Holly’s heavy involvement in numerous sports over the years, combined with a strong interest in health and wellbeing and extensive research in the field of nutritional sciences, has lead her to extend her skill set to the fitness industry where she educates others as well as actively coaching fitness/physique athletes and body building.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Brett Gilliand
Welcome to the Circuit of Success. I’m your host, Brett Gilliland. Today I’ve got Holly Baxter with me. Holly, how you doing?
Holly Baxter
I am doing fantastic. Thank you for asking.
Brett Gilliand
Awesome. And you are in beautiful Tampa, Florida.
Holly Baxter
Mm-hmm. Yes. It has actually just gotten a little bit cool here. And when I say cool still in the sixties, but everyone’s got like 15 layers on. You know how the [inaudible]
Brett Gilliand
? Oh yeah. That’s funny. Yeah, it’s uh, it was 25 degrees when I woke up this morning here, so, I’m not feeling bad for anybody down in Tampa, Florida, 60 degrees. You know?
Holly Baxter
I, I wouldn’t either, I wouldn’t believe that.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah. But I’m, uh, supposed to be like 55 to 58 degrees on Wednesday, so that’s a big deal for us here, so we’re excited about that. So. Well, if you can, Holly, we will, uh, we’ll dive in. But you are a, a clinical dietician, a fitness coach, a trainer, an author. All sorts of stuff you’re doing. It’s amazing what you’ve built, um, in, in a, in a bodybuilder. You’ve won like lots of, uh, tournaments with body building, which is amazing. We’ll talk about that, but if you can maybe give us a little lay of the land on what’s made you the person you are today and, and, uh, gotten to this level.
Holly Baxter
Yeah, so I guess my role right now is, uh, somebody that’s in like the nutrition, exercise, science space. So I would call myself, uh, like a nutrition or an exercise educator. So, um, my day-to-day role, um, is extremely diverse. There’s a lot of things, um, that are going on. Um, Oh my gosh, my phone is just blowing up. Sorry. It’s mentally insult. Let me start that again. Um, so my role at the moment is, uh, extremely diverse. So I still do a couple of days where I’m practicing. Um, then there are going to be other days where I’m working on writing content, I’m putting together seminars and presentations, all that kind of thing.
Um, and then also working on, uh, I. Coaching team. We have a nutrition app, we’ve got a whole host of things going on, so.
Brett Gilliand
That’s amazing.
Holly Baxter
Um, I guess the way that I got there, um, is quite interesting actually. So I grew up in Tasmania, Australia, so it’s a pretty small town. Um, and I would say small mindset. And I think, you know, from a really young age actually, I just never felt like I fit in there.
And, you know, everyone was kind of like, stay on the safe side. You know, don’t, don’t stand out. You know, you don’t wanna draw attention to yourself. You just wanna blend in. You wanna fit in with the form, fit in with the status quo. And I remember kind of thinking like, But that’s not me. Like, that’s my authentic self is so different to like the mindset of all the people that are around me.
And I think I knew then that I wouldn’t be in Tasmania at least. So at the first opportunity I got, um, I, I jumped at, you know, getting the acceptance into, um, Deakin University, which is, it was like an hour and a half flight, but you go over water. So there’s separation from me and my family at this point.
So, um, yeah, I took the academic route. I went into an undergraduate of food science and nutrition, so I did my B.S. in food science, nutrition, uh, and then I got done with that and was like, I still need to learn a lot more. Uh, went back and got my master’s in dietetics and that kind of, uh, exposed me to a lot of like athletes and, you know, elite fitness professionals.
So, Um, how I got into body building was actually through the work that I was doing with clients. So, uh, you know, I was coaching them and helping with their nutrition and putting together their training. Um, and then, you know, someone said to me, Hey, you know, have you considered, uh, competing yourself? You know, you’re pretty athletic. Um, I know you used to do athletics and you grew up very sporty. Why not do it? So, Yeah, I kind of, I set my sights on that. I knew that the world championships that particular year was gonna be held in Dubai, so I’d always wanted to travel to Dubai. So that was actually my motivator. It was very extrinsic.
There was nothing internal about body building that I really resonated with at the time. Um, so yeah, I had to go on and win as state and then a national championships in order to get to the worlds, which I did in my first year, which was awesome. Uh, and then I went and won the World Championships in Vice, so I’ve kind of stuck at it since then.
Um, however, I will say it wasn’t a pretty, it wasn’t a pretty journey. It was not a glamorous one. I think behind the scenes. Um, you know, there was a lot of, um, like deep rooted insecurity, a lot of internal struggle. You know, I actually suffered from an eating disorder for about 15 years. Yeah. Um, and that was, uh, I guess related to just some of my upbringing, you know, the way that. Um, you know, I was raised and then some unfortunate, you know, traumatic experiences that I had as a, a young teenager. So, you know, there’s, there’s been the glamorous side that I think a lot of people saw for many years. You know, I appeared to be this extremely successful, you know, athlete. I’ve got, you know, my own business.
