Rutha Berhane: Hi, everyone.
Arabella: Hi everyone and welcome back to another Consistency Code episode Episode Podcast Episode of our podcast. Hello.
Rutha Berhane: episode yep episode podcast yep me yep
Arabella: Today we are gonna be diving into a hot trending topic. the whole Pilates debate. Is Pilates gonna get you the body that you want? Is Pilates gonna build the muscle that you want? Is Pilates gonna make you toned? I hate that word, but it's trending. And Pilates girls like love ya. Love ya. I do even enjoy a Pilates class myself from time to time. But I feel like nobody in the fitness space is like actually being truly honest about what Pilates does and doesn't do for your body. And there are so many women. I talk to so many women who are spending Lord knows how much on a Pilates membership every single week, you know, doing
Rutha Berhane: Too much.
Arabella: like upwards of three classes a week and they're not getting the results that they're hoping for. So we're gonna clear that. Clear
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, the Pilates scam, if you will. I call it the Pilates scam because it is. It is a scam.
Arabella: It low key yes, it is a scam. Like in what world can we be charging like four hundred a month for a Pilates membership?
Rutha Berhane: That's diabolical. In this economy, in this climate, four hundred and you're three classes a week and you're still not getting results? I would ask for a refund.
Arabella: Straight up. 'Cause you can go to Planet Fitness for like what, ten bucks a month?
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, don't knock down to fitness by the way, guys. It's really key.
Arabella: hearing good things about it actually. Yeah. Yeah.
Rutha Berhane: It's tea, yeah. That was my first gym. I love it. But yeah, no, the Pilates scam obviously bar Pilates, hot yoga, all that stuff is so fun, right? I used to partake in it until I just started being lazy and the burn really doesn't like intrigue me. I'm going to be honest with you. It's not like fun.
Arabella: my god, don't even get me started. People chase the burn. They're like, it burns so much.
Rutha Berhane: People love the burn.
Arabella: I must be building so much muscle. The burn is crazy. Guys, first and foremost,
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: let's stop chasing the burn. Secondly, it
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: actually blows my mind how people will drop $400 a month on a Pilates membership, no problem. But then when it comes to say $300 a month on coaching, it's like, nope, that's too much. Too expensive.
Rutha Berhane: It's a no. No. It's outrageous. Yeah. And this is not like an anti-Pilates episode or anything like that. It's genuinely... Pilates is great, but we're just here today to tell you what it's exactly great for and the actual reasoning Pilates was actually created and so on because a lot of you might not know where Pilates originated from, what it was originally for until people started changing it into what... it is today and modernized it to be something that's really not in our opinion.
Arabella: Yeah.
Rutha Berhane: And, you know, there's a lot of gaps between what the Pilates world promises you and what the research will actually show you with your results that you're getting.
Arabella: Yeah, exactly. And obviously it's it's something that's been very glamorized, I would say, like since since COVID and it's trending, right? So that's why, you know, everybody and their mom and their dog is doing it at this point, but like
Rutha Berhane: And I'm still on dog. There's dog pilates now. There's dog pilates, cat pilates. There's dealership pilates. There's literally pilates anywhere.
Arabella: That's actually so funny because I said that as a joke, just as a saying, but literally there is dog block. Yeah. Yeah, which is
Rutha Berhane: Yeah. yeah, it's everywhere. Yeah. It's an aesthetic.
Arabella: crazy. Crazy. But yeah, like people lack the understanding of what its original purpose is
Rutha Berhane: Yes.
Arabella: and what you're actually gonna get out of it. So let's dive into it.
Rutha Berhane: Exasperating. Let's start big.
Arabella: So Pilates, if you didn't know, was actually originally designed for injury, rehabilitation, core stabilization and strengthening, and just movement quality. Like it was never designed to be a primary muscle building modality. And that's where people lack understanding and clarity. So Pilates is really, really, really beneficial for core stabilization and TVA. activation, so your transverse abdominis muscles, that's your deep core stabilization muscle.
Rutha Berhane: Okay.
Arabella: And yeah, it's really good for like posture and and recovery, stretching, movement quality, flexibility, mobility, injury prevention, mind body connection, and like in a sense almost like calming the CNS like yoga as well, depending on what kind of pilates
Rutha Berhane: Thanks.
