Two Peas in a Podcast

Episode 89 - Alexa Snyder (Olympic Weightlifting, Strength Building, and Importance of Nutrition)

Alexa Snyder is a competitive national level Olympic Weightlifting athlete & performance coach of over a decade. She is certified by CrossFit Level 2, CrossFit Gymnastics, and Human Performance with a specialty in blending her gymnastics background with passions for good movement. Alexa and her team emphasize the importance of a balance diet for ideal performance and work with clients on finding the ideal foods for longevity.

To connect with Alexa follow the below links:

https://www.instagram.com/alexamsnyder_/

https://www.instagram.com/alltru_hp/

Duration:: 42m
Broadcast on:: 29 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

>> Alexa Snyder, weightlifter, crossfitter, nutrition coach. You are a lot of things, but on top of all of it, you're just an incredible human being who is so, so passionate about weightlifting, so passionate about helping other people. Thank you so much for sharing your time with us today. >> Totally, I'm excited to be here. >> Yeah. Now, what you are most known about for and for is weightlifting. And one of the craziest things for me as a man is sitting in a room with a woman who is stronger and fitter than me. So it's, I just feel very blessed to be here talking to you. Tell me about how you got into weightlifting. >> All right, so I grew up being a competitive gymnast and competitive cheerleader. So I was a gymnast probably until I was six, and then I got into competitive cheerleading. So I did that my whole life. Then I went to cheer at the University of Louisville, so a Division I cheerleader, which was awesome. We competed at the biggest and biggest competitions. We didn't have a strength and conditioning program at the time for cheerleaders, because they just don't really care about, I guess. So a lot of my teammates and I went to a CrossFit gym, got into CrossFit, utilized that as our way to stay in shape for competition season. Once I retired from competitive cheerleading, I decided I was going to go straight into CrossFit and thought I was going to be like the next game's athlete. So I went full force, full CrossFit or drank the Kool-Aid. Wanted to be super, super in it. And then eventually I transitioned into Olympic weightlifting because I realized I love all the heavy lifting. I obviously love all the gymnastics stuff too, but there's not a sport of just Olympic weightlifting and gymnastics. So I transitioned just into Olympic quick lifting. And now I've been doing that for probably three years. And I've been competing pretty regularly as well. I love, I love, love, love that story. First and foremost, talk to me about the patterns of movement that have helped you in all three fields, starting with gymnastics, leading into cheerleading, and going to Olympic weightlifting. Because what I find with the best athletes is the understanding that, hey, what I did in my previous life isn't a thing that took away. It kind of set me on a path to be good at all of them. Yeah, so obviously with gymnastics, I feel like when everyone knows it's like gymnastics, you should start it as young as possible. Like everyone should go through some type of gymnastics class when they're like, as soon as you could walk. Like if you have a child, like put your child into gymnastics because it helps with so much of the body awareness and like knowing your body in space, knowing that you can like lift your hands and move your feet at the same time. Like what people don't realize that they can kind of do that. And so being able to like ingrain those skills is really important. So I think learning that at such a young age, I mean, I was flipping all over the place like when I was really young. But then when I got into cheerleading, obviously I was a flyer and a base. So I learned both aspects. I learned how to be able to balance myself within my own body on top of other people. But then I learned how to hold a bunch of weight over my head and keep that stabilized. So when I went into CrossFit, it's like all of the movements, obviously from the gymnastics made makes that most sense. But being able to move my body and move weight in space all transitioned over. I always tell people like the clean and jerk is very similar to like picking someone up and then putting them on your chest and then putting them overhead. It's really the exact same kind of movement. I don't obviously the technique is a little bit different, but eight transitions over so much. So when I'm getting cues from my coaches to either like get closer to the barbell or pull it in closer, I can almost put that put that idea in my head a lot quicker, but also make it a lot faster because my body is already used to the awareness itself. So definitely makes it definitely transitions from one sport to the other. And I feel like gymnastics is one of those key sports that helps in all sports, honestly. Yeah, I love that. And specifically the piece that you were talking about with body awareness, what I find is in like today's environment. I don't know why this is, but most people are talking about a single sport rather than teaching kids exactly that, especially starting at a young age. What you want them to do is just find something that they gravitate towards. So they find some of these space movement patterns. Talk to me about the strength and conditioning that you did during your cheerleading days. And how did it help your cheerleading career? So when I first saw growing up in being a gymnast and cheerleader, that was my strength and conditioning, right? There wasn't really any additional things that I was doing. It definitely didn't have the time to do it. But when I was in