I, on the surface it looked all cool, but I like underneath there was like a very hurt, very broken young woman and it actually took me about 15 years to really like step into my shoes and, you know, start working and healing through some of that trauma. And I think the work that I do now, um, in the online space is very much, um, you know, female focused.
I really enjoy and I connect with women. Um, and a lot of it is to do with body positivity. It’s to do with um, you know, changing your mindset, working on your dysfunctional beliefs, dysfunctional thoughts.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah.
Holly Baxter
Um, and how that impacts your day-to-day behavior and how that impacts your habits and who you are as a person.
So, yeah, there’s a lot of, you know, diet and exercise information that I can give because of my, you know, experience. Um, but then there’s also a lot of like psychology that I bring to the table, because you can’t, you can’t separate those things. Like
Brett Gilliand
. No.
Holly Baxter
We’re, we’re interconnected in a, a complex way with so many different things, um, that you can’t ignore, like the environmental influence that that has on our food choices and our day to day.
You can’t ignore the social influences, the emotional influence, you know, so it’s, I really enjoy working with people and looking at them as a whole. And then, you know, kind of getting to the root problems that they’re limiting beliefs and then helping them to succeed. And it’s not just in their fitness.
I really enjoy empowering people to achieve their best sense of self, and whether that’s in their business, in their relationships, in their, you know, family, life, finances, you know, I’m always looking to like, how can we help change your mindset so that you can succeed.
Brett Gilliand
I love that. I love that. So how, how do you get out of the 15 years of this, uh, trauma as you called it? I mean, how, how did you, just, what was the awareness for you to say, you know what, I gotta make a change and I gotta step out of that and get outta my comfort zone?
Holly Baxter
Yeah, again, I’m gonna say, uh, it wasn’t, uh, it’s not a pretty story. Um, I actually was, um, like clinically depressed. Um, I was at rock bottom.
I had many suicidal thoughts. So this was only five years ago. Um, and I think. You know, I, I’d been there as a, as a teenager, I had actually, again, very like, traumatic. I had, you know, attempted suicide when I was very young. Um, so I’d always, you know, kind of lived with these memories and I think I’d gone through enough of my adulthood kind of masking, like, or detaching or distracting myself with, you know, hobbies or, you know, influence or. You know, I would try to do things that would bring me up, you know, that would make me feel better. But I, I, I never really tackled the root cause and, you know, I think by the time I got to my late twenties, I really had, I’d started to identify the, the behavior and it was like, okay, this is, this is a deep rooted problem within me that I need to fix.
So, you know, I kind of had a bit of a, I don’t wanna say an epiphany, but I definitely had a come to Jesus moment and was like, you have a choice to make a change right now. You, you can either choose to be unhappy for the rest of your life and you’re gonna let all of these you know, historical events, clout your, your potential and who you are born and put on this earth to be.
Or you can go and do something about it. And from that day on, I have had therapy, like mental, mental health counseling myself. Um, pretty consistently, I’d say for three and a half, four years now, I’ve probably missed like five sessions in a year. And it’s every week. And you know, now it’s not really getting myself out of that slump.
It’s about preventative. Um, you know, I’m doing things that are proactively keeping me in this really positive state of mind. So lots of therapy, lots of reading, and obviously my science background. Yeah, I’m reading all the papers, I’m going to all the journals.
Brett Gilliand
Right.
Holly Baxter
Like, what works? How can I better myself?
Brett Gilliand
Yeah.
Holly Baxter
So it, it had to come from within. Yeah.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah, I think that, I mean, that’s amazing. So one, I appreciate you sharing. Again, I always talk about transparency and vulnerability, and I think you’ve obviously been very transparent and very vulnerable here already in the first few minutes, and so I appreciate that.
But what, what do you continually do now? Um, I, and I’m a guy that’s always dealt with anxiety, and so I don’t know if I can ever just say it’s gone like, right. It’s, it’s, Put to, it’s put in a box, taped up, put on a shelf, it’ll never come back. I would assume maybe you would agree with that is what, what will you continue to do? Uh, is it, is it the therapy? Is it stuff like that that you will continue to do throughout probably life?
Holly Baxter
Yeah. Absolutely. I, I would encourage anybody to get a therapist. It’s just so nice to have somebody with a non-bias. Um, you know, view that can look at your lifestyle. They can look at your, you know, your troubles or your, your, your wins without any kind of judgment or, you know, they’re not kind of, they’re not looking at it from a, like, emotional standpoint.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah.
