There's something about late August that makes people want to begin. The kids are back in their routines, the calendar finally settles and that fresh-start energy usually saved for January shows up early. Every year around now I hear from people telling me the same thing...they know they should be strength training, they just don't know where to start, so they keep not starting. That was me forever too! If that is where your head is right now, this one is for you. I've spent over 30 years in...
4 days ago • 3 min read
For years, the first thing I did every morning was step on the scale. Before coffee, before I’d really even woken up. That one number set the tone for the whole day. A good number and I felt light and capable. A bad one and it might be in the back of my mind for the rest of the day. I want to tell you how I stopped, because I think a lot of us are still stuck in that loop. Here's how I shifted my perspective: the scale measures how much you weigh. It has no idea what you’re made of. It can’t...
13 days ago • 3 min read
The question I get more than any other isn't about protein or lifting. It's some version of this: which tracker should I actually buy? I've worn an Oura ring since 2022. These days I also rotate a Whoop, a Hume Band, Fitbit and an Elonga, sometimes all at once, which my husband finds a little ridiculous. All part of the wearable tester life though, so we both put up with it. So all that is to say, I definitely have opinions on which is best for what, and I have a bit of data. Before I tell...
27 days ago • 4 min read
I've spent 30 years in the health and wellness space, have a training certification, have competed on a physique stage and I've read more study abstracts than I can count. So when the largest evidence review on strength training ever assembled landed earlier this year, I read the whole thing. Like many studies, we didn't REALLY need a study to tell is what we already know. The American College of Sports Medicine released its first major update to resistance training guidelines in 17 years. It...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
If you've ever been told that what you're feeling is just stress, or that it's all in your head, this one is for you. And if you love a woman who's been trying to explain a change they can't quite name, this is for you too. Here's the truth: the symptoms so many women struggle through in midlife are not imagined. They're physiological, driven by real and measurable hormonal changes and they're well documented in the research...I should know because I just took a deep dive into it....
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
In 2023, my husband had open heart surgery. When something like that happens to the person you share your life with, you start looking hard at everything that might tip the odds in your favor. Diet, obviously. Exercise, obviously. We were already very focused on both of those. But my investigation also sent me deep into the research on a habit I'd always filed under "maybe someday or when I have the money": sauna. What I found surprised me enough that we invested in a Sunlighten sauna of our...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Happy Fourth of July weekend to everyone celebrating in the US and for those of you in other parts of the world, I hope your weather hasn't been quite as crazy as ours. I know my friends in Europe have be roasting in the heat like we have in Cincinnati, so I hope you get some respite from that soon. I'll keep this one short because if you're anything like me, you have things to do this holiday weekend. There's a cooler to pack, a grill to light and people to feed. So let's get right to it!...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
A quick note before we get into the new study: the July High Protein Kitchen meal plan came out Wednesday. If you already subscribe to that list, it's in your inbox. If not, you can download the free July plan right now...it includes a look at all five weeks of the July plan at a glance, plus One full recipe you can make tonight: my Smoky Grilled Chicken Thighs with charred corn and avocado, at 47 grams of protein per serving. The whole meal planner format, with breakfast, lunch, dinner and a...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Father's Day is this Sunday and I've been thinking about my dad. He passed away almost six years ago, but I still feel his presence on days like this. I thought I'd share a bit of this 21 page little handmade book I made him when I was a kid...the writing bug started early with me! Poems and sayings, hand-drawn pictures, signed "From: Cheryl Schnellenberger (classic, writing out my full name since I thought of myself as an author event then), To: Daddy." He kept it all those years, tucked...
2 months ago • 4 min read