college, obviously there's a huge appearance factor. So, and also those are like your young adult years. So your body is starting to change a lot. And especially as a female, like everything changes from what you're eating. It's like, people are like, "Oh, here's the freshmen 15." So then you're trying to like look a certain way. And you're like, "All right, well, what am I going to do?" And I mean, that was back in 20 of 2013 when I first went to college. So I feel like CrossFit was still very new, but I didn't necessarily know about it. But fitness itself, especially for females was to get on a treadmill and run or get on an elliptical and run or do Pinterest workouts that were like just these bootcamp like, you know, type workouts. And we realized like this is not doing it and it's not fun. When I was introduced to CrossFit, I realized it was a lot of heavy lifting, which is what I was already doing in truing, but it was just in a way that I could just express myself and not have to be lifting another human being. Like it was just my personal thing. So being able to do all the Olympic lifting, do the regular powerlifting movements, and then also combined it with all the gymnastics stuff, it just transitioned so well because I was able to work on some of those stabilizer muscles that I don't typically work on in truing in the gymnastics movements in CrossFit. And then I was getting the speed and the power and the strength building all in one. So it was really cool to kind of see how everything worked together. And even doing like Metcans, like for example, Fran, like Fran is a typical 2159 thrusters and pull-ups, right? It's a very fast, fast workout. But that would condition me enough for my truing routines, because my truing routine is two and a half minutes, right? So two and a half minutes for some people may think is a slow Fran time, but if you can get like, you know, a minute, 30 minute, 45 seconds for a Fran time, you're probably pretty fit, which means it's going to make that two and a half minute routine for chilling a breeze. So it was nice to kind of see those different forms of Metcans that we could do in the short amount of times and they would transition over into our routines. What's so awesome is I feel like we got into CrossFit right around the same time, which was about a decade ago before it became really, really popular. What was it like going through this process of starting to go to the gym and work out and lift heavy weights, seeing that most of the demographic at the original CrossFit was mostly male, and there were not a lot of female role models around? I would say it was, gosh, it feels so long ago that I'm like, oh my god, it's like a lifetime ago. I'm like, I barely remember something like chilling big, so I was like, oh, that was like, but I think what helped is that I showed up with a lot of females. So we were in a CrossFit gym that was owned by former University of Kentucky cheerleaders. So two males that cheered at the University of Kentucky. So they were very welcoming to women already. So I think that really helped bridge the gap. Now, if I was in another CrossFit gym, it might have looked a little bit differently. Who knows if I would have stuck with it, but I think because the people that were owning the gym were already so welcoming to the cheerleaders and welcoming to females, it made it so much easier to transition in. Plus, I showed up with like 12 other girls on our first day for like our own Foundations class. I think we went through like one or two Foundations class where everyone else went through like seven or eight, because we already came in like these like animals that were like, okay, give us this bar. And we're like, all right, sweet, put it overhead. And they're just like, what are these girls? Like they were probably like, what the heck this is so confusing and so weird. But I think it was a fairly easy transition for me and alongside my teammates, but it was still a little bit different because obviously there are a lot of men there. But I think that's what gave us the drive and the motivation to keep showing up. And it was so empowering when we're like, actually, we're out squatting all these guys in the gym. And we've barely squatted a day in our life. So I love that story so, so much because there's so much power about that conversation. Hey, the first experience that you have at a gym where you just find yourself welcome, where you find yourself like kind of part of the community already, even though you were building your own community is just so, so awesome because it was a really, really positive experience for you. Now, at what point did you realize that you are just on a different level of strength? I think when it would be like, we would be maxing out every week I felt like, because when you're new to something, everything every week is a PR it feels like, or every day is a PR. So you're just kind of like testing your limits. And I think when it came down to when we were like maxing out our deadlifts or maxing out our back squats, and we were just lifting that much more than everyone else, I think that's where it gave us the like, this is really cool. And then you're like, also just lifting in general gives you that like dopamine release and you're like, I feel so awesome. And it was so fun and in such an accepting environment that I think that's where it was like, okay, maybe we are a lot better. And then we would start to like look up and see back then that's when like Lauren Fisher was like the top top crossfit athlete. So we were like looking at her stats on like crossfit.com and we're like, okay, what is she doing? And we're like, oh wait, we can kind of do that. Maybe we're not as like fit per se, but like