your own relationship to your body. and you've written some beautiful stuff on this, just, you know, kind of amazing. and since we're looking at the new year, you know what's happening? You know, women are just running to TikTok and YouTube and Google and God knows where else, and getting totally confused about where you even begin to start taking care of yourself.

And I think you and I both agree that it all starts in the mind.

Karin Weinstein: Absolutely. Yeah. They, especially in January, we get bombarded with so many advertisements and really what they're trying to do. Is convince women in particular that there is something wrong with them because when you believe there is something wrong with you, then they can sell you the fix. And, you know, it's a, a multi-billion dollar industry between fitness and diet.

So, I mean, this is something that. personally, I get so frustrated because oftentimes women will come to me wanting to fix something about themselves rather than focusing on strength and longevity. And, you know, kind of closing that gap between health span and lifespan, which I know is something that we kind of chatted about a little bit, through email.

Something that just really frustrates me.

Pam Peeke, MD: the way I look at it is, you know, women immediately go, oh, if I do X number of those exercises, you know, it's all formulaic. You know, what formula do I follow? who do I follow? Yeah. I just saw something, which was interesting. it was a survey or so, about influencers on social media and if you were a woman who was a perfect influencer, she had a little ponytail and everything is just perfect about you and back and forth.

That viewers couldn't stand that. What they wanted was authenticity and they wanted to see someone who was real and maybe even had, you know, a couple of like little flaws. God forbid. Yeah, I know. Seriously. Just somebody who's real for crying out loud. But if you back up, it's all about meaning and purpose.

Meaning and purpose without appropriate meaning and purpose. Something that really resonates deeply with you and my meaning and purpose. Karen, may be very different than yours because meaning and purpose in life when you're looking at things like taking care of yourself changes, of course it changes.

Karin Weinstein: Yep,

Pam Peeke, MD: over the years. So it's not static. actually quite dynamic. So as you get older, you wanna, you know, stick around and, you know, you're starting to think about your health a lot more when you're younger. It's like, what do I look like? And I'm trying to find a mate and, you know, whatever, and back and forth talk to us about that whole issue of.

That narrative of meaning and purpose before we can even begin to talk about, how to move your body.

Karin Weinstein: part of what you have to know is what you're coming to fitness for. And I think that our culture has kind of done a job on women in terms of the way that fitness is framed. It's all been about, how you look, rather than how you function, and so women focus on cardio before they focus on anything else because.

The primary thing that they hear is that they need to lose weight, that they need to be skinny, that they need to fit in a certain size in order to have value. And until we can kind of move women past that, which is really hard to do, and it's something you've kind of been steeped in for your entire lifetime, it's hard to move past that and start embracing the fact that.

As your body is changing, as you're aging, we might actually want some muscles, we might actually want to put on a little bit more size and bulk because that's what makes us sturdier as we age, right? That's what's going to prevent falls. It's gonna help to prevent fractures as we age, and those get really important and pretty soon, I mean, I'm in my mid fifties and I already know women who struggle to get up off the floor.

You know, they kind of grunt and groan. that is just something that I, I want to empower women, and give them what they need so that they can thrive for an entire lifetime. tend to work with older clients. Yeah. And that's what I want.

Pam Peeke, MD: well, you're centering your focus on, function and, Kind of like what you're really doing is you're saying, I'd like you to be strong mentally and physically, and then you know, your body will follow along. And so once you lead with that, what woman wouldn't want to be mentally and physically strong.

And when we say strong, I mean obviously, we don't mean like over the top, we're just simply saying, empowered.

Karin Weinstein: Yeah. Well, I think it's hard. You and I were both athletes, right? So I think we come at this in a different way. I think if you've never. Been strong before. You don't know what it feels like and you don't know how good you can feel when you're strong and capable.

And I think having that athletic background kind of makes strength training as we age a little bit easier because we're used to feeling a little bit of that muscle soreness after a hard workout. And those things can be kind of intimidating or scary for someone who is branded new to this kind of effort in their life.

So I think that that's a big barrier for a lot of women.