Arabella: you're doing. and then even like a study Back in 2025, confirmed that Pilates-based core training significantly improved those deep stabilizer muscles and particularly the transverse abdominis and internal obliques. So, yes, there's a huge benefit to that. And even with my clients and myself as bodybuilders as well, it's really, really important that we are training that TVA, those deep core muscles. But let's not get that confused with. Building your glutes, building your legs, building your shoulders and your arms, because that's what most people are going into Pilates chasing is that muscle building, not necessarily the core strengthening. So yeah, I will I am a like I'm very pro we are very pro Pilates for the actual benefits of it, but let's just not get that confused with building
Rutha Berhane: Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
Arabella: your arms, building your shoulders, like toning your arms. That's Pilates is not gonna do that and we're gonna dive into what toning actually means in this episode too because that word drives me nuts.
Rutha Berhane: 100%. It's too much. It's used so loosely to the point where everybody's believing it. And then when people actually come out with what that tone look is, people don't want to believe it because it does require more work in reality. You know what I mean? And when people refuse to do their research on what we just talked about how pilates was first introduced in 1920 for a specific reasoning was actually, meant for low load, controlled movement and where heavier loading isn't yet possible for a person, right? So genuinely it was first created for rehab purposes. And so when we take something like that and turn it into a propaganda of that actually where you show up to Pilates maybe
Arabella: Yeah.
Rutha Berhane: you will get bigger delts too but they'll say they won't say bigger they'll just say toned arms toned legs that model-esque physique and the instructors sometimes have this look but the instructors also have a background or still go to the gym on their own time and don't get me wrong newbie gains is a thing at the end of the day there are there is some resistance with the bands and things like that that you use, right? So if you're already low body fat and you're working a certain part of your body, right? You might see a little bit of change because you are using some sort of resistance, but it's not going to be the amount of change that you will see when you are resistance training in the gym, progressive overload and so on. So we're going to go deeper into it, but taking something that was meant for rehab first, and then selling it to women specifically in this category is such a pink tax thing to do.
Arabella: Like you said, it purely is propaganda at this point. And
Rutha Berhane: 100%.
Arabella: I wanna make one thing really clear. There is no special physiological state called toning. It does not exist as a biological process. Like
Rutha Berhane: Yell it louder. Yell it louder.
Arabella: Physically impossible, okay? What most women describe as a toned body is the combination of two things, okay? First of all, having sufficient muscle mass and having low enough body fat for that muscle shape to be visible. That's literally it. Two variables: muscle, body fat. There's no toning in the process. It's losing enough body fat, getting lean enough in order to show the muscle. If there's no muscle there, You're gonna look skinny fat because there's no muscle to push through the skin and to do that quote unquote toned look. But
Rutha Berhane: Thank you. Yes. Yes.
Arabella: you cannot tone a muscle. End of story. You can build it, you can shrink it, which actually is very hard to do as well. You can reduce the fat that's covering it. You obviously can gain body fat to cover it, but toning is not a thing that you can physiologically do to your body. It's
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: a visual outcome of those two variables being in the right ratio and I would much prefer you use the word lean instead of tone because leaning out is the physiological
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: process. Toning is like I don't even know who came up with that term, where it started, but like we need to get rid of it.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, and I think the plot is industrially using and pushing the word toned in a lot of promotions that they do. It just sounds more achievable and less threatening than, you know, people thinking of the bulky look, right?
Arabella: Yeah.
Rutha Berhane: It's more describing an outcome for those who want that specific look. But again, my huge argument kind of comes and where people think like, okay, I'm gonna go to the gym and I'm gonna get bulky. It's when we go to the gym, it doesn't mean just because you're lifting that you should be eating more. It doesn't always mean that, okay? Yes, your body will require more calories, but sometimes we have to, I'm gonna say this harshly, that's fine. Sometimes we have to understand to go like this and close our mouth and not pick up the fork as much just because we're lifting, right? That's where the bulkiness is coming from. You're getting fat. You're getting fat.
Arabella: Just because you go to a workout
Rutha Berhane: Bye!
Arabella: class, just because you go to the gym, just because you get your cardio in is not an excuse to go eat those calories you just burned off. That is the reason you are bulky. If you feel like you are bulky, you are just fat.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, take the word bulky actually out of your vocabulary fully because we don't know what bulky is. If you talk about bulky enough, it doesn't mean you know it. You know what I mean? So replace bulky with fat.
