How Strength Training Enhances Mental Toughness and Reduces Stress (Amanda Nigg) | Ep 301
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Feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, or stuck in your head? What if the key to unlocking your mental resilience isn’t talk therapy but lifting weights?
I talk to Amanda Nigg, aka the FarmFit Momma, about how strength training helped her recover after losing everything in a devastating fire. We discuss how doing hard physical things builds real psychological resilience, how strength training transforms your mindset, and why busy people need this more than anyone.
We dig into the connection between mental health and physical strength, the science behind why it works, and the practical ways to build your own strong body and mind even with a packed schedule.
Today, you’ll learn all about:
07:20 - Amanda’s story of how lifting saved her
13:07 - Which came first: lifting or resilience?
17:09 - The case for short, effective workouts
22:13 - Why lifting heavy won’t make you bulky
30:38 - The hormonal and mental benefits of lifting
34:12 - Physical progress vs. mental progress
35:48 - How busy moms find time to train
42:58 - The impact of discomfort in training
51:41 - Can lifting and nutrition reduce anxiety and depression?
56:42 - Reframing your internal dialogue to transform your life
59:01 - Rapid-fire questions
1:04:00 - Outro
Episode resources:
Website: farmfitmomma.com
Instagram: @farmfitmomma
Facebook: @Farmfitmomma
Youtube: @farmfitmomma
FarmFit Method Training: farmfitmomma.com/farmfit-method-fitness
Lifting is Therapy
Most people start lifting to look better or get stronger. But for a lot of us, it's the psychological benefits that end up making the biggest difference. You might start for the aesthetics—but you stay because it keeps you sane.
When you train with intent—whether it's progressive overload, getting one more rep, or hitting a PR—it rewires your brain. It gives you a structured way to do something hard, on purpose, and come out the other side stronger. Lifting gives you reps of resilience. And when you get those in the gym, you’re better equipped to handle the stuff life throws at you outside it.
What lifting weights does to your stress levels and anxiety
We know that exercise releases endorphins, but strength training specifically has unique effects on your mental health. It’s not just a dopamine hit. It’s a reset. You’re putting yourself under load—literally—and teaching your nervous system how to respond to pressure.
It’s also one of the most consistent ways to reclaim agency. When life feels chaotic, just knowing your training session is on the calendar—and that you're showing up regardless—helps restore a sense of control. You don’t need a 90-minute workout to get that benefit. Even 20–30 minutes of intentional movement can change your entire mindset for the day.
It doesn’t need to be intense to be effective
There's a false belief that if you're not killing yourself in the gym, you're not doing enough. But most of the benefits—both mental and physical—come from structured, progressive work. A short, focused lifting session with clear movement patterns and progressive overload will almost always outperform random high-intensity circuits when it comes to long-term results and psychological carryover.
The connection between physical strength and emotional resilience
We tend to separate mental health and physical health like they’re two different things. But they’re not. They’re tightly connected. When you challenge yourself physically, you're also training your mind to tolerate discomfort, build discipline, and stay grounded.
This becomes obvious when you're facing something hard—stress, burnout, grief, uncertainty—and lifting becomes the one thing that helps you feel like yourself again. You stop viewing it as optional. It becomes non-negotiable. And that mental shift is where the real transformation starts.
Confidence isn’t the goal, it’s the byproduct
A lot of people chase confidence, but you can't shortcut your way to it. You build it through reps—doing the thing you said you'd do, especially when it’s hard. Over time, lifting creates proof. Proof that you’re capable. That you’re strong. That you’re consistent. That your body can do hard things. And that proof builds confidence that’s earned, not faked.
And no, lifting heavy won't make you bulky. It’ll make you smaller, tighter, and stronger. Especially for women, resistance training is one of the best tools for improving body composition and developing lean muscle—without the side effects you’re afraid of.
Making training sustainable in real life
If you're like most of my clients, you’ve got a million things going on—family, work, kids, zero margin for fluff. The solution isn’t trying to “find time” but to build systems that make lifting a part of your day. Early morning before the chaos starts, during a kid’s nap, or while dinner’s in the oven. It doesn’t matter when—what matters is that you’re consistent.
The myth that lifting has to be long or complicated is one of the biggest reasons people never start. But you don’t need a gym full of machines. You don’t even need a gym. You need a few basic movements, progressive overload, and the willingness to keep showing up.
Discomfort is part of the process
The first time you squat under a bar or try to lift something that feels heavy, it’s going to suck. But that discomfort is the point. When you lean into it, your threshold for what you can tolerate goes up. You get mentally tougher. You stop quitting on yourself. And eventually, it’s not something you force yourself to do—it’s something you crave.
It’s more than training—it’s how you live
You can’t always control what happens to you, but you can control how you respond. Lifting helps you practice that. Reps, sets, rest, repeat. The more consistent you are with your training, the more you start to realize you can handle anything.
This isn’t about motivation. It’s about momentum. You won’t always want to do it. But you’ll always be glad you did.
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Transcript
Philip Pape: 0:01
If anxiety, stress or life's overwhelming demands have been holding you back and you've been searching for a practical way to build true mental resilience, strength training might be just what you need. Today, I'm talking with Amanda Nigg, who rebuilt her life through lifting after losing everything in a devastating fire. You'll learn the science behind why pushing weights builds your psychological armor, practical ways that busy, hardworking people can use fitness to strengthen body and mind, and how physical resilience directly translates to mental toughness in everyday life. Today's episode will show you why lifting weights might be the most powerful therapeutic tool you're not using. Welcome to Wits and Weights, the show that helps you build a strong, healthy physique using evidence, engineering and efficiency.
Philip Pape: 0:52
I'm your host, philip Pape, and today I've invited on Amanda Nigg, aka the FarmFit Mama, to discuss the connection between strength training, which we all love, and mental toughness. Amanda is a certified personal trainer, nutrition coach, wellness expert, who founded FarmFit Training after rebuilding her life through fitness following a devastating house fire in 2020. She's a busy farm wife and mother. She lives on a 114-year-old South Dakota farm and brings that unique experience to helping hardworking people develop physical and mental toughness through structured training and nutrition. Today, you're going to learn how doing physically hard things like lifting weights build psychological resilience almost like nothing else. Some strategies to manage stress and anxiety through lifting and tips for building a routine that works for you to build that stronger body and mind. Amanda, welcome to the show.
Amanda Nigg: 1:45
I love it. I love it, thank you. Thanks for having me.
Philip Pape: 1:48
I'm excited to be here and we were chatting before we got on about. You know you can see a barn outside your door. You're in the agriculture industry. There's so much happening there and even though I'm not a city boy, I'm in Connecticut. We live on six acres ourselves with some trees. A lot of folks may or may not relate to that lifestyle. What I thought was cool about talking to you today is that kind of resilience and toughness that you might have from practical experience with the farming lifestyle, but also working with clients and what you've discovered through fitness. So, to kick things off, I just want to ask you what mental changes do happen when someone starts lifting weights.
Amanda Nigg: 2:30
Oh my gosh, there's so many. A lot of people don't understand the interconnection between mental health and physical health. You really can't look at one or the other when you're talking about physical fitness. Your mental health is going to be right there, it's going to be impacted, it's going to be changed just by working on yourself. And a lot of people think, oh, you know, taking that time for myself, it's more like a selfish endeavor and it really isn't, because you impact those around you in a positive manner by taking care of yourself. And the same token with mental health. Like you can't work on your mental health without tapping into your physical health.
Amanda Nigg: 3:07
And so I think the biggest thing, especially in my industry, is, you know, things are advancing as far as technology. Like they're coming out with self drive tractors, believe it or not. Like we don't have one on our farm, but man would, I love one. But the cool thing is, like you know, as technology advances, what's not advancing in my industry is health and physical health, and we're talking physical and mental health, and so it was one of those things where there's tons of amazing influencers. I hate that word, by the way influencer, I just hate it. I'm like, if you're passionate about something, why do we have to label it as influencers? But that's a whole balling.
