Hey there, and welcome back to the treat me Turo fitness podcast. I'm your host, Turo Virta, and today's episode is especially for every woman who wants to build lean muscle feel stronger and look more toned without spending hours in the gym. So we are going to debunk the myth that you need to train five or six times a week to make real progress. If you have ever thought, I just don't have the time to train like those fitness influencers, this episode is for you. So let's talk real life strategies that actually work. So if we get started with the myth of more is better. So more isn't always better. Better is better. And there is this common belief that unless you are trading four to six times a week, hard, you won't see any changes and but for the most busy women, eye coach, mums, professionals, caretakers, that's just not realistic. But the good news is it's also not necessary. What actually builds muscle isn't endless workouts. It is what actually helps is consistent strength training, smart programming, recovery and eating enough, especially protein, so because you can build 100% muscle and tone your body with as little as two to three strength sessions per week. So because that is, that is the most common mistake that it's it's just the number in your head. I recently one of my it's a good real life example, one of my clients who set the goal that she need to strength train three times per week, and she said that now she takes a break because she's able to work out only two times per week. But I was like that, oh my god. Do you understand that this expectation, it's only in your head, but actually helps now, if you take a break and because you are only able to train you because of your other commitments, family, business, work, you are. You are. You can't train three times per week, but you are consistently training two times per week. And if you don't have this plan, you are not or you are not trusting your motivation. And more often than not, the cycle is going like that. You are telling yourself, because I know it's hard, it's that's what I how I talk to my how we talk ourselves, how I talk to myself too, that if I don't have three times a week time, it's not worth of it. But, and I was this person earlier, but how wrong I was now I when I I set some call for once a week, two times a week in the best weeks, maybe three times a week, but never more. But what actually helps is that you have a plan. You are your nutrition, and my nutrition is supporting my goals, I make sure I recover and I make most out of that time, because I know that that is realistic. I have a plan. What I'm following. I'm focusing on quality over quantity and and I don't trust my motivation. So when you when you have that plan, and like this woman who said that two times a week is too little, so she's getting back on it when, when time is better, when she can again train three times per week, they said that if you And she was then reconsidering, considering her thoughts, because actually, two times a week strength training in a busy period of life is amazing progress. It's not the setback. It's not that you are going down be poor for something. Because if you think that, what is the alternative is that you are not training. Maybe you think that, okay, I do some random workouts every once in a while, I'm active. But once you keep going that, you are starting to realize that this is not working. I'm not actually, if you rely on your motivation, it's not going to work for a long period of time, maybe short period of time, but it's never going to be long term game. So the key is here to stay actually consistent and adjusting your own expectations. Because this is not about perfection. Perfection, that is a very big enemy. Is that all or nothing, thinking and and adjusting your own expectations, like if you, if you are in situation that you think that now I have time only once in a week, that is actually a progress. When you hit that one time in a week consistently, it means that, honestly, you might be able, even able to see some kind of progress. Obviously, one time in a week, it's not realistic to expect amazing progress. But during this time, progress isn't always, because progress at this time is actually maintaining your results one time in a week, with a good program, you are able to maintain everything, and then when time gets better, you are when you have more time, life is not that busy as it is now. You are able to make more progress, and it's totally different starting point when you have to cover or getting back on where you used to be, when you are already you have that higher starting point. So maintaining your progress is also a progress. So, so that is, that is, that is a huge mindset, mindset shift, and just with the two to three strength questions, you are able to make progress. So then one of the most common mistakes, or things, what I hear is that that when we say that we want to build muscle, a lot of women here that I don't want to get bulky, and let me reassure you, you won't get bulky, not accidentally. So building muscle, especially as a women, takes time and intention, and because if you think that you are suddenly getting bulky, what I one of my favorite phrases is to tell someone who is scared of getting bulky, message that, okay, if at some point you see in the mirror some bodybuilder and you are you don't see you Think that you are too muscular. You can always stop strength training. You can always shift your pose. And it's just accident, because if you would know many women, how many to get bulky, but they are not able to get because some of these things are missing. You need to have nutrition that supports your course. You need to have right volume, right load. And if you don't have all these in a, in a in your program or thought, it's going to be hard anyways. So don't be afraid of getting bulky. What when you are, when you are because when you are building muscle, what you actually notice