Pam Peeke, MD: Okay, let's really start putting our heads together and help women out there right now. So the first thing is get in touch with your meaning and purpose. You need to spend a moment to reflect, you say, well, I wanna, you know, shed some weight. Why? What's the why behind this?

so that what, and by the way. If it's just wanting to look better so that you feel better, I'm down with that. I'm cool. So long as it's sustainable. Is that strong enough? Is it a strong enough meaning and purpose? because I've had people become actually amazingly successful, with that because they just got tired of wearing the same, what we call hide it clothes, they're like.

You know, you wear a tent, because you don't want anyone to see your body. and who needs to live around with body shame, you should be, feeling empowered. so really take a moment, that's your first step, and get in touch with how you feel about your meaning and purpose.

And you may have to have some discussions. You know, as you kind of become clear with this and the acid test is if you say, okay, here's my meaning and purpose, X, Y, z. You wake up in the morning and you find 65 excuses not to go to that Pilates class or the yoga class.

Oh, well, whatever that meaning and purpose thing was that you thought was going to stick, did not. So you better, you know, come back again and let's figure this out. Which one's gonna stick one way or the other. even if it's tenuous. Give it a whirl, whatever that meaning and purpose is.

if you wanna play with your grandchildren, if you've always wanted to hike the Grand Canyon, well, you know, having done it twice, rem to Rim, I'm here to tell you, you better be in. and I've seen people do credible things to get into shape to be able to do the travel and things that they wanna do.

So those are just some, a few examples. and obviously health concerns. If someone has told you, you know, you're carrying an extra 40 to 50 pounds, your blood sugar's up. and unless you wanna, you know, be on medication, here you go. And for all you little happy campers on GLP one medications and all the rest of it, that does not stop you.

For one second from taking good care of yourself because you'll never sustain that in a healthy way, unless you already have a foundational amount of physical activity and eating appropriately and getting your sleep and de-stressing and blah, blah. Okay? Now let's just say you've done your little homework with meaning and purpose.

How could a woman who's just sort of not been doing a whole lot for a while, how can she begin her journey with her own fitness? What would you recommend Karen?

Karin Weinstein: I think it's getting support, whether that's going to a group club. I know that gyms are not everyone's favorite. I tend to see a lot of those folks because they just, women in general are intimidated by doing something like strength training in a gym. If people are kind of in that hide me place, they don't feel comfortable doing a group class.

And so I think this is one of those times where doing something online can actually be really helpful. 'cause you're in the privacy of your own home. You get to kind of test things out. you get to. Turn your camera off if you need to so that you can do your workout on your own.

but I do think that having some kind of support and guidance is really helpful, especially if someone is stepping into this for the very first time. they need to know what to do and what not to. I mean, I work with a lot of women who have osteoporosis and osteopenia.

There's very little guidance for folks like that. so finding someone who's qualified, professional, who can actually give you a little bit of a, a program or a routine to follow. I think starting with body weight exercise is a really great gateway. I think a lot of times right now, especially women.

Strength training has gotten really big, and we see a lot of women lifting heavy weights, and that's wonderful, but that can intimidate women even more, right? Because women have traditionally kind of been shy about going in the strength training room, and so when they see that, they're like, wow, this is not for me.

I could never do that. And they really need to have an entry point that is. Feel safe, right? That they can kind of step into with some measure of confidence and feel like it's something doable for them. So I think starting with something like body weight exercises and letting somebody build some stamina and some confidence there before you, or even asking them to lift weights, which eventually I think everybody should be doing.

I have an 86-year-old client right now, after a break because of a, a health issue. She came back and she said, I really miss your yoga classes. I wanna come back. And I said, I think you should do strength training instead, because I could just tell she had kind of lost some of that strength and stamina from having been sick and we're six weeks in right now.

And the difference in her, she couldn't finish a class six weeks ago. And last week actually, she finished the entire class for the first time. So seeing something like that, those improvements happen pretty quickly when you show up for yourself and you actually do it.

Pam Peeke, MD: Okay, so there's your entry point. Your point about online. You do online, right?

Karin Weinstein: I do, I see clients in person. I'm a coach for Kari Prehab, so I'm also a process strength coach for them. And then I teach my classes. COVID changed everything. I used to teach classes. I was running all over the place to different yoga studios and gyms. And now I do everything online basically.

