Episode Transcript
Mikelle Ethier (02:33)
David, hi. Welcome. Michelle, this is the person keeping me in line and teaching me how to do a pull-up.
Michelle Stainton (02:45)
my gosh, David, it's so great to meet you. I've heard so, so many good things about you.
David Caixeiro (02:49)
⁓ thank you. Yeah, it's a pleasure to be on the podcast. Yeah, it's a pleasure to work with Mikel as well. She's definitely killing it.
Michelle Stainton (02:54)
⁓
well, you'll have to like, dish the dirt out there. Look at those muscles, McHale, my God. Amazing.
David Caixeiro (02:58)
well, that speaks for itself. Look at that. ⁓
Mikelle Ethier (03:03)
Yeah,
yeah, I'm the shit. No, I'm really not, but David's been kicking my ass in a good way.
Michelle Stainton (03:07)
Yeah.
David Caixeiro (03:08)
Hahaha
Michelle Stainton (03:13)
Well,
and she looks good though. I saw her in October. Was that the Menopause show? Yeah, and like I'd seen her in the summer and transformation, not transformation, like she didn't look badly before, but you could tell that she's been working out and she's got definition and tone and she's looking good.
Mikelle Ethier (03:18)
Yeah, I guess it was October.
David Caixeiro (03:28)
Mm-hmm.
Mikelle Ethier (03:30)
Yeah, and for everybody
listening, and the scale is not moving, and that's okay. But the body's changing. Yes. Yes. Yeah, yeah.
Michelle Stainton (03:35)
Yeah.
David Caixeiro (03:35)
Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, that's a huge thing. A lot
of people are worried about weight loss, but if you're gaining muscle tissue and that scale is not changing, that's not a big deal. Focus on what are your energy levels? You know, how are your clothes fitting? All that kind of stuff.
Mikelle Ethier (03:51)
Yeah, yeah.
Michelle Stainton (03:52)
the
⁓ off-scale victories, is that what Gina calls them? Off-scale victories, anyway.
David Caixeiro (03:57)
That's it. Yeah,
yeah, that's good way putting it for sure.
Mikelle Ethier (04:00)
Something like that, we
should probably confirm, but it's something like that, something like that. Well, and let's maybe talk a little bit about that because it's January, right? And tis the season to be rushing to the gym and all the other and changing your life. What are your thoughts, David, on New Year's Res... Yeah, what are your thoughts on New Year's resolutions without our obvious bias impacting your answer?
Michelle Stainton (04:02)
Yeah, something like that. Non-scale victories anyway.
David Caixeiro (04:15)
Mm-hmm.
Michelle Stainton (04:16)
For 20 days.
you
David Caixeiro (04:24)
You know, I, ⁓
I think I don't mind New Year's resolutions. I think it's a good time to reflect, set goals. And it's one of the few times people do that. Right. So I think goal setting, goal setting is important to take time to reflect on, you know, where was I last year? Where do I want to be a year from now? That's what I like about ⁓ New Year's or birthdays are a good thing for that. use birthdays for that. Just a good time to kind of reset and reflect on.
Mikelle Ethier (04:36)
Yeah.
Mmm.
David Caixeiro (04:53)
Where have I been in the last year? Where do I want to go moving forward? And then it can kind of motivate you a little bit. I mean, you're right. A lot of times we set New Year's resolutions and then we fall off the wagon three weeks later. That's a whole other issue. That's more of a consistency thing. New Year's resolutions, setting goals, that's essentially what it is. I don't think it's a bad thing. I actually think it's a good thing. Because again, it gives you some direction. gives you a vision to move forward with.
Mikelle Ethier (05:17)
I think there's a caveat then. think it's New Year's resolutions, but you just touched on something, but being thoughtful about it and reflective, not just, it's January. I need to lose 20 pounds. So I'm going to go to the gym tomorrow. Right? Like you mentioned birthdays. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. You said, where have I been? Where do I want to go? That's a completely, I think that just reframes it completely. Yeah. Yeah.
David Caixeiro (05:26)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Michelle Stainton (05:32)
And I'm gonna go to the gym every day for five hours for the, like, not realistic either, right?