we're as strong as her. So we're like, okay, so maybe we can do this. So I think that's what kind of gave us that. I was like the Lauren Fishers and the Brookwells, even like Brook ends back in the day seeing what those girls could lift. And then we realized we could do it. We're like, now we just need to add the cardio aspect to it. Yeah, I love that. Talk to me about the transition from CrossFit to weightlifting. Let's see. When was that? Okay, so I was trying to go on a, what was it, a regionals team right before I had transitioned over. So I was training really hard to make that team. I think that was like the team. It was when they had just transitioned to teams of four. So it was six and it went to teams of four. So I trained really, really hard leading up that to that time. I unfortunately did not make the team that year. And shortly after that, I actually had a really bad quad injury. So I'd really bad like quad tendinosis, tendinitis. It was just terrible. It was not, well, I think it was just a lot of overtraining that I did. I wasn't really taking a good care of my nutrition back then. I was still so young. I was like eating terrible food, like, you know, probably just pizza all the time. So I got pretty injured. I couldn't squat for like eight to nine months. I was still doing some CrossFit, like upper body stuff and a lot of gymnastics stuff, but I was not squatting. So by the time I was done rehabbing and I was getting back into full working out, I was like, I really don't want to get on a bike or a skier or a row or a run. Again, like that does not sound fun because I had a while, especially at competition places. I was like, I was coaching their CrossFit gym. So I was like, I kind of have to, but I was like, so what can I do? And I was like, well, I really care about getting my strength back. So I just kind of got back into weightlifting. At that time, I also started getting a nutrition coach. So the nutrition coach actually gave me a breeze. I think it came with a weightlifting program, honestly. So I was like, I'm just going to try this out for a little bit and follow this instead of going like right back into a full blown CrossFit program. So that's kind of how I transitioned over. And then I realized, like, I'm actually really good at this. And then I realized, oh, I can compete at the Arnold. Well, that would be really cool. So if I just keep doing this, then I can compete at that really big competition, which would be like something fun to look forward to. I love that. I love that because you were already so, so strong with an incredible base for both body positioning, for awareness, as well as strength and knowing that, hey, Olympic weightlifting is as simple as two movements, but there are a lot of complications in between. They test everything from strength, power, coordination. I mean, it's CrossFit wrapped up into three lifts on an amazing platform, two times three. Talk to me about your first competition and what was it like knowing, hey, today's thing doesn't come down to five or six workouts like a typical CrossFit competition. But I only get three opportunities at hitting a perfect snatch. So what's wild is that my very first weightlifting competition was years before I even like transitioned into Olympic weightlifting. So I did an Olympic weightlifting competition, probably, I would say maybe three or four years that might be off, but three to four years before I transitioned. Because there was a local competition, I was like, I'm actually pretty good at this weightlifting thing. Like, why not sign up? I was the only person in my weight class. So of course, I won, and that was like such a mean, it was something. I'm sure I won, but I didn't compete against anyone. But when I did it at that time, I actually hated it. Like, I was like, I don't want to go back. Like, I did not like the competition at all because weightlifting is so quiet. And it was in like a small little weightlifting gym in Louisville, Kentucky. And no one cheered anyone on. It was like, everyone just like stared in and was like, they're like, oh, clap, you know? And so after the competition, I was like, I hate this. This is not fun. I'm going back to CrossFit. I want the loud music. I want the cheering. I want the community. And maybe it was just that competition, right? But I took, I went away from it for a few years, eventually once I got back into it, I went to another local competition because I had to do a local meet to get a qualifying total to go to the Arnold. And that one was a lot better. It was still a little quiet. It was like, in a little gym, you know, everyone was sitting on like the little wood boxes in front of you. I think I was still the only one that was in my weight class, but people actually cheered me on for the first time. And I was like, like, I'm actually really good at this. And I got the qualifying total that I needed. So that way I could compete at the Arnold. So I would say, take away those two competitions. The Arnold was the best experience for like a first real competition. Tell me about the one because, you know, first and foremost, in the weightlifting world, one of the biggest competitions of the year, if you make it to Arnold, you're pretty damn good at this. It's no longer like bush league, small, small competition. At this point, you are getting on the competition stage with, I mean, the who's who's at the net and like national competition level. Yeah, the Arnold was pretty sweet because I've competed at the Arnold before and in CrossFit. So they have a CrossFit side of it too. And I had a mat like probably four or five years beforehand. And I didn't realize they had like Olympic weightlifting until later on. But when I did the competition, I