is that you feel more don't because being more toned or building muscle. It's the same thing. It's just a different name. It's the most influencers marketers are using that muscle toning program instead of muscle being program. It means exactly the same thing. So you are, what it means. It's that you are actually you are getting stronger. You are improving in your workouts. You are able to use more weight, you are able to do more repetitions. It always means that your muscle is getting more hard, and in other words, you are getting more don't what it what? Also, you will notice your clothes will fit better. Your metabolism is going to improve, because muscle needs more energy and you need basically, the best example is that when you get you build muscle, you think I'm focusing on if, for example, fat loss is a goal. You are focusing on burning calories. But what most people don't think that when you build that muscle, you are building your body. Kind of machine who is building always burning more calories while you are resting? So everywhere to see that somebody is burning 150 to 400 calories more during the day without doing anything. And in the other words, if you think that that is like, let's say that 300 calories more per day if you are able to build that much, it's like doing an half an hour cardio session every single day without actually doing it. Also you will have more energy your everyday tasks like lifting groceries or carrying the kids feel easier. This is all about function and confidence, not size and and those are, those are for me, those are the best examples. Are real life examples, like with the women who I work with. The best examples, what they are they are able to open, uh, model or class with their own hands. They are able to lift their luggage in a plane. They are able to hike, first time ever without having without taking a breath. You are able to carry groceries, if you like. One of my clients said that earlier, it was always her husband who was carrying all heavy objects or all heavy packs, and now she's like, Oh, give me that back. Let me carry it. And she's actually stronger than her husband. And those are, for me, kind of real life example why this strength training matters, why it's so valuable? Because it might feel like that for maybe, maybe some younger males, they are asking how much you are bench pressing. Nobody cares. Me and for most of my clients, it's those real life examples, what you are able to do, more what, what you maybe haven't been able to do, maybe ever in your life, and now, through that resistance training, you are able to do things what you were never able to do, or you didn't even believe that it would be possible for you. So then what is the minimum effective dose for muscle growth? So here, here is where things get practical. If your goal is to build muscle without living in the gym, here's your minimum effective strategy. So train two to three times a week with full body strength workouts. So this is one of the most common mistakes. Or what I see is that, if you are not some body builder, if you look social media, there is all kind of different speeds. They are bad. It always depends how many times what is you are able to work out. What is your goal, if and if you are not a bodybuilder, some body part strength training is not the best possible way. I would say, because what is the best way to actually do this is that you are training full body and I'm big believer and for full body workouts. Because when the life happens like, let's say that you you are doing some body part split, which means that you are training, for example, upper body, lower body, full body sessions in a week and or pull pull leg, push, pull legs, which means test working different parts of your body in a different workouts. And these splits, they work in a cases that you work several times a week so you have a to train your upper body, then you want to train next day. You can train your legs, because your upper body might be needing actually recovery. But if you do it, if you do it the next day, it's in those cases. But if you have a possibility that you have one day rest in between full body workouts are the best, because in the worst case, like let's say that life happens, you are missing one workout, and if you are having upper lower body split and you miss one workout, it might mean that you don't train for two weeks your upper body, if that happens to be upper body or lower body, but if you do full body workouts, the worst case, you still train your full body, and you don't have so long rest time or so long break for training the muscle. And like always, consistency beats the perfection. Always. What exercise is you should be in focusing. So the best exercise is to focus our compound exercises. Compound exercises mean like that, where you are using several muscles in a in a same exercise. So examples are squats, lunges, rows, presses, tip lifts, and you should prioritize quality over quantity. And the next important thing is progressive overload. So you might have been hearing about it, what? What it means that it means increasing either weights reps or time under tension, slowly over time. And it doesn't mean maybe in the beginning, if you are new in a strength training, you are able to act every single week, something, but then more experience after three to six months of strength training, it doesn't happen every week. It doesn't it's impossible. And those changes realistically. They are like that. You are maybe able to add every other week, little bit Wait, do maybe one more rep. If you do, let's say three sets. You are maybe able to do one to two more repetitions in in one exercise, if on of one of those sets. So this is how it changes, depending on your experience. But and and you don't need new workouts every week. You need progression and part number three, or tip number three, is recovery matters. So your muscles don't grow while you are training. They are