Amanda Nigg: 3:50
But as far as agriculture goes, there's tons of people out there that are bridging that gap between consumer and producer, which I'm also doing, that as well, like I'm really debunking those myths. But what wasn't present in our industry is somebody standing up for physical and mental health, and that's really where I focus on. I really want to be able to bridge that gap when it comes to physical and mental health for my industry. And a lot of people don't realize like agriculture is your backbone of the world. We're not just talking like it's the world. Like without the food system, nobody would exist.
Amanda Nigg: 4:20
You know we have those hobby farms, everybody, and don't get me wrong, I have my own garden that I'd like to dabble in and think I'm an advanced farmer when it comes to my own garden, even though weeds take it over. But with that being said, you know, physical health and mental health is something that I'm super passionate about and I love to keep educating myself. Like I, just because I have the certifications doesn't mean I stop. Like I actually just purchased another certification off of NASM for sports nutrition, and so I'm starting to dabble into sports nutrition and youth as well, and so I'm always a student when it comes to learning and incorporating new practices that I can bring to the table.
Philip Pape: 5:00
Love it. Yeah, Sports nutrition Now you're talking my area. We definitely can chat about that. Yeah, no, no, Cool, it's it. That's awesome. I mean yeah, because it all works together. And the more you learn about each of these bits and get the education, the more you realize how it's all connected. It's all connected systemically, physiologically and then even with your mind and with the way we interact with our professions and our careers and other people. So what's interesting is you mentioned the ag industry, physical mental health. What that made me think of was so I'm in the engineering industry and in manufacturing for years. There were always safety issues, right, and the more like, even ergonomically, just having to bend over to do, you know, fasten something together on an assembly line could cause back issues, and over the years they've put in place, uh, more safeguards, you know, for physical health. Mental health is definitely something that the whole world hasn't really talked a lot about until the last maybe decade or two maximum. I don't know if you agree with that. That's what I've observed.
Amanda Nigg: 5:59
I wouldn't even say the last couple of years, yeah.
Philip Pape: 6:01
Yeah, no couple of years True.
Amanda Nigg: 6:03
Yeah, like no, mental health wasn't talked about a lot. It was more of a stigma of like, if you talked about it, like you were weak, is how people kind of viewed mental health. And then, ever since the C word I don't know if I should say it here, but ever since 2020, like, a lot more people are open about it and, I case in point, my whole story is about it, you know, and so it's a topic that is being brought out and talked about a lot more, which is really cool to see, because if you can talk about your mental health struggles, it actually shows how strong you are. It's not a weakness, it's a strength, and I think it's really cool how industries are starting to talk about it, and I would definitely say it's more prevalent in the last couple of years, believe it or not, in my opinion, and tell me more about that I would love to hear about in that industry, because we never talk about that industry on this show, so it's pretty cool.
Philip Pape: 6:56
What have they recognized and put in place? Because I'm sure there's some general lessons there for anybody.
Amanda Nigg: 7:01
Well, I mean in rural America, rural anywhere, and we're talking international as well like they're just, the services are very slim. It's not like I can go to a counselor, like I still have to drive 45 minutes to even a counselor, you know, and when I was going through my struggles in 2020, like so, to give a little bit background, yeah, please do tell me is, um, I actually graduated college as a radiation oncology therapist, so a medical degree. Like, I have that fixer personality, I love to fix things. And the reason I went into oncology is it was an industry that I really wanted to understand. We're talking like 14 years ago, I just put a date on myself. I feel old. Now I'm like 22. Come on, oh, I wish, let's say I look it now. But like 22, come on, oh I wish. Uh, let's say I look at.
Amanda Nigg: 7:50
But you know, even a long time ago, when I went into the oncology field, there was so much that people didn't understand in that industry and that's what really drove me to it, because I wanted to understand it and be that fixer solution. And so later in my adventures, I ended up selling door-to-door insurance because, like, they threw me in pediatric oncology and I'll be the first to tell you like, fresh out of college, I wasn't ready for that industry. That is like those people are saints that can stay in that industry. And so when I started selling insurance, I did door-to-door sales and I learned a lot about myself in that process because, like, door-to-door sales is the hardest type of sell that you will ever have to do. You have five seconds to make that first impression, and so I learned a lot in that at personally, but also the supplemental coverage that I sold. It was still that fixer type of solution where it would money directly to the person if they went through a catastrophic illness like cancer, heart or accidental, but in the same token, it allowed people to choose the quality care they want instead of the quality care they could afford. So I loved it.
Amanda Nigg: 8:51
I actually sold insurance for 11 years, believe it or not, which is insane to say, but in 2020, the day before the national pandemic, we just built our forever home. That was actually half a mile away from the farm and me and my husband poured our heart and soul Like he was the contractor for our house project everything and, as you probably can already guess, our house burned down. We lost everything. So, march 19th 2020, we lost our entire home. And then the next day was the official quotations here lockdown.
Amanda Nigg: 9:25
And so it was like not only was the world and you know, especially in the United States going through this lockdown of like nobody knew what was happening, you know, and we're all guessing like and it you know, there's tons of speculation soaring around Our family was homeless, like we had nowhere to go and and you couldn't even go to a grocery store. Like everything was shut down. And so, like I was super struggling, like I really started to struggle with my mental health, like I wasn't able to sell insurance anymore. I'm homeschooling my children. I'm social distancing, which I'm an extreme extrovert, like I love to be around people. And then, in addition to that, like we're homeless and we're trying to figure out our next steps on top of all this and it was a lot to take in Like I'll be the first to admit like I was very vocal about my mental health struggles, because it's just like I had the only solution that was available was a 1-800 number, which, again, that works for some people and I don't want to downplay that.
Amanda Nigg: 10:25
Like, if you're really struggling, yes, definitely call that, but for me, I viewed it as like a bandaid approach. It's like why would you cover a bullet wound with a bandaid? Because that you don't really. You're talking to a complete stranger, dumping your emotions out. And then what happens? When it happens again and you're struggling again, you're going to have to relive, open that bullet wound back up, get all that information back out and then try to work where you're going through in that moment.
Amanda Nigg: 10:51
And so, like for me, I really dove hard into my fitness journey. I started going to our junk pile. My husband would bring me random like junk pile tires like I'm covered in talking, covered in dirt, like this, these junk pile tires. Because like'm covered in talking, covered in dirt, like just these junk pile tires.
Amanda Nigg: 11:05
Cause, like my gym was in our home and he knew how much I loved, you know, taking that time for myself. And he understood the value that I did and how it would allow me, you know, to be able to give to our family, because it's a lot harder to pour from a half empty cup than a half full. And he understood like, hey, I need to take that time for myself. And so I started posting these random workouts online and I wasn't certified at the time and I remember the pivoting moment for me, the aha moment was in May of 2020 that I launched this plank challenge and it was nothing crazy, felt like it was some generic program I saw online and I kind of tweaked it a little bit and made it more universal and I launched it online for the month of May, which is Mental Health Awareness Month, and I had 800 plus people in agriculture across the world participate in this, Like I honestly don't know the number.
Amanda Nigg: 11:59
I mean, I was getting tagged left and right from people from Australia, uk, canada, united States and it really just opened my eyes like nobody's really tackling that physical and mental health component within this industry. And it was just. Like you know, I did a couple other challenges later that year, but it really lit my fire where I decided to go back to get me my personal training in nutrition. It was where I started and I officially opened the doors to FarmFit training February 5th of 2021. Because it was like you know, if nobody's going to do this, I want to be that change. I want to give individuals a solution to where they have a space. If they were like me, that wouldn't call that number. Yeah.