Arabella: Too guys, I think I mentioned this like a while ago on our podcast. When I first started lifting, I literally would skip shoulder day. I remember going to I like worked out with my guy friend at the time, and he would hit upper body and be like, No, I don't train shoulders because I felt like I was bulky at the time. I
Rutha Berhane: Heh.
Arabella: was just fat. I literally was just skinny fat. Because when I actually went into a cut and got lean, guess what? I had very minimal shoulder mass and upper body muscle.
Rutha Berhane: Okay.
Arabella: So if you want that visible muscle definition in your arms, in your glutes, in your legs, your shoulders, wherever it may be, heck your core, your abs, you need two things: enough muscle mass to push through the skin to define the muscle, and low enough body fat to reveal it And Pilates
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: alone is. super limited in its ability to drive either of those things significantly in trained individuals.
Rutha Berhane: Okay.
Arabella: Pilates is not going to burn body fat. It's not going to get your heart rate up high enough to burn body fat. And you're most likely not tracking your nutrition either, which is key to losing body fat. And it's not going to provide enough resistance or the opportunity to progressively overload to build that muscle optimally.
Rutha Berhane: 100%.
Arabella: And in addition to that, we have the muscle fiber problem. So you probably heard of type one, type two muscle fibers. Pilates
Rutha Berhane: Okay.
Arabella: is gonna primarily target type one, which are your slow twitch muscle fibers, through pretty low weight load, slow controlled time under tension
Rutha Berhane: So.
Arabella: movements. These fibers are fatigue resistant and important for endurance and stability. And when you're feeling that burn in Pilates. That's the activation of your slow twitch muscle fibers. But that doesn't mean that you actually are building muscle. Significant muscle
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: growth, the kind that changes the shape of your body, requires recruiting type two, fast switch muscle fibers. And those fibers have the greatest growth potential and are primarily recruited through guess what? Heavy resistance training, explosive movements, training at or near true muscular failure. So that's the other thing. If you're in the gym, you need to be training at high intensity, leaving like one, two reps in the tank maximum. Not quitting when it starts to feel hard, you need to be training to muscular failure in order to activate those type two fast switch muscle fibers. So because Pilates isn't giving you that intensity, you're not, you know, you're not lifting weights.
Rutha Berhane: Okay.
Arabella: at a significant load in Pilates. That's why like the hypertrophy stimulus is it's just it's not happen you're not getting any of it in Pilates, right? No matter how hard or consistently you're going to Pilates.
Rutha Berhane: Mm-hmm. Exactly.
Arabella: And that's yeah, that's the biggest issue with Pilates. So yes, there are so many benefits to Pilates, but if you're looking for the muscle growth then physiologically just not possible because you're not picking up weights in Pilates, you're just doing resistance training.
Rutha Berhane: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And then from that, and also people don't want, don't do that kind of research, right? Because it's not common sense knowledge, I guess, which is totally normal. You have to look into things on your own timing, but at the same, in the same breath, it's also, if you're not ready to do your own research and really look into things that before going into any journey, you have to do a significant amount of research, then... At that point, a free for all, whoever speaks in your ear is correct then. it's a give and take, you know what I mean? But we have, this one actually is, I just found out about it today because Bella told me like, yeah, people are talking about this. And I was like, goodness gracious, thank God, because we just needed some more BS going around, right? We have the claims going around about the long and lean muscle that Pilates will give you instead of the short and bulky, right? This is absolutely like frying me. It, it ass fried me. Yeah,
Arabella: It's bullshit. So actually you're pulling that out of your ass.
Rutha Berhane: I looked at her funny. I was like, there's no way people are saying that. was like, yeah. And I was like, what the fuck? Okay. But I think we need to sit down and think like when people talk about genetics a lot like that, we shouldn't be undermining genetics to this extent where we're just claiming this. Okay. Muscle shape is determined by your genetics, the length of your muscle bellies and Sorry, and the angle of your muscle insertions, okay? Also, I do have to say, when two people are together, okay, I have seen friends with, different looking muscle bellies, where their biceps will just look longer. You know what I mean? Someone else might have.