Holly Baxter
So I would definitely continue to seek professional help, and that’s even as somebody that feels like very competent in knowing how to do things. It’s just nice to have that accountability. Um, and, you know, everybody needs to be checked at some point. You know, I think we can all divert and, uh, deviate off our, our path. So, you know, we, we’ve gotta kind of correct that every now and then. And I think that’s exactly what the role of, you know, good therapists can do. But I think also, um, you know, I’ve really made a conscious, very intentional effort to surround myself with positive influences. Um, I’ve made a very conscious decision to let go of friends in my life that were limiting me, that were holding me back, um, or that didn’t, that didn’t support me.
So, you know, I think I know the person that I wanna be. So I, I’ve kind of written it down. I do a lot of journaling and a lot of like deep thought process. To whom do I want to be? What does she, what does she look like? How does she carry herself? How, how does she act around, you know, her kids? How does she act around her friends?
And, you know, I really strive to do that on a daily basis. There’s always, there’s not a day that goes by where I’m not looking at some kind of positive affirmation. I’m not reading another chapter of a book that I’m interested in, and it’s usually all mental health, you know, neuroplasticity of the brain or you know, um, you know, breaking bad habits or, you know, letting go of. I guess your fear mindset or you name it. So I really try to be intentional with putting those thoughts in my mind and keeping the people that are a good influence in my life. Very close, very close. So.
Brett Gilliand
I don’t, I don’t think, uh, people spend enough time, in my opinion, in what I call strategic think time or what you probably call your journal time. Um, I don’t, don’t you agree? Like I don’t think people spend enough time doing that. And I know for me over the last 20 years, that’s what’s helped me uh, well really, I guess since July of 2005 when I started writing down in my black journal, I carry with me everywhere I go. Um, that’s, that was a game changer for me. Right. And it continues to be a game changer for me, but I just don’t think people spend enough time thinking about their own lives and where they want to go.
Holly Baxter
Yeah, absolutely. I think so many people, um, live in what I will call like their default state. It’s like they’re living on autopilot. I, I’d say most people, um, or many people have at some point in their life, probably experienced some, something unpleasant, something extremely, uh, difficult. Uh, whether we wanna call it trauma or, you know, they’ve just had a bad experience. Um, you know, those things, they impact us at a very deep level and they shape the way that we react, you know, to new stimulus. Like you can carry a, uh, a historical view or a perception of, like a relationship that you might have been in, and maybe somebody, you know, said a certain thing to you and that made you feel really insecure or it made you feel upset or unheard or whatever it was.
But, you know, and that experience stays with you. So when we are, you know, experiencing those types of comments in our new, new life, new relationships, it’s really difficult to like let go of those past, um, I guess, narratives that we create for ourself and like truly be receptive and like aware of how that’s actually being portrayed now.
And I think, you know, we spend a lot of time in our like subconscious state, which is what I’m referring to when I say like your default setting, your autopilot, you know, people, and that’s the body’s way of coping with a lot of things too. If you’re somebody that’s extremely successful and you’ve got your, you know, finger on the pulse for like 10 different companies and you’re trying to do a lot, it makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint as to why the human brain wants to be able to put things on default because you’re trying to deal with the new information. But I think that comes with a risk in that you’re not always present, you’re not always, you know, aware and self-awareness. Oh my gosh.
Brett Gilliand
It’s huge.
Holly Baxter
It’s huge. And you’re right, so many people do not spend enough time. Thinking about, thinking about anything. It’s like they’re just responding, responding, responding. There’s no no point at which they stop to slow down and just, you know, sit with their thoughts.
Brett Gilliand
Right.
Holly Baxter
And, you know, allow those thoughts to kind of, you know, move in and out and without judgment, without criticism, um, you know, that that’s a really unique skill. And I think it’s probably one that a lot of successful people do really well. They’re very, they’re very self aware.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah. Yeah. I couldn’t agree more. So let’s talk about you, you, you mentioned earlier, people you surround yourself with. That does matter. Right? And so I listened to, um, Peter Atia on Joe Rogan’s podcast.
And then I, during my research, I saw you were on Peter Attia podcast. I mean, that guy’s doing stuff. It’s amazing. I actually have, uh, what’s he called it? The Centenarian Olympics or something, you know, so I’ve got this passion and I wanna live well into my nineties and play golf on my hundredth birthday.
And, and so, When you think about the Peter Attias of the world, the people you’re surrounding yourself with, like what are you learning from them that you can share with our listeners to take it to that next level? No matter where you’re at, whatever stage of life you’re at, what do we need to do to take it to that next level?