Philip Pape: 12:43
Yeah, you wanted to be that change and you did. That sounds like in less than a year, totally unexpected, and that's a rough story. Obviously, I'm sure you've told the story many times. That's probably therapeutic in and of itself, but what I want to know is there's some steps skipped there that the audience wants to know of. You said you did these workouts after the house burned down and that helped push you through it. That implies that you were already. You know cause you had a gym in your house. Yeah, would you say, cause. What's the chicken and egg here? Pun intended farm joke, I guess we do have chickens, by the way. What came first, chicken or egg? What came first? The lifting or the mental kind of resilience? You know what I'm saying? That's really the topic of today is how strongly did your existing routine and love for fitness push you through it versus it drove you to it? You know what I mean 100%.
Amanda Nigg: 13:37
I was that overweight mom, so I've always been physically active. I am a very strong competitor. Like, I grew up playing sports. I was the type of kid that was in every sport imaginable and I would excel in every single sport. Like, I have a very competitive drive to me and when I went into motherhood I'm five, one and a buck, 20, 120, 125. Like, I gained 60 pounds. My first pregnancy, like being pregnant, did a number on my body and I had two. My first pregnancy was an emergency C-section. My second one was a scheduled C-section. So, like it wasn't even like your typical normal pregnancy. It was rough and I'm thank God. I love my boys to death, but I'm officially done having kids.
Philip Pape: 14:24
Understandable.
Amanda Nigg: 14:26
But you know, like I was that mom that was uncomfortable in her own skin. I was that super insecure with who I was, and so for me I knew I had to get back to feeling comfortable in my own skin. And that looks different for everybody, like how you view yourself and and and they throw this word confidence out and first and foremost, a lot. There's two ways you can view confidence Like. You can view it as like cockiness. Some people have that cocky confidence. But another way to view confidence is believing in your own abilities and what you bring to the table. And for me I didn't have that. And so when I started working out, I actually started with a CrossFit program which I don't follow her anymore. She went all bougie. If you've heard of Christmas Abbott, she's a CrossFit person.
Philip Pape: 15:10
I'll just be honest. I kind of stay away from the CrossFit community these days, but okay.
Amanda Nigg: 15:16
That is a, that's a cult. Let's just say what it is.
Philip Pape: 15:19
I did it for eight years but yeah, I escaped. I escaped the cult.
Amanda Nigg: 15:26
Well, the CrossFit community appealed to me because it was just you see, all these bad-ass people and you're like.
Amanda Nigg: 15:29
I'm part of that, and so, um, when I, after my second pregnancy, I did do a couple of CrossFit programs and I loved it and and my husband saw the change in my personality, like in my motivation and just carrying myself, like how I carried myself every day, today it was like I had a purpose. And so I guess, back to your chicken and egg comment I had to start working out to tap into my mental health to be to where I am today, and so that's what happened in 2020. When I lost my gym is I knew I had to go back to the ground and get to back to the foundation of diving that time into myself so that I could be able to show up powerfully for my family, especially when we were going through so many unknowns in 2020.
Philip Pape: 16:16
Yeah, that's well said. I caught a few things there that were kind of the deeper part of why that was important to you, one being having a purpose, you said, and the other the confidence and showing up for yourself, time for yourself. There's a mindfulness component, especially when we're in the stressed world where we're just on the go, never dedicate. I mean, I get that as a business owner and you know a very packed schedule, my lifting four days a week. It just is going to happen Like matter. What it's going to happen, I mean, short of some emergency, and yet I probably wouldn't have a really dedicated self-time without that.
Philip Pape: 16:51
So, having said that, I want to understand the elements of training and exercise that are most beneficial, both in the evidence if I don't know how much up on all the evidence you are but also in practical experience, because sometimes I feel like people use exercise in general uh, stressful exercise as well, like CrossFit can be as maybe a scapegoat or an escape that doesn't actually reduce stress or anxiety or it doesn't actually, uh, build the confidence and the resilience right. It's almost like an endorphin or dopamine hit band-aid. What are your thoughts on that spectrum between that and something that's truly rejuvenatory? Yeah, that's a beautiful word, by the way, just made it, just came up out of my ass. I love it, I love it.
Amanda Nigg: 17:39
Well, first and foremost, people overcomplicate things let's just lay it out as it is and especially when it comes to fitness, they think they need to work out an hour to two hours a day and they're like, oh, I don't have time. The number one excuse, especially in my community, was time, and so I've done a ton of research. To answer your question, I've got 800 plus page scientific journals and I remember coming across this one scientific journal and it really hit home for me, and it took these two groups of people, 50-50. It took the first group. They had four movements. The second group had the exact same four movements, but the first group had only four rounds of these four movements and it was like a 15 to 25 minute workout. And then the second group had to. They didn't have a number, the rounds weren't given, they just had to go for time, which was 45 minutes to an hour. And what they'd noticed over the course of this three month trial period is the group that had the set time not only performed better but lost more fat, built more muscle and had more mental health clarity than the group that had to work the 45 minutes to an hour.
Amanda Nigg: 18:48
And the reason for this is progressive overload. A lot of people overcomplicate exercises where they think they have to do a ton of different movements to get a full body workout. And if you simplify that and that's what we do in FarFit trainings, we really specialize on that quick and effective methodology Like, hey, I'm going to give you a 15 to 25 minute workout but I'm going to humble your ass in that time, but then you get on with your day and so, like the biggest thing, especially out there in this industry and you can probably contest this is people make excuses because they're afraid of getting started, or they use time as an excuse, like I don't have the time to invest in myself right now because I don't want to make that time is what it boils down to.
Amanda Nigg: 19:34
And so it was one of those things where that scientific journal was super eyeopening to me, where it was just like, okay, if I'm going to create something, it's got to be quick and effective. We have to teach how to do progressive overload correctly, and we have to really educate people that you don't need a lot of equipment. You can use a tire or a tractor weight Like you don't have to have this big fancy gym, or if you have access to a gym, great. But I knew it had to be an at-home program where I could really take that excuse of time off the plate. And that's the same with nutrition. We really approach nutrition differently too, and so it's just like I really wanted to hone in on both of those and create something that was sustainable, that where individuals could show up for themselves and put in the work, but it could be a part of their everyday life.
Philip Pape: 20:25
You're using all the keywords that I love, amanda sustainable, time-efficient, progressive overload and this is really good. I want people listening or watching to get this message. Number one you said the biggest excuse is time. I was just talking to my daughters I think it was last night so every night we put in a bed, we have these. Somehow we're getting these deep conversations. They're only 10 and 12. They're actually turning 11 and 13.
Philip Pape: 20:49
But we were talking about how the speed of light is fixed and we were talking about relativity believe it or not, I know it's weird, we homeschool our kids too and we were talking about time as like it's fixed, right, I mean, it's not fixed.
Philip Pape: 21:01
If you're traveling near the speed of light, then it can kind of bend and stuff, but it's the only thing you can't change and what you're getting at is that that's the one you can make it as in, you can clear it from your schedule, right, but you can't like create more time, so that's that's important, to just acknowledge that. Like you can't change 24 hours, so it's up to you to change other things to fit within the 24 hours. But then the progressive overload as a way to be time efficient, simplify, reduce stress, humble yourself, like you said, I love that and effectively do something hard that I think pays off longer term in terms of the high you get from it. Let's just say, in which case, what I want to ask you, amanda, with this long diatribe, is what do you say to people who say, well, that's not hard enough, that's not intense enough, that doesn't like I, like my CrossFitter, I like my you know, big, intense, my, my Peloton type workouts? What do you say to those people?
