00:02
Hey everyone, it's Mikki here. You're listening to Mikkipedia. This week on the podcast, I speak to Hollie Nicholson, trainer, nutrition coach, and creator of The Strong Method, program that's helped thousands of women over 40 reclaim their confidence, strength, and energy.

00:19
So Holly is a biz bestie of mine. We're in the same business mastermind. And in this conversation, we talk about what it really means to train and thrive as a busy woman in midlife. Holly shares how she found her passion for helping women over 40, the biggest training mistakes she sees, and how her approach has evolved from lifting like cardio in her 20s to prioritizing muscle and recovery now. And that lifting like cardio, I think is something a lot of women can relate to.

00:49
We dive into mindset shifts, hormonal changes, and the reality of balancing fitness with family work. Holly also opens up about how to navigate body changes with compassion, stay consistent when life feels chaotic. Her more recent alcohol-free journey and why self-care isn't selfish is strategic. So I've got links as to where you can find Holly over on her website and also over in Instagram in the show notes and

01:17
Holly is a French fry loving dessert ordering, early to bed, Midwest mum of three, who feels most alive in the mountains and always has an afternoon diet coke in hand. I appreciate that. In 2020, she swapped her fifth grade classroom for a Zoom screen and discovered a dream she didn't know she had. So what begun with 40 women in a garage grew into a global movement. And today, Holly helps women everywhere get stronger inside and out.

01:47
And I just really loved chatting to Holly because she is, she's just got such vibrance and energy and really is one of the sweetest people that I know and hilarious as well. So I really think you're going to love this conversation. Before we crack on into it, I would like to remind you of two things or tell you of two things. I have a webinar coming up, Fat Loss in the Festive Season, Wednesday 29th of October, 1pm and 7pm.

02:17
New Zealand time so it's run twice, recorded and sent out. Free to join and I'm going to share with you the five habits holding you back during the festive season and three effective strategies to help you progress regardless of your goal. So we will put the link to that in the show notes as well and if you love micipedia and you get to subscribe, rate or share it with a friend that would be amazing. Please do so, I would love it. Just over on your

02:45
favourite podcast listening platform. That way the visibility of Micripedia increases and more people can hear conversations that I have from the heart, like the one today with Holly. Alright team, enjoy the conversation.

03:02
Well, Holly, I've just hit record. for being here this morning. Really great to see your face. I know you well. I feel like I've known you for so many years now because we've been in the same business group and we're business besties. And I just always love how you show up in our little space, but also to the woman that you speak to on social media and your business and what you do, Holly. So, So first of all,

03:32
Holly, for the purpose of, people who don't follow you and don't know you, can you give us a little bit your background and what got you into fitness and not only what got you into fitness, but what got you into training other women actually? Yeah. um I love telling this story. It's one of my favorite things to tell because I'm actually a teacher at heart. So when I coaching women, I'm like, this is what I love is to teach and to coach and that's.

03:59
That's what I feel like I was put on this earth to do. Truly, I feel like it's my calling. And so I actually was a fifth grade teacher and then I was a school administrator. And I, know, at 20 at the ripe age of 25 years old, I married a guy in finance who thought that a gym membership wasn't in the budget. So you know what, I was like, I got to figure out how to pay for this. So I had the summer off and we were newlyweds and I went to our local YMCA.

04:28
and I asked them, I asked somebody to teach me how to teach group fitness. So that's really where it started. 25 years old, I started teaching group fitness. I taught one class, sometimes two classes a week for a lot of years until we had kids. And almost 13 years ago, my daughter's gonna be 13 on September 10th. I resigned from my teaching job. um And I went, I was a stay at home mom.

04:57
I was kind of going crazy if I'm being honest. That's a lot. And so I started picking up more classes at the local gym, at the local YMCA um to teach. So I started teaching daytime classes. And then I went back to work for a little bit as an administrator, school administrator. And then I had another kid and it was time for me to stay home full time. And at that point, my husband was traveling a lot.

05:26
And me going to the gym and teaching a class meant I got one hour of free childcare while I taught my class. And then I got one hour to myself. So I could go to the gym and teach a class and then I could take a shower without any children near me, was a luxury. of children.

05:50
heard them come in from school. So anyways, that was like a complete luxury for me. So I did that and I just really developed this like love for coaching women to be strong, to get fit, to love their bodies. um I loved being around them. I loved the community that was a group fitness class, you know, and I trained for lots of races back then. I was running half marathons. I ran my first marathon and

06:20
2010. And then um I ran them, you know, throughout having kids. that's really where it all started. And then I taught group fitness while I was very pregnant with all my kids. Actually, uh I taught my class on Monday with my third kid. And I made my class wear a uh pink shirt or a blue shirt because I never found out the sex of my babies. And I went in labor on Wednesday.

