Strength Training at 70 With Knee Replacements and Scoliosis

Nikkiey: Most women, as they get older, find that getting to their dream body is far out of reach. They give up, or they're told that it's just something they have to accept as they get older. Today, we're going to meet Julie. She's 70 years old. She has two partial knee replacements. She has scoliosis. She's someone who has taken her journey head-on, has started strength training, has started eating more food, and has gained muscle and gotten stronger over the last four months. Today, I'm going to show you how she trains and how she eats, and you're going to have zero excuses as to why you can't start your own journey now.

Nikkiey: Look at you. Look at this muscle, girl. I'm going to have arms like you one of these days.

Julie: You're well on your way.

Nikkiey: It's going to be a fun day.

Julie: It is. I'm very excited.

Nikkiey: We're going to be here, have some breakfast, and then we'll go work out. I looked over your workout program. This is a fun day.

Julie: Yeah, it's going to be a fun day.

Nikkiey: I'm going to say this. When we go work out, you know your body the best. I'm there to push you.

Julie: Yep.

Nikkiey: I saw over the last couple of weeks, you're increasing the weight by like five pounds, right?

Julie: Yep.

Nikkiey: But for the last two weeks on some of those exercises, I'm like, okay, we can see if we can go another maybe 2.5 or 5 pounds, because you're coming up on the last week of your workout routine, right?

Julie: Last week, yeah.

Julie: So for breakfast, kind of typical for me, I'll have one egg and then a bunch of egg whites, mix them together. And then I have yogurt with some kind of grains on the yogurt, and fruit.

Nikkiey: Do you know roughly how many macros and calories that is?

Julie: I aim for about 40 in protein and then about 35 in carbs. And then the fats are usually around 10 to 15, something like that.

Nikkiey: Is that how you space out your protein throughout the day?

Julie: Pretty much. It goes 40, 30, 30, 30 is what I'm aiming for, because I usually work out first thing in the morning. So that's kind of my pre-workout meal, and I do four meals a day.

Nikkiey: Were you familiar with how macros worked before you found WarriorBabe?

Julie: I was, because part of how I got here is that I was doing a carnivore diet. I followed this naturopath who challenged all of us to do a carnivore diet for a month. So I'm doing that, and we're doing it on macros. But carnivore is just a fat, lovely diet. I was never hungry. So I lost about 25 pounds, but by the time I started transitioning out of that, I went, I need some help, because the appetite's coming back, and things are changing, and I don't want to backtrack. And so I found WarriorBabe and went, okay, this looks like a plan to help me make that transition so I don't gain back what I've lost.

Nikkiey: Sure.

Julie: But stay healthy, because I was trying to lift weights on 40 carbs a day, doing some carb cycling, going, well, I'm dying here. When I came off, I was doing what they called carb cycling, which is on the days I'm not working out, 10 grams of carbs. On the days I am working out, 40 grams of carbs.

Nikkiey: 10 grams of carbs?

Julie: Yeah. On the carnivore diet, that's all I was allowed.

Nikkiey: So what were you eating to get 10 grams of carbs?

Julie: Some meats do have carbs in them. And eggs have carbs in them, too.

Nikkiey: So you didn't really have any starchy carbs?

Julie: Nope. None. No veggies. It was strictly meat, eggs, cheese.

Nikkiey: Wow. So you transitioned out of that. Was that the point where you found WarriorBabe and you had the help transitioning out of it?

Julie: Yes.

Nikkiey: Gotcha.

Julie: Pretty much. Because I had gone to a local coach, because I already knew that I wanted to do weightlifting for several reasons. And he actually had posted WarriorBabe on his Facebook page.

Nikkiey: Oh, no way.

Julie: But I knew I needed somebody who was familiar with women's stuff.

Nikkiey: You saw that post. Did you immediately go and book a call at that point? Or did you start looking around more at what WarriorBabe was about?

Julie: I kind of immediately started going through the posts and reading. And it didn't take me very long to book a call.

Nikkiey: That's very cool.

Nikkiey: Wow. It brings me back to old school vibes.

Julie: It is kind of, isn't it?

Nikkiey: Yeah. Morning.

Julie: Hey.

Nikkiey: How you doing? You look so beautiful.

Julie: Thank you.

Nikkiey: What's your favorite piece of equipment? Do you love the StairMaster?

Julie: I do. My favorite thing in the world is hiking.