Amanda Nigg: 21:54
Peloton is made for the masses, it's not made for yourself. So, first and foremost, any of those programs Beachbody, peloton they're made for the masses. They're not going to challenge you like a good program like per se, phillip or I put together. I promise you that. And secondly, workouts should humble you and you should hire a coach that can actually educate you on the process. Like, a lot of people don't understand progressive overload correctly, even fitness instructors out there, like fitness people, I've seen them explain it so wrong. And so, when you're doing progressive overload correctly, the first and foremost let's debunk this myth that gets thrown out there in the fitness space is lifting heavy weights will make you bulky, especially for females. That is such a false lie. I am a 5'1 and I'm 125 pounds. Trust me, I'm not bulky.
Philip Pape: 22:43
You guys need to check out her. You gave me like a photo to use for the cover art and you're like, it looks like you're in the jungle. I know it's like a farm thing, but there's like leaves and again, and I'm not, it's not a body image thing, but you can tell I say this all the time when a woman is like muscular and lean, like you have a fit, lean figure and I bet you weigh more than people think, right, Like, and you're being 5'1".
Amanda Nigg: 23:04
Like they see me and they're like, they don't like, especially when I'm wearing baggy clothes, like I'm petite, I'm 5'1", you know I'm fun size, and so when they see me they don't understand the strength that I have. And so, like, for example, I always your muscles Like it, like it cracks me up because like that I can come over and lift the heavy stuff and help him, like when we're fixing our combine or tractor. He knows I can do it. Um, but a lot of people underestimate my strength ability. And that's the thing too is like ladies here is going to make you leaner, tighter, smaller.
Amanda Nigg: 23:40
And a lot of women, when they join a program, what's the number one word? They always say Tone, I want to be toned. The only way you're going to get toned is if you pick up those weights. Do not shy away from that. And then you know again, male and female chemical makeup is a lot different. We're not the same genetic profile. So when a male picks up heavier weight, you know, and hits his protein numbers, he's going to look a lot different compared to a female. Yes, there's some females and male influencers out there that are taking that steroid and they look manly. Let's just like females that look manly. But if you're doing it correctly and incorporating progressive overload correctly, you're going to get leaner, smaller, tighter ladies and those men are going to see that progress that they're looking for. You know most men want that chest, the arms, the back, you know. And so you're going to see that progress a lot more. And the thing with progressive overload is it's got to be taught correctly and again, there's so many fitness influencers that do not teach it correctly, and so that's actually what one of the things I love covering with my clients and educating them on is like okay, this is how progressive overload looks like you want to start, you want to warm your body up before you work out, you want to hit your max, like a lot of people reverse. This, by the way, is you want to hit your max weight in the beginning and by the end. If you have to drop to maintain form, that's good, because you're hitting muscle failure earlier on instead of later in your workout. You don't want to hit muscle failure at the end of your workout.
Amanda Nigg: 25:15
And again back to that case study. That's what that case study talked about is a lot of that group that had the set rounds, those four rounds, in that 15 to 25 minute workout. Guess what? They pushed the weight because they knew they were only going to be doing it for 15 to 25 minutes, versus that group that worked out for 45 minutes to an hour. They're like gosh. We got to do this for the long haul. I'm not going to pick up heavier weights, so they probably didn't hit muscle failure until the end of the workout versus the beginning, and so there's a lot that happens with that, which I don't know how deep you want to go into this, but, like you know, you have to create those micro tears in your muscle and that's how you build and repair it, and obviously nutrition plays a huge component into that as well.
Philip Pape: 25:54
Yeah, for sure. I mean, I could definitely talk for hours about all the mechanisms underlying muscle building and strength. What I would love the listener to get from this, from you, is you know you said it's a hard, humbling thing. I always like to say, if you're lifting weight, weight's the right way. It'll never be easy, but life is going to be a lot easier because you're stronger like later on, you know when you do every day task.
Amanda Nigg: 26:20
you know like, think about it Like I dropped that nugget in there that my husband texts me saying he wants my muscles. You know, it's like that. It's the fact that my husband views me as an asset and knows that I can help him. I just love it. You know like you're independent.
Philip Pape: 26:36
You're not only independent, you contribute even more than independence. Like you know what I mean.
Amanda Nigg: 26:40
Like you can do those everyday tasks like do you imagine how, how much you squat and pick up during the day? Like how many squats people do? Or even walking, like people don't realize how much they use their muscles in a day, and if you're, if you use your muscles and again strengthen them, it makes those everyday motions a lot easier, um, a lot way, a lot easier to be able to handle. Where, like, there was this really strong commercial. Tell me if you saw this, though. This commercial was it like an 80 year old grandpa and he started lifting weights, and in this commercial it was a christmas commercial. He was lifting this weight and his neighbors were older people. They'd peek in and on him. He was out in his garage lifting this kettlebell, like just kept doing this kettlebell moment and, um, they kept talking about him. You know, like, why is he working out at 80 and stuff? Well, at the end, the reason why he was working out is he wanted to be able to lift his granddaughter, to put the star on the tree. Yeah, I've seen that one.
Amanda Nigg: 27:40
That's a good one, and you know the thing, the point of that one super powerful, first and foremost, but the huge point there is a lot of people are not going to understand the things that you do, and when you dive into a fitness journey, you might get flack and you might get people being like, oh, look at her, she's posting pictures of herself again on the internet. Or look at her, she's bragging about her meal that she ate today. You're not doing this for everybody else. You're doing it for yourself, but you're going to slowly impact those around you and you have to realize, like you're your longest commitment and checking in with yourself and being able to be like you know what. I don't want to be that 80-year-old sitting in a nursing home who's tied to a wheelchair. I want to be that 80 old freaking, busting out pull-ups and being that grandma that's super hands-on and so it's just that type of mental switch where something that I do with every single one of my clients is we do a wise statement. Have you ever done that before?
Philip Pape: 28:37
Yeah, or the five wise yeah.
Amanda Nigg: 28:39
Well, we don't do the five wise, we do a wise statement. So the wise statement is your deepest, darkest emotions you have about yourself. So before anybody can even start coaching with us, especially in my one-on-one coaching, is they have to create this wise statement. Sometimes it's superficial, you know. I want to look good, feel good. Or other times it's like my mom was obese. I don't want to be obese. I want to change that pattern for my family. I to be obese. I want to change that pattern for my family. I want to be an active, hands-on mom or dad, you know sometimes Be a role model for my kids.
Philip Pape: 29:06
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Amanda Nigg: 29:12
Sometimes it gets super deep and that's when you know you're on the right path of creating your why statement. Because those why statements like motivations, fleeting, it's going to come and go, but when you tap back into that why statement, it's going to change as you go through your fitness journey, but it's going to be super powerful tool, not only physically but mentally, to drive you to be like you know what this is, why I'm showing up. I'm showing up for myself, because I want to be that active, hands-on mom. I want to be that mom where all those other moms are sitting there talking on the sideline and the boys are playing football and I'm right there and I'm totally that mom. So I have a nine-year-old and 11-year-old boy. I'm a boy mom and I am totally that mom.
Amanda Nigg: 29:47
Like they were playing football the other day and I was right in there playing tackle football with a bunch of 11-year-olds. You know why all these other parents were sitting on the sidelines and it's just like you know. I choose to have an active lifestyle because there's so many moments where I'm not going to have that with my kids as they get older and I'm not going to be the cool mom anymore and I don't. I want to take advantage of it as much as possible, and if tapping into myself for 20 minutes a day gets me to those goals and keeps me being able to be that hands-on mom, I'm going to do it.
Philip Pape: 30:20
Yeah, and that's the powerful thing here is that you have the deep why and now you have a process to get you there and the process itself isn't really that. I'm not going to say hard Again. It's hard to lift weights, but in a good way. But it doesn't have to be taking over your life and this stressful thing that you hate or don't look forward to, like a lot of workouts can be. And I can totally relate, right, because we have dogs, I have kids, we have chickens, they have hamsters and I love to just like get on the floor and crawl around and just whatever. You know, my, my girls are getting tall and bigger and then you know, my youngest especially, will still ask me to hold her and I'm like sure, brace Cause it's more of a deadlift. Now you're heavier, it's cool, you're bigger, but let's do to the lifting weights then, like a great example is.