06:50
When I taught the class and so I, you know, I did that for so long and at that time, and I don't know if you've ever known this, Mickey, people were like, you like are fit and you're working out while you're pregnant. You should start a blog. So I did. And I called it muscles. I called it muscles and munchkins. Yeah. Okay. I did not know that Holly. And the other thing I want to ask you is, you know, nowadays it's quite, um,

07:19
accepted that women who are pregnant are able to be active, you know? and I know that your kids aren't that, oh, but I wonder what was, was there any sort of stigma or questions around you teaching class at the same time as being pregnant? Oh, yes. Yes. I mean, okay. You can't see me on the screen here. I'm five foot four. I'm not tall. I'm not a big person, but I always had the biggest belly. mean, I was so huge when I was pregnant.

07:48
people would make comments to me all the time. Like, are you sure that safe? Is that baby gonna fall out? I mean, the comments that I would get were just wild. I one time had a woman walk out of my class because she was like, why would I take a class from a pregnant woman? This is not gonna be worth it. I was like, stay in here. I'm gonna show you how good of a workout I'm gonna give you. Oh, that's crazy. So now, Hallease, you're talking about

08:18
group fitness training and obviously running but have you always had a love for I guess not just athleticism but being strong and was your teaching reflective of that or was it more sort of cardio based? Yeah yeah that's a really great question so you know as I reflect on like when did I learn to lift weights?

08:42
I was an athlete. I was a three sport athlete in high school. And I took a weights class in high school as my gym class. And most of the girls took aerobics. I took weights. And I think there was two other people in the class with me, one of them being my best friend. And she's small. And I remember being in high school squatting 150, 160 pounds.

09:12
Oh, wow. at that point, I remember looking back thinking, man, this is awesome. I can lift what some of these guys do. And I really fell in love with it then. And then my senior year in high school, I had enough credits that I um thought I wanted to work at a gym. This is so wild how things come full circle. So because I was an athlete, we had this program at school where you could, if you had enough credits, you could work.

09:41
a half a day and then you could go to school a half a day. Well, most people went to school in the morning and they went to their job in the afternoon. They worked to like seven or eight at night. Well, I was an athlete so I couldn't do that because I had games. So I still wanted to do it and I worked at a gym. And low and behold, this is so funny to me. I had to get up at 5 a.m. and I worked with this man that his name, Jason was his name and I worked

10:10
at his gym, had a private studio and he took, was a football player, former football player, took me under his wing and taught me just a lot of ins and outs. And I mean, I was, I was 17, 18 years old at the time. And I did that at 5 a.m. And then I went to school at lunchtime as a senior in high school. And guess what? I was like, I'm not going to go to college to do this because I was like, it's hard. How would I ever have a family?

10:39
training people really early in the morning and then late in the evening. And I mean, you I'm 41, so that was over 22 years ago. And it's completely come full circle, right? Because guess what I'm doing? I'm getting up at 5 a.m., training people. But the impact that I'm able to make now is so much larger because I could never see 350 women a week. And now that's, you know, that's what I'm doing. um

11:09
But back to your question of what did my training look like? I have evolved, that's where I started. And then I have what I call the messy middle. I was teaching group fitness and it was all about the sweat, the burn, light weights, maybe shoulder presses and then stop and do some jumping jacks.

11:34
And I look back and I'm like, I can't believe I did that. That's what I was doing. But it was so fun. It's so fun. And you sweat and it's good for that mental health, those endorphins. And then I myself would sometimes get there early or stay after my class. And then I would go in to the gym and I would lift just by myself.

12:01
Do an actual workout. Yeah, do it like you meant it, yeah. Yeah, and that's when I started to cut back on those wild, crazy, hit kind of stuff and really focus on what does progressive overload look like? How can I progress this? How can I work with reps and reserve that my own physical body started to change? And I was like, this is what women need more of.

12:30
And I'm not saying that you can't do those kinds of classes here and there, but if that's the main part of your workout and your goal is to get toned, then we have to relook at that. have to rethink that, I believe. Yeah. So a few things that you mentioned, that I want to highlight or that sort of made me think is one, your initial sort of foray into gyms was

12:59
more through experience than what you learn in a classroom. And isn't that just so valuable? Like learning from someone who was in the industry, who, and it wasn't, it's not gross science, but how much of what we know now as sort of the way to do things has actually come from the gym. And then it's been studied like so often practice comes before research and you were sort of in there living and learning it 22 years ago, like.

13:28
how valuable is that? That's so great. But then also the sort of circuit training, the Metcon type training, that's the stuff that we are. A lot of us are much more, uh we sort of, lean into that probably because of that calorie burden and the way that it feels at the time, right? I think, I think that stuff got really popular at the same time as

13:56
our polar heart rate monitors, which were before the Apple Watch, you know? And then the Apple Watch made that calorie burn more important because, I mean, I look back when, you know, me and all my stay at home mom friends were going to the gym and we had all just gotten Apple Watches and we could add each other on challenges and we'd be comparing like who had the most calorie burn in the day. And I think that perpetuated

14:25
women chasing after that calorie burn because you're like, I just want to see how many calories I can burn. And I deal with that that way a lot in my program. When people come to me a lot, they're like, man, I just can't believe that that workout was so good. I'm really, really sore in the calorie burn isn't as much as if I were doing a bootcamp. Yeah, I get that a lot. Yeah. Yeah. No, totally appreciate that. And then so Holly,

14:55
How did you, because I'm always interested in someone's business journey. Was it COVID for you that sort of moved things online? Like how did that look? Yeah, good question. you know, I continued to teach group fitness while my kids were little staying home. um And when COVID happened, I had a uh first grader.