didn't really know what I was honestly signing up for. Like, I was like, I am going to do these six lifts, but I have no idea about any of the terminology of Olympic weightlifting. Like, I barely know how to convert kilos to pounds in my head. So I'm like over here, like utilizing my phone, trying to figure out what I'm, what I know I can do in pounds and what I'm going to put in like on the bar for kilos. I don't even know what session I need to sign up for because there's sessions are based on like your entry total. And you want to make your entry total as high as possibly you can, that you know, you can list, you can get into like the A session. I think I was in like the E session and I was definitely not supposed to be in that E session. Like, I should have been probably in the ARB, but I didn't put the right entry total because I just put like what I knew I could hit. Yeah. And your entry total can be 20 kilos, I think above your, what you can actually hit. So as long as you can hit within those numbers. So I was in this E session, which means I was probably not supposed to be there. I was lifting a lot heavier than a lot of the girls in my session because there's like 10 or 11 girls. And so I followed myself the entire time at the end. And I was just sitting there like, this is so weird. Like, I don't really know what I'm doing, but it was such a big competition. There were still a lot of energy because you're in such like a big arena. And there's a lot of people watching. There was some music playing, there was lights, like felt like a real competition, which is what I was used to, especially growing up in gymnastics and cheerleading and then with CrossFit as well. I think I ended up getting ninth, which like to place ninth in an E session, I think was not like, you should be getting ninth in the A session because that was supposed to be, but I was like, okay, so I'm actually pretty good at this. I was like, well, I guess I'll compete again. And I figured after that, I was like, I think I need like a real coach and not to be following template programming and like actually take this serious. Yeah, I love that story because it as much as you're like, hey, I didn't know what I was doing. The nice part about that is it is almost a confidence and ego boost of like coming in and being like, hey, hold on. There are people who dedicate their entire life to this. And I am just good. I am showing up and I'm better than that. And here is the level that I need to be competing at. Talk to me about some of the biggest accomplishments you've had to date in the weightlifting community. Now that you are fully training, have a coach and are committed to weightlifting. Yeah, so I would say just some of the biggest accomplishments is just going to these big national meat trade. So in limbic weightlifting, the bigger meats are your North American open. So there's the Arnold, which is North American open one, then there's North American to which they change, I think every year where it goes. And then there's American open finals, which is in December. And then like the big nationals is usually in like the last weekend of June or early July. And that changes each year of where it is as well. I've been able to compete at all of them besides North American too. So I don't typically need to go to that one because I've already qualified for the meats that I need. That's usually like the second-sense type qualifier or depending on where you live in the United States where you want to travel. But my biggest accomplishments, I guess, would be the fact that I've competed at these events. And then I think my top top accomplishment is that the first nationals that I went to, senior nationals, I got second, which I was like not anticipating at all. And I didn't even technically hit the lifts that I really wanted to hit. Like I had these expectations to hit certain numbers. I don't even know if them off top of my head right now, but I did not even hit them. So when I ended up getting second, I was like, this is amazing. Like I just got second at my first senior nationals. So clearly I belong here. I'm worthy of doing this sport. And this isn't just like a fluke. So and then continuing to, I think I've placed at least top five in all the competitions that I have done thus far. So that's a pretty cool thing to be able to do. But I don't even necessarily look at my accomplishments based on my placing in competitions because it changes all the time because depending on who's there and the day of the competition, I look at it more so. My biggest accomplishments are the weights that I've actually lifted in my lifetime. So like even my training PRs are so much more important to me because I know that that's like my like true authentic lifting self that I've been able to do. Tell me about some of those training PRs. Tell me the competition PRs as well. So I think I've hit so in competition and training PRs, I've hit a 95 kilos snatch. I've only hit 95 kilos once in competition. And I think I've hit it really two times, three times in training. So we've got some technical things that we're still working on to be able to hit those. But that was like the most ultimate greatest PR. But honestly, I was more excited to hit 91 kilos than I was to hit 95 because I had been chasing that like 200 pound snatch like since I started CrossFit. Like when I hit 175 like years ago, I was like, I'm going to hit 200 200 pound snatch like next year. It took years to hit it. So it was not last year. So that was the coolest feeling to be able to hit that. Yeah. So when I hit that in competition, amazing. It's incredible that you are so close to your training PR with your competition PR because for a lot of athletes, it's not that for