Philip Pape: 31:05
You know, I see it all the time with clients. I'm sure you do too. This amazing thing that happens is transformation. That happens fairly early on. I mean it could be within the first few weeks, where you don't necessarily see muscle or have like lost many inches in your waist, but you're feeling more powerful and strong and like there's hormones that are just being triggered testosterone, igf-1, like all this fun stuff. Maybe tell us about the physiology, because then that leads to the mental piece, which is also physiological, not just like emotional per se. How does training affect your hormones, your stressors, that feeling of power, like we can get into all that? I know how passionate you are about this.
Amanda Nigg: 31:45
Well, I'm super passionate, but we're going to hit nutrition into that at some point as well. But you know, like lift more weight, first and foremost you release this amazing thing called endorphins and those are like our body's natural ability, it's like your happy pill and, first and foremost, a lot of people once you start to tap into it. That's why you see people working out years and years and years later because they love that. They love that adrenaline rush and that's one thing I love too in the morning when I work out, just that feeling of accomplishment that I get of, like I checked in for myself. This is a big deal, you know, and some days not my lifts are not the best, I'll be the first to tell you. Some days I'm like that was a shady workout, sorry.
Philip Pape: 32:28
I don't know if I should have said that it's all good. It's all good.
Amanda Nigg: 32:30
Like you know, and there's other days where I like I crush that and I into it. Not going too deep and keeping this in layman terms is your body is this amazing mechanism and, like a lot of people don't realize, like when you start to lift those weights, there's so much happening in your body and it becomes this addicting agent where you're like I want to check in the next day, I want to come back, you know, and sometimes that takes time. Like progress I think that you hit that right on the head is progress takes time and the biggest thing is it takes consistency. Don't expect to lose 20 pounds in the first month. First and foremost. If you did, I'd be able to crash diet or something.
Amanda Nigg: 33:20
We all diet culture and you're going to get all back because you're not establishing those habits. You have to create those habits and progress takes time and it's it's the more consistent you are with, like, lifting weights, like I do. Something called functional hybrid training is what I really specialize in and, again, it takes time and we really explain that to clients where it's like you know you're going to start to notice mental changes as you start to lift and show up for yourself way before you start to see the physical changes. And I think everybody needs to know that is like physical changes they will come and they will come differently for each people, like I had a client that went through 12 weeks and didn't really see a lot of physical changes in 12 weeks, believe it or not, but she saw major changes mentally.
Amanda Nigg: 34:08
I shit you not after 12 weeks, week four or um, it would have been 14, 14, week 14. It's like her body just went boom, started seeing the muscle definition. She started seeing the popping, her pants size was a lot smaller, she started seeing her abs and it was like her body just all of a sudden just flipped a script. And that's the cool thing too is like your body's unique and it's going to change when it needs to. But the biggest thing is you have to be consistent and you have to believe in the process and the journey, and a lot of people tend to tap out before the magic even happens.
Philip Pape: 34:42
Yeah, I totally know what you mean. Just today I was talking to a client. We've worked together a long time. She's going to go on on her own. That's usually what I want is for someone to fire me. But at the same time I'm like sad. And we look back at her data and there was a time early on where her scale weight basically stayed exactly the same and she dropped like four and a half percent body fat. But we looked at her check-ins back then and it was like all of these mental things. It was like, oh my gosh, I'm doing something I've never done before. Oh my goodness. And yeah, clothes are fitting better and whatnot. But it's this accomplishment win, win, win.
Philip Pape: 35:15
You know whether it is endorphins and dopamine and also, just seeing, you know the data as well. All of it comes together. Um, it's really empowering. And you're right, like men and women will respond differently. It'll be based on your nutrition, based on how you hold onto. Maybe fluid, if you're getting super like, strong and jacked quickly, that could actually cause you to gain weight, right, like, and you know, and kind of offset Right, and so and again, once they plateau, they're not doing the training right, because you should never plateau if you're doing it correctly, sure.
Philip Pape: 35:48
Yeah, absolutely so. Then you mentioned consistency several times and there's all these words that get thrown out Consistency, motivation, willpower, discipline Did I say discipline? And you also mentioned time and hardworking people who are super busy, and I can't imagine like farming, for example, always seemed to me like a very hard scrabble, tough, you know, kind of lifestyle when it comes to finding that time. So how do you do it all Like? How do you not make excuses when you know life's going to be chaotic, it's going to be busy? How do you prioritize that?
Amanda Nigg: 36:18
Well, for me personally are you talking clients? Because me personally, I just know that if I don't, for me to give to others and so I mentioned that earlier and I don't know if you caught that nugget is I mentioned the glass half full, half empty, thrown around a lot, like it's a lot harder to pour from a half empty cup than a half full, and that's super powerful, Like if you think about it, like when you have, when you show up for yourself, you have the ability to give to others because you checked in with yourself. And again, it's not being selfish, it's being, it's realizing if I don't check a little time, how am I able to give to my family? You know, my husband's super busy on our farm we're just gearing up for planting season. I have two boys that are super busy and ton of sports. They're very active, little men, busy and ton of sports. They're very active little men. And it's just like I know as a mother, like I can't give to them until I give to myself. And that doesn't mean I'm being selfish, it just means I want to be a good mother and I want to show them and lead by an example.
Amanda Nigg: 37:15
And so when people say they don't have the time, or come with those excuses like how do I juggle it all is I get up at 5 am. I'll be honest, I don't have to use alarm clock. My body just wakes up and my boys know it. On the weekends it seems like they love to wake up super early, and during the week it's a struggle to get them out the door to school, but on weekends they'll mosey up at 5. Like, sometimes they'll join me in my workout or other times they'll sit there and watch me and have a conversation while I'm working out, and I cherish those moments because I know I'm showing them how to take care of their body and I love, I love having my boys join me in the kitchen. Like they'll make snacks with me, they'll they'll pipe in and make dinners with me. I actually have a recipe I'm dropping tomorrow that my youngest made with me and it's just so cool to teach them and educate them how to feel their body, because I was one of those people that came from a mother that was always on the hamster whale diet culture. Like my mom right now is taking Ozempic, which don't get me started on that Not a fan, not a fan, but you know, like she's always looking for those quick fixes, and same with my sister, and I didn't want that. I wanted to show them like, hey, let's do this the correct way. Let me show you how to like be physically fit, but also let's dive into nutrition. Let me educate you about nutrition and feeling your body and how, what it does to your body. And it's such cool opportunities that I have with my children where I get to educate the way, and it's so cool because then I use those moments and I bring it to our community.
Amanda Nigg: 38:49
You know, in my space, farm fit training is like it's not just me having those moments, it's a ton of my clients. Like we have a community group chat in my app and I'll have pictures. Clients post pictures of them working out with their kids at 5 am. Or some of my farmers prefer to work out at the end of the day and they'll post it. Or I have have farmers attend. We do something called Farmcast once a month where I do like educational hour hour long educationals and they'll be in the tractor listening to me, in the tractor listening to me, you know, and it's just like we're a unique industry. But again, if your why is strong enough, uh, the rest. It will fit into your life exactly how it's, but it doesn't need to be complicated and it's super simple to say that, but it's, it takes work.
Philip Pape: 39:49
It takes work. Yeah, absolutely, it takes something getting over that initial hump and then, like you said, if it's a deep enough reason, you're doing it.
Amanda Nigg: 39:54
It's almost inevitable and then eventually you get to the point where you couldn't imagine not doing it.