15:18
believe. I think Claire was in first grade, and then two preschool boys. so our life like, I mean, yeah, Claire came home and the boys stopped preschool. uh But I mean, I had kids home most of the day anyways. And I was just teaching group fitness at my church, I was teaching group fitness, you know, at the local gym, I was doing a lot of those classes. And I really wanted people to be able to continue working out and working out with me.

15:46
And so I just started doing some free classes on Zoom during the pandemic. And I said, just use what you have at home. I hope you have some weights. People were getting on Facebook Marketplace and buying them and things like that. And I started doing them and they were becoming really, really popular. And I wasn't charging for them. I was just doing them out of the kindness of my heart. was like, know, Mickey, now that I know it was just like an ongoing freebie that never ended. It was like an ongoing freebie.

16:16
And so when the gyms opened back up at that time, I was like, okay, I'm closing down my little virtual fitness studio that literally I just got online and teach taught every day, twice a week is all I taught. um people were like, well, I never went to a gym. So can you keep doing this? Or they'd be like, well, I didn't actually work out and you just taught me how to do this or...

16:43
I was a runner and I never did strength training and now I know how to do it. So can you create a program? That was in the summer of 2020 and I created my very first program and I just quickly named it Strong because I had no idea what else to name it. And I said sure. And I think it was six or eight weeks long that first summer and I had 40 people sign up. Amazing. And at that point, did you think that you were going to turn this into a business? Was this going to be a side hustle? Like, tell us about that.

17:13
So I had 40 people and when it was done, I said, okay, I'm done. I'm to go back to my house. And I was teaching the classes at the time out of my garage and I'm going become a, I'm going to back to my stay at home mom. And at the time I also had a little side hustle of, I had about five in-person people that I was training per week. That was, that was about it. I was going to go back to that. And people were like, no, no.

17:39
keep doing this, keep doing this. And I said, okay, one more time, I'll do one more. And I think that time maybe I had 50 or 55 sign up. It was a little bit more than the first time. And then same thing happened. They were like, keep doing this, keep doing this, keep doing this. And at that point I said, okay, this is a little earlier than I expected me to go back to work. Our family plan was that once my youngest was in kindergarten, I was gonna go back to work as a principal.

18:07
Um, as principal of a school, that's what I was trained to do. And I looked at my husband and I said, I know it's a little bit early. This was the winter of 2020. So Sam had a half of a semester left and then he went to kindergarten. And I said, but if I'm, if I'm going to go back to work, why not give this a shot? People want this. So, you know what? I'm going go all in and you know, I'm going to maybe learn how to do this. Um,

18:35
And so I did it for about all of 2020 or that was half of 2020 and then I did it all of 2021. I just kept growing it and growing it. And by the way, at the time I was delivering workouts on a PDF. I had no email list. I had no backend registration when I met you in legacy. I don't know if you remember, but Chaunte was like, how are these people paying you? And I was like, they're just sending me Venmo. She's like,

19:04
you're not collecting their email address?" And I was like, no. that winter I was like, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to actually hire someone to help me take this from where I've gotten it so far, which I think was at about... At that point when I joined Legacy, I think I had like 75 members maybe. And then from there it was like, I'm going all in. I don't do things...

19:30
I don't have asked things very well. So I just was like, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right. Yeah, nice one. And teaching is always going to be there. If for example, you know, you're like, okay, I'm done now. Yeah. Okay. So I've got a question. Who did you know? Did you meet Jill first or Shantay first online? Cause I don't know that I know this about you, Holly. Like how did you find either? Oh, you're going to laugh. Jill's ads were clearly working.

19:58
Yeah. Because I was fed an ad. I think I followed her, but her stuff wasn't coming on my feed. think I bought a fitness program from her years ago. So she was probably running a retargeting ad and uh it came up on my feed for her mastermind.

20:18
Oh, interesting. And I was like, I'm just gonna fill it out. I was like, who cares? Maybe she'll accept me. I'm not quite to the income limit. But who knows? Maybe she'll accept me. And um I was on my way to Colorado for Christmas and y'all had already started Legacy. And she was like, hey, we're really full. But like, I'm going to talk to my business partner to see if we'll...

20:44
if she'll allow one more person in. I had no idea who Shontay even was. was like, is this I don't actually know what I'm doing and I don't know any other business coaches because I'm not following at the time. didn't know anybody else. Yeah. And you know what? I think it's really helpful for people listening to hear origin stories like this because I have people who are interested in fitness and health, but also people like us who

21:13
who want to make a career of it, you know, and are not sure sort of how to start. So what does it look like for you now then with regards to like, I mean, now you just, help hundreds of women online. is it, are you still doing it twice a week? Like what is your, how does your day sort of look? Yeah. So on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, I still wake up at 5 a.m. and I have a little bit of me time and then I log into my computer at 5 45.