Holly Baxter
Oh, I think, look, if there’s one thing that I will say, uh, and it’s because I’ve made this mistake many times and I’ve continued to make it over and over. Um, but I think you get a little better at this, and that is, um, having self-care. I, I think that our culture today, Prides and like aggrandizes. Um, you know, the person who basically does it all that does that works 24 hours a day.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah.
Holly Baxter
That doesn’t sleep. You know, they’re mentally headstrong, you know, they, they do, they go over and above like it’s that, you know, mental toughness, like to me, society really like, kind of aggrandizes that. But I think that that also comes with a lot of like, there’s a lot of downsides as well because you, you stop caring about, you know, the things that are really important that, you know, you’ve only got this one vessel that’s gonna take you through your entire life.
So I think, you know, being able to slow down, um, and to prioritize are the things that are most important to you. I would say are like two of the things that I did terribly I wanted to do everything when I was, uh, a lot younger and I still have lots of goals. I’m gonna say they’re all still floating around on a list somewhere.
But you know, I think as I’ve gotten a little older, I’ve become more of a realist. I’ve recognized that, you know, you can’t do it all. You need to be able to delegate and you need to be able to um, I guess take things at a, a pace that, that allows you to have like good health. And I know for many years I just burned the candle at both ends.
You know, I was trying to do bodybuilding competitions and, you know, that’s, that’s a, that’s a part-time job as it is. Uh, and then, you know, I was trying to scale three companies and try and be a parent and, you know, try and be a good wife and move countries and look after my friends. So I’m like, oh, actually, this is impossible.
Brett Gilliand
This is impossible.
Holly Baxter
Yeah, and that, that was probably right around that time. Like I said earlier, when I hit rock bottom, I, I kind of had this, you know, realization where I was like, wow. You know, you’re, you’re about to take your own life and it’s your own doing. Like you can undo this. You have a choice. You’ve just gotta change a few of these, you know, perceptions, which I know for me was uh, people pleaser, perfectionist, um, you know, always, I was always, um, I guess given praise when I was a teenager and a kid as well.
Brett Gilliand
Mm-hmm.
Holly Baxter
um, that from my performance, it was like if I was getting good praise, if I was, you know, winning all of my sporting events. If I did the best job at the recitals and like if I was doing all these things, that’s where I found I was getting like love.
But what I, what I realized was like the way that I was parents or my, the way that I was raised by my parents, it was almost like it was conditional love and it’s taken me a lot of time to kind of reflect back on that, kind of dig into that and understand where my current like perception of life has come from.
To be able to go, you know what, I, I forgive yourself. You know, I, forgive me, you’re that you were wired this way, but it’s not the, it’s not the right way. You don’t have to be everything to everyone all the time. You know? So I think having very high goals and ambition, that’s amazing. But I think being realistic with, you know, the timeframe that you get things done and being gracious and compassionate in those moments of stress and struggle, that’s really helped me continue to like chip a way without like just falling off altogether.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah. But I think that you probably don’t know that or won’t realize that unless you are slowing down. Right. I always say slow down to speed up. So unless you’re slowing down, unless you’re kind of grading yourself, if you will. Uh, and, and journaling and thinking about it.
I mean, I know for me that I was the same way and I, I ended up coming up with this thing called Focus 90. And it’s 90 minutes. It’s, it’s for 90 days. For 90 minutes. It’s these three or four or five really important things for me that I need to get done. Because what I found was I would, I’d come home at five o’clock and go to basketball or baseball games, whatever it was, whatever season we’re in with our children, and yet I was, I was tired and I was quote, unquote, busy all day, but yet I wasn’t really getting the things I needed to get done, done, but yet I was busy. And so for me to slow down and speed up and say, okay, if I can do these three or four or five things a day, that’s a, that’s, that’s a victory. And then if I can do ’em in the first 90 minutes, I’ve won the morning, and I know if I win the morning, I will win the day. Right. So when you hear me say that for, for you, what’s your quote unquote focus 90 like, I have mine. What are your no miss items that helps you win the day.
Holly Baxter
I think starting off the morning with like 30 minutes of, uh, I guess reading and 30 minutes of gratitude or 15 minutes of each. So 15 reading, 15 minutes of gratitude. So yeah, that has become my staple. So I’ve got a couple of really great books that I will read. Um, some of them are biblical, some of them are just, you know, psych- psychology, but they’re always like very positive. They get me thinking, they get me into that like conscious state of mind, like really doing some self-assessment.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah.
Holly Baxter
And then I’ll reflect on that and okay, what am I gonna do today that, you know, is gonna progress me to, you know, tomorrow? So that’s kind of one of my non-negotiables. Um, and then I’ll always exercise. Uh, I don’t always get the full amount of time in, like today. I think I cut my exercise a little bit short. Um, but, you know, exercise, I think it just sets you up for, you know, open thinking, a clear mind, um, and that’s when you can really get into some of your deep work.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah.