David Caixeiro (05:36)
Totally. Absolutely.
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely. Yeah.
Michelle Stainton (05:45)
Yeah.
Mikelle Ethier (05:47)
Yeah.
David Caixeiro (05:48)
I had a birthday recently and ⁓ want the ⁓ thank you very much. No, I don't don't advertise it too too much. ⁓ you know, one of the questions I asked myself, because I'm I am big on setting goals, but I'm big on like, again, where have I been? Where do I want to go? And one of questions I asked myself was, if this was my last year to live, how would I want to live this year?
Mikelle Ethier (05:51)
Which I missed. Happy birthday. Are all your clients assholes or just me?
Michelle Stainton (05:56)
You
Mikelle Ethier (05:59)
Okay, fair enough, fair enough.
David Caixeiro (06:14)
because we're not guaranteed another 10, 15, 20, 30 years, you know? So, and the thing that I like about that question is it brings you back into what are your values? What's most important to you, you know? And that is a good trajectory to keep a person consistent, you know? Because chances are if it was your last year to live, you'd want to be healthy, you'd want to be physically capable, you wouldn't want to be limited by, you know, a lack of strength or mobility or whatever it is, right? So it kind of connects you to
your value system and what's important to you. So yeah, it's a good question to ask yourself with New Year's resolutions.
Michelle Stainton (06:52)
I love that. That is really good. Now we keep talking about consistency. Mikkel is on like day 93 or something. Day 93 and she's been working out like three days a week for about two and a half months. And, you know, not to take away from Mikkel's self-discipline, but like, but I know her well.
Mikelle Ethier (06:53)
Mm.
Today is day 93.
David Caixeiro (07:05)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Mikelle Ethier (07:12)
but I know her well and...
Michelle Stainton (07:15)
We've
David Caixeiro (07:16)
Hahaha
Michelle Stainton (07:16)
once been accused of not having any. So what is the key? What is the key to that consistency?
David Caixeiro (07:24)
consistency, I like to break it down into three different kind of avenues. So the biggest thing is enjoying the process or immersing yourself in the process. ⁓ So being able to enjoy it, find something that you like about it, and that's gonna keep you with it. If you don't enjoy what you're doing, you're probably not gonna do it anymore, right? And I that's where a lot of times we get attached to an outcome and we're not gonna be
Mikelle Ethier (07:40)
Hmm.
David Caixeiro (07:50)
happy or fulfilled until we reach that outcome. So whether that's a weight loss or you're trying to lift a certain amount of weight or whatever it is, until you reach that, oh, I don't look good in my bathing suit, but when I do, then I'll be happy. That entire period of time from now until then is going to be a drag. And the thing is, is once you achieve that goal, you're not going to want to stick with it anymore because now you've got what you wanted out of the process. And now that's where you get these yo-yo results where you lose the weight, but then you put it back on. It's because you're not immersed in the process.
⁓ One way I like to think about immersing myself in the process is through behavior goals. So a lot of times we set outcome-based goals. Okay, I want to lose 20 pounds. I want to, you know, I want to lift this much weight, whatever it is. Instead of setting an outcome goal, setting a behavior-based goal. So for the next three months, I'm going to go to the gym twice a week. That's a behavior-based goal. That's going to immerse you in the process of what you're doing. And when you immerse yourself in the process,
There's no saying how far you can actually go with that, right? If you go to the, if you're consistently going to the gym two to three days a week, you're going to get further than what you would if you say, Hey, I want to lose 10 pounds. You might lose 30 pounds if you go to the gym three days a week for a few months, you know? So immersing yourself in the process is kind of the first one. The second one is building momentum through small, consistent actions. The more.
Michelle Stainton (09:06)
Yeah.
David Caixeiro (09:17)
you invest in your own fitness journey, the less you're going to want to do to mess that up or to take away from that. So if you like, you know, it could be something as simple as I want to watch TV after dinner, but I'm going to go for a 10 minute walk. You just invested in your own fitness journey and in yourself. And that's going to bleed into the next decision. Okay. Well, if you go to, let's say you went to the gym and you did a tough workout, you went to a workout class. Are you going to go and eat fast food after that?