Nikkiey: Okay. So this is the thing. That's impressive. I guess I'll do it with you. Wow. I never thought that I would ever be on one of these again. Like three minutes, right? Right, Julie? Three minutes.

Julie: Works for me.

Nikkiey: My legs are already feeling it.

Julie: I mean, cardio isn't officially on any of my workouts.

Nikkiey: Love that even more.

Julie: But I do almost always make sure to get my steps in.

Nikkiey: Sure.

Julie: And then at least on recovery days, I make sure to get on the elliptical and throw in a bonus cardio.

Nikkiey: Good. And there we go. Three minutes. Kind of like what I said at breakfast, you know your body the best. I'll push you. But if you feel anything outside of muscular pain, if we do go a little bit heavier, say that.

Julie: Okay.

Nikkiey: I want you to feel the burn.

Julie: Usually when I do this, I start with like a hundred to warm this up. Megan has me doing eight full lifts and then eight half portions.

Nikkiey: Okay. Beautiful. Nice and slow and controlled. How many seconds you got there? Time to go. Sorry, I don't joke around with the rest time. You'll see that. I'm very, very adamant with the rest time. And that last rep before you go, pull, squeeze it. There you go.

Julie: So what's your feeling on these?

Nikkiey: I am for the grips or the hooks, or however you want to call them. The only thing that I'm opposed to is the fact that they don't help build your forearm strength, but they will give you the ability to lift heavier. So I'm for that.

Julie: Okay. And that was kind of my question. Do you just push through the finger weakness so you can build the forearms?

Nikkiey: In some cases. So I would say, wherever you're pushing through the finger weakness or you're fatiguing in the arms first, when you know that you've worn out the tank, do as many as you can to fatigue that out and then quickly put those on. Or I would even say your first set, you're probably not going to fatigue out. Your second set, third set, you can put them on, because you'll feel a little bit weaker in the forearm at that point and you'll lose form.

Julie: Okay. So I've been doing 85 on this. I'm aiming for more than 10.

Nikkiey: 10 reps?

Julie: Yeah.

Nikkiey: Okay. Why don't we put the bar down right now? We're going to do the three sets with good form. So what I'm going to show you here. What I don't want you to do is lock out at the top. What you're doing is locking out.

Julie: Oh, locking out my hips.

Nikkiey: Hips, knees, back. So I see you come in like here and lock out.

Julie: Yep.

Nikkiey: So with an RDL, you want to start at the shin, right? Come up, bring it up. See how I'm still bending at my knees, still forward, over my toes. The bar is at mid quad. And you're going to feel it in that glute, and then you're going to come back down. So this is a full rep for an RDL.

Julie: Got it.

Nikkiey: So what you were doing there is pretty much a deadlift, right?

Julie: That's a deadlift.

Nikkiey: So let's try. Start with the barbell at mid shin, come up to quad. Squeeze. You're going to feel it here. And back down. I'm going to just correct you here. Right here. And then come back down. Do you feel it back here?

Julie: Yep.

Nikkiey: What felt the most to you?

Julie: Right back here, and actually in the quads.

Nikkiey: In the quads. Because you're holding. Once you go into lockout, your muscles are like, okay, cool, I'm not really working. So you're keeping that tension on them. All right. Let's get to it. Good. Was 85 your weight last week?

Julie: 85 is what I was doing last week.

Nikkiey: How do you feel with that form change? Because now you're not going to that lockout.

Julie: It's actually better.

Nikkiey: You could throw another five?

Julie: Yes.

Nikkiey: Cool. Give that a shot. That's what I was seeing. I was hoping you would say that. And think about those hamstrings too. Very much mind and muscle connection. All right. She is very strong. You make that look easy, Julie. Did you think that you would be 70 years old with this type of muscle?

Julie: No. It wasn't in my plan, but some things needed to change.

Nikkiey: So instead of coming like this, try and go all in your hips, and you're pushing through your heels, right? Again, don't lock out. Exactly. I think that's the main takeaway here: you're just trying to keep all the focus on your hamstrings and using pretty much your pelvic area to do the lifting for you. Take your shoulder blades off the pad a little bit.

Julie: Shoulder blades?

Nikkiey: Yep. You feel that? Go down. Up. There you go. Squeeze. Hold that at the top. Keep going. Squeeze. One. Drop. I think you're good. But do you feel that difference mainly?