I do workshops and things occasionally, but it's amazing how that shifted everything in the way that people have access to strength training and fitness in general.

Pam Peeke, MD: And if you go to the website, Karen Weinstein, so that's K-A-R-I-N, Weinstein, W-E-I-N-S-T-E-I n.com. Then you can learn more about what Karen actually does and she's really, a master. with all of this very calm and very centered, and, very tuned into where you're coming from to be able to customize.

I think that your whole point about that next step after you kind of look at meaning and purpose is you've gotta get the A team together. And here's the thing, honey, it's like finding a hairstylist. like you gotta kind of. Shop around a little bit here and you have to do trial and error.

And sometimes those errors are disastrous, but here we go. And, until you finally find what works for you. So, be aware of the fact that this is all about trial and error. You may. you may not like it. You may wanna do a, some, you know, an in-person kind of situation.

Maybe there's a community center, et cetera. But I think the most important thing is what Karen just said, support. You do need support. You gotta ask people questions. is my form okay? Et cetera. Mass majority of women have absolutely no idea what they're doing with weightlifting. I'm horrified. when I enter a gym and I watch what some women are doing, like God Almighty either gonna hurt themselves.

Now I've been at it for decades. So have you, Karen. And so we've had Our share of superb coaching we went through, you know, the school of hard knocks and, we've learned it, you know, with our blood, sweat, and tears. that makes us much more aware of what you really have to do.

To be able to do this injury free and to understand there's only so much you can get outta YouTube and all the rest of it. so there's that. Okay. Now, many times what I'll ask somebody to do, let's see what you think Karen is. I'll say, are you walking?

I mean, I was just walking, or as a cardiology, it was actually a cardiologist up in Boston once said, walk your dog even if you don't have one. in other words, get up off your feminine behind and go out there and walk, and just see what happens if you measure out like what a mile is, how'd you feel after that mile.

How long did it take you? and then this way you have something to work toward and you may say, oh, that's not enough. It's just walking. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, walking is huge, number one. Huge. Huge, huge. And it's a beautiful entry point because, assuming you're able to walk and you're not disabled, et cetera, you should be able to get out there and start into it.

What do you think, Karen?

Karin Weinstein: Uh, I completely agree. I mean, especially if someone is going from sedentary and they're just moving into an exercise or fitness lifestyle, it's something they're trying to embrace. I think any kind of exercise is, you know, walking, going, dancing, right? And I think it has to be something that you enjoy.

You know, I think that's a huge component is I think that we've kind of started seeing fitness as a little bit of punishment rather than something that is about just the joy of having a body that can actually do all of these amazing things. So I think there's something out there for everyone, right?

Whether it's a tap dance class at a community center. Or just right Zuma taking a walk. Anything like that, find a sport that you enjoy. There's that sense of community that often keeps people coming back over and over again. Find a a little walking club so you're not doing it alone.

Get a buddy to go with you. So, I mean, I

Pam Peeke, MD: Hike, hike, go into nature. when I say the word hike, I don't mean that you immediately ran out to REI and, you know, dropped a wad, on all kinds of equipment. And I just simply mean, you know, get some decent shoes and then get out in the nature. Nature is.

Absolutely the Mac daddy. I mean, that's where I love to be. so, you know, it's a way of falling in love with moving your body because the reward is just priceless. You know, you smell the fresh air and you see the beautiful fauna and flora and maybe you're hanging out with a buddy out there too, and just all kind of comes together.

That's usually a great gateway. To being able to say, well, you know, I could even be stronger. Hmm. I wonder what the next step is. So then, you know, that's why I like yoga. Yoga for a lot of women is. Also a great gateway. It's like, well, I can use my body here.

I'm gonna feel okay. This isn't gonna be some great competition here. And it's, more gentle in many respects, than having a, you know, slam some equipment around in a gym and back and forth. So there are all these gateways where you can kind of move into it. I'm gonna tell you right now, don't forget martial art.

Karin Weinstein: Oh.

Pam Peeke, MD: Okay. I love martial arts and that just means tai chi and there are multiple levels of Tai chi that are, fairly rigorous, or just gentle and beautiful and will allow you to balance your body and strengthen your body. There are so many options out there, but you have to get off your feminine behind and find them.