21:43
I'm in the United States on Eastern time and I log in at 545 and I coach the workout live for my women. Any of them that want to get on. Now, not everybody gets on because I have women in California. So that's, know, 2 45 a.m. their time. I have several New Zealand members and they, you know, obviously they're working kind of a day ahead.

22:12
um But they actually just kind of decide to work backwards a day because once the workout is done, that I'm done teaching it, I upload the whole entire recording to my app. So you can follow the recording of me doing the strength training workout with my morning crew, or you can just follow the app. So, you know, it's funny because Jill always has asked me, when will you get rid of that? You don't have to do that.

22:41
You could just watch the live. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But you must love it. I love it. And it makes me feel connected to my members because I know exactly if they're posting in the app in the community part and they're like my legs hurt or that or even that exercise didn't feel very good. What was I doing wrong? I actually know exactly what you were doing today because I was doing.

23:06
that workout with you. And that's important to me, like feel connected to my members so I can ask questions. And the reality of it is I was put on this earth to teach and I'm, my classroom just looks different. It would be like a teacher never showing up in their classroom and meeting their students. And I just feel so passionately about that, that I don't think I'll ever get rid of that piece. Yeah. And that's so nice. And I appreciate that. And everyone does it differently, right? Like some people would be perfectly fine to do it.

23:35
as an app without that follow along. But it is nice, particularly in the careers that we have, to do something in that real time. Because otherwise we're sort of working by ourselves. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, the other thing we kind of talked about before you pressed record is like the real aspect. I show up and do these workouts, roll out of bed, throw on a baseball cap,

24:05
put on my workout clothes, do not put on any makeup. Sometimes if my husband is traveling, my kids come down and will be like, hey, what's for lunch today? Hey, can I pack? Hey, can I buy? I'm juggling the same exact things that most of the moms that I'm working with are as well. And so there is that factor of they can relate to me so much more because it's not this huge studio production.

24:33
I'm here in my house, I'm here in my basement, I just rolled out of bed just like you and we can all together make 40 minutes happen. I like that and you you often hear and I completely appreciate this that there is you know the m everyone has 24 hours in a day but it looks different for every everyone else and so you are exactly like your community you're sort of grappling with the same time pressures mom

25:03
Uber, all of it, which I think that's so helpful for everyone to see. And also I did like your comment when we were chatting on email that people are often surprised when they might meet you in the supermarket or the grocery store and like, oh, you're just like you are on social or whatever. Yeah. I got my diet coke right here. Yeah. This is another tangent actually, and it wasn't on my list of things to chat to you about, but I know that you've been chatting on

25:32
other podcasts about alcohol, actually. Can we have a little discussion around that? Absolutely. Yeah, talk to me, Holly. Have you been alcohol free for almost a year now? Over a year. Yeah, over a year. was May 13th was one year. That's right. I remember. And being in our industry, actually, it feels, it felt hard for me and it felt hard to announce that.

26:02
because I pride myself on being relatable and being very much similar to my clientele. I had a hard time saying I, I'm because already out of the gate, we, we are slapped with this, you know, persona. We don't eat junk food. We exercise all the time. All these like things where we're like,

26:30
perfect and we're not perfect people. We all have our vices, right? And so it was like, oh, and now I don't drink? That's really hard to tell my audience. Yeah, interesting. And what was the impetus for you giving up alcohol? I just, I'm getting older. I'm 41 and I just didn't feel good when I drank anymore. Number one, I always had a headache. I honestly like,

26:59
I had the nickname one more beer Holly for a reason. Like if I had a beer, was having two, you know? And that just didn't make me feel good anymore. And I just wanted to have a different relationship with alcohol. And I don't identify as an alcoholic by any means. And I didn't feel like I needed to give myself that label to give myself the permission to say, I don't want this a part of my life anymore.

27:27
plain and simple. also had a breast cancer scare in July of 2022. And after doing just, you know, research and listening to different podcasts and the risks, I'm now classified as high risk for breast cancer. you know, the research and the science out there that, you know, alcohol causes cancer, it was kind of enough for me to say, you know what, I think I'm done. And, you know, I always say do

27:55
Do I, will I ever drink alcohol again? I don't know, but I know I will not drink alcohol today. And that's all that matters. I really liked that because you're not framing it as a, um as a, from here on in, you cannot do this thing. And I do think actually when people, cause this often comes up in conversations I have with people, it's not necessarily that they, um it's not that they don't want to give it up because they like,

28:25
are dependent on it, but it's almost like I don't want to make the decision that I can't have it ever again. A little bit like I'm never eating chocolate again or something like people have that sort of absolutism around it. Whereas I feel like much more so nowadays, a lot more people are saying, yeah, well, I'm just not drinking right now. Or I'm not drinking to, I like the way you said I'm not drinking today. Like you're not putting real sort of, um it's not an all or nothing approach.

28:53
which so often we can fall into. And now it just now it seems just like a nothing burger to me. You know, I don't I don't even think about it. I don't even I don't even stress about going out with friends or going to social events because I'm worried about, know, at first I was like worried about what are people going to say? You know, I love beer. I we used to have beer together and mastermind events. And that was probably the one thing that I was just like.