Holly Baxter
So yeah, I think that that’s how I start my day and I always have my priorities list running in the background. Um, you know, I’ve got my big five year goals, but then I’ve also got like my, I have to break it down into my short, you know, week to week goals, month to month goals.
Brett Gilliand
What does that look like? Is that on a piece of paper that you carry with you or is it like in a journal? Like, where’s that at?
Holly Baxter
So I actually have it on a spreadsheet.
Brett Gilliand
Okay.
Holly Baxter
So, uh, one of the tasks that I actually did to help me better, like become more effective and efficient with my time, um, believe it or not, was time blocking. So I think you, you just mentioned you felt like you were extremely busy all the time, but you weren’t quite getting ahead with where you wanted to be. Um, so I was in a very similar situation. So I had to work out, first off, what am I doing with my time? Because I, I had an idea up in my mind, but I had to start putting it on paper to really… to believe what I thought I was doing. So that first task or that first step to, to making some positive changes was time blocking, and it was 15 minute intervals. So every 15 minutes on my calendar, just my good old Google Calendar, I would go in and put in what I was doing. So I did that for two weeks straight. It was the most painful, annoying thing , that I’ve ever done.
Brett Gilliand
That’s right.
Holly Baxter
And I see like people kind of get push, like they don’t wanna do it, but it really helped me realize, okay, here’s the time that it actually takes me to do, write a caption for social media. Oh, you know what? I’m actually missing out the fact that I’ve gotta go and spend an hour researching and reading three different you know, studies or then I find a meta-analysis and I, you know, okay, this is actually a study and then I have to write it. So I was not being realistic with the time that it would take me for certain tasks. And then I also had to decide, okay, out of all the things that I’m doing and we calculated it all up, I think I had a column for what I do in a day, what I do in a week, and then quarterly and then, uh, annually. And it worked out to be about 16 hours of work per day. Cause I put a time bracket on everything. So I was like, wow. No wonder, I feel so busy, so what here is not important and what can I delegate?
So I went through that big list of all the things that I was doing, and I’m like, okay, well that’s not good use of my time. I’m not really that competent in that skill. So I need to hire somebody for this.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah.
Holly Baxter
So that was the slowing down for me, putting the brakes on a little bit and finding the right team to help support me with, you know, that building process. Otherwise, I was constantly gonna be spinning my wheels.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah. So I don’t wanna, I don’t want to gloss right over that. So, I mean, that, that’s, that right there is worth the, uh, the price, which is free for people to listen to this podcast. Right. But that’s worth the price of admission right there. That whole process that you just went through. What do I do in a day? What do I do in a week? What I do in a month? What I do in a quarter? Right? Listing all those things out and then either do it and schedule it in your time blocking, right. Or delete it or delegate it. Right. I mean, that’s a huge, I mean, that is absolutely huge for people to take that into their lives and do it during their think time.
So I appreciate you sharing that. That’s awesome. Yeah. Um, so let’s talk, you talked about your workout today. Let’s spend some time on, uh, those of us that aren’t trying to win a body building contest. I’m, I’m clearly not. Um, and so, uh, but for those listeners that we just want to exercise, we wanna be healthy, we want to be flexible and mobile into our nineties or whatever, right? Whatever’s people goals are. How much time do we spend on cardio versus strength versus maybe flexibility, mobility, stretching, whatever you want to call it.
Holly Baxter
Yeah, look, I think all of those, um, are extremely important. I don’t think that you would want to completely like, uh, not do any of those. They’re, they’re great. Um, but it probably depends on what your goals are. Um, I think for most of us, and I’m probably generalizing a little bit here, but I’ll, I’ll go with the, the stereotype of human, which is.
Brett Gilliand
Okay.
Holly Baxter
Usually wanna lose a little bit of body fat. Um, and that might be for health reasons. You know, we’re trying to improve some of your blood biomarkers. Or it might be to, uh, I guess for the aesthetic, you know, everybody wants to look, look a little bit better, a little bit, you know, leaner. Um, and I, I, either of those is perfectly good reasons to, to exercise. So my old mindset prior to learning what I know now is that, you know, I, I really enjoyed cardio, so I was like, well, I just need to do a lot more of that in order to get to this physique that I really like.
I recall in my early twenties, there was a period where I was probably exercising six days a week. Uh, I was taking boot camps and participating in them, and then I was also doing my own training and I can guess it was probably about 15 hours of cardio. Um.
Brett Gilliand
Wow.
