Transcript: Is Your Workout Actually Working Against You? A Nurse Practitioner's Take on Strength, Recovery, and Training Smarter
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Nurse 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.
Movement is medicine when it's done in balance. What's up you guys, famous Ashley Grant here. Welcome to More Movement Please, the podcast where I hope to inspire you to move your body more. Today I have another incredible voice note to share with you and this one comes to us from Stephanie Baubie. And y 'all, she said some things I really needed to hear personally. Here's what she had to say. Hi Ashley, my name is Stephanie Baubie. I'm a nurse practitioner specializing in integrative medicine. My work centers around people trying to build long -term health through simple foundational lifestyle practices. the things that truly move the needle over time.
One of the most important of those foundations is movement. When we talk about longevity, people often jump to supplements or biohacking, but one of the strongest predictors of how well we age is actually muscle mass. Muscle is metabolically active tissue. It supports blood sugar regulation, hormone balance, bone density, and joint stability. Higher muscle mass is associated with lower cardiovascular risk, reduced frailty, and better long -term health outcomes. And the way we build muscle is through strength training. This doesn't mean...
living in the gym even 30 to 45 minutes of intentional strength training three days per week is enough to stimulate muscle growth support bone health and improve insulin sensitivity it protects joints improves posture and reduces fall risk as we age strength training literally is medicine but here's what doesn't get talked about enough more is not always better. In our culture, especially among high achieving people, we tend to equate progress with intensity. We push harder, we add more workouts, we chase exhaustion. But overtraining can dysregulate cortisol, our primary stress hormone. When cortisol stays elevated, it can impair muscle recovery, disrupt sleep, increase inflammation, and actually make it harder to build strength. Your body doesn't get stronger during the workout. It gets stronger during recovery.
Stephanie 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.
That's why we have to balance strength with mobility and rest. Mobility work improves flexibility, joint integrity, and range of motion. Without it, we can build strength on top of restriction, which often leads to stiffness or injury. Mobility doesn't have to be complicated. It can be 10 intentional minutes after your workout focusing on hips, shoulders, and spine. And rest days matter. Sleep matters. Light walking counts.
Strength overall builds resilience. Mobility preserves fluidity. Recovery allows adaptation. And I especially want to highlight this for people in their 40s. This is a decade where we begin to see hormonal shifts, especially for women entering perimenopause. Estrogen fluctuations can impact muscle mass, bone density, and recovery capacity. We naturally lose muscle every decade after our 30s unless we intentionally work to maintain it. So strength training becomes even more essential in your 40s, not for aesthetics, but for metabolic health, bone protection, and long -term vitality. But recovery capacity may not be what it was in your 20s. In this season of life, it's less about going hard every day.
more about intelligent balance. Stimulate the muscle, then allow the body to recover. If cortisol is chronically elevated from life stress, lack of sleep, or excessive training, you may notice slower recovery, more inflammation, or feeling constantly depleted. The goal isn't burnout level fitness. It's sustainable strength. If someone listening feels overwhelmed, keep it simple. Three days per week of strength training, a few minutes of mobility after or before each session, at least one true rest day, and protect your sleep. You don't need extremes. You need consistency.
Stephanie 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.
Movement is medicine when it's done in balance. Okay, I need a moment. I genuinely need a moment. First of all, can we just appreciate that a medical professional, a nurse practitioner, just looked us dead in the eye and said, Strength training is literally medicine. Not kind of helpful, not a nice bonus, medicine. And if you've been listening to this podcast for any length of time, you know that I came into this whole fitness journey as someone who absolutely, positively did not want to lift a weight. My instructor Rhonda will tell you she did not think that she was ever going to get me to pick up a dumbbell. And now here I am working toward those 20 pound dumbbells and genuinely excited about it. So hearing Stephanie say something that we've heard from previous voice notes before, say that with her whole chest as a medical professional, it just continues to reiterate that I finally am doing something
really right in my fitness journey. But here's the part of this voice note that I have to be honest with you guys about. That part about overtraining and cortisol. I can't help it. I feel like she was talking about me. In fact, it was almost like she... heard my story and was talking about me because I have openly admitted to you guys that I am working out somewhere between 10 and 16 hours a week. I've said out loud that yes, sometimes I know I'm overdoing it and I am. And I've always kind of framed it like, well, at least I'm taking active recovery days, so it's fine. But Stephanie just kind of laid out exactly what happens inside your body when you push it too hard for too long. Elevated cortisol, impaired recovery, disrupted sleep. Hell, more inflammation.