29:21
man, I just don't want to give that up. I love to go for a bike ride and have a beer. I love to ski a mountain and have a beer. And I didn't want to give it up. But the amount of non-alcoholic beers that are really good is like, don't even miss it. I can still go to a brewery. I can still go to a brewery and order a beer. It's amazing to me. So and then I don't have a headache and I feel fine the next day and it's all good.

29:49
No, it's nice. um Did you get any pushback from your in-person people when you announced? No, no. Actually, the amount of people that have come out of the woodwork and have been like, I really thought about giving it up. I've really thought since I've opened up about it, it has been really just everything but support from my clientele.

30:13
and the people in my membership have been super supportive. My husband has stopped drinking as well. uh He was like, and him, it wasn't like, oh, she's stopped drinking, so I'm going to do it too. Or it wasn't that I pressured him. But it was just like, that's just not what we did anymore together. wasn't like, you're going to go have a beer. It was like, we're going to go play pickleball and have brunch.

30:39
That's what we're gonna do together. And so it just was the snowball effect for him. It was like, oh my gosh, I haven't drank in so long. And then he looked down at his watch and he's like, Holly, it's been six months since I drank. Yeah, amazing. And it wasn't even like this finite moment in time where he was like, today, I'm gonna stop drinking. Whereas I had that moment. I woke up on May 13th and I had a headache.

31:06
after drinking a bottle of, splitting a bottle of champagne with my husband and my anxiety was through the roof and I sent him a text message and I said, this is not worth it. I feel terrible. I'm so anxious and I have no idea why I'm never drinking again. And that day I did say never. yeah, yeah, yeah. As the time went on, I just kind of said, you know, I just know I'm not drinking today. I'm reevaluating my relationship with alcohol.

31:34
Yeah, and I think what you've just described is probably quite a common experience for a lot of people who drink, right? And it's interesting, I've recently changed from, because I noticed that I was drinking much more frequently since COVID probably than I ever had. And I just thought earlier, like a few months ago, I'm like, this is not really who I see myself as actually. Like I don't identify with

32:02
Even though I love it, I love a beer and I love a wine and I have a good off switch, but I didn't love the frequency of it. So when I decided to change that, it's actually been, it went from me thinking I should stop, because I did actually think I've got to stop drinking as regularly as I am. And the initial sort of few weeks I was like, ah, a little bit resistant. I was like, I would love a drink, but I'm quite also,

32:32
not stubborn, but if I decide I'm going to do something, then I don't want to let myself down, if you like. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that initial resistance, but that faded really quickly actually. And now I feel so much better. like, actually look more forward to enjoying a drink because I have it less. I drink less when I drink.

32:59
The hubster is drinking less to your point about your husband as well. It's just the, it's, know, if you hang out and do stuff together a lot of the time, then you just have that effect on each other's behavior. And it's just a nicer way to sort of be, I think. Yeah. I always say we traded our late night wine on the back porch for really early morning coffee. Yeah.

33:26
Yeah, which is lovely. And isn't it interesting as well that so often in life we almost have to justify health behavior rather than the other way around? Because I think about this with food all of the time, like people having to justify having a salad for lunch rather than whatever anyone else is eating. Isn't that interesting? Right. Or if somebody, you know, wanted to give up dairy or something that didn't make them feel good.

33:55
there is justification that you feel like you have to say with that. And alcohol is no different. You do feel like you have to tell the story, unfortunately. You can't just be like, yeah, it's just not good for me, or it just doesn't make me feel good. And people can't be just okay with that. And a lot of times I think it's because, um especially with alcohol, when you tell somebody you're not drinking, then it all of a sudden holds up a mirror to them. Yeah, yeah, it does.

34:23
Yeah, and same with food and same with exercise as well. when I talk to people about my running, so often when they talk about their running, they're like, oh, well, I'm not a real runner or I'm a slow runner or they almost qualify the fact that they're not like some elite athlete. So unnecessary. I'm not sure why people feel the need that they do that. It's, I don't know. might, do you get, it's not imposter.

34:52
It's not imposter syndrome, but do you notice from any of your clients or the woman you work with that they just feel a bit less than sometimes when they come into your group and just because they don't feel as experienced or I don't know. Not necessarily from the people who come in my world and work with me because I do think that I've done a good job in my business of allowing them to say, this is where I am.

35:22
And I, Holly, am going to walk alongside you. And I want to know where you want to get. And I'm going to help you get there. And I do feel like once they make the decision to step into my world, they kind of don't feel like that anymore because they know me and they trust who I am. But I will tell you that I have had people on the outside who have said things to me that like, well, of course, you're fit. All you do all day is work out.

35:51
Because we're trainers and we're online trainers, we literally work out all day long. And the reality of it is, no, we sit at the computer as much as everybody else. ah So I do feel like sometimes there is that, well, of course, you've not, you know, gained this much weight when you turned 40, because you have more time than I do to work out or you have more, more knowledge to

36:19
eat the way we eat than they do. And I do see that sometimes. But once they come into my world and realize I'm not shopping at nine different grocery stores, I don't only buy food from the health food store. We shop at the same, I shop at the same grocery store as most 40 year old moms. Like my grocery list actually probably looks very similar.