Holly Baxter
A week. That was high intensity cardio. And I did a significantly lower amount of resistance training. I think, uh, when I was doing track athletics we did once every other week we’d go in and do 30 minutes in the weights room and it was, you know, explosive kind of, you know, leg pressing for, for power. It was interesting. So, you know, I was doing all this work and I was also trying to restrict my calories. I was very, you know, had a lot of rules, you know, forbidden foods restrictions.
Again, this is back when I was really struggling with my eating disorder. So, um, yeah, I was doing all this work and I just couldn’t get to where I wanted to go. It made no sense to me at the time. So, you know, the more I started following, you know, some of the evidence-based researchers, and this is po, this is post like me having my my degree. So there’s…
Brett Gilliand
So, you know, hey, you know what you’re talking about.
Holly Baxter
Hmm. So, like, I already had six years of like college education under my belt at this point. Um, but there just wasn’t a whole lot of, um, like that research integrated into my, like for what I did. So I guess I happened to stumble across some of the like leaders in the nutrition and exercise science field, and they really opened my eyes to the benefits of resistance training.
So what has happened over time, and I’m, I promise I’m getting to a point here, what happened over was that I started to build lean body mass. Through that resistance training, um, I followed the evidence-based approaches, which enabled me to see some radical improvements in my lean body mass in a very short… and
Brett Gilliand
Can I interrupt real quick? I’m sorry. I hate interrupting, but when you say resistance training, can you define that just kind of so we’re all on the same page. What does that mean to you?
Holly Baxter
Yep. So, uh, lifting weights in a gym or any kind of, uh, load-bearing exercise that is going to challenge your muscles and, uh, lead to, uh, positive like hypertrophy adaptation.
Brett Gilliand
Perfect.
Holly Baxter
So anything that can build muscle, we need, we need to have a certain amount of stimulus and resistance. Um, in order to do that.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah.
Holly Baxter
That’s what I mean. So just hitting the gym.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah.
Holly Baxter
Um, so yeah, I guess when that started to happen, I also noticed that my, uh, daily calorie in intake was also a little bit higher. I could actually eat more, you know, food. And the reason for that is like your lean body mass um, is one of the driving factors that will boost your basal metabolic rate, which is essentially your metabolism. So the more muscle you have, um, the more you get to eat. It’s wonderful. So, um, you know, I think for everybody that is wanting to, you know, lose body fat, If you can do the work in acquiring more muscle, and that does take time. Um, if we look at like natural, like drug free athletes, like I’m a natural athlete, so this, the process is always a little bit slower than some of the, you know, people in the, you know, the untested federations.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah.
Holly Baxter
But it, it’s the, the research shows for females, I’ll speak specifically to, so it’s about half, uh, half of a kilogram per month is about the most lean body mass you can build when you’re following, you know, uh, re resist, uh, evidence-based resistance training protocol. Now there’s going to be some variability there. Like that’s taking, you know, randomized control trials and meta-analysis and looking at the average muscle gain. I actually are on the, the higher side of that, based on the time that I was putting into the gym.
Like I really focused on it. So, you know, you, you can do that math, you know, six months, you know, we’re really looking at like three kilograms of, of lean body mass is the most that you could put on. So, and that, that, that would then make a significant increase to your calorie intake. So I think the benefits of resistance training beyond, you know, the, the way that that can positively impact like our longevity, um, I think, you know, that to me was the biggest game changer of everything.
And I slowly started to taper down the amount of cardio that I was doing. And basically replaced all of that with, uh, resistance training. And then I found I had to only do half as much exercise in order to maintain my weight because now I’ve got this more muscular physique that on a day-to-day basis, it requires a lot more energy to, to fuel and to operate.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah.
Holly Baxter
So I didn’t have to do as much training as I used to to be able to maintain a better physique and one that I liked a lot more that had shape. Um, you know, it was contributing positively to my long-term health.
Brett Gilliand
I like it. So let me, I’m gonna share this with you if I can. This is my workout here. I’ve got it written down to paper now, because again, I’m a, I’m a believer in that. And so for years, I mean, until, like, you know, a month ago I didn’t have all this written out, and so I would be the guy, I’d show up in my gym, I have one in my basement, and it’s like, okay, I don’t know what to do. I’ll just make stuff up as I go. Right? And, and so what I’ve done is, and this is through lots of research, is so Monday, All resistant training weight, right? Um, Tuesdays I’m actually doing that, um, zone five training that Peter Tia talks about. So I’m basically running really fast for, you know, a while or run a three minute run, one minute sprint, three minute run, one minute sprint, so on and so forth. Repeat that for 30 minutes. You know, a stretching and some meditation. Wednesday, back to some weights. Thursday um, I do this thing, it’s like a golf workout, like the for flexibility mobility, uh, Friday, either the Peloton or the Peloton tread for 30 minutes, and then the weekend is back to some weights. So when you hear that, where am I messing up or am I on point?