It's part of the, you know, be curious,

Karin Weinstein: Yeah.

Pam Peeke, MD: be cur. It's like, wow, what would that feel like? You know, that type of thing.

Karin Weinstein: that's where that grabbing a friend and going, especially if you're really hesitant, it helps so much when you have a buddy to go with and it keeps you accountable. Right? Even if you. You know, to me, texting somebody and saying, Hey, I'm gonna take a walk today and just, can you check in with me later on and ask me if I've taken the walk?

Because then you kind of have to get back to somebody on it. You know that somebody's gonna ask you about it later. And I think just those little tiny things help the, they help so much with motivating you to actually go and do it. but I think part of it is you have to do it long enough to actually feel the difference.

And of course, if you take a walk or do anything exercise related, there's an immediate change in how you feel afterward. But I think it's really that long-term building the habit. And I think part of it is sticking with an amount of time that you know you can actually commit to.

So a lot of people go into the new year and they think that's it. I'm going to the gym every single day. I'm gonna work out for an hour. And that's so unrealistic for most people right now in their lives. So instead it's okay, can you commit to 20 minutes three times a week or four times a week?

And then once you check those boxes, now let's see if we can do half an hour, four times a week. And you just slowly kind of let it grow and expand in a more organic way rather than forcing it. 'cause when you forcing it, it becomes unsustainable right from the get go, right?

You kinda have to have the. The smart goals, right? We need it to be sustainable in order for it to actually become a habit, and it's the habit that keeps us coming back over and over again.

Pam Peeke, MD: the other thing I'm gonna build on is brand new science that's showing that you could divvy things up into five minutes here. 10 minutes there, 15 minutes over here. we all have nutty days, right? And so if you could figure out what it is that you could actually do for those five minutes, and if you think, oh, that's not enough.

you are wrong. Okay, I'm here to tell you you're wrong. because the science shows that it like, dollar bills in a piggy bank, it all accrues. what you accrue actually is, better health. I'll give you an example. What if you just did something like this? What if you simply did, you bought a step?

One of those little step things, they cost nothing. Just go to Dick's Sporting or, you know, somewhere. And then you just did step ups and you, someone was able to show you some really simple things you could do with that. Oh my gosh. Okay. And now you've got a stronger quads.

You're learning balance, right? Because we don't wanna fall off the thing either. and you're getting stronger in general, and you're learning how to hold your posture at the same time and all the rest of it. So how cool is that? How simple is that? And if you had that just sitting around the house, you could run over to it.

Anytime you want to, and maybe even it's outside the house, you know, in the backyard, so you can get a little outdoor action at the same time. There are so many things you could do for just five minutes, for 10 minutes. Just chop it all up. It's okay. And I wipe outta your mind that you have to live in a gym for an hour.

You don't have to do that. And you can get tremendous benefits. And remember, be patient, you know, maybe one year you're just doing a lot of these, and then the next year you say, yeah, I wanna, up it let's take it up a level here and maybe I'll, I just found out about this great new community center or gym and my friends wanna join and, we're gonna do maybe some group stuff.

or whatever. Just keep your mind and your heart open. and you continuously please stay physically active. At the very least, buy a super comfortable mat one with lots of padding, where you can do. Cool things, like bridges and some of your AB work and, straight leg raises and then all kinds of other cool planks, you don't need anything more than, a mat.

And this is all body weight. This is body weight stuff. What do you think, Karen?

Karin Weinstein: I love that idea of little movement snacks, right? And that's one of those things where if you are sitting at a desk all day, make a list, put it on a little post-it note and stick it off on the side somewhere. So when you have five minutes in between calls or 10 minutes in between calls, you look and go, oh, I'm gonna go upstairs at my kitchen counter and do 10 pushups on my kitchen counter.

Right? Something like that is perfect to incorporate. While I always like to say doing lick. Little jumps or hops or stomping your feet while you're waiting for water to boil or something in the microwave. There are all these little times when we're waiting for something and those few moments that you have is a perfect time to sneak in something small like that.

Counter pushups, a few jumps, a few hops, some jumping jacks. Put on some music for a little bit and just dance around your living room. Any kind of movement is good movement.