36:48
years. My kids ask for sugary cereal and sodas and all of the things. The difference is there are some boundaries that we have around food in our house that I am a stickler for. And I feel like that would be the same regardless of whether or not you're an online trainer or you're a principal at a school. 100%. 100%. Before I was an online trainer, I was a fifth grade teacher.

37:15
And I ran a program at my school called Girls on the Run to teach girls confidence through running. You know, like this is just a part of who I am because I am a strong believer that we are given one body. We have one and it's our job to take care of it. And life feels so much better when you feel good living in the body that you've been given. Yeah, yeah. 100 % Holly.

37:44
And you know, how, when I'm thinking about women who you work with, do you, like, do you often come up against women who are like, I just don't have time, Holly. So like, what are some of the strategies or the things that you talk to your woman about that might help them? It's not a, it is, well, it is priorities, but to say, actually sort of see that, I suppose. Yeah.

38:11
That's probably the one pushback I get from people before joining my program is I don't have the time. ah And so a lot of times I say, what does your day look like? Is there a time that you can find 40 minutes? My workouts are only 40 minutes. I'm not asking you to drive to a gym. I'm not asking you to go get a bunch of things. I'm asking you, you have, can you find a pocket of 40 minutes in your day? Are you...

38:38
watching Netflix, are you scrolling social media? Are you, you know, sitting on the couch and reading a book while a book is a really reading is a really great thing. If you're unhappy with your body, you can put in an audio book and do your workout. yeah, 100%. Yeah, know, I mean, just really, you know, getting through breaking down those barriers that what is happening? A lot of the moms that a lot of the women I work with are moms.

39:07
and they are my age and they have lots of kids that they're running around and I literally always say, I know this is weird, but you can put two sets of dumbbells in the back of your car and I know you are sitting at practice. And if you don't feel comfortable doing your workout while you're at practice with your kids, put your phone down and go for a walk. Like go get steps like.

39:34
you will never see me sitting at my kids practice. I'm like, goodbye. This is your practice time, not me. I'm going to go for a walk. I'm going to go take care of things that I need to. so really giving women the permission to have boundaries in their house that say, no, I take care of you 12 hours a day. I do things for you 14 hours a day. I'm going to take

40:02
40 minutes for myself. And a lot of times, it starts with just that. Allowing them to see that they're worth it. They're going to be a better mom, they're going to be a better wife, they're going to be a better colleague, when they start to find time for themselves. And a lot of times, have to say, we don't have to start with 40 minutes. But I do have a 10 minute rule, and I use it for myself. If I'm not feeling like working out, I set a timer.

40:30
for 10 minutes. I actually do this in many areas of my life. I set a timer for 10 minutes. And if at the end of 10 minutes of my workout, I'm still not feeling it, then I can be done. And I can say that today's just not my day. But do know how many times that has actually happened? It doesn't because once you get going, you want to do it. I do it when I clean my kitchen. I don't ever want to clean the house. But I set my timer for 10 minutes and see.

40:57
How much stuff can I get done in 10 minutes? And once you start seeing, okay, my counters are clean, it piles up, right? It's just like that for working out. A lot of times we think that we just grab motivation out of thin air. And most people are not just motivated. We're motivated as we took action today, and it's gonna drive our action tomorrow and the next day.

41:25
I love it. And the thing is, is that when you build on that momentum, you remember how it feels to have done it. Yeah. So that's doing it. Although to your point about putting the dumbbells in the back of the car, like I do think there needs to be some sort of normalization around just working out in areas where we wouldn't otherwise work out. Like, so I don't know if you remember this, but like last year, I think there was a study came out that showed that if you did 10 squats every 45 minutes, it helped with

41:54
your post-meal glucose. yeah. And I thought, you know what, like, I bet you if anyone is like reading this and thinking about it, they're not going to think that they're going to get up from the couch in the middle of watching a Netflix thing to do 10 squats. But if they did, I bet you the people around them would be like, what the hell are you doing? what a weirdo. So it's weird to do the activity rather than being weird to sit on a couch, you know?

42:21
Again, like normalization. always say then go to the bathroom stall when you're out with friends. And when you go, me, go squat to the toilet 10 times. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, it's like when I'm in an airport, you know, if I'm doing, cause clearly doing a long haul travel, I'm like, right, I'm just going to do 10 squats and 10 press ups. I'm going to do a hundred in total, cause it's my workout for the day. And I don't care if I'm going to do it around all of these people. I'm never seeing these people ever again.

42:51
100%. And you know, I always say, if people aren't thinking about us, they're like, okay, maybe they had a thought for one, one second thought, because you're lifting weights at the soccer field, they had a one second thought, I guarantee that one second thought was, man, she's disciplined, man, I wish I could be like her. That's probably their one second thought. Their one second thought was definitely not, oh, she's a weirdo.