Holly Baxter
No, I think you’ve, you’ve just described like a really balanced approach to your, your health and fitness. Like you’ve got your endurance in there. You’ve got, um, I guess your a, you’re training your anaerobic system, you’re training your aerobic system. You’ve got mobility flexibility. You’ve got something in there that sounds like a hobby, like you’ve got your golf stuff. That sounds great. Now, if you said to me, Hey, Holly, I really would like to be a lot more muscular, um, for aesthetic, let’s say it’s for aesthetic reasons.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah.
Holly Baxter
Then I would probably say to you, alright, well how many hours in the day do you have to contribute to activity? And if you said to me, well, I haven’t got any more, like this is the only amount of time that I can I can use to set aside for my exercise. And then I’d say to you, let’s, let’s get rid of some of the cardio, because you don’t need that if you wanna be muscular.
Brett Gilliand
Okay.
Holly Baxter
So, you know, everything’s a trade off. You’ve gotta be able to make sacrifices here and there. Like my sacrifices, I can’t tell you the last time I watched tv, uh, because that’s my reading time and that allows me to do my training, you know, so, um, everything’s a trade off. But if your goal is to move into, like an old age, With, um, you know, all, all facets of health, uh, it sounds like you’re looking after your mental health by choosing things that you enjoy. You’ve got to do that, that otherwise, if you can’t enjoy what you’re doing, you’re not gonna stick to it. So, and then you’re looking after your cardiovascular health by doing some of the running. Absolutely. And that sounds really rough, by the way. uh, then you’re looking after your joints and you’re doing your flexibility, your mobility. Yeah.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah.
Holly Baxter
You, you’ve got a good balance there.
Brett Gilliand
All right, perfect. Well, if anybody wants a copy of it, I can send it to ’em. Just send me an email or a text and I’ll be happy to share it. Um, share it with us a little bit about, you’ve got an app and you’ve got workout programs, and you’ve got books and all that kind of stuff. And, and so maybe share with us where people can, uh, find more about that if they want help with this.
Holly Baxter
Yeah, absolutely. So I think, um, one of the things that I really wanted to do when I moved to the US was make sure that we can cater to a wide range of people. So, um, and specifically when it comes to cost, so I offer personally one-on-one coaching and I have a great team of, uh, I guess girls, females who also offer coaching for a range of different, uh, fields.
Um, but, you know, one on one, it’s, it’s gonna be pricey, right? So, uh, in addition to that, we also have, uh, a nutrition coaching app, which is called Carbon Diet Coach. So, um, my husband and I.
Brett Gilliand
Say that again.
Holly Baxter
It’s called Carbon Diet Coach. Yeah.
Brett Gilliand
Okay.
Holly Baxter
Sorry. This is an advanced, uh, nutrition coaching program. It basically, we wrote an algorithm that adapts to the individual. So we can have two people, let’s say they’re genetically, they’re twins, they’re exactly the same, um, but they’ve got slightly different lifestyles. Um, they’re within 12 weeks of that program, I can tell you now, they would not be on the same nutrition targets or goals.
Um, you know, the coach adapts to that individual. It makes adjustments based on the changes that we see for that person. So, uh, it’s really cool. It coaches for fat loss, it coaches for reverse dieting, uh, which is basically the concept of metabolic restoration. Like we wanna help um, induce some positive metabolic adaptation.
So if you felt like you are eating nothing and training like a Trojan and you’re not getting anywhere, there’s the very possibility that you’ve just got a lot of negative metabolic adaptation. It’s like the body adapts to these lower calorie amounts. It’s like you become more efficient. Um, and again, from an evolutionary standpoint, your body is trying to protect you from starvation. It’s a great thing from an evolutionary perspective. It sucks if you wanna lose some body fat. Um, but you know this, we have this setting called the reverse dieting setting that will help you slowly reintroduce calories back into your diet, which will facilitate just some adaptation. It’s like the body doesn’t quite realize that anything’s changing and all of a sudden you’re eating more calories.
So, and that has a muscle building setting as well. So that’s, um, that’s our app. It’s, uh, super cool and it’s $9.99. Uh, it’s available on Android and iOS, so we’ve..
Brett Gilliand
That’s a one time $9.99 or $9.99 a month?
Holly Baxter
Per month. Yeah. There’s annual fees, there are six monthly fees and you, it’s slightly cheaper, I guess, if you look at what the weekly cost is. So, um, but yeah, I mean, that, that has just under 50,000 subscribers.
Brett Gilliand
Wow.