our American friends who don't understand the conversions, 95 kilos, 210 pound snatch, which is, I mean, it's incredible to have a lot of weight. There are a lot of men chasing that 210 snatch for their life. So it's incredible knowing that you did it. Tell us about the clean and jerk. Yeah. So the clean and jerk my lifetime PR, I think is 120. That's in training. I've hit a 121, 122 and 123 clean. I think I've hit a 121 jerk, but I haven't been able to put those together in in competition. My competition PR is 117. So so fairly close. There's a lot of like technical things. I think I still need to work on and just like peeking just the right time. So I'm right there. So snatches have been obviously have gone well and I've been able to do both my lifetime PR and my for like training and competition PR the same, but cleaning jerks are slowly making their way up there. 260 clean and jerk 265 and training super super incredibly strong. Let's watch gears and tell me the most important thing that you are involved in today, which is nutrition for a weightlifter, because a lot of people, especially as they're growing up, think of nutrition as this piece of like, hey, being an athlete, I should be able to eat whatever I want to. And I can outwork my diet. Talk to me about the importance of keeping a good diet and some of the things that you found. So nutrition is something obviously that is very near and dear to my heart because I have seen the benefits of it towards myself, but also other people as well. Your nutrition goes with you forever. Great. So living a healthy lifestyle is something that you're going to take with you outside of the competition field. So if you want to be in the competition field for a really long time, you need to be making sure that you're taking care of yourself, basically, mentally, emotionally, etc. So having obviously that very not clean diet, but healthy diet is going to make sure that you stay healthy while you are doing this sport and this skill for your short period of time, but also knowing that when you leave this sport, right, you're not just something about friends, right? Like, you want to make sure that you still feel good when you leave the sport, and you can take those eating habits with you for your life. When I first started CrossFit, I was not eating healthy by any means. I was in college. We got free Papa John's pizza all the time. The University of Louisville is sponsored by Papa John's pizza. So when I could eat Papa John all the time, breadsticks, pizza, all of it. I loved Taco Bell, Panera. I was eating whatever I could get that was on my little swipey card that I had. So when I first started getting into lifting weights, I realized my recovery was just getting hit every single time. And as I was getting a little bit older, you know, you don't recover as fast as you did when you were at least 10 years old. Making sure that you're eating a healthy diet just plays into the whole recovery piece from what it admits to. I love that so much because there's so much parallel between us. Like, part of the reason why I got into CrossFit was literally so I could eat whatever I wanted to. And once I, like, you hit these peaks, right, where you're just as fit as you possibly can be with the diet that you have in place. And in order for you to, like, make the sleep into the next stratosphere of who you are as an athlete, who you are as a person, diet, I feel like it's the most important piece of it. Tell me about some of the things that you've seen change in your life as a result of eating a better diet. I would just say my quality, that's a big question. So just like my quality of life is a lot better. Like, I was always that kid that, like, constantly needed a nap when I was, like, younger because I was just training so hard. Definitely wasn't eating healthy. I would yoyo diet all the time, especially being a cheerleader. Your appearance is sometimes more important than your performance sometimes. So I would go between, like, either not eating at all to eating very little than, like, overeating and just not having any type of, like, quality diet. Like, I thought, like, a quality diet was, like, if I ate pizza, then, okay, then at least I eat an iceberg lettuce salad on the side, which has no nutritional value. So I think just my overall quality of life has changed because I'm not needing those naps. I'm not having, like, terrible mood swings all the time. I'm not feeling beat up all the time. I feel like I constantly need to, like, go get body work done every single week. Granted, there's going to be times in your season where it's a little bit harder. So you do need to put a little bit of more R&R in there. But the diet piece definitely plays a huge role in that. But I'm also a big component of, like, you don't need to just be eating 100% healthy all the time, right? You need diversity in your diet because life is meant to be lived. Like, you're not just going to be in your sport. You're also going to be going to birthday parties, weddings, you know, you're going to be going to baby jars. You're going to be going to events, right, that are going to have other food options that you're not going to be able to have control on and your body is going to react worse to those foods if you only eat them then and you don't eat them in your normal life. So having a very balanced lifestyle of, like, having... I would almost say, like, you could utilize the method of, like, 80/20, right? Like, 80% of your food should be coming from foods that are going to help fuel you, make you feel good, like, push you towards a healthy lifestyle. And 20% comes from, like, the in quotes moderation, the fun stuff. So that way, when you are outside of competing and just