43:19
No, no, I know. I did, to your point earlier about people don't like, people think that your behavior is a reflection on how you feel about their behavior, you know, with the alcohol thing and like, if you're not drinking, then clearly you must think that I'm an alcoholic or whatever goes through their head. So it's the same thing with um the way that we eat or us exercising. Like if someone takes what we do personally,

43:47
then that's actually on them, that's not on you. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I do feel like more people need to have that sort of framing around it so they feel more comfortable just doing things that align with the life that they want to lead. Because I think often think that holds people back from actually doing things. 100%. And when I start to give my women these ideas, put them in the car, it's, would I rather you go, you know, be in your gym where you have

44:17
10 different sets of dumbbells to choose from so that you're picking that? Of course I would, but not every situation in our day is going to be 100 % perfect. So we have to work with what we have. if Thursday is the day where your kids have four different practices amongst three kids, and that means that the dumbbells in the car at the baseball field or the soccer field, then that is what it is. And we're gonna consider it done.

44:45
done is done, whether, no matter how it looks, done is done. And once I give my women the permission and the ideas to do that, they're like, okay, you ripped the bandaid off once, I did it at the soccer field, this has just become my daily ritual. Yeah, nice one, Holly. you also, like you sort of came from that athletic running background, but always lifted. And then obviously, like, I feel like you've probably moved your, um

45:13
You mentioned we've got to get in the gym if we want to be quote unquote toned. People don't like the word toned, although I actually just think everyone understands it. So I mean, they know what we're talking about. But where are you on that cardio front for the woman that you work with? Like you give any recommendations around that? Yes. I feel like the cardio versus weight training, we're like this. We're just, you know,

45:42
bumping heads all the time. And we don't need to be. Because we need them both. Right? Like I do truly believe that. And I will say that when I started my online business, was more... I was probably more on the side of like, weights are more important. And I do think depending on your goal, this is what I say. If you only have 45 minutes a day, what do I want you to do? I do think...

46:09
that the weights are going to carry us farther in our life. They're gonna be better for our longevity. They're gonna be better for our metabolism. And there is a time and place for cardio. I love, I personally love a four day listing workout week with one or two days of cardio, depending on your goal. Obviously, if I have a client training for a race, it's gonna look different. If I have...

46:36
a client who's like, want to lose a little bit more fat, we can say, okay, let's implement a little more zone to cardio to bump up that calorie expenditure to get into that fat loss. I do get those recommendations. But I'm also a big believer that we can't just block out the fact that when we do cardio, it's good for our heart. Like, oh, I mean, I can't get rid

47:06
of that, right? And I personally want to be cardiovascularly healthy because there's things that I want to be able to do for a long time. And with my kids, with my grandkids, and that happens when we're still incorporating some cardio. And can you lift weights? You know, like a leg day, does my heart rate get up? Yeah, for sure. But you still need that steady state cardio.

47:34
I do feel strongly about that. And also I love sprinting. think like doing sprints is a really great workout and shame on whoever started the trend to make women afraid that it was gonna spike their damn cortisol too high if they sprint. I'm pissed at that person. I know, know. I know it's crazy. And to your point, like cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women. And we don't think, we don't, no one,

48:03
I mean, people talk about it, but it's not often talked about on social media. And that is, that's cardiovascular work. And to your point on cortisol, oh my God, honestly, I know neither can I, like people just create these little boogeyman and then it's just like neuroses and everything is blamed on cortisol. And I'm like, we've just got to stop with it. Hey, Holly, how, um I didn't actually,

48:33
This is a question to you and I sent you through what I might be asking, what we might be chatting about, but how prevalent are people on GLP-1s where you are and things like, don't, yeah, what's it like for you over there? Everywhere. Everywhere you turn your head, somebody is on a GLP-1. Really where I live is a very affluent area and so,

49:02
I mean, friends, I don't think I have any family on it. Lots of friends. Every time I walk into school, it's like, oh, she must be on a GOP one now or, he wants to... It's very, very common. And, you know, I've had some friends, I've had some acquaintances who have needed them and it has changed their life. And I'm gonna talk to you about something that has really been bugging me and has been on my mind. And I'm like, how do I put this on social media?

49:32
without just getting, you I don't speak up very loudly about it because the wrath is insane. But I think my biggest fear with this is as a society, we have come back to this women have to be skinny. That's really what I'm afraid of. Like we have worked so hard to tell our girls, you don't have to be skinny. Your body is

50:01
great and it's good and it's strong. And now we're up against a bigger battle of, I'm not talking about the people that are 200 pounds that really need this. I'm talking about um the women who maybe want to lose 10 to 15 pounds and they're taking a GLP-1 for that. just am fearful as a mom of a girl.

50:30
I'm very fearful for the message that it is sending to our daughters. Yeah, interesting. And I feel like it's so easily accessible if you have money where you are to be able to get it. here in New Zealand, like it's expensive and just not as accessible. We don't have those compounding pharmacies and things like that. So it's much more likely that the people who genuinely

50:59
really benefit from it are those that are they're much more likely to be the ones that are on it. And the small pockets of quite rich people who can afford it here regardless, but I feel like it's a bit different or we just haven't had um the length of time of it being available here to what you've had. Yeah. What are your thoughts on that? You're not seeing it as much. Not seeing it as much. um it's, Wigovie has just been, um has just sort of landed.

