5-Minute Mondays – Weight Gain and Strength Training

Welcome to another 5-Minute Monday — your quick hit of motivation, movement, and mindset to start your week strong.

Whether you’re a busy professional, a fitness enthusiast, or simply someone looking to feel better in your body, this series gives you practical coaching insights you can actually use in real life.

In just five minutes, we’ll break down real topics from my coaching world to help you train smarter, stay consistent, and feel more confident in your routine.

Let’s dive in and set the tone for a strong, focused week ahead.

Transcript

Hey, what’s up guys? Welcome back to another five-minute Monday. My name is Allison Ethier or Coach A and I bring you topics that have come across my personal training desk either here in studio or on with my online coaching or sometimes something I’ve seen on social media.

Why Weight Gain Happens Over Time

The first topic I want to talk to you about is weight gain and I have to tell you I just already filmed this like four times because it’s such a sensitive issue and I never want to say anything to inadvertently hurt anybody’s feelings.

As I see it weight gain like weight loss is slow and unassuming over time and you know weight loss you might have to work a little bit more on it weight gain.

You can kind of be on vacation and not really think of much about it.

If you gained one pound per year in the first five years, you probably wouldn’t even notice it gained 10 pounds in 10 years.

You probably wouldn’t even notice that either from the ages of 25 all the way to 55. That’s 30 extra pounds on your front no matter what your age you’re able to lose weight the proper nutritional guidance.

Eating well does not have to be diet or it does not have to be restrictive many clients who have lost weight just by changing their nutritional habits and moving a little bit more point of what’s called significant weight gain.

Significant Weight Gain | Defined

I’m in this perimenopausal/menopausal phase and I read a number of studies significant weight gain as defined by one of the studies I read is considered five pounds over five years and so when they talk about hormonal and significant menopausal weight gain, this is what they’re talking about.

It’s five pounds over five years.

If you see it on social media many people have noticed and so you might feel more squishy.

What happens when you’re in this phase you tend to have a weight gain that is more like a man meaning towards the central part of the body instead of the hips and thighs that I’ve worked with over the years their weight gain had never been in the hips and thighs.

I don’t know if it’s just in the region in which I live it is always been more centralized in terms of their weight gain. They would be more weight gain towards the center with arms and legs being a little bit thinner.

I just wanted to point out what the definition of significant weight gain is and that’s five pounds over five years.

Strength Training Basics You Need First

Strength training is the basics for the foundations of lifting. 

I design training programs for those self directed clients come to me with their fitness goals and generally it’s one of two paths- to lose weight or build muscle OR a combination of the two.

This is called a body recomposition.

In the last decade I have noticed the priorities of my clients’ have shifted from losing weight or building muscle — to a general fitness functionality.

At any phase of life, I recommend that you start at a training program that’s at your level.

First you have to learn how to move, then you have to get stronger, and then (only then) you can start building muscle.

Strength is part of building muscle — so you have to start there.

If you stepped away from your fitness for any amount of time, you’re a beginner at least for a little while until you build up your overall fitness meaning being able to tolerate exercise at a certain level and a certain length of time to have to build up your strength.

Are you able to improve all on your other lifestyle factors at the exact same time?

It’s very possible, you know, it just depends on how much time you have to give and what you’re willing to commit to and the consistency of it obviously because if you step away from your fitness, you’re going to lose those gains that you have strived towards.

Remember once you get there, whatever built it is going to what is going to be those habits that you’re going to have to keep in order to maintain it.

Real Coaching Conversations About Fitness Expectations

This is a conversation that I had with a friend and she currently had a health issue, but she’s looking to get back into training. She mentioned she never actually strength trained. 

To my previous point (strength training 101) is that you have to start at the beginning, practice how to move and build up some strength. Workouts that start with something straightforward like dumbbells and resistance bands at home.

She continues, and mentions the timeline, and how she does not want to look like a bodybuilder or anything. And, I’m like thinking …you probably do want to be like a bodybuilder because building muscle is not that easy.

Women are not small men. Okay, great. No, we’re not.

We’re women, you know, but you should be training like a man, maybe not so much chest and a little bit more glutes.

You should be training like a man if you have the desire to do that because that’s what’s going to build the muscle.

Strength is literally the most straightforward process that you can do for yourself to keep yourself healthy and strong and functional. But if you actually want to build muscle, yeah, you probably are going to have to lift like a man.

Why Your Environment Shapes Your Fitness Results

That means the people you surround yourself with. Types of friends you should have at a certain age and really this is why I’m mentioning it because you know, I have people who come and want to be fit but their circle is not that and for them it becomes a struggle between having friends who support them.  

Even if it’s just one person can go to you and be like, okay, I’m feeling this way today whether or not it’s me or somebody else.

It’s always nice to have people who are generally interested in their own health and improving their health whether or not it’s just eating better moving more or even a little bit of weight loss because –weight loss has become a 4-letter word.

It is great that you would want to lose a few pounds!  Be mindful of who is influencing your mind (in person and online) because if you hear these things that are not exactly factually correct, these self limiting beliefs can hold you back.

(and I’ll get into them over the next couple of weeks)

All of a sudden you start to believe these things that are not really true.

You do want to build muscle you can do this at any age if you want to lose weight.

Yes, you can it’s okay to want to lose weight and improve on the person and it doesn’t mean you love yourself any less for wanting to improve on the house.

It’s all possible if you go in with the proper structure a proper plan and are willing to be consistent with it and be a little bit patient with it because it does take time to build a house.

Wrapping Up and Your Next Step Forward

That’s it for today’s 5-Minute Monday — thanks for being here and tuning in.

If this resonated with you, and you’re trying to figure out your next step with training, nutrition, or rebuilding consistency, I’ve got options to support you.

You can explore my online coaching programs to find something that fits your current lifestyle and training level — whether you’re just getting started, getting back into routine, or ready to level up.

If you’re not sure where you fit, you can also fill out my online questionnaire and book a consultation call. I’ll take a look at your goals, your schedule, and your current situation, and point you in the right direction — whether that’s with me or another path that suits you better.

Appreciate you watching, and I’ll see you next week.

Coach, A.