Probably not, because a lot of people are like, well, I don't want to ruin my workout now, right? That's the perfect example of building that momentum. So it's really just stacking those small wins. And the last one is what I said earlier, kind of about attaching your goals to your value system. So can you think about why you want what you're going for and relate it to what is really important to you? Because if you can't relate it to your values,
Mikelle Ethier (10:02)
Hmm.
David Caixeiro (10:14)
You're not, it's not gonna be that important to you. Like, I wanna look good for my Mexico trip for a bunch of people that I'm never gonna see again. Is that really that valuable to you? Or is it, I wanna be healthy for my kids in 15 years from now. That is a lot more important to us. So those three things about immersing yourself in the process, attaching it to your values and building momentum, those are gonna be the...
Michelle Stainton (10:29)
Yes. Yes.
David Caixeiro (10:42)
primary drivers for what I've noticed for staying consistent.
Mikelle Ethier (10:47)
And I would say to echo that David, we kind of talked about this a little bit last week. Um, but this is the most consistent I've ever been. I mean, I've always worked out. I've always been relatively healthy, but I've had a lot of stops and starts. And if I'm being honest, most of my goals were vanity goals, like how I looked in a bathing suit or, know, whatever the, you know, put the insert, you know, the goal that fits kind of that description, but.
David Caixeiro (11:06)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mikelle Ethier (11:16)
this is about being able to do a pull-up because that's about, well, kind of competing with Dr. Premji. Love you, Shafina. But it's not that, it's about, know that this is good for my health. And so I think what we were talking about last week is I was opening a jar of pasta sauce and I popped it off no problem.
Michelle Stainton (11:23)
Hahaha!
It's amazing how these muscles go. I've been noticing I can't open anything. Yeah.
Mikelle Ethier (11:43)
Right? So that I
can do that, that when I'm lifting heavy bags of groceries, my right shoulder isn't hurting anymore. Right? My blood pressure is back down to what it was prior to me starting to work out. Like that, those are goals where it's like, yeah, I really need to keep doing this because really how I look in a bathing suit, no one gives a shit. And I don't really give a shit. It's just that we think that we're supposed to and that everybody does.
Michelle Stainton (12:01)
Yeah.
David Caixeiro (12:11)
Mm-hmm.
Michelle Stainton (12:12)
Yeah.
David Caixeiro (12:12)
Mm-hmm.
Mikelle Ethier (12:12)
And
it doesn't really matter. yeah, that's great advice. And I can testify that it works.
David Caixeiro (12:20)
Yeah. Yeah. And you've been making great gains in the gym. And I'm sure if you were purely focused on, okay, how do I look in this bathing suit? We wouldn't be doing the same things or you wouldn't be putting that same effort into say lifting weights, you're pushing yourself, right?
Mikelle Ethier (12:35)
I wouldn't have shown up today with, I have a bit of an SI injury. It's a recurring thing. It's kind of flared up. I wouldn't have shown up today if that were the goal. Yeah, for sure. What, on that note, what are your, what are the biggest mistakes you see people making in the gym or maybe even outside of the gym in the context of their health journey?
David Caixeiro (12:44)
Hmm.
So I think it kind of depends on what their goals are. Like, are they trying to get stronger? Do they want to lose weight? Is it for longevity? ⁓ So having more context with that would definitely help me to give a more specific answer. But from my perspective, what I specialize in is helping people become more physically capable for life. Stronger, more mobile, all of those things pain free.
What I've noticed is not having structure in the gym, kind of winging it. I think when you go to the gym and you kind of do, I saw what this Instagram person did, you know, okay, sweet, I'm going to do that. I'm going to do what this person did. You know, having a structured program is really going to help you make progress. And so that's one aspect. The other aspect that I see is to go along with that is a lot of people train isolated movements.
Mikelle Ethier (13:36)
Mm.
David Caixeiro (13:58)
or isolated muscles instead of movements. And if you think about it in everyday life, we, the tasks that we take on every day, whether it's sports or you're carrying your grocery bag or whatever, you're not isolating muscle, one muscle at a time. You're using a group of different muscles to complete a task. And so I like to look at the gym as you're training for life or you're training for sport if you're an athlete. But if you're training for life, we should be training movements instead of just isolated muscles.