Holly Baxter
Um, or it’s, it’s, it’s really a great product and my goal with that product is to, uh, over time implement some of the work that I enjoy doing as well, which is adding that coaching psychology aspect, which, you know, they are so important together because I can give you all my knowledge, like I can say to you today hey, all right. So we know that when protein and calories are equated, you can have any combination of carbohydrates and fats in your diet. You will, you’ll have a successful fat loss phase. I can teach you everything and if you have, uh, a bad behavior or bad habit. Like, you know, I actually really just like going out with boys on the weekend fishing and that that’s ruining your second and third training session every week.
You know, like, it doesn’t, no amount of knowledge or experience is gonna help you. Like you need to work on some of the fundamental like mindset changes. So I wanna be, be able to integrate that into this app, which it’s definitely on our radar. We just have to get some more, uh, dev support to do that. Um, And then we have a, a really cool workout platform too.
So, um, you can go in and use our workout builder. It is, there’s over 60 or 70 programs, something of that nature. It’s catered to beginners through to advanced professional athletes like I use these programs. Um, and it’s really flexible in that if you are working out from home, there is a program for you. If you’re working out in the gym, there’s a program for you If you don’t have access to you know, 10 pieces of equipment, like people often will get a single program from a trainer and they’re like, well, I don’t have that. Now what do I do with this program that I’ve just spent money? So we have a cool toggle feature where I’ve basically gone through and picked every single exercise that I can possibly think of that targets that same muscle group. And you can choose another exercise. So if you don’t have, uh, a reverse hack spot in your gym, you’re like meh, you can go and choose from this list. And there’s about 10 other exercises more there, 20 other exercises that you can choose. So that’s a really cool program.
Brett Gilliand
That’s amazing. And that’s through the same app or is that a different spot?
Holly Baxter
That’s a different company of mine. So, uh, That’s a, that’s on our website. Um.
Brett Gilliand
Okay.
Holly Baxter
It’s, uh, biolayne.com. Um, and that’s part of our subscription-based service on our web-based platform, so.
Brett Gilliand
Okay.
Holly Baxter
Yeah, we have, we have a lot of cool stuff.
Brett Gilliand
So let’s talk from a business side real quick. We’ve been talking about, you know, the mindset we’ve been talking about, uh, fitness and, and all those things. So from a business standpoint, how, what makes you different, um, than all the other thousand people out there, more than that probably, that have this app or this next great thing to where now I think you said 50,000 people are on the platform monthly. That doesn’t just happen, right? So give us some business 101 on what you think you focus on and how you build that.
Holly Baxter
So I think, um, we’ve kind of done things in reverse than how most businesses would approach things. So usually you’d take a product and you market it. You go, here’s this amazing product. The product sells itself. So I think what we did was a little different. So we had myself, uh, and another, uh, influencer.
So my husband, uh, Dr. Lane Norton. So he, uh, he and I basically, Marketed this product, um, to our audience. And it was just so fortunate that both of us have a really loyal, um, following on social media.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah.
Holly Baxter
That, you know, that really helped to grow it. And then of course, Once you know they’re using it, then they’re talking and introducing it to their friends. So, you know, a lot of the referrals will then come from word of mouth, but that’s because it’s also then a great product. So we’ve got not only, you know, two people that have, you know, really great reputation in the evidence-based, um, community. Um, I guess we’re big personalities. Um, You know, we’ve also got the, we walk the walk, we talk the talk. We have the degrees, like he’s got the PhD. Um, you know, I’ve got the masters in dietetics and both of us are competitive athletes. So, you know, he’s a world champion, uh, power lifter. I have done body building and power lifting, you know, for many years. So I think we do have..
Brett Gilliand
Results.
Holly Baxter
Pardon?
Brett Gilliand
So the results matter.
Holly Baxter
Yeah. Like you’re gonna, you’re getting people that know what they’re talking about because they’re scientists, but they also are like applying it practically.
Brett Gilliand
Yeah.
Holly Baxter
To their sports. So yeah, it took us two years to, to kind of build out this app. Um, but it, it does a really great, it really does a great job, so.
Brett Gilliand
That’s awesome. So where do our listeners find more of Holly Baxter?
Holly Baxter
Look, I would say go and, uh, check me out on Instagram and YouTube. So on both platforms, my handle is Holly T. Baxter. Um, and you can get access to all of those things on my pages. You can find a carbon diet coach, you can find the workout builder, you can get access to me for what I’m coaching or, um, my team of coaches as well.
Brett Gilliand
That’s awesome. Well, we’ll put all this in the show notes, Holly, and uh, it’s been awesome having you. I love talking, uh, everything we’ve talked about today. It’s been great. Tons of notes, lots of takeaways for me, and I hope you have a great rest of the weekend. A good Thanksgiving.
Holly Baxter
Yeah, you as well. Thank you.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
