Episode 401: From Lifestyle to Stage: Are You Actually Ready to Prep

In this episode, Danika and Fatima introduce Coach Brett, aka Dr. Brett Kahn. They discuss his journey with fitness, discovering a life changing diagnosis, obtaining his pro card and building his own chiropractic practice. Brett is a man of great depth, making him a GREAT coach and asset on this team.

In this week's episode, our prep hosts dive into questions surrounding sleep and why it's so vital for athletes and why it's often one of the most overlooked factors in a successful prep. They also break down how to determine if a lifestyle client is truly ready to transition into prep, highlighting the physical, mental, and lifestyle markers that matter most when an athlete is considering prepping for a bodybuilding show.

In this week's episode, Danika and Fatima discussed gender roles in society, sharing personal experiences about how traditional gender expectations have evolved in their own lives. Fatima reflected on growing up in an Islamic household where traditional gender roles were prominent, but noted how her single mother raised three daughters to be independently capable. Danika shared her experience of growing up in a family where divorce and her mother's career as a caregiver influenced her views on gender roles. The conversation highlighted how gender roles are evolving, with both agreeing that while traditional norms still exist, people should feel empowered to create dynamics that work best for their specific situations.

In this special LIVE podcast episode, our hosts sit down with "the Glute Guy," Bret Contreras. Known for inventing the barbell hip thrust and being one of the most influential figures in glute training, Bret dives into an unfiltered conversation covering social media culture, glute training mechanics, and more—sharing his honest insights along the way.

In this week's episode, our prep hosts first dive into the NEW rules pertaining to the novice division, in the NPC. They share their thoughts and intitial reactions along with the logic behind the NPC's new decision and definition of what makes an athlete a "novice." Then, they dive into best nutrition practices in PREP, sharing some best practices that they implement with their own athletes pertaining to types of foods, meal timing and more.

In this week's episode featuring Danika, Fatima, and Coach Delaney, the ladies discuss Delaney's personal journey with hypothalamic amenorrhea and her transition to coaching at Pro Physique. Delaney shares how she recovered her menstrual cycle after 2.5 years of loss by going "all-in" on her recovery process, including stopping exercise for Lent and trusting the process despite initial weight gain fears. The conversation explored the importance of cycle tracking, listening to one's body, and balancing nutrition with appropriate restraint rather than extreme restriction. 

In this episode, our hosts are diving into the idea of metabolic adaptation and what is REALLY means. They discuss how and where you burn calories and how this can shift as an athlete navigates in and out of a dieting phase. They also discuss some of the myths out there pertaining to one's metabolism, backing things up with logic based factual data 

In this SPECIAL live podcast episode, our hosts interview Alan Aragon. Alan is the pioneer of evidence based nutrition and in this episode, he shares his wisdom and knowledge on an array of topics pertaining to metabolic adaptation, nutrition fundamentals for athletes, and more. 

In this episode of the Lifestyle Podcast at Pro Physique, Danika and Anne Marie discussed Anne Marie's recent experience with a high-risk pregnancy involving identical twins. Anne Marie shares her emotional journey of making the difficult decision to undergo selective reduction to save her healthier twin, while processing the grief of losing one child while carrying another to term. The conversation highlighted how Anne Marie's mindset practices helped her navigate this challenging situation while continuing her business and preparing for the birth of her remaining child.

 In this episode, Paul, Lexie, and Evan dive into the nuance behind "prep hacks," and why chasing shortcuts or trying to make prep easier can actually make the process more difficult in the long run. Contest prep isn't meant to be easy, it's meant to challenge you, refine you, and require your full effort. Instead of looking for ways around the work, sometimes, leaning into and embracing the HARD, is key.