Amanda Nigg: 39:59
You're doing a step challenge for my community and I wrote my boys in it. My son has an Apple Watch. He doesn't have a phone but he has an Apple Watch and he competes with me on steps like make it fun. You know, that's the biggest thing is like this should be something that you look forward to, you know and it is fun and something about checking in with yourself. And so I think a lot of people make it not fun and that's why they check out so early because they view it more as like a task I have to get done, instead of being like I get the opportunity to do this, like I can be able to move my body, I get to be able to feel my body, body and when you, when you view it that way, just the way you talk about it and your language around it, it's going to impact and it's going to switch your whole mental health side of things on how you view what you're doing for yourself.
Philip Pape: 40:51
Yeah, I agree, I just did squats today and I'll tell you, Amanda, that that is that's the one compound lift that is always been mentally hardest for me, right, Because it's just my I'll call it weakest of all the lifts. And I know I I'm not going to say I have to do it I know I want to do it because I'm progressing it and I have a training program and I it's been giving me great results. And so that leads me to to ask you this is that, while you can make things as fun as you can, there is an aspect of discomfort when we talk about progressive overload that you have to face, and how do people handle that initially and then they're effectively. That's part of training, your mind, isn't it? And that's part of the resilience that you get out of it. What are your thoughts on that piece of like, the actual hard part of a really heavy squat or deadlift?
Amanda Nigg: 41:37
Well, mine's pull-ups, by the way I hate them Okay.
Amanda Nigg: 41:40
You hate them, okay, okay I'm not a fan, but you, everybody has to start somewhere. You have to start somewhere. When I first started pull-ups like I love push-ups which is really weird like push-ups are my jam and burpees. I love push-up and burpees, but when you tell me I have to pull myself up on a bar, I struggle because it's just like it's a whole different beast for me myself. And so you have to be willing to get uncomfortable to grow. And if you're not willing to be uncomfortable to grow, you will never grow. And so when you get to certain things that you don't necessarily enjoy, just look at it as, like, I am growing. Here I have the opportunity to grow. Here it's going to get better. I'm eventually gonna start lifting heavier weights. I'm eventually going to start lifting heavier weight. I'm eventually like women.
Amanda Nigg: 42:25
A lot of women struggle with pushups, for example. It's just not their favorite thing. And again, you have to be willing to be uncomfortable to be able to grow. And so what I tell my ladies is your pushup might not look the best right now.
Amanda Nigg: 42:39
Watch the video, pay attention to the cues that I give you. Send me videos if you want me to look and critique your form, but you have to still show up for yourself and still put in the work, because anytime you want to grow as an individual, you have again. You have to be willing to do the uncomfortableness to get through that. And and I can relate that to like public speaking I never thought I would be on stages public speaking about physical and mental health for agriculture at like ag events not my cup of tea. But I know like the more I get on stage, the more I get uncomfortable, the more I can grow and become a good speaker, for example, and so like it's just anything in life. You don't even have to tie it to fitness or nutrition or anything Like it's just. If you're not willing to get uncomfortable, then there's not going to be an opportunity for growth.
Philip Pape: 43:28
A hundred percent and yeah, and if we could teach our kids that, that's even better. My oldest daughter, we have them go to something called gavel club, which is like an extension of Toastmasters for public speaking, cause you mentioned the nervousness of speaking, the nervousness of speaking, and my youngest loves it. My oldest is not a fan, mainly she doesn't like the group itself, but that's a different situation. But she will say the way she frames it, it's like this positive reframing. She's like I'm not really a fan, but I know it's good, I know it's helping me and it's like you know what I mean. It's like that discomfort of we're obviously not going to force her to do something. That's just terrible. But this thing is helping her grow and she acknowledges that and I think it's a strong skill to develop. And the younger you are, the better right. Otherwise, we get into habits of a lot of negative self-talk and thinking we can't do and quitting. Yes.
Amanda Nigg: 44:14
The only time you fail is when you quit yeah.
Philip Pape: 44:17
Yeah, if you don't make the attempt, you've quit. That's true. Yeah, my definition Business.
Amanda Nigg: 44:26
You know, like we're both entrepreneurs, we both have a fitness business, like there was times in my fitness business, oh my God. Like being an entrepreneur is a whole different beast in itself. But you know you have to work through that uncomfortableness and and realize like, hey, it's not going to get better If I just walk away and throw in the towel. Like I have to continue to show up for myself and that goes with the nutrition. Nutrition is a beast. A lot of people struggle when it comes to nutrition. Like the actual exercise side of things. People can start to get those habits and form them. But tying nutrition to exercise and tying to filling your body correctly, that's where a lot of people super struggle because again, we live in a society that is all about quick fixes.
Philip Pape: 45:06
Quick fixes yep, and it's confusing so much misinformation with all the micro stuff that's not important or doesn't work.
Amanda Nigg: 45:13
I don't know if you've heard of nutrition, but this will be interesting if we dive into this.
Philip Pape: 45:17
Oh, nutrition, oh yeah, yeah, no. So part of our bread and butter is evidence-based, flexible dieting. So I highly yeah, yeah, macros, and you know, covering, covering your micronutrients with, with a balanced, whole foods based approach where you can fit in indulgences and as long as you're fueling your body and getting enough carbs and not training fasted. That's one thing. I don't know if you agree on that one, but that's generally what I like to recommend.
Amanda Nigg: 45:42
I am not an intermittent fast girl. We're actually on the same page.
Amanda Nigg: 45:45
So I can't talk about that because that's super important to talk about. It's like I am a huge anti-intermittent fasting. If you're feeling your body correctly, there's no need to fast, first and foremost. And macros for those people that don't know the word macro means large, so you're focusing on the nutritional value of foods in large amounts. So protein, carbs and fats. Now in my training we really focus on um, high protein. Um, because protein is a building block of life.
Amanda Nigg: 46:13
But how I educate and teach it is super unique. Like I don't hand you a cookie cutter nutrition, brilliant. I more approach it as let's make this meal that's going to work for your whole family, because I were, I feed anywhere from four to eight people during harvest time, because we have seasonal health. I'm not going to make myself a meal and make them something totally the same, and so I really focus on making high protein meals. And then what I do is how I can customize. It is different size or toppings, and that's how I hit my macros. And then what I do is how I can customize it is different size or toppings, and that's how I hit my macros, and so it's more like sustainable.
Amanda Nigg: 46:47
But with that being said, oh yeah, if there's an Oreo on the counter. I'm totally going to have it. I'm all about flexibility. Like we drink whole milk in my household because, first and foremost, there's so many amazing benefits from whole milk. But you know, like that's the thing is. Like a lot of people are just not educated properly on nutrients and they feel like, oh, if I have a little Oreo, there goes my whole nutrition. No, it's about building a better relationship with food, and a lot of people are emotionally attached to food and that's why they struggle. I would and correct me wrong, phil but like um, I would take somebody that is obese in a program over somebody that's an under eater, because those under eaters is mental health.
Philip Pape: 47:36
It's much tougher, and they might have disordered eating in the past and everything and overweight or people who are obese have have a lot of energy to start with too, and they will make a lot of progress when they start training.
Amanda Nigg: 47:45
Yeah, Because, like when you take someone that's an under eater there, you can't even address nutrition without attack, like really working hard with them on viewing food as fuel. Um, and you know, the crazy thing is I actually had a couple of dietitians go through my program that were anorexic and that was super hard. I'm like wait, you're a dietitian teaching nutrition to people and you're anorexic. Like it was a hard struggle with them, but you know, they came out great and they actually started seeing muscle and it was. It turned out great, but it was really that mental health. Was super hard to work with them through that because it's just like they viewed they didn't view food as fuel. It was like a negative notation to them shout out to philip pay.