living this almost restrictive, healthy lifestyle, you can enjoy your life and not feel like it takes you out. Yeah. And this is a message that I just love hearing so much first and foremost, but exactly why I value you so much as a human being. Because a lot of the questions that I get is, like, "Hey, I'm not an athlete. I'm not trying to compete in anything. Why would I stick to something like a diet?" And part of it isn't about the aesthetics of it, but, "Hey, it's waking up feeling that you're full of energy. Hey, it's not needing a nap when it's three o'clock." And the most important aspect that I wish I could literally bottle up and sell to people is the feeling that you get after having a good meal where you are refreshed, but not at all sleepy. To a lot of people, it feels like after every single time that they eat, because they're so used to overeating, it's like the eyes start closing, you just want a nap. And that is a natural, that's not normal, and that's not how you as a human being should be performing. Talk to me about how you maintain and find that balance for your clients, knowing that, "Hey, sometimes it's okay to have ice cream, sometimes it's okay to have a little bit of cake, as long as you maintain good proportions." Yeah, so I work for a company called All True Health and Performance. We are a small little group, it's me and two other coaches, but we have developed this method called the Freedom and Strength method. And the Freedom and Strength method is to help build out what your life is going to look like around health and fitness. So in the first stage of the Freedom and Strength method is where we build your foundation, right? So your foundation is going to look different from every single other person because it's so unique to you. So what I eat, how I live my life is going to look very different from you. But your foundation, I want you to think of it as like a house, okay? So when you are building a house, you have to build a strong concrete foundation first without that concrete foundation. Sure, you can build a house, but you're probably going to have a lot of problems later on down the road if there's cracks in that foundation. And there are things that are not in place of where they need to be. You can rush through the foundation, you can lay that slab of concrete, you can get those walls up really quick. It's kind of like some of those box houses that they're throwing out there these days and they are full of problems, right? But you don't realize that until like five, six, eight, ten years later down the road. So think of your body like that. So that's what we focus on in the Freedom and Strength method in that foundational phase is we focus on, you know, we don't even really focus on the macros per se that you need. We need to focus on how is your quality of sleep? How is your stress management? How much water are you consuming? Yes, what are you consuming? But what is the quality that you're putting into your body and making sure you're getting some type of movement in your day to day life? So we'll focus on that piece there, which I think takes the like big performance piece or the aesthetic piece out of it because we're focusing on such basic level things. And then as we transition, we'll go into like a building the new you face, whereas we'll start to incorporate some of those performance-based goals or maybe aesthetic-based goals if you have them. And as we kind of go through these different stages is where you see that like your nutrition, your fitness, your health has seasons. So you're going to have times where maybe you're a little bit slower, you're focusing on things a little bit more intentionally. And then there's other times where you're going to have a little bit of a break and like transitioning through. So that's kind of the short end of it. I love that. I love that so much just because on top of nutrition, you've hit some of the most important things that I feel like a lot of nutritionists and health coaches skip over, which is, hey, first and foremost sleep. If you're not recovering and you're not getting good sleep, the rest of the stuff is kind of not as important. Make sure that you are hitting recovery with everything that you have in order to have like a good life. What is the value and what are some of the best feedbacks that you've received to people who fully buy into the program and who stuck with you long term, whether it's three months, six months or a year or even years out? A lot of people just feel like the biggest feedback or like the biggest aha that has come out of all of this is that they almost feel better, way better now than they did when they were probably teenagers or like their first young adults. Because I work with a lot of people that are probably mid 20s, late 20s to up to 60s plus. We've worked with a range of women and men, but a lot of it comes down to this. Their quality of life is so much better. Sure, we focus on performance stuff. Sure, we will focus on aesthetic things, but those things are sometimes so superficial that it's like when you go to the grade, those things are coming with you, right? So I think just your general like quality of life, like they're able to like chase around their kids, they're able to go walk around Disney World and not feel completely trashed or they can get through their their entire day at work and not end up in the off like the staff office where there's donuts, they can just be like, I'm full and satisfied from the things that I've been eating. I don't even know all their relationships have improved their their confidence has improved, which I think is a big thing in this day in life is that like because mental health is a huge thing in a big problem area