Pam Peeke, MD: You gotta keep moving. So when we come back, I've got more questions for Karen about leveling up to do some nice things for your spine. And

we're back. Okay. So. You know, for a natural fact that I am a Posture police woman. and you are a posture police woman. So why is posture so important? I mean, just it's important throughout life. but why is it so important for a woman, especially, you know, if she's in her thirties, forties, and now she's looking toward menopause where we have little changes happening, right?

Why is posture so important?

Karin Weinstein: as we age, it becomes more and more important, right? Because oftentimes, once we're moving through that menopausal transition and we have less estrogen in our body and we start to see some bone loss, and when we have poor posture that can put more pressure on the front of the spine.

'cause most of us tend to kind of. Slouch around forward,

Pam Peeke, MD: No, stop It really, I mean, I am horrified by what's happened since you know the ad. Vent of social media with everyone's nose stuck in their, you device. And so their neck has either got tech neck going on and then, you know, the whole spine is going forward. it's just awful.

I mean, I think everyone should just have a friend take a picture of. You know when you don't know someone's taking a picture and then you'll be so horrified. It will absolutely snap you out of your delusion that you're fine. And then you'll see that you need to constantly correct.

I do this with the shoulder roll. Bring myself back into a neutral, spine. I'm doing it all day long because I catch myself doing this and it's terrible. 'cause first of all, you look awful. Hey, here's a little something. You wanna drop two to three inches from your waistline.

Stand up straight. I mean, I remember seeing this. Karen, I'm not sure if I showed you, oh my gosh. So Kate Moss. You know, the supermodel little person and everything. There was a picture of her that was once done. Some photographer caught her while she was kind of bent over in a little nasty position.

I mean, she had a belly. We were all like WW wait. What happened there, and then it shows a picture of her when she's standing up straight and it's completely gone. the belly hanging out was gone. That's because your muscles are lax. You know your abdominal muscles when you're bent over like that.

But if you wanna look absolutely powerful, amazing, strong in mind and body. Stand up straight, you know? And, and when I say that, don't be ridiculous. I mean, you're not like hyperextended or something. You're just kind of remembering your ears, your shoulders and your hips are all in alignment.

And that's your neutral spine. And try to envision that practice with that, because you'll look amazing and it affects your mood too, right?

Karin Weinstein: Oh, absolutely. I believe that the way you way you carry yourself certainly affects your mood, and that is something that becomes more and more important. Especially when we start adding some load in strength training. So practicing that, you know, in things like you know, yoga class where there's some focus on posture, and then carrying those tools that you learn into some strength training is a really good idea because that's where that neutral spine becomes more and more important as we start lifting more and more weight.

So having that practice under your belt is always really helpful.

Pam Peeke, MD: I think that that's so terribly important. the posture thing is kind of something I play with all day long. and some, another little trick for. This is, this was taught to me by a dear, dear, wonderful friend who's a Marine. and I said, where did you get that posture?

My goodness. It looks like, yeah, I mean, your back's like a board. I mean, it's, it is crazy. And he goes, it's simple. We were taught to look straight ahead. Okay. And how many people are like staring at the ground while they're walking? Like, what's so important on the ground?

They don't get it. and you forget. Look straight ahead. You could still see exactly where you're going, know, you

Karin Weinstein: that's, that's one of those things with older women, right? They start to kind of get afraid of falling. So the head drops, the posture starts to go, and that actually poor posture actually increases the likelihood of falls. So it's actually having the opposite effect from what they're intending, right?

They think by being more cautious about what's happening right in front of them, they're going to prevent a fall, but it's actually keeping your chin up. Looking out ahead of you. Having that good posture as you're walking is actually more beneficial 'cause then you have a nice gait pattern and everything else that goes along with that.

Pam Peeke, MD: It, it all kind of comes together like a package deal. So that's something to work on in the new year. And if you really, I mean, seriously, I am so serious about this. I want to. Dare you to tell someone that you know, either if you're in a workplace or if you're home and you're bent over your computer, Tell them at some random time when you don't know, they should take a picture of you as you're bent over your computer and you will be shocked.

Shocked and amazed at how rotten you look, and you could probably hear your spine screaming for help, help you know, what are you doing to your back already crying out loud. Okay. Now other things we can do. So yoga's awesome. How about Pilates?