growing while you are recovering. So what happens during the strength training is that you are actually causing damage to your muscles, and then your muscles are repairing. You need a recovery, but obviously, if you miss that part of damaging your muscles only, recovery won't help to build your muscle. But during the strength training, you are not building that muscle. You muscles are not growing while you are strength training, they grow while you are recovering. So that's why sleep, rest days and nutrition, they are all part of the muscle building puzzle. And then about the nutrition, Don't skip your protein. So aim to 1.6 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of your body weight. So that's around 100 to 130 grams per day for many women, and protein is a raw material for muscle, so don't leave it out. And if you are like most women I work with, they say that I'm eating a protein. But if you have no idea how much protein you are actually eating, track it for week and sequence most women who I work with, who are telling me when we start to work together, is that they are eating that I'm eating protein. And once they start to track, they might realize that, oh, I'm eating 4050, grams. There are very few who are eating 60 grams of protein. And then when you are saying, oh, you should actually double it, and how you're doing it, you are not obviously, it's going to be almost impossible to double it overnight, but with small, sustainable steps, you are getting there, learning new ways how to think on your eats meal. What is my protein source, where I'm going to get it, how I'm going to build what are, what kind of habits I have, like, for example, if there is protein missing from my breakfast, and once you start to use these small steps, adding 1015, grams of protein, more per each meal, you are slowly step by step, getting close to your goal, and you will see that then in results in your workouts and in your body. So how then to make this work in a busy life, let's be honest, because time is limited. So how you can actually fit this in? So keep your workouts relatively short. So most people who train with me are working out 30 to 45 minutes. It's there are a few that work out hour, but most of them are on 30 to 45 minutes. So you can also train at home or at the gym. What is the easiest for you to stick with? So most of my clients are working out from it's too time consuming to go actually the gym, but obviously some people like to go to gym. You have kind of appointment with yourself to go to the gym if you don't have but you don't need a lot of X different machines, or if you have a pair of dumbbells, some resistance bands or to get started, body weight is also great later on. It's if you have adjustable dumbbells, that's basically all you need. What you what you really need is a structured plan, and not those structured plan is not some random YouTube workouts, because that is even if you are beginner, doing something is always better than nothing. And you answer, I have worked with several people who say that they are following this fitness influencer from YouTube, working doing their workouts, but think it they are not. If you think how social media is working nowadays, it's not that they are not they are not. Often if I would do as an influencer, I'm not calling my myself, by the way, influencer, but let's say, if I would like to get maximizing all views, everything. And I would do basically kind of basic stuff, like squats, stuff like that. They are not getting a lot of attention. It's not that they are not working, but they are just people have seen them so often that you don't get a lot of views. And how those influencers then make money is that they get more views. And to get more views, you have to create some kind of new things, what maybe people haven't seen so often. And it means that those workouts are probably not the best ones, what you actually should be doing. But until you get your views, you get people who are buying into your programs, your goal, you have reached your goal. And that is kind of what is said in this fitness thing, is that all views, all clicks, they are money. And if you don't do it, you are not kidding. And so if you get in the beginning, you I'm sure it doesn't matter, whatever you start doing, you will see progress, but you are seeing a lot better progress if you have a structured plan. And I don't honestly know any YouTuber who is doing amazing job with the workout. So so because I wouldn't share my workouts in YouTube because it would be probably boring to watchers to put those things. And it's because it's always you have to have it's personalized. So how I, how I nowadays, plan a lot of my of my course, I'm big fan of AI and AI is you can use chatgpt Get the workout plan and but there's also, like with the AI tools, what I have been using, it's often doing exercises what I wouldn't agree with, like most of them, most of those plans are okay, but then you get written exercises okay, you certain? What is this exercise? And now in my working workout app is the way how to execute you, right? I give a prompt, what equipment, what is your goal? If you have injuries, if you have what equipment you have access to, and how many days a week, and this is how I get individual workouts for each person. But as I said, it's aI not there are some exercises as a coach, I'm looking like that. Oh, this. I would never choose it's okay, but it's still not how I would like to have it and but it's with very few assessments, we are having pretty good and pretty solid plan. And it's very good, especially for injuries or or if you have some weaknesses, weak areas, what you want to focus on so you get relatively easy plan, and that is, that is what is what I'm using. I'm starting as this episode is coming out on Monday, June 16, next eight week challenge where you basically, it's all about the information, what you are getting. You are using, I'm using right prompt. I'm