51:29
And it's not funded, but it can be prescribed. It's $500 a month. And I think that programs like yours, Holly, and programs like mine are so important for anyone considering a GLP one, because you have to be strong and you have to eat, you have to try and get your nutrients in as much as you can, right? So I certainly, I don't feel like there's not some sort of like

52:00
professional concern that I'm going to be out of a job or anything like that. And clearly, you, they're not. I don't actually have that concern either because of two things. Because if you're on a GLP-1 and you're not strength training, you're doing your body a disservice. And the people that I'm looking for, the people that are my ideal client, the people that are attracted to me are not the kind of people... Do I have people on GLP-1s? Yes.

52:28
But even when they come to me on a GLP-1, they are like, I want to change my lifestyle. I want to eventually get off of this. And I'm like, great, let's work together to do it. I don't attract people that want a quick fix. attract people that want health and longevity and want to be able to do things. And do I recommend that someone that's on a GLP-1 lift weights? Yes. Because if you don't have muscle in your body,

52:56
metabolism is going to slow down. It's not rocket science. Muscle mass is the one thing that tells us how our fast metabolism is. Period. I don't know how else to say it. Yeah, No, a hundred percent. so my thoughts on it is I'm genuinely happy that there's an option for people who, because there really are people who literally have struggled their entire life with

53:25
things that I wouldn't understand like food noise, because I've never had food noise. So how do I know what that's like to live like that? I also think that there's a lot of, um so I think, I feel like there's a lot of backlash against people going on it because almost everyone assumes that anyone trying it is actually just after the quick fix, not related to what you've said at all, but what I've seen like other, the way other people talk about it. And I also think that that,

53:52
Too many people get so emotionally wound up that other people are taking it. It's like, you don't have to get so emotionally wound up about someone else taking the drug. I don't know. Like, it's just, I see a lot. I also think it's been very beneficial drug for women with PCOS. I've seen that a lot. They have such blood sugar regulation problems that it has been life-changing for women with PCOS. And for them, I'm happy. A woman I know,

54:21
that is an acquaintance of mine has lost, I don't know, over 100 pounds, it's changed her life. Genuinely happy for her. Genuinely happy for her. The piece of it is, you know, the ones that are going after that extra 10 pounds, or they just really want to be skinny. I just wonder where we're going with that as a society.

54:48
Are we reverting back to, you know, like our time when our moms did everything low fat, all this just to be, you know, tall and skinny, and that was the way to be pretty? I'm just feeling that, you know, when I'm seeing that. And that to me, that to me is hard. The other thing to me that is hard is when people are taking it and um they're...

55:15
not really changing their lifestyle, which is fine. If you take it and you don't want to change your lifestyle, that's on you, right? And we as moms are then still feeding our kids the same thing. This is an ongoing generational problem. You know, that's where I just see some concerns. And it's just all around lifestyle. But again, the people that can...

55:43
um use it to change their habits. It's been life changing for them. Yeah. I do, know, programs like yours, Holly, and the way that you show up on social media and talk about strength and talk about the benefits of being strong, however that looks for the people who are sort of receiving the message. Like, I think that's just so important because it really is speaking to valuing our body for what it can do.

56:09
and to your point how it can carry through the decades rather than what it looks like. And that's what I really love. Yeah. 100%. Nice one, Holly. So you mentioned obviously that you've got you being online, you can like help women everywhere. Can you tell me and tell the listeners how people can connect with you, your app, your programs coming up?

56:34
Share with us Holly, just your thoughts. For sure. So you can find me on Instagram at Holly Nicholson Strong. I always have to say this disclaimer. My name is spelled I-E, not with a Y. You go type in Holly. It's H-O-L-L-I-E. I hate that I have to say that. I've been saying that for 40, 41 years. You can also find me on my website is the same exact thing. It's hollynicholsonstrong.com. My program is strong. That's all the word.

57:02
Word that you need to know is strong because I'm all about building bodies that are strong. And you're right, Miki, that can carry us through the decade um and the next decade and allow us to feel good in the body that we are building. I love it, Holly. Thank you. And of course, I'll pop those links in the show notes to make it easy for people to find you. It's been great chatting, Holly. You enjoy the rest of your day. Yes, you too.

57:39
Alrighty, hopefully you enjoyed that. I just love chatting to my mates on here and really getting insights not only into their business, but also just their lives and how they've got to be where they are. So hopefully you've enjoyed that too. I always love a conversation. Next week on the podcast, I speak to Professor Mike Snyder about CGMs, metabolism, and our gut and metabolic health. You're gonna love that. Until then though, you can catch me over on Facebook,

58:09
@mikkiwillidennutrition, Instagram, threads, and x @mikkiwilliden, or over on my website mikkiwilliden.com. Scroll right down to the bottom and jump on my email list. And you can hear from all of my updates and get my weekly newsletter every Monday. right, team, you have the best week. See you soon.