Karin Weinstein: Yeah, Pilates is, I mean, it's kind of along the same lines as yoga. I think really anything that attracts you. Pilates is not something that I have a lot of experience with actually. I'm more of a yoga. Girl myself. So that was something that, kind of coming out of playing volleyball like we were talking about.

I was a little bit of a weekend warrior and beating my body up a little bit. and yoga really helped with that tremendously. and I know that a lot of people have the same experience with Pilates in terms of finding. It helps with their posture, it helps with their core strength, it helps with alignment and just awareness of where your body is in space and how you're holding and holding and moving your body, and I think that's

Pam Peeke, MD: Elongation Elongation is very important. No question about it. Alright, let's go to strength training then. how does a woman, what would you recommend for a woman as she's beginning her strength training career?

Karin Weinstein: So you always have to take in into consideration where someone is coming from, right? What is their injury history? What is their exercise history? What are their goals? You know, is there something that you would like to be able to do? Travel and be able to lift your suitcase up into the overhead compartment on a plane.

So those are all things that you wanna take into consideration. So you might start doing some overhead presses. You might start to do some, just sit to stands, simple squats, things like that. I always, always start with body weight exercise because if you're not able to kind of. Control your own body weight, yet we wanna have that down first before we start adding in more load.

but when we start adding something simple like a dumbbell. I can start at three pounds, five pounds, because what I've, I've noticed is that women will walk around their house and pick up and move heavy things all day long, but the moment you give them a dumbbell, that oftentimes weighs less than that.

There's suddenly a little bit of a step back, like I'm not capable of doing that yet. You know, they're moving bags of cat litter and dog food, and my KitchenAid mixer, I'm pretty sure weighs 25 pounds and they don't even think about it. They'll pick up grandkids, not give it a second thought, but you could ask them to lift a 10 pound dumbbell, and it's like you're asking them to move a mountain.

Pam Peeke, MD: so what's going on with that

Karin Weinstein: I just think it's psychological. I think first of all, I think women underestimate the strength that they already have oftentimes. So when,

Pam Peeke, MD: point.

Karin Weinstein: yeah, I think that they end up coming into a wheat room and there's just something different about a wheat having a number on it. Because now you know how much you're lifting and there's just something psychological about that, that really, that gets to people. And it's something that I use these comparisons oftentimes when I see that people are, hesitant to increase weight, I'll have a conversation with them and say.

Okay, let's talk about who does the grocery shopping at home? Are you carrying the bags in when you do that? when you take a trip, are you carrying your own suitcase? And we'll start having a conversation and all of a sudden they realize, oh my gosh, I do this all the time.

And it takes away some of the intimidation of actually using a dumbbell instead of carrying groceries, even though there's really not much different about the two of them.

Pam Peeke, MD: I think that that's so important. I think we walk in with such stereotypic feelings, about what strength training's all about. and you know, I mean. We've seen on, TV and other places, all these beefy people, walking into, gyms and, doing their thing and they're very intimidating. Or you'll have these women who are kind.

Jim Jockeys, who are ripped and shredded and you're like, oh my God. and here I am, just an average body and the rest of it, without realizing No, walk your behind right in there. You own it too. You paid to be there. pick up that weight and really start to do it.

And I think that, to your point, once you begin to realize that you are strong, all of a sudden it's like, Hey, you know, this isn't so bad. I had the same feeling many years ago. think dinosaurs were ruling the earth at the time. you know, I was in my medical training and, uh, my residency.

And I went to, you know, some little gym where I could escape and kind of, I found that being on a treadmill de-stressed me. 'cause in those days all you had was a treadmill. And you know, that was about it. so, one day, a young man, and I'll never thank him enough, whoever the heck, he was just a sweet guy.

He was a trainer. And he, Was working out in there and he walked up to me and he tapped me on the shoulder as I was on the dread mill. 'cause I was bored to tears, but at least I was de-stressing and using my body. And he said, you know, have you ever thought about doing weights?

And I said, what is doing weights? What is that? And he goes, let's just, you know, if, if I could take you over here to the weight section. I said, isn't that where guys hang out? And they said, yeah, you know, no question. But women too. let me, let me just, you know, so I kind of was a little cautious here.