Julie: I do. So I feel it back here, but where I really feel it is in the...

Nikkiey: So you could be quad dominant.

Julie: I could understand that happening.

Nikkiey: Maybe the hamstrings need a little bit more love to wake them up. Because when you sat in there, they were like, yeah, they're there. They're kind of there. By now, they should be...

Julie: Screaming?

Nikkiey: Yes. But you feeling it in your quads shows me that they're overcompensating for you. So all the attention isn't really on the hamstring. So what I'm going to say is we're going to lower the weight for the next set. I want you to feel what it feels like for those hamstrings to have the tension on them. Push that lower back in there and then drive through your heels. Squeeze with your glutes and your hamstrings. Do that for about eight reps, because I want you to really feel where the hamstrings are working. You feel it a little bit more? Do you still feel it in your quads?

Julie: A little bit.

Nikkiey: Okay. But they're at least even now.

Julie: Sure.

Nikkiey: Do you feel that difference though?

Julie: Yeah.

Nikkiey: Okay. If you're feeling it anywhere other than the muscle that you should be working, then you should drop the weight to feel the muscle actually working. She's lifting great. Her form is great. But the muscle that we want the tension on isn't the primary focus. It was being overcompensated because the weight was just a little too heavy. So it's about dropping that weight and really focusing primarily where we want it, which is the hamstring. In my opinion, it's not about always adding weight. Once you have the proper engagement to the muscle, then you add the weight. If we don't have the proper engagement to the muscle yet, then we're not really working that muscle. That muscle is not getting stronger.

Julie: Yeah. And that's always been one of my questions. What's more important, form or weight?

Nikkiey: Form, connection to the muscle, weight. Good. Squeeze, hold that. You got it. Nice. And I like that you stopped talking, because you were talking to me there, and I'm like, I don't know about that, I think you can definitely go a little bit heavier. But then you stopped. It's firing off pretty well right here. She's got a good muscle belly. Look at that. That's great form. We want to keep that back rounded coming up.

Julie: Yep. This is one I definitely don't want to arch my back on.

Nikkiey: Yep. Great burner. How many reps you got on this one?

Julie: I think 12.

Nikkiey: Go for 15. We've done four different variations of progressive overload here. In the beginning of the workout, we added a set. On another exercise, we added weight. Later on in the workout, we changed her rest periods to shorten them from 90 seconds to 60 seconds. And then we've added reps on this last exercise, from 12 reps to 15 reps. So we just did four different variations of progressive overload. This is the last week of her training block, so this is the best time to switch things up a little bit and challenge the muscles a little bit more. And Julie is glistening. Julie is glistening, no doubt. Good job. You feel like a noodle?

Julie: I feel like a noodle.

Nikkiey: Success. All right. Awesome. How do you feel?

Julie: Good. Hungry.

Nikkiey: She's hungry. I love that. That's awesome. So having to be primary caretaker for your husband, how do you fit in time for you? How do you make that a priority at the same time?

Julie: When he first came home, before he started getting more independent, I had somebody come in Wednesday mornings. And so that was my time to go grocery shop, do whatever for me, go out to lunch, hang out with friends for a little bit.

Nikkiey: You'd work out in the morning?

Julie: I do. Early on, I was just doing the elliptical at the house and doing body weight exercises at home.

Nikkiey: So the timeline is August, September of last year that he was in the hospital and came home.

Julie: Yeah.

Nikkiey: And then from September until about February, you were learning how to have that routine in place. And then you found WarriorBabe.

Julie: Yeah, I did.

Nikkiey: You started in February. March, April, May, June, July, August, about six months now that you've been in the program. What would you say are some of the biggest accomplishments you've achieved?

Julie: Staying consistent is probably one of the biggest ones. And it's a mindset thing, you know: oh my God, I had a cronut, I failed, that's it. And that's something else I've heard you talk about. Things aren't perfect, you just pick it back up and move on. And that's been really important, because I don't do it perfectly. I've actually learned on most days to incorporate a piece of dark chocolate. So that's already in my meal plan. I have that to look forward to.

Nikkiey: And that's a great way to start telling your brain it's okay to have it. You start working it in and putting it into your macros, and you recognize, oh, okay, nothing's really happening. I'm not going off the rails. I'm not turning the next day into a day where I do whatever. And that's the point of progress over perfection. A lot of people think that they have to be perfect. And if they aren't perfect, then they mess up and they go off track, and then they wait till Monday to start again. And then it turns into a whole other week of things. So it's good that you're recognizing and learning those habits now: it doesn't matter about being perfect, it matters about you being consistent.