Arabella: Or bikini in bikini competitors, when you look at everyone's glutes, some some girls will have short glute tie-ins, shorter glute insertions. Some girls will have glute tie-ins
Rutha Berhane: longer.
Arabella: halfway down their hamstrings, super long. It's
Rutha Berhane: yeah, like it's long, it's long.
Arabella: we didn't build the shape of our muscle bellies or insertions. That is all genetic. You cannot change that.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, and understanding.
Arabella: unfortunately for some people because it's gonna hold them back, but it's nothing you can change, right? Muscle shape is purely determined
Rutha Berhane: Yeah. Is this something I have to work around?
Arabella: by your genetics.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, no exercise modality is going to change that shape, unfortunately, like Bella said, but at the same time, there are ways that you can, you know, go and work around it where you can hide certain things while amplifying other things. So it is possible to still get like where you want to, but understanding that there are limitations that you cannot control due to your bone structure or your genetics. It's just, unfortunately, what the cards that you're dealt, right? But the appearance of the longer muscle that these girls are talking about is simply because of the posture Pilates is giving you and the low body fat that you have in that stance. Also, sorry, have you seen, not really off topic, but have you seen transformations that we'll see on like TikTok or Instagram and it's a girl who... is not overweight but just has significant amount of body fat and she'll post like, I did Pilates and I just ate clean and this is I look like now and she's like this stickly girl, okay? she's skinny as they come and people are like, see, I told you, Pilates will give you the results, I told you.
Arabella: Another thing I was just thinking about discussing actually is the fact that Pilates is becoming so popular because
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: these girls are going on TikTok, Instagram, posting their transformations and saying that Pilates did that. And so, of course, if you don't know, if you're not educated, of course you're gonna see that and be like, my gosh, I'm gonna go do Pilates because going to the gym also has this super negative stigma, which is so unfortunate that like going to the gym is gonna make you bulky. And obviously nobody wants to be bulky, but that is just not the truth.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah. Yeah. And yeah,
Arabella: Yeah, it it's so backwards. It's so backwards.
Rutha Berhane: just, it's just, cannot lengthen a muscle through exercise. Unfortunately, like muscles are at a fixed point, right? Your origin and insertion. you cannot, a pilates class does not move those attachment points, right? Please, like, neither does the gym. No. Yeah. What
Arabella: Neither does the gym. You are building muscle on those attachment points.
Rutha Berhane: you were born with, we're just actually adding on to that. Right? Unless
Arabella: Yeah.
Rutha Berhane: you go get surgery. That's a different topic for another time, but on your own, you cannot change certain things. So I don't know why we think a random class, just because it's $400, is gonna get it done. No, it's not.
Arabella: And I know so many people listening to this have like the fear of getting bulky, right? But and we've talked about this time and time before, but women are not going to accidentally build large bulky muscles from lifting weights. It doesn't
Rutha Berhane: Are you sure? Are you sure?
Arabella: it does not happen accidentally, like we've said so many times. We wish it was that easy. We have been training our butts off for how many years now? How consistently?
Rutha Berhane: Too damn long.
Arabella: And we s are still not even close to big enough or have the size and density that we want to be at a highly competitive level in bikini. Like we wish it was that easy. You're not going to casually go to the gym and just get bulky.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, piece of bit some people's like nightmare would be like looking like me. And so it's like, guys, like at end of the day, if you got to this point and then just lost weight, your muscles gonna show what's been hiding under the body fat. You know what I mean? So your fear is actually what's gonna get you to where you need to be. If I could go to bed
Arabella: Exactly.
Rutha Berhane: and wake up swole, huh, there goes my first wish. That would be the first one gone. Solve world hunger? No, make me bulky the next day.
Arabella: No. Exactly it.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: Literally, literally. The fear of accidentally getting bulky from strength training is one of the most persistent and damaging myths in women's fitness. For sure heavy on damaging,
Rutha Berhane: Heavy on damaging, heavy on damaging, yeah.
Arabella: yeah. And what we need to make clear, which I know we have already, yet people are still not picking up what we're putting down. That it's not clocking for some reason. Building
Rutha Berhane: What's not clocking you? That's what it's giving.
Arabella: significant muscle mass is extraordinarily difficult and requires years A progressive overload, a sufficient caloric surplus, so an intentional building phase. And often when you see like bulky bodybuilders, they're not natural. Like heavy pharmaceutical