Max: 48:33
I know philly for a long time. I don't know how passionate he is about healthy eating and body strength, and that's why I choose him to be my coach. I was no stranger to dieting and body training, but I always struggled to do it sustainably. Philip helped me prioritize my goals with evidence-based recommendations while not overstressing my body and not feeling like I'm starving. In six months, I lost 45 pounds without drastically changing the foods I enjoy, but now I have a more balanced diet. I weight train consistently but, most importantly, I do it sustainably. If a scientifically sound, healthy diet and a lean, strong body is what you're looking for, philly Pape is your guy.
Philip Pape: 49:17
Let me ask did they, when they started moving more or lifting or whatever program you had them on? Did that tie into a better relationship with food, just on itself or Over time?
Amanda Nigg: 49:28
over time.
Amanda Nigg: 49:29
When they first started, they couldn't even lift five pounds because they didn't have the super weak and so we really had to hit the nutrition side of things and the mental health and the coaching and really tap into that. So I am actually certified um, uh, in psychology. Like we had to really tap into that first before we could even uncover and get them doing progressive overload and any of that talk. And so it was. It was, it was hard, but it was so worth it because now they look fabulous and it makes me feel better because they're the ones that are legit dietitians. They're out there working at medical facilities and it's like how could you have spent all those years being a?
Philip Pape: 50:10
dietitian. I know what you mean. There's definitely a lot of dichotomies like that. I've had coaches who coach other. They're nutrition coaches and they seek me out because they're certain. It's almost a form of education. They're seeking a better education with you. I think is also, even though it's for themselves. It also is for how they can help people. So you probably just helped at least two people and then everyone else they helped in the future, which is fun?
Philip Pape: 50:36
Yeah for sure. Yeah, Cause it's not about the information, it's really about the support, accountability, finding what works for you. So wait, you said psychology. That's an interesting one because I'm wondering from a psychological perspective, when we talk about some common things today, like anxiety, a lot of people seem to have anxiety. Again, I don't know how clinically diagnosed that is or if it's just people talking about it. Like we said, people talking about it, A lot of people are overwhelmed, highly stressed. Where does training and where does strength? Where does nutrition fit into that as potentially a protocol for it? You know, without any other variables changing, let's say, I know we're not talking about somebody who needs, like, some deep mental health or, um, you know what?
Amanda Nigg: 51:17
I'm saying Psychology is, uh, through ICF. Have you heard of that International coach federation? Um, yeah, it's one of the highest standards of Psychology teacher is through ICF. Have you heard of that International Coach Federation? Sounds familiar, yeah. Yeah, it's one of the highest standards of qualifications you could get, and the reason I got that and I'm actually continue working on it I'm working on Neurologistic Programming Master and Practitioner as we speak.
Philip Pape: 51:37
Oh, NLP.
Amanda Nigg: 51:37
But the reason I even dabbled into it is because of the fact that when you start like I've had countless women on antidepressant pills when they joined the program and again we've dabbled into this as like as you start to work out, like the hormones and just the amazing benefits that come from that it also pays into that because a lot of people might take an antidepress pill. Some people actually need them clinically need them. I'm not anti, like if you clinically need it, that's a whole different part. But if you take it because it was subscribed and first and foremost, I hope every doctor is talking to everybody about nutrition and exercise before they subscribe a pill, which is not the case but, with that being said, is like when you start to dive into a physical and nutrition and start to simplify that like anxiety let's take that one is as you start to go through it and build those healthy relationship and create a sustainable system for yourself.
Amanda Nigg: 52:39
The biggest thing we talked about was consistency earlier on is a lot of people get anxiety when stuff is not routine or it's out of their comfort zone and they get overwhelmed with situations, and the thing here is when you start to really start to pay attention to your body and the cues and what it gives off. Your anxiety is actually going to diminish or not because you're more intuitive of what your body needs. And same with antidepressant I've had countless women go off antidepressant pills after they joined. My program is because they realize, hey, I can actually show up for myself, you know, fit it in my routine and it's going to start to change my mindset and then I'm feeling myself next thing. You know I don't really need this antidepressant or this anxiety medication because I'm not as overwhelmed and you also, like, your hormones start to change as you go through that. I don't know if you want to go here.
Philip Pape: 53:36
No, no, that's good. I'm thinking like they had a sense of uncertainty and overwhelm and now they have a sense of control, confidence, structure, purpose. Even if it is like getting in tune with your own body signals, you do it in a structured way. That's like somebody's guiding you to say okay, we're going to look at this information about yourself, we're going to ask you questions, we're going to help you reflect, and then, before long, and then you hit the weights and you hit the discomfort of the gym and you're progressing there too. It's just an amazing soup of improvement going on.
Amanda Nigg: 54:06
Yeah, and it's like, honestly, like good fitness coaches out there, we need to be recognized because, like, yes, there is some pretty shitty fitness coaches out there, but I think you and I are on the same page as far as everything is. When you find a good coach, that is like you're not just a cheerleader in your back pocket, but somebody that's very knowledgeable and able to help you work through those, it can be life changing, it can be super transformative. And so, like I always like to say, instead of calling myself a fitness coach or a wellness coach, I like to say I'm a transformational coach, because that's truly what we are, at the end of the day is we're not just talking about fitness with you, we're not just, you know, educating you on nutrition or, you know, helping you create these habits for yourself. We're really transforming your life to something that, if not, where you were super healthy at one point, to even better, one of the stigmas. So I'm actually getting certified in youth coaching and the reason for this is a lot of certifications going on.
Philip Pape: 55:08
Well, it's good, it's good.
Amanda Nigg: 55:10
The youth coaching already done. I'm certified through NFHS. I'm a level three coach, so I actually already completed it, and the reason I did it is because there was a lot of school coaches out there that I was questioning their habits and I'm like I want to know what they want they have to know, and so the biggest thing there is, like it's they talked about the interscholastic coach or interscholastic coaching, which is like your student at top and then your parent and your coach are equal and how they all need to work together as a triangle, and I loved it and it just made me really eye-opening to the coaching around our area is. A lot of those coaches don't do that. They're all about the W and especially in like sixth grade, it shouldn't be about the W. It should be about developing that foundation and getting them excited to be able to be a part of that sport and move their body, and so that's why I went down that rabbit hole and got that certification, um, which I'm already for you.
Philip Pape: 56:08
Good for you, because that's there's like child abuse going on in some of these coaching practices with kids losing weight for wrestlers who are teenagers, like all this stuff? Yeah, I totally agree they need. You need to have that systems-based and team-based approach to help the athlete as a person for sure.
Amanda Nigg: 56:26
But I'll be the first to tell you I'm not part of the status quo over here.
Philip Pape: 56:29
So no, no, it's okay, we're all trying to break the mold. We're trying to break the mold.
Philip Pape: 56:34
So I like how you said. I like how you said transformation, Cause that is like a deep seated change in your identity over time. Um, I, I use terms like systems or engineering your life, engineering your body. It's the same idea, right, which is different terminology. And then, like you've mentioned, you know you go from I have to to I get to. There's a lot of reframing. I wanted to ask you about that too, Cause, again, we're talking about psychology, we're talking about mental health. How much of this is reframing as part of your identity shift and that is you. Eventually, everything is more of a positive lens, you know, more of an optimistic lens, you know, even though bad things happen. What are your thoughts on that? Like positive psychology?
Amanda Nigg: 57:12
Well, first and foremost, when you start anything, you're going to talk negative about yourself, like, let's be honest, like there's so many times I've, especially after having my second child, I'd look in the mirror and be like I'm fat, like only if I had this, only if I had that. Like how you talk to yourself is a huge indicator too of like, hey, you have to take that first step and be uncomfortable, and you know, a lot of people don't realize like the way you talk to yourself has a negative impact on your life. It really does. And you know, I always saw my mom fluctuate with weight and talk so negative about her body and I was like no, so like, one of the things I do with my boys is I don't talk about losing weight, I don't talk about random, like a negative terminology. I always talk about being strong and I'm like, I'm like so, for example, they would come in on one of my heavy lift days and I'd be like mom crush that she's on fire. She is strong, you know. And it's just like I'm really vocal about it because, like, when you start something, again, sometimes we talk negative and we're our own worst critic and we don't even realize it and it's just that frame of switching your mindset to feeling like you know what.