I'm like, where am I going? We went in there and he handed me weight and he said, give it a whirl. I'm gonna show you the form. Let's see what you can do. Well, I mean, the rest was his history. I took to it like a fish to water.

I loved the feeling of power. It's like, whoa, you know? Like this feels, I've never felt like this before. And to your point, I'm sure I've lifted heavy stuff, but it never occurred to me to do it more deliberately without the purpose behind it. Like, okay, the 25 pound bag of dog food.

Okay. That kind of thing, versus. 25 pound, single arm dumbbell for a biceps girl. Hmm. That's interesting. What's that about? And so I think that it, it's a real mental play, isn't it?

Karin Weinstein: Oh a hundred percent. I think women really just get in their own head about these types of things, and I think that the more we can make these connections to the everyday things that they're already doing, the more we kind of break down the barrier, you know? And then you have the whole, I'm afraid to get bulky thing, which is something that I hear over and over again.

but. Women don't understand that when you see someone online or on social media who has a lot of muscle, they have worked so hard for that muscle. You have to eat a certain way to look like that. You have to work out a specific way and you're run of the mill.

Generic strength training program is not going to make a woman bulk up like that. there are women out there who would like to get muscles that look like that, and they just have to work really hard at it. we have to do away with that whole, I'm afraid to get bulky thing because it's done women a huge disservice because there I, I actually am working with a client now who shows osteoporosis and the reason she did not strength train was because she was so afraid she was going to get bulky and she said, I wish I could talk to my 20-year-old self.

And tell her what was going to happen if I stayed away from the weights.

Pam Peeke, MD: I know, and you know, and for you and I who are lifelong athletes, you know, we pray to be bulky. We're like, please God. and honestly, between you, me and the walls, there's, genetics is a monster here. There's no question. I mean, you can't pray to be Serena Williams.

You just can't. I mean, you're either Serena or you're not. so there you have it, number one. Number two, regardless, the training technique. It can be optimized, but you're gonna work, you're gonna work like there is no flipping tomorrow. You are gonna work if you wanna, you know, really tone it up and optimize the size of the muscles and stuff.

And you're doing this obviously naturally you're not juicing or ridiculous stuff. and then honestly, what I tell women is. You know, your body's gonna take it where it's gonna take you and you'll look like whatever you look like. That's it. We're done. And you can't hope for. So, you know, I'm gonna ask you the question.

So do you have anatomical parts that you're just like ridiculously proud of and that you were just sort of born really with some superb muscle in that area?

Karin Weinstein: I mean, I think overall I'm a thin person. I've always been thin no matter how much. Strength training? I do. but I know that it's genetic, right? Because my dad was built the same way. His brother, his sister, they all had the same body type. And I got that body type, and that actually is hard.

It wor, I feel like it almost works against me sometimes because I think sometimes people think I want them to look like me and I don't. Because to me what fitness is, is has very little to do with the way that your body looks. If your body is functional and it allows you to do all of the things that you want to do with as little discomfort as possible, that is a fit body.

Right? So that's the. Picking up the bag of groceries, the dog food, going for a hike with your best friend. If you can do all of those things and not think twice about it, that's a type of fitness that I'm talking about. it's not a body type fitness because so much of that is driven by genetics.

So much of that is completely, completely out of our control.

Pam Peeke, MD: and that's where your, body fat lands, and I'm always laughing because I have literally a boy butt. Okay? I do not have a behind, you know, every time someone showed me j LO's or Beyonce's behinds, I'm like, I was fascinated. It was. How do you do that? I couldn't even, I was like, no.

I'm just like a little, like a board back there. so I ended up with my father's butt and my mom actually has kind of the same kind of thing too. So body fat distribution is also. very much genetic and just look in your own family line and you could see people who kind of look like you.

I'm not built like you at all. I'm a very muscular person, and so I look back in my own lineage, you know, involves Austria and Hungary. I'm like, I don't know. I'll look like 'em all. No wonder they're little hardy people. Good Lord Almighty. So, there's a point at which you just have to be realistic.