you. I ask you questions, how many workouts, access to injuries and so on, and doing within this information, my AI coach is building a plan. It's coming relatively quickly. I look at it, I make needed adjustments, as I said, because some things are still not the most optimal, and this way you get individual workout plan so more information. You can sign up and join for wait list, or if registration might be already open when this episode is coming out. So I will put link to show notes if you are interested to get individual, structured workout plan created by AI and with my personal book, how it's going to be individualized that it makes actually sense. And then, in a in a real life, what actually works is to schedule your workouts like appointments, negative events. So I have to, I'm putting my own workouts. They are in my calendar. They are non equitable events for myself. So that is the time when I need to get started with my workout. It doesn't mean that I have to finish it, but I that is the promise I make for myself, week by week, that this is the time when I get started and when once I get started, I only need to do one set of the first exercise if after that, I feel like that today is I'm not motivated, I'm busy, I don't have time, then I have permission to stop. But at least I feel so much better when I get started. And more often than not, I will do maybe second exercise, maybe third and I get even if I don't get whole workout done, I still have done something. So because even two for then consistently, they can create amazing results over time. So because you must remember, it's not about what you do in one perfect week, it's what you repeat for the next three, six or 12 months. And here is a good, real life example. So two weeks ago, I had an amazing guest, Sanna in my podcast. So take a if you haven't listened that episode, it's it was published on May 22 from fat deliver to strength training. How Sana reclaimed her health at 42 is the episode name, and she's Sanna. Is 42 she works in a medical field, has a child at home, and when we started, she wasn't going to the gym, and thought strength training wasn't for her. She was doing random workouts, but when and she was really scared of the gym and never worked out. Was scared of machines because of her past experiences, and we started with the two workouts a week using simple exercises and Fast Forward. Forward six months, she has lost almost 10 kilos of weight, gained visible toned muscle, and feels more confidence, and she loves strength training now, all without a five day gym routine. This is what happens when you keep it realistic, structured and sustainable. So couple most common mistakes to avoid before we wrap up this episode. So few, few mistakes I often see. So it's mistake number one must be doing too much cardio and too little strength training. So cardio is great for heart health, but it doesn't build muscle with the cardio you don't even you are calories during the workout in the long term, if at losses, your goal strength train should be the foundation of your training. And then cardio is kind of addition, and the best way to burn more calories is not some going for a run or something. It's just tone to cardio. What is actually for me, it is fast walking, because that boosts your it helps to recover faster. It's not too demanding for your body. And if you try to do kind of everything at the same time, it's getting too much for your body, then mistake number two is changing your workouts too often. So stick to the basics, repeat, and that means you are progressing. So don't do some random workouts all the time. So it's, it's mistake number three is training without intention, so lifting and using the same weights for months won't lead to new results, so you have to use that progressive overall push yourself. And this is especially for the women. Most of the women, they could be using so much more heavier weights. And if you are not, you have to add something, or aim to add something. Obviously, like I said, it's not going to happen every single week. It may be in the beginning, yes, but you don't have to be scared and changing also your repetition. So sometimes you are doing, let's say, five repetitions with heavier rates, and then next month you are going to do 15 repetitions with lower rates. So kind of mixing everything with the heavier weights, less repetitions, lower weights and more repetitions. So this kind of mix is giving you the best possible results while doing less workouts. So so try to use these different approaches, because if you do the same thing, same amount of repetitions, your body is very adaptive. And to avoid this, it's called, I like to call it a kind of training, smarter, not harder, and that's why you have to train with the intention and changing amount of weights, amount of reps. And Mistake number four is neglecting protein and recovery, so you can't outrain Poor nutrition or lack of sleep. So those two things you have to have in part of your protein. So let's recap this episode. So if you want to build muscle and feel tone, you don't need to live in the gym. What you need is two to three consistent, smart strength training systems per week. Protein rich means plan that fits to your life, lifestyle, not the other way around. This isn't about being perfect, it's about being consistent enough to see results that last. So thanks for tuning into the fit me Turo fitness podcast. If this episode helped you shift your thinking or made you feel seen, take a screenshot and share it in your on your Instagram. Instagram, tag me at personal trainer underlying Turo, I would love to hear what clicked for you today. And if you are trying tired of trying to figure this all out on your own, go to personal trainer, turo.com/coaching and let's set about how we can work together to build strength without overwhelm. See you in the next episode And remember, stone, doesn't have to mean busy. It means it says.