Amanda Nigg: 58:27
I showed up today, like your daughter, for example. She hated the speaking a thing and she's like you know what? I don't like it, but I know it's good you know. So it's a lot of that is part of a fitness journey as well. It's like you might suck at something in the beginning. We all suck. That's the thing. We all suck in the beginning. But as you keep going, it's just like your, how you talk and how you frame things and how like I get to instead of I have to. Those are huge part of the process as well. And you know and be like I get to show up today or I get to go to a basketball game with my kids or I get to feel our family Like I mean, do I like cooking every single day? Like I'm the cooker in our house? I don't know about you, but my husband does not cook, so if you cook, phil, you're like up on him.
Philip Pape: 59:15
I do about 10, 20% of the cooking at this point.
Amanda Nigg: 59:18
He doesn't even know how to make mac and cheese, but I love him, it's okay.
Philip Pape: 59:21
It's old farm, like the farm wives always go summertime, the grill comes out, then I cook a lot more.
Amanda Nigg: 59:27
I'm, I'm the griller. Well, he does. He does dabbling, grilling. I do love him. He's actually starting to get out of his comfort zone there.
Amanda Nigg: 59:33
But, like you know, that's the thing is like there was times, like when my boys were younger, I'm like, oh, I got to cook again. Or uh, here we go again. And now it's like I get to, I like enjoy it. I'm like I'm cooking something that's nutritious for my whole family, like I get to buy these ingredients to make this really yummy dish that I know they're going to love. Like yesterday, me and my youngest just made these really awesome, uh, nut bars that I'll be posting tomorrow and it was so fun to make it with him and like show him how to cook. And so it's just like I take those opportunities and I'm like, hey, I can teach my boys how to cook. And like I get this opportunity to teach how to fill the bodies, and so it's just like, going back to your question, I long winded that, but you know, just changing your mindset of how you speak to yourself is huge. You know, instead of saying I have to say I get to yeah, and that will be a huge difference in your life.
Philip Pape: 1:00:26
That is a simple one, right there, applied to everything what. There's somebody in our group program. She calls me a positivity bully because I would do that with her early on. She would say things like that, talking bad about herself, and I say, how about we reframe this? How about this about herself and say, how about we reframe this? How about this, how does this sound? And now she's an expert. It's like a skill you know, you develop, and now she's the one helping others. So we love to see that. Do you have time for like three rapid fire questions? Go for it, okay. Favorite lift.
Amanda Nigg: 1:00:51
Favorite lift. I'm a booty girl. I love Bulgarian spots are dead, oh my.
Philip Pape: 1:00:56
God. That's like hated across the world. That's good for you. I love booty. That's like hated across the world.
Amanda Nigg: 1:00:59
That's good for you, bootylicious booty. And those are my two favorite lifts, like if I had to pick one or the other. Seriously, I couldn't pick between the two of them.
Philip Pape: 1:01:07
And the deadlift is great. You like conventional or sumo? What's your flavor?
Amanda Nigg: 1:01:11
RDL.
Philip Pape: 1:01:12
Okay, great. Good for the hammies too, yeah, awesome. What is so, walking or cardio? I am not a cardio person.
Amanda Nigg: 1:01:19
So I'm not either.
Philip Pape: 1:01:22
I am a weight training like which is crazy, Cause in college I was so cardio person Like I ran a half marathon because you did CrossFit.
Amanda Nigg: 1:01:33
That that computes, that computes.
Philip Pape: 1:01:34
I used to be a hardcore.
Amanda Nigg: 1:01:35
I did create a 12 week running program. I'm going to test it out before I make it public. But, um, and my son's in cross country. So I am certified as a running coach, by the way. Uh, I am getting back into running. Uh, if you had to tell me like, walk on the treadmill 15 minutes or for 20 minutes at 15 incline with a weighted vest, I will hands down. Do that over.
Philip Pape: 1:01:56
I hear you. I've just got into sprinting myself, but I do not like running, running.
Amanda Nigg: 1:02:02
Hey, that's better than long distance running.
Philip Pape: 1:02:04
I'm there, yeah and the last one is um. What do you tell yourself during a hard lift?
Amanda Nigg: 1:02:10
oh gosh, actually I listen to meditation music when I lift as crazy as that sounds like the tibetan, like uh chimes and stuff like that.
Amanda Nigg: 1:02:19
No, I have a meditation music that I have on my. I used to listen to music like heavy, hardcore heavy metal. This year I switched to listening to audiobooks or meditation music and I can't tell you like it's the most amazing thing ever. I I don't know. It's just like the nuggets you grab from listening to auto you book when you left. I know some people are thinking I'm nuts right now. I listen to podcasts when I left.
Amanda Nigg: 1:02:43
Don't, it's, not it's it's, it's the time that I get, but, um, when I tell myself, on heavy lift is one more, one more, you got one more. Like, keep pushing yourself, like you can do one more. Now I'll Like, I just like, especially on our training, you know as many reps as possible, like on a training day.
Philip Pape: 1:03:03
Yes.
Amanda Nigg: 1:03:04
Always tell myself would you get last round? You can crush that Like one more, you know, and it's sometimes we have to remind ourselves that, like we always can, like the way we speak to ourselves during that moment says a lot about our character and says a lot about our persistence, but also shows that, like the mindset is so intuitive to your body, your mind, your body will go where your mind tells it.
Philip Pape: 1:03:27
Oh yeah, your body has far more capacity than your mind usually allows and if you allow it, it can outperform more than you imagine. And it's funny, there's two different types of hards I always think about when it comes to heavy lift. It's like either volume work, where it's the reps, or it's heavy and and you know you don't have a lot of reps, but now each one is just this massive undertaking, right. So either one. This morning I did volume work and, just like you're saying, I did 10 sets of three squat, but they were fairly sub-maximal, but by like or not set 10, but six sets and by like rep five. I'm like my quads are telling me can I really do this? Of course you can do it, just you gotta do it, you know, I mean your mind.
Amanda Nigg: 1:04:06
if your mindset, and don't your body, will go where your mind tells it, Like I mean really, you can do anything as long as you could like.
Philip Pape: 1:04:16
believe in yourself. It is true. It is true it's it's like a trite thing we say, but it is 100% true and you got to believe it. All right. So I know we covered a lot of different things. There's probably a lot we didn't cover, but is there anything you wish I had asked?
Amanda Nigg: 1:04:27
Oh my gosh, we covered a ton. I don't think so. Like I mean, if anybody's ever interested in my story, they can obviously find me. But I mean, if they want to know about agriculture, I mean I'm an open book.
Philip Pape: 1:04:39
All right. So you kind of alluded to where people could fight or what you provide, but where can they find you? So I can throw that in the show notes.
Amanda Nigg: 1:04:46
Awesome. Well, first, thank you for letting me get on. You can find me on Instagram, facebook and X as FarmFitMama. It's FarmFitM-O-M-M-A. I am on TikTok, but I will tell you right now I do not post on it. I kind of deleted that out for now and I'm not on Snapchat, so don't find me over there. And my business page is FarmFit Training and it's on all those same platforms Instagram, facebook and X. And then I also have a website. Go check that out.
Philip Pape: 1:05:13
It's farmfitmamacom All right, we'll throw those in the show notes for sure.
Amanda Nigg: 1:05:26
Thank you so much, amanda, for coming on. This was fun. Appreciate you taking your time. Yeah, thank you for having me on. I really appreciate it.