Julie: Yeah.

Nikkiey: And it's okay to have those little treats here and there. When you started seeing the scale go down and the pictures starting to change by you eating more food, what were you thinking? Did you ever think that was possible?

Julie: No, I did not. It's pretty life-changing, really. Because, like Megan says all the time, I like to eat.

Nikkiey: We all love to eat.

Julie: Yeah. And to be able to eat and still get healthier and stronger at the same time is kind of a mini miracle.

Nikkiey: We just got done at the gym and we had lunch. We know that inside the gym, you are not building muscle. You are breaking down the muscle fibers. So Julie just broke down the muscle fibers in her legs. And in order to build them up, it all comes down to the habits that you do on a daily basis: her nutrition, water, sleep, recovery. We're at the grocery store right now and we're going to go grocery shopping. Before we head in there, I'm curious, how do you eat now compared to how you used to eat before WarriorBabe?

Julie: Mostly carbs is what I used to eat. I would get up in the morning, and I used to make homemade granola, and I'd have granola and yogurt. And you're talking granola with honey and butter and nuts and stuff in it.

Nikkiey: So carbs with carbs.

Julie: Carbs with carbs. Absolutely. And then whatever my husband chose to cook that day.

Nikkiey: And then you switched from that to the carnivore diet, and you were eating no carbs.

Julie: No carbs. Eggs and cheese for breakfast, and then meat, meat, and meat.

Nikkiey: And now how are we eating?

Julie: So now I usually have eggs and some kind of cereal and yogurt or cottage cheese for breakfast. It's really my pre-workout. And when I get done with the workout, then I have cottage cheese with fruit and some other kind of grain. And then for the other meals, I have protein and veggies in some form or another.

Nikkiey: So you stack your carbs around your workout.

Julie: Yeah.

Nikkiey: And how many meals were you eating before WarriorBabe compared to how many meals you're eating now?

Julie: Probably three meals and a bunch of snacks.

Nikkiey: Before WarriorBabe.

Julie: Yes.

Nikkiey: And now you're eating pretty frequently.

Julie: Four meals and not very many snacks.

Nikkiey: Okay. Because you feel?

Julie: I feel full.

Nikkiey: Yeah.

Julie: Satisfied. And I know when my next meal is coming. I'm not waiting till later for a meal, because now I'm in control of when I eat.

Nikkiey: Yes. And which macronutrient is helping you the most?

Julie: Protein. Undoubtedly.

Nikkiey: Yes. Let's go. Protein. It's a magic word. All right. Let's head inside.

Julie: I usually hit produce first, just as a matter of course, because it's right here.

Nikkiey: Yeah. What is this? Arabica coffee. 13 grams of protein. And a lot of sugar.

Julie: Yeah.

Nikkiey: You see that carb count too? 54 grams of carbs. So they're marketing the protein aspect, yet there are more calories coming from carbs and fats than there actually are from the protein.

Julie: That's like those Kodiak things. I have bought those a couple of times, and one day I started looking through the label and went, there might be 20 grams of protein in here, but there's almost 70 grams of carbs.

Nikkiey: Yep. I mean, they're tasty. A treat, don't get me wrong.

Julie: That caught my eye.

Nikkiey: Yes, they are. I like Kodiak. Literally protein. So this. There we go.

Julie: Since I really don't use very much butter, I buy the good stuff.

Nikkiey: Do you drink these at all? These are one of my favorites. It's a staple in my fridge.

Julie: I don't.

Nikkiey: The mango, or any flavor really, because it's got 13 grams of protein in it. So this would be a good pre-workout option, but you do the Siggi's.

Julie: Yeah.

Nikkiey: It's a must-have in the fridge and great for a pre-workout or post-workout. I grab one of these. This is my pre-workout. Chobani drinkable yogurts are hands down the best, quickest pre-workout breakfast, whatever you need to have first thing in the morning. Tell them why you like Siggi's.

Julie: I have it with my cereal in the morning, but this is non-fat. 120 calories, and it's got 15 grams of protein in it and only 11 grams of sugars.

Nikkiey: What meal do you use this for?