in America right now or just in the world in general, but when you are feeling yourself appropriately and you're taking care of yourself, it goes into your mental health as well. So it improves kind of all of those areas and that's where people have seen it the most. Yeah, and I could not echo that message more than anything. The way that I talk about health in general is it's a holistic approach of where you can't just look at a specific symptom and go, hey, how do I fix this? Look at the big picture, fix your, fix your diet from there like your life is just going to get better. It sounds like every single person could benefit from working with Alexa. So let me ask you a powerful question. Alexa, why don't more people work with a nutritionist and make sure that there is someone who's helping them regulate the things that they need to be paying attention to? Ooh, that's a great question of why they don't work with them. I think there's maybe a lot of reasons. Obviously it's an investment piece, right? So obviously investing in yourself is kind of scary. A lot of people don't think they deserve to invest in themselves and we invest in kind of like random things. Like someone will buy a $1,200 couch, but they won't spend $1,200 to invest in their own health. So I think it comes down to people not feeling like they deserve to feel good or they don't believe that they can feel bad. And they think it's going to be really awkward. But the thing is you've been making changes your whole life. You just haven't really probably been present in seeing yourself making those changes and they could be positive or negative changes. So I think a lot of people just need to take that step and get like believe in themselves to know that they can make those changes, even if it's just a little hair of like believing themselves, because once you get to a coach, a coach is going to help give you even more to help you believe in yourself, to know that you're worthy of this change and believe in yourself and build your confidence. So just taking that small little step of an investment makes a huge difference. Yeah. And what's super, super cool here is, hey, you don't have to be an expert in every little thing. You're busy with your everyday life. Reach out to someone like Alexa, reach out to Alexa, get the help that you need if you are not. I mean, if you just don't have the curiosity or the ability to find all the information by yourself. Now we've talked a little bit about the recovery piece. As an athlete, let's take it a step further. Now you are competing and you are someone who is in that realm of being, you know, top 1% in whatever craft that you want to be inside. What are some of the biggest things on the recovery side that you are helping people do and that you do by yourself to keep your body operating at this high, high level? Yeah. So obviously if you look at like a pyramid of, you know, what you should be focusing on, nutrition is at the bottom, like that is the biggest piece of like you should be focusing on that. And at the very, very top is like supplementation. So obviously going through that whole foundational phase that we talked about, I go through that with all of my athletes. I don't care how long you've been an athlete or you think you know what you're eating, we're going to create a really solid foundation for you. So focusing on all those key aspects and making sure you're sleeping eight plus hours a night. Like if you don't want to be an athlete, you're sleeping eight plus hours a night. You're drinking, you know, 100, 120 ounces of water. You're eating good quality foods like just because you work out and you train really hard doesn't mean that we're just going through the McDonald's drive through all the time. Like we need to be eating good quality, uh, protein sources, card sources, fat fruits, vegetables, like really good with obviously having a balance of the other things. And then also optimizing like your gut health, looking at your hormones, getting, uh, routine blood work, seeing where we can honestly fill all the gaps. And then almost like the very, very tippy top is going to be that, that supplementation of where we can start filling the gaps. A lot of times people get into competition sense and they're like, okay, well, I'm eating and I think I'm eating enough. I'm sleeping. I'm drinking water. Now I'm going to add 50 million different supplements. And the thing is, is supplements filled gaps? They don't fill gaping holes. So if you've got things wrong in your gut health and your hormonal stuff, like other, uh, biofeedback members that are not lining up, those supplements aren't really going to work. Like don't work a little bit. Like granted, yes, they'll do their job, but it's not going to be as efficient and you're not going to be able to optimize it as much as possible. I'm focusing on all the little basic things and really taking them up a notch. So like, say a normal average Joe person could probably get away with like seven and a half hours of sleep, right? Because maybe they've got kids, they've gotten a demanding job, whatever it might be. But you're an athlete, if you're taking this on a professional standpoint, eight plus hours, like drinking water all day, you know, getting in multiple quality meals throughout the day, not all of the like grab and go quick options. So all of those pieces of the basic combination, just stopping them and all God, I love you so, so much just because the way that you approach the entire problem of health as holistic health is just this. Hey, let's fix the base of the pyramid before we look to sell you any products before we tell you about the tippy top things that you see in the media and you see people trying to make money