I felt every single word of that. And the thing that really stopped me was when she said, your body does not get stronger during the workout. It gets stronger during recovery. And I think somewhere in the back of my mind, I kind of knew this, but hearing it stated that plainly by a medical professional, I don't know, I guess it just kind of hits different. Like all that work 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.
Y 'all, if this is a wake -up call for you, I really want you to listen to it because I'm actually in a position right now where I'm starting to feel these feels, wondering if maybe I should do more active recovery days because though I am absolutely loving how much I'm moving my body right now, I know... I really do. I know that it's not sustainable. I know it's going to come to a point where I am going to have to take more time to really take care of my own body. And so I guess I just am trying to say, I told you guys from the beginning, I plan to be as transparent as possible. I don't ever intend to stop working out my body. I intend to move out every single day, but I might not go as hard. That's kind of hard to say out loud because I have enjoyed this journey so much. I have enjoyed seeing just how far I can go. But I also want to make sure that I don't do it to the point that I hurt myself.
Ashley 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.
I don't want to do it to the point where it's to my own detriment. I do believe that you can keep doing more exercise and that you can keep doing more cardio and doing more of all the things. But maybe the weightlifting part, maybe that is the part where I need to. restrict a little. I'm not sure. I'm still thinking on it. But what she said, it's got me thinking. And that's the whole point of this, right? The whole reason I wanted fitness experts and nutritionists and registered dietitians and medical professionals and all the things. The reason I wanted all of them to start leaving voice notes is so that we can keep opening this conversation. Because whether Stephanie's right or wrong, I don't know that yet. Because I still have more to learn.
I still have so much more to learn. I'll be the very first to tell you that when it comes to fitness, I'm one of the most ignorant people you will ever meet. But I have a curious mind and I'm open and I want to know more. Another thing that Stephanie talked about is she specifically talked about women in their 40s and perimenopause. And I just want to make sure that every woman who's listening to this really heard that part.
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. Your hormones, they're shifting. And maybe what your body needs is intelligent balance, not just more intensity. And this is such an important message, and I don't think we hear it nearly enough. Another thing that was really a good reminder for me was her mobility piece, because I will be real with y 'all. Mobility work is probably the thing I'm most likely to skip when I'm short on time. I have made a really big commitment to trying to do more stretch classes. In fact, I'm taking a stretch class almost every day at this point, like over the past, like I'd say a good three, four weeks. I've been trying to do stretching every single day. I'm not good at it yet, but I'm trying to make it a habit because she made a really good point that if
you're building strength on top of restriction, you're actually setting yourself up for stiffness and injury down the road. Just 10 intentional minutes after a workout, focusing on your hips and your shoulders and your spine. That's it. That's the ask. And I think I could do that. I need to do that. And so do you. And I also love that she ended with a simple framework for anyone who feels overwhelmed. Three days a week of strength training. A little mobility before or after. At least one true rest day and protect your sleep. No extremes. Just consistency. And you know I love that word at this point. Consistency makes me so happy. Because the whole point of this podcast is just more movement. It's not about perfect movement. It's not about extreme movement. Just more movement, please. But done in a way you can actually sustain. So that's what I've got for you today, you guys. I hope you enjoyed Stephanie's message. I hope it hit
you as hard as it hit me. And honestly... I think I'm going to take a look at my own schedule with fresh eyes after this one and just really think about it more. And will it make me change how much I'm working out right now? I don't think so, not necessarily, but it is good food for thought of a conversation that we need to continue having about whether or not I am going too hard or not. I'm not sure, but it was very... eye -opening to hear what Stephanie had to say. And if you too would like to leave a voice note for a future episode, I would absolutely love to hear from y 'all. Whether you're a fitness pro or someone who's just like me, trying to get in shape at whatever age, head over to famousashleygarant.com backslash fitness. I love, love, love hearing from you guys. Thank you so much for listening.
Ashley 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.
Thank you so much for everybody who has been submitting voice notes. I want more. I'm getting such a kick out of this, soaking in all the education, soaking in all of the fitness expertise that I can possibly get. Onwards and upwards, my friends. Have you worked out today?