Julie: I kind of switch them up. I either have this for breakfast or for my post-workout snack. And it's good stuff.

Nikkiey: What's that post-workout meal doing for you?

Julie: Giving me my carbs back, carbs and protein. I kind of balance them, so I aim for 30 of each: 35 carbs and probably 30 of protein on that meal. So it's just replacing everything I just burned off.

Nikkiey: Yep. Replacing, refilling your glycogen stores in your tank there. And then what else is it doing?

Julie: Giving me the building blocks to build new muscle.

Nikkiey: Yes. And she passed the test. You passed the test. A-plus student. Have you ever tried these? This is a staple in my house. It's five, six pieces. I would use this as a post-workout carb or pre-workout. So this is just dried mangoes. It's 24 grams of total sugars, but it's because it's fruit. So this is great. Throw them in.

Julie: Yeah? Dates are kind of my go-to.

Nikkiey: Dates are great. They're just calorically dense from the carbs. Two of them is 30 grams of carbs.

Julie: Yeah, I know. It's a lot.

Nikkiey: More than one. See? But they're so sweet for me that I wouldn't be able to eat only one. I would want more.

Julie: So this is what I usually mix with my yogurt. One of these. Good oats.

Nikkiey: Granola.

Julie: Yeah. This will be breakfast, with a little bit of butter. Then some of this and Siggi's.

Nikkiey: Okay. So this will be breakfast. Well balanced. How many eggs? You have one egg?

Julie: I have one egg and about 100 grams of egg whites. Oh, I need some egg whites.

Nikkiey: You need some egg whites.

Julie: I need some egg whites. Thank you.

Nikkiey: Yep. And then you have what, probably a quarter of a cup of this?

Julie: Yes. And then for lunch, I usually have cottage cheese.

Nikkiey: Okay. So this is for lunch?

Julie: Post-workout meal. So cottage cheese. I like to take a banana and mash it up and mix it with the cottage cheese.

Nikkiey: Oh. Very tasty.

Julie: And then sometimes, if I have the muesli in the morning, I'll put hemp hearts on the cottage cheese. Sometimes I put Fiber One cereal on it if I'm feeling like I need a little more fiber. And that would be my post-workout meal.

Nikkiey: Okay.

Julie: The last two meals are usually either a salad with chicken and all the veggies, or I'll make a hash and just throw everything in the frying pan and heat it up and eat it. And all the squash I showed you a picture of is usually at the evening meal. I'll heat some of that up and eat it.

Nikkiey: Very cool. Four meals a day. 1,930 calories. Not gaining weight. I love it. She's front-loading all of her meals with protein, from the eggs to the egg whites and that yogurt at breakfast, to the cottage cheese in her post-workout. And then she's getting meat in two of her meals, whether it be ground turkey or turkey breast or chicken breast. And she has a bunch of meat at home, she said. 10 out of 10. She's eating 130 grams of protein in a day.

Julie: This is my treat.

Nikkiey: I think it's really cool, from hearing how you used to eat, to recognizing now how full you are from the amount of protein you have in your day. You weren't getting enough protein before, and now you're getting 130 grams, which is making you feel satisfied and full, so you don't snack anymore throughout the night.

Julie: Yep. It's great.

Nikkiey: I think that's cool. So what's your take on whey protein versus beef protein?

Julie: I would go beef protein more.

Nikkiey: Okay.

Julie: Just from the makeup of it.

Nikkiey: Both are great, but you're thinking about the source and the origin of the beef protein. To me, the biggest takeaway is the fact that I get to hang out with you in person. It is very fulfilling to do in-person things with WarriorBabes, and it just fills up my heart. And also, when we went to the gym, I haven't trained anyone in person in eight years, and it felt really cool to be able to help you work through cues that you don't really get to do online, unless you're sending the videos to Megan or something. I think that's really cool.

Julie: Yeah. Just hanging out with you.

Nikkiey: I know. With all of you.

Julie: This was such a fun experience.

Nikkiey: It's been great. Thank you, guys. I appreciate it.

Julie: Thank you. Bye.

Nikkiey: I'll send you pictures.

Julie: Okay.

Nikkiey: And I'll keep watching you on your journey.

Julie: There you go. Thank you.

Nikkiey: Keep crushing it. You've got time. Remember, time is in your hands, and you're adding new years to your life as you continue to do this. Keep crushing it, all right?

Julie: Yes, ma'am.