And now training isolated muscles isn't a bad thing. There's definitely going to be times you're going to want to do that if you're ice, if you're rehabbing injury, or if you're just working on some stability work, but prioritizing or structuring your entire workout around machines or just like bicep curls, that's, that's not going to give you the best bang for your buck out of your workouts. So I think not having structure, not training movements, doing training muscles instead, and then not pushing yourself hard enough. think a lot of people.
They go to the gym just for the sake of going to the gym and they think, okay, well, I did my reps, so I'm good. If you really want to get the most out of your workout, do quality reps where you're really pushing yourself, you know, and still maintaining good technique and all that kind of stuff. You're not pushing yourself into pain or anything like that. ⁓ Those would be the top three mistakes I would say, see people making in the gym. Outside of the gym is a whole nother story. ⁓
Mikelle Ethier (14:59)
Hmm.
David Caixeiro (15:25)
And I usually say the gym is just where the seed is planted. If you want that seed to grow, it's what you're doing outside the gym that's really going to determine if that seed's growing. And the biggest mistake I would say from a weight loss perspective, say, or fat loss perspective outside the gym would be probably emotional eating. We tend to use food as a crutch to ⁓ myself and click.
Michelle Stainton (15:46)
was just talking
about needing dopamine hits like left, right and center and I'm trying to like get myself out of the, like I just want food so I can get a dopamine hit. Anyway, continue please. And then tell me what to do. my God.
David Caixeiro (15:55)
No, totally, Yeah. And
you know what, like I talk about this and the reason that I'm aware of this, because I'm human too. I'm the same way. And you just become aware of these patterns within yourself. But emotional eating is a big one. You know, a lot of times we eat when we're not hungry, we're bored or we're stressed out after a day of work or, you know, just because again, decisions compound. Well, I'm going to watch Netflix. So, well, I might as well have takeout with them, you know, like, so contextually, these choices kind of compound on one another. So,
Outside the gym, emotional eating is a big one, and probably lack of sleep. Those are the two big mistakes outside the gym.
Michelle Stainton (16:32)
Well, and then if you have lack of sleep, you have less impulse control. And so you're more likely to have those little extra traits.
David Caixeiro (16:37)
Exactly. Yeah, 100%.
Mikelle Ethier (16:39)
And then you can
push yourself and then you might get injured and yeah.
David Caixeiro (16:41)
Totally. Yep.
Michelle Stainton (16:43)
Yeah,
sleep is like, yeah, the penultimate, I think. Yeah. Yeah.
David Caixeiro (16:44)
Yep.
Exactly. No, 100%. I call that
what that phenomenon you just described is something I call the pebble that causes a landslide. And it's basically if you think about a thing about a landslide, it's like there's always that one little pebble that falls down and knocks down a little bigger rock and slightly and then now you have a landslide. It's discovering what that pebble is within your own life. Is it is it being tired? You know, is it the association of I'm going to watch Netflix now now I'm
Michelle Stainton (16:55)
I
David Caixeiro (17:13)
Now I'm going to order their takeout. Now I'm going to stay up later because I'm watching this TV show. Whatever that is in your own life, if you can be aware of that and start, I don't want to say eliminate because I'm not big on restriction, but just be aware of it. You'll realize how all of these things start to compound in your own life.
Michelle Stainton (17:27)
Yeah.
Well, and then you can make the decision, well, you know, I do want to watch Netflix and binge on Netflix for a few hours, so I'm going to maybe have a tea instead or like, you know, find another substitute treat or maybe go for a walk before, you know, there's yeah.
David Caixeiro (17:44)
Totally. Yeah,
yeah, kind of creating that balance. Yeah, I think that's a great, great way of handling it.
Michelle Stainton (17:53)
So I was looking at your Instagram and I've been watching Mikel's Instagram posts of her workouts and you guys have very different workouts. David, you look better with your shirt off, we'll post a link to his Instagram in the show notes.