And so I think a really good guideline is just simply do your best with the basics. Do your best with the basics, and then watch what your body does. And just allow it to go where it's going to go because that, you know, whatever God gave you, you're going to see it revealed in a big way.

and I think that that's the wisest way to approach this and wipe out. From your mind, some expectation that your body is going to be transformed into some influencer's body. you could shop for a hair color, honey, but you can't shop for a new body that's not happening. instead, honor, respect, and absolutely cherish.

The marvelous body that you've got and then optimize the heck out of it. Have fun doing it. to your point about finding things that give you joy, when you're doing it right. Does that

Karin Weinstein: Yep. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And, and we have to keep in mind too that women's bodies, Most women have a little bit of extra fat in front of their uterus because that's an area that the body thinks it needs to protect a little bit, right? So women oftentimes are trying to get rid of what they describe as that little, you know, pouch in the front, but that's there for a reason.

It's protective. So I think we have to. Understand that most of the images that we see are doctored in some way, especially now with ai, which can actually do it on the fly. So you can be watching an influencer talking in a video, and at the same time you have no idea that it's cinching in their waist and making their busts look bigger and smoothing out wrinkles.

And so we are comparing ourselves to these completely unattainable goals. And not only that. Every decade has had a kind of like a cool body type. And so the goalpost just keeps moving. You know, one year it's super skinny. Another year you wanna have a figure eight type body.

Women cannot, possibly, we can't go there. Right? That's just impossible. So we have to let go of all of that.

Pam Peeke, MD: Change your hair color if you feel like it, but you not gonna change. Your body, what you wanna do is rejoice and embrace your body. Love it. look at your Bo. Really study it. Go, damn, I've got a good back. You know, look at these legs, come on down.

You know? And we could always do better. We could always continue to refine and get healthier and get more fit. Those are the goals. Healthy, get fit, skinny. No, no, no, no. We wanna be strong mentally, physically, wanna be brave, right? We wanna be bold. All of those things are the goals here, and that's why start with that meaning and purpose.

Kind of go to that place and then keep it rocking from there on out, and start really building a strong foundation and an ensuing podcasts that we're gonna be doing in the new year. We're really gonna be looking at building a strong foundation, mentally and physically and just taking, you know, small steps.

sticky steps, ones that will stick and that are ludicrously easy to do. Five minutes. So all I ask, five minutes, right? And then you go from there. And that includes meditation too. Uh, it takes too long. Well, you know, no. No, meditate for three minutes. Prove it to me.

And then what will happen is you love it so much. Next thing you know, 10 minutes went by and you're like, uh, what happened? so do you see kind of where I'm coming from

Karin Weinstein: Absolutely. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. That kind of goes back to setting those attainable goals, right? So we wanna make sure that something realistic. You're not gonna sit and meditate for an hour every day. But if you commit three minutes a day, that's doable. In that there's a sense of accomplishment that comes along with being able to check off that box each time that you do it.

And I think

Pam Peeke, MD: start building and you build upon that in a big way. Alright, tell everyone once again how they can find out about your wonderful work and potentially connect with you. Go for

Karin Weinstein: Yeah, well, there are a couple of different ways. So you already gave my website information and my name is spelled with an I, so it's. K-A-R-I-N Weinstein, W-E-I-N-S-T-E-I n.com. in addition to that, I am an a strength coach for Kari Prehab. so that's another way you could find me.

I'm going to be leading a cohort coming up at, well, in the new year. I have to figure out whether it's gonna be March or April, but I'm really looking forward to that as well. So those are both ways you can find and work with me a little bit.

Pam Peeke, MD: Awesome. I can't thank you enough. This was just fabulous. Our little back and forth, really welcoming women to their own bodies is. Really what we're doing, Karen, thank you so much, and of course we'll have you back on many times to help build that strong foundation. So thank you again.

Karin Weinstein: Thank you so much. It's been an absolute pleasure.

Pam Peeke, MD: I wanna thank my sponsor, so array vitamins, minerals, and herbs, rooted in nature, and the new her life stages. Products that cover you from menstruation all the way through post menopause. So scope it out@soarray.com, S-O-L-A-R-A y.com. Take a moment now. Leave us a review 'cause we love to hear from you.

So this has been a production of podcast health and remember, your time in this world may be limited, but what you could do with that time is not So get on out there. Have a good time. Seize the day everyone. Thanks for listening.