off of. And I think that's mostly the approach that shows a you care about your clients to you want to make the world a better place. And three, you value the service that you provide. Now, it would be a total shame if we didn't ask you this super important question. Big difference between working with men and women. Women in general have more things that they need to concentrate on to stay healthy, especially as they age. There are a lot more holes that, again, based on social media, based on things that you're seeing in TV on TV and commercials. Like, there is just this societal pressure to pretty much not be healthy. How do you approach breaking stereotypes and making sure that your clients first and foremost are healthy from the inside out before talking about performance goals. Yeah, so it's funny that you actually brought this up. We actually did a call last night that talks about body neutrality, body positivity, the ideal body image. And obviously, the ideal body image has changed over the years, even from the time when I was five years old, to now, honestly, it almost looks like the ideal body image is placed on whoever is being the most successful at the time. And then we look at whatever their body looks like and say, oh, that's the ideal body image. So for example, if Paris Hilton was doing amazing and all of her acting and all of her career stuff, then we would just look at the way she looks and be like, well, that's the ideal body image. But then if we look at someone like Alona Mar, the rugby player, the Olympian, you know, she is strong, beautiful, like visible muscle mass, right? And yes, she is very successful as an Olympian. So then everyone's like, okay, now that is the ideal body image. So I think helping to bridge the gap is understanding that there is no ideal body image. There's no ideal body because there's so many different people on this earth. I mean, what is there like eight billion people that like walk the face of the earth? I mean, there's more babies being grown old every day. But you know, we all come from different genetic makeup lines. We come from different backgrounds. We go through different life things that everyone's body is going to look different. Like you can walk down the street and there is not two people that look the exact same. So what's there to say that there's going to be this ideal body image? So I always try and shift like, hey, how can we focus on the way that we feel from the inside, how we view ourselves, but also kind of shift the mindset into a little bit more performance stuff because when you feel strong, that radiates from the outside. When I'm not feeling strong in the gym and maybe I'm not feeling super confident in my lifting, it does affect my mental health. And I do sometimes then start to pick up the way I look. But if I can change around and have like a really good squat day, I'm like, I feel amazing. I look amazing. And I probably don't look any different from the day that I had that really bad body image day and negative mindset to today where I just had a really good squat day. So yeah, I mean, I just appreciate that answer so so much because first and foremost, there is a big difference in how we need to approach the conversations around these things. And I think it's really important to first notice that, hey, men and women are different. And this is specifically an area where I just hope that more people are able to show more grace to women going, hey, life is harder for you because there are just more people trying to sell you products. So we need to be more understanding to you. I find so so much value in what it is that you do with your clients, what it is that you do not only for their mental health, their physical health, but their life overall. So let me ask you one important final question. Beef, as you look at the trajectory of the rest of your career and everything you want to accomplish before you step away, retire in both athletics and your professional field, like what impact would you like to have on other people? And what is it that you want to accomplish? I think just hoping more, not even just women, but men and women to feel strong, beautiful and empowered because men should feel beautiful too. Like I think it's just knowing that you can live this life to your fullest and being happy and healthy and fulfilled and not everything needs to be so restrictive because, you know, not to sound more of it, we don't make it out of here live, right? Like there's this endgame like there we don't know when it ends. So being able to truly fully enjoy your life and honestly take on whatever challenge you want to take on any type of goal, you can always change your goals, you can always change the way you think about things and see things, but like just live your life and you know, don't hold yourself back on all the things that you're trying to accomplish and then also just let things be. Like I've had that kind of be in my head for as of late is letting things be like stop trying to force so many things to happen. Just allow life to happen. So I really want to encourage other people to do that as well and live their life, let it be and see what it takes them. Alexa, you're an incredible human being. You are beautiful, you are so so strong. The message that you're putting out into the world resonates and is an important one because you are bringing not only knowledge, but you are changing people's lives. I appreciate you for exactly who you are as a person and exactly what you're looking to build and thank you so so much for sharing your valuable time and all of the knowledge with our audience. Absolutely. You're welcome. Thanks for having me. And thank you guys for listening. We'll see you next time.