Mikelle Ethier (18:01)
You
Actually, it's very true. It's very true.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Michelle Stainton (18:16)
All kidding aside, it's kind of reminded me though, like similar to perimenopause and managing symptoms, there's not a one size fits all ⁓ when it comes to training. I'm figuring that as well. are there ⁓ some non-negotiables that, are there some non-negotiables? my goodness. Take three. Sorry, Amy. Are there some non-negotiables when it comes to working out that apply to everyone?
David Caixeiro (18:45)
Yeah, and again, I think it depends on what your ultimate goal is, you know, so from my perspective, training for life to be physically fit and physically capable for anything that life throws at you and to be healthier, a healthier, more physically capable version of yourself, lifting weights, definitely lifting weights. And like I said earlier, training muscles instead of training movements instead of muscles, training movements instead of muscles. So there's
Kind of, there's a number of, when you say movements, people are probably like, Hey, well, what do you mean by that? What like compound movements you're, you're going to be squatting. That's one of the key movements that you want to be doing. Lunging is another one. Um, pushing. So that could be a chest press. That could be an overhead press pulling. could be a pull up or a lap pull down or a row. Um, and then loaded carry. So hold it carrying two heavyweights, one heavyweight, whatever that is. Those.
Movement patterns are going to be the way that you want to structure your program around in order to be a stronger and more capable version of yourself. And I'm going to say you want to lift weights at least twice a week. I'm going to say two to three times a week is what you want. Again, to go along with that, doing cardio, you want to be doing cardio, I'd say at least twice a week as well, ⁓ just for your heart health. ⁓ then mobility. Mobility is one of the most ⁓ underrated aspects of fitness.
We wanna lift weights, we wanna do cardio, we wanna get our sweat on, but not many of us are doing mobility. You wanna be doing mobility, stretching, foam rolling, two to three times a week. So lifting weights, training those movements, squats, lunges, pushing, pulling and carrying, and then cardio and mobility. If you can do each of those things twice a week, you're golden. Within those guidelines, there's gonna be more specific things that are gonna relate to individuals.
needs, goals, exactly. And they would say if you have an injury or something like that, right? So, but from a broad standpoint, that's what I would recommend.
Michelle Stainton (20:42)
and what the goals are.
I have to say that I'm doing this workout program like an online one right now and the days where it's just 20 minutes of yoga stretching make me insane. Like I can't, I'm like, ⁓ it's harder than like, I know and I'm like, this is good for me to stop. But I just, I like, loathe, I loathe those days and there's, and they're the most relaxing.
Mikelle Ethier (21:04)
Is it feel like you're not doing anything?
It is.
Go back to David's Instagram
because it didn't, think you just posted the other day, David, saw you, it was a video of you and you're doing like essentially, like you're stretching, but it looks like you're doing like a yoga on like, so, you know, yeah.
David Caixeiro (21:26)
Yeah, absolutely. I
think if you want to get stronger being mobile and you want to have longevity and functionality into your later years, and just for joint health, mobility is going to be the way to do it. I always say mobility is like doing maintenance on your car. You're not going to drive your car for 500,000 kilometers, 100,000 kilometers, whatever it is, and not get oil changes, not do brakes maintenance or anything like that.
It's the same thing with us. To want to lift weights and work out hard or ski or do whatever the fun stuff is, but not do the maintenance is recipe for wear and tear on your joints and breakdown.
Michelle Stainton (22:09)
hip replacement at 45.
Mikelle Ethier (22:10)
hip replacement at 42. to
David Caixeiro (22:11)
Yeah.
Mikelle Ethier (22:13)
just to spread the joy here and just share a bit about David's approach. I've also had a wonky shoulder for a lot of years. the closer I am to getting to doing an unassisted pull-up and I can now do, by the way, I can now do three sets of 10 full push-ups. Yeah, right?
David Caixeiro (22:37)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Michelle Stainton (22:37)
Shut up! Congratulations! That's amazing! Holy
Mikelle Ethier (22:39)
Which is
Michelle Stainton (22:39)
shit!
