Welcome to the Optimal Protein Podcast. I'm Vanessa Spina.

Hello, my friends. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm your host, Vanessa. And I am so pumped.

Literally, my muscles are pumped for this episode with Dr. Shannon because we are talking all

about exactly how to build muscle and how to do it from the

perspective of a doctor of physical therapy. And Dr. Shannon Ritchie has been teaching fitness

and training for over 12 years and she personally lives and breeds everything that she recommends. She's very evidence-based

and knows what the current research is saying. So on today's episode, we fully dive into

muscle building 101 for every level, from a novice to intermediate to beginner. We talk about the best ways to actually build

muscle, the best ways to do it, the minimum effective doses for doing strength training and

cardio. We talk about rehit, the top myths out there about training that she is here to

bust and set the record straight on.

We talk about how muscle building actually contributes to leanness and even reduces cravings.

We talk about how it influences insulin resistance and insulin sensitivity and improves metabolic health.

And then we talk about her personal approach.

What she eats in a day, something that she

shares is her amazing sardine salad, how to incorporate more cottage cheese into your favorite

recipes. And we finally wrap up talking about any special considerations for women who are pregnant, how they should

look at and approach training during pregnancy if they are able to do any kind of training

and what we both did and what helped us personally. And we also talk about the ab separation

diastases recti. I have a hard time pronouncing it but what to do if you

experience any ab separation during pregnancy and it is finally wrapped up on how to balance your

nervous system after doing your workout the best ways to do that and why it is so important. So this truly is a

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