Episode 47Mar 11, 2026· 12:07

Is Your Workout Actually Working Against You? A Nurse Practitioner's Take on Strength, Recovery, and Training Smarter

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About this episode

Nurse practitioner Stephanie Baubie discusses muscle mass as a longevity predictor, strength training frequency (30-45 minutes, three days a week), overtraining and cortisol dysregulation, recovery as the site of actual muscle adaptation, mobility work for joint integrity, and hormonal shifts in perimenopause affecting recovery capacity in women in their 40s. Host Ashley Grant responds with a personal confession…

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Who this episode is for

This episode may resonate with you if:

You've been working out constantly and telling yourself it's fine because you're 'at least taking active recovery days' — but somewhere in the back of your mind you know you're overdoing it

You're in your 40s and the fitness advice you keep getting is just 'push harder and be more disciplined' — but your body is responding differently than it used to and nobody's talking about why

You're new to strength training and still carrying some resistance to it — but you're starting to actually believe it might matter for your long-term health, not just how you look

You keep skipping the stretching and mobility work because you're short on time — and you have a nagging feeling it's going to catch up with you eventually

You feel constantly depleted and can't figure out if it's your life stress, your sleep, or your workouts — and you're starting to wonder if they're all feeding each other

You love how far you've pushed yourself in a fitness journey and you're proud of it — but you're quietly scared that slowing down even a little means losing everything you've built

What you’ll learn

Why 30-45 minutes of strength training three days a week is enough

Your body gets stronger during recovery, not during the workout

Why women in their 40s need intelligent balance over more intensity

Building strength on top of restriction leads to stiffness and injury

Questions this episode wrestles with

What if the effort I'm putting in is actually working against me?

open question

Ashley sits with this without resolving it — she admits she's working out 10 to 16 hours a week and can't dismiss the possibility, but she's not ready to stop either.

"I'm putting in. could actually be working against me if I'm not protecting my recovery just as fiercely as I'm protecting my workout schedule."

Is 'just push harder' bad advice once you're in perimenopause?

answered

Stephanie says yes — in your 40s, hormonal shifts mean recovery capacity is different, and what the body needs is intelligent balance, not more intensity.

"Because I feel like we are so often told to just push harder and do more and be more disciplined. But Stephanie's saying, actually, in this season of life, your recovery capacity, it's different."

Is rest actually part of getting stronger or just something people say to feel better about skipping the gym?

answered

Stephanie's answer is direct: the body doesn't get stronger during the workout — it gets stronger during recovery, which is why overtraining can actually impair the results you're chasing.

"build strength. Your body doesn't get stronger during the workout. It gets stronger during recovery."

Setting expectations: This episode is not a structured workout guide, a deep dive into supplement stacks, or a biohacking discussion — despite a nurse practitioner being the guest. It's a short voice note from a medical professional followed by Ashley processing out loud whether her own 10-to-16-hours-a-week workout schedule might actually be working against her.

Tone & style

Ashley starts the episode having justified her 10-16 hour weekly workout load with active recovery days. Stephanie's voice note — specifically the line 'your body gets stronger during recovery, not during the workout' — lands as a direct challenge to that framing. Ashley ends the episode acknowledging the wake-up call but stopping short of committing to change, saying 'I don't think so, not necessarily' when asked if she'll actually pull back.

Stephanie's claims reflect her clinical expertise in integrative medicine; Ashley's response is personal reflection on her own habits. Neither constitutes individualized medical advice.

toneCandid & reflective

focusA nurse practitioner makes the case for strength training as medicine and warns against overtraining — and Ashley admits the overtraining part felt personally directed at her.

styleinterview

energymedium

complexityintermediate

pressure Levellow

emotional Texturehonest, slightly uncomfortable, curious, warm

Episode transcript

Organized into 5 chapters — open any part to read the full text.

0:001. Stephanie's Case for Strength Training as MedicineNurse practitioner Stephanie Baubie explains why muscle mass is one of the strongest predictors of healthy aging, and argues that 30-45 minutes of strength training three days a week is enough to support bone health, insulin sensitivity, and joint stability.1:442. Why More Training Isn't Always BetterStephanie warns that overtraining elevates cortisol, impairs recovery, disrupts sleep, and increases inflammation — and that the body gets stronger during recovery, not during the workout itself.4:213. Strength, Mobility, and Rest in Your 40sStephanie highlights how hormonal shifts in perimenopause affect muscle mass, bone density, and recovery capacity, and offers a simple framework: three strength sessions a week, mobility work, at least one true rest day, and protected sleep.7:014. Ashley Reflects on Her Own OvertrainingAshley admits she's working out 10 to 16 hours a week and that Stephanie's words about elevated cortisol and impaired recovery felt personally directed at her, prompting her to question whether her current schedule is working against her.10:375. Mobility, Consistency, and What Ashley Is Taking AwayAshley reflects on the perimenopause message for women in their 40s, admits mobility work is what she most often skips, shares that she's been trying to do daily stretch classes, and closes by embracing Stephanie's simple framework of consistency over extremes.

Open full transcript

Mentioned in this episode

personStephanie Baubie

Nurse practitioner specializing in integrative medicine who submitted a voice note about strength training, overtraining, cortisol, and recovery — the central voice of the episode.

personRhonda

Ashley's fitness instructor, mentioned as someone who didn't think she'd ever get Ashley to pick up a dumbbell.

websitefamousashleygrant.com/fitness

Ashley's website where listeners can submit voice notes for future episodes of the podcast.

Key themes

Strength training as medicine

Stephanie argues that 30-45 minutes of strength training three days a week is enough to support muscle mass, bone density, insulin sensitivity, and joint stability — framing it as medicine, not a bonus.

Muscle mass as a longevity predictor

Stephanie makes the case that muscle mass — not supplements or biohacking — is one of the strongest predictors of how well we age, tied to cardiovascular risk, frailty, and metabolic health.

Overtraining and cortisol

Stephanie explains that pushing harder and adding more workouts can chronically elevate cortisol, which impairs muscle recovery, disrupts sleep, and increases inflammation — the opposite of the intended effect.

Recovery is where strength actually happens

Stephanie states plainly that the body does not get stronger during the workout — it gets stronger during recovery — a point Ashley says stopped her cold.

Perimenopause and shifting recovery capacity

Stephanie highlights that estrogen fluctuations in perimenopause affect muscle mass, bone density, and recovery capacity, and that women in their 40s need intelligent balance rather than simply more intensity.

Ashley's personal overtraining confession

Ashley admits she is working out 10 to 16 hours a week, has told herself active recovery days make it fine, and says Stephanie's description of elevated cortisol and impaired recovery felt like it was directed specifically at her.

Mobility as the thing most likely to get skipped

Ashley admits mobility work is what she most often drops when short on time, while Stephanie warns that building strength on top of restriction sets you up for stiffness and injury.

Consistency over extremes

Both Stephanie and Ashley land on the same principle: the goal is not burnout-level fitness but a simple, repeatable framework — three strength days, some mobility, one real rest day, protected sleep — that you can actually sustain.

Ashley's evolving relationship with weightlifting

Ashley traces her own arc from someone who refused to pick up a dumbbell to now working toward 20-pound dumbbells, while sitting with the uncomfortable question of whether she needs to pull back on the lifting specifically.

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