Mikelle Ethier (22:40)
like, however, over the, and that's the other thing I think maybe people need to keep in mind. That wasn't without like, there'd days where like, okay, my shoulder really hurts. But one of the days David was like, okay, where and what's going on? And so we went over and you showed me the stretch with the peanut, the two balls that are attached. And I put that kind of in my mid back and raised my arms. It like,
David Caixeiro (23:00)
Yep.
Mikelle Ethier (23:06)
life that has been life changing for me being able to keep. But the point is it's not, okay, well, let's stop or let's do a different exercise. I mean, that's sometimes what we need to do, but it was like, okay, let's work on your mobility in the middle of this workout. That's about teaching you how to do a pull-up and get this sorted. Right. So it is, it's, it's really important. And it really does help, especially for us old chicks that have all kinds of stuff.
David Caixeiro (23:09)
good, I'm glad that's really helped you.
Michelle Stainton (23:33)
Lots
David Caixeiro (23:34)
Yeah.
Michelle Stainton (23:36)
of mobility issues. No, seriously, I was at my in-laws and I got up from the couch. I slept in a different bed. I got up from their couch and I was like walking like I was 100. Like I could be like it took me like 20 paces before I was like, okay. Anyway, yeah, no, it's not good mobility.
Mikelle Ethier (23:37)
Broken, yeah.
Yeah, that's not good, Michelle. No, no,
David Caixeiro (23:54)
I hear you though, Michelle, it's
the stretching and stuff. It can be quite boring and monotonous. And I usually treat it as like a meditation almost like, Hey, I'm going to do this. And I find it, it's very good at recovery. Essentially you're down regulating your nervous system. You're not stimulating yourself. Like when I stretch, I try to just be present with stretching, which has a number of benefits for our overstimulated minds as well. Right. So.
I hear you though, like stretching can be quite boring and monotonous for sure.
Michelle Stainton (24:27)
No,
but you just put it in words that resonated with me, down, down, down.
David Caixeiro (24:33)
down regulate your nervous system? Yeah.
Mikelle Ethier (24:33)
regulating.
Michelle Stainton (24:35)
I'm like, my God, yes, of course, I'm doing it tomorrow. Yes. Thank you. It's funny how you hear the same things over and over again and then someone says it slightly differently and you're like, ⁓ yeah. Thank you for that.
David Caixeiro (24:38)
Yeah.
And the funny
thing about that is it's usually the people that are closest to us that tell us these things over and over and over again and we just don't listen to them. And then some random person on a podcast says it you're like, oh, that's groundbreaking. I'm gonna go do that now. Yeah. Yeah.
Michelle Stainton (24:59)
⁓ there's a square.
Thank you. Thank you.
Mikelle Ethier (25:04)
story of my life in my house.
Michelle Stainton (25:06)
Yeah. No, yeah.
Mikelle Ethier (25:06)
I'll be like, hey, you guys should, yeah. Yeah, exactly. And then some random person will tell them, yeah. Or David also trains with Scarlett and Wyatt and he'll say whatever. That, course, gospel. But what I have to say is ridiculous. ⁓
David Caixeiro (25:10)
Yeah.
Michelle Stainton (25:21)
Gospel. Yeah.
David Caixeiro (25:22)
Yeah
Mikelle Ethier (25:26)
So for listeners looking to get a trainer who are totally inspired by this conversation and want to have some help and, know, I highly recommend it, even if it's just to get you started or to get the right routine set up. Right. And the right techniques, right.
Michelle Stainton (25:41)
and the right techniques. That's like...
Mikelle Ethier (25:45)
Um, and so that you're not going to do something stupid and hurt yourself. Do you have like, when someone's looking for a trainer, are there some must haves? Are there things to watch out for? What do you, what are your recommendations?
David Caixeiro (25:56)
I mean, my biggest recommendation in this space is, and this kind of is, guess, fairly universal, but someone that lives in practice with what they are teaching. you can learn a lot from theory, and I learned a lot going through my degree and certifications and everything like that. But the understanding that you gain through living in practice with, okay, what does this exercise feel like? ⁓
dumbbell chest press feel like compared to a barbell chest press? Or what is it like to live a balanced lifestyle? What is it like to have this morning routine? Whatever that looks like, it gives you a different insight that can actually help your clients a lot more. ⁓ A lot of times if someone hasn't really lived in practice with what they're doing, and that doesn't have to be like right now. People go through phases of life. There's some phases where I'm really inspired, motivated in the gym. There's other times when I'm not.
Mikelle Ethier (26:41)
Mm.
David Caixeiro (26:55)
⁓ or, know, when I was training on the bobsleigh team, that was a completely different style of training than what I'm doing now. So someone that has walked the walk at some point so that they actually have that. They're going to be able to offer you a deeper level of understanding that someone with just pure theory won't be able to offer you, know, you can read about shooting a basketball all day, but until you actually go and shoot that basketball, you're not really going to fully understand what that's like. So I think that's, that's a big one is.
someone that has or is walking the walk and living in practice with that. The other one is watch out for trainers or anyone really that claims to have an answer for everything. What I found is the people that are real experts in their field, if you ask them, hey, whatever the question is, what's the best thing for strength training? They'll usually say whatever to whatever question you ask them is it depends.
Right? Because it does depend. It depends on you as an individual. What are your goals? Do you have injuries? Like that person will be able to sit down and have a lot of nuance and a lot of, okay, there's a lot of different directions we can take this. Right? So, um, someone that says, okay, oh, you have a back pain. Okay. Well, that's definitely because of this, this, and this, and give you the three reasons why you have back pain. The way that's, I don't believe in that. And I think that that's a very,
rigid way of coaching and I think coaching people and working with people has to be flexible and nuanced. There are guidelines for sure and you stay within those guidelines to some extent but there's a lot of gray area as well. So those are the kind of the two things that I'd recommend. Someone that walks the walk and someone that and be aware of people that can claim to know everything.
Mikelle Ethier (28:45)
It's a lot like pre-menopausal practitioners that we think are worth their salt and that we've had on the show, right? You need to, nuance is so important. You need to respect and understand the guidelines, but nuance is so important. And you do have to, I think have lived it to really understand it. Yeah, yeah.
David Caixeiro (28:52)
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure. Absolutely.
Like I said, I've learned a lot going through my education. I learned so much more actually living in practice with it. It's like the map is not the territory, you know? So, mm-hmm.
Mikelle Ethier (29:23)
Yeah, yeah.
What about listeners who want to start working out maybe for the first time or they've been, you know, our generation, we were all cardio queens, right? We didn't lift weights. What advice do you have? You know, they want to start somewhere and they can't afford a trainer. What do you recommend? Do you have any words of wisdom for them?
David Caixeiro (29:45)
Yeah. So going back to those five movement patterns that I was talking about, squatting, lunging, pushing, pulling, carrying, do that twice a week. And what I'm going to say for each exercise that you're doing two to three sets of six to 12 reps, start off with higher reps. I'm going to say 10 to 12 reps. If you've never really worked out before, ⁓ it's going to help you get used to the movement, not really overdo it in terms of weight.
It's a moderate, you can still go moderately heavy so you can still build some muscle and a little bit of strength, but it'll get you used to that movement as well. And two to three sets is enough volume for you to, you know, feel the muscle soreness the next day if that's really what you're going for it, right. But two days a week, I'm gonna say strength train and prioritize those movement patterns. That's what I would recommend for someone that wants to get into strength training.
Michelle Stainton (30:26)
earn.
Mikelle Ethier (30:41)
Could we maybe, so something I really appreciate David is your flexibility ⁓ in the context of my workout. So I've been traveling a lot or I've had, you know, to be emergency called away from province, what have you. And you're like, yeah, no problem. Here's the basement workout, right? You've got abandoned or whatever. Here it is. And you sent like some videos. Maybe we could get like even just a video of each of those five movements and we can include it in the show notes. cause.
Michelle Stainton (30:41)
And
Mikelle Ethier (31:10)
Right? That's another thing is like, how do I do a squat properly? And who online is doing this right kind of thing? Yeah. So if you don't mind. ⁓ Yeah. Okay. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. my gosh. I'd like to apologize on behalf of Michelle and all of my dirt bag friends. Yeah.
David Caixeiro (31:10)
Absolutely, yeah.
Michelle Stainton (31:14)
How do I do it?
David Caixeiro (31:19)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Totally. Yeah, absolutely.
Michelle Stainton (31:23)
Great idea. With your shirt off, of course. Yeah.
David Caixeiro (31:26)
Hahaha!
Michelle Stainton (31:35)
I try, try. David, what would you say are some of the most underrated fitness habits?
David Caixeiro (31:42)
⁓ well, you know, I find that in our busy lives, we're so focused on doing more. And like I was kind of saying earlier, we're constantly overstimulated. Our nervous systems are on overdrive. We're in that constant sympathetic response, that fight or flight response. ⁓ and we're, it's always go, go, go. If I'm not working harder, it's not as good, no pain, no gain. So the most underrated fitness habits are going to be things that take you in the opposite direction. So.
Mobility, stretching, foam rolling, like I said, really good for not only maintenance on your joints and tissues, but down regulating your nervous system. ⁓ Walking, super underrated, especially I find after a meal, walking is great for digestion, ⁓ great for your blood sugars. ⁓ Rest between sets, super underrated. People don't understand that if you want to get stronger, you need to rest between sets. If you're pushing yourself, if you're really pushing yourself into that,
past that threshold where you're gonna be causing damage to your muscles in a good way. And you're gonna need to recover from that. So resting, you know, 60 to 90 seconds between sets, if you're going heavy is gonna be recommended. And the last one, it's not quite a physical fitness habit, but I think it's one of the most underrated things and that's meditation. I think of that as like a ⁓ fitness for your mind, for your awareness, so to speak.
Michelle Stainton (33:08)
For your soul,
yeah.
David Caixeiro (33:12)
Being able to separate yourself from your thoughts. It's not about completely quieting the mind. It's about being able to observe your thoughts and emotions, sensations from awareness so that you're not identifying with them. And that way you have conscious choice. ⁓ I'm not gonna, I can feel that I'm bored and I'm craving this cookie. I'm through meditation, you become mindful of that sensation, that drive to do that. But now you're in the driver's seat.
you can consciously choose if that's something you want to do or not. Because so often we live on autopilot, we live compulsively, whether it's our phones, whether it's food, no matter what it is. I think meditation, it helps manage stress, helps improve mindfulness, again, down regulate your nervous system. I can't say enough good things about it. It's probably been the most impactful habit I've implemented into my life, even above working out. So I'd say mobility, meditation, walking and
Rest between sets.
Michelle Stainton (34:13)
I love it.
Mikelle Ethier (34:14)
Yeah. So, and I'm sure most people, you know, if they've seen your Instagram account or watched your workout, they'd be really surprised to hear you say that. I'm really annoyed to hear you say that because I really do not like meditating, but I do need to get, I do need to be more consistent with that, right? Because it is really the key to making choices and not living that are good for you and not living on autopilot. Yeah.
David Caixeiro (34:23)
Mm-hmm.
You
Mm-hmm.
Totally. Yeah. Yeah.
Mikelle Ethier (34:44)
Yeah. David, what's the one thing you want every woman to know about working out?
David Caixeiro (34:53)
⁓ working out in general or again, is this getting stronger? Is this ⁓ just working out in general?
Mikelle Ethier (35:03)
let's make
it working out to get stronger because that's what everybody who's 35 and older, female, should be doing for their health and longevity, of course. So to get stronger, yeah.
David Caixeiro (35:17)
Okay, what I would want every woman to know is lift weights, train movements, ⁓ free weights over machines for sure, but you wanna train those movement patterns that I talked about ⁓ and know that you're stronger than you think you are. Every single client that I've worked with is so much stronger than what they realize. It doesn't mean you need to push yourself into that complete max limit of what you're capable of every single day.
Mikelle Ethier (35:33)
Mm.
David Caixeiro (35:46)
But know that when you grab those five pound dumbbells and they feel like they're kind of heavy because you've never really lifted them before, know that your body is so much stronger than that. So that's what I would want every woman to know. Don't be scared of lifting weights. Don't be scared of getting bulky or anything like that. It's a lot of work to get bulky. It's probably not going to happen. I've been trying and I'm still not quite there. So lift weights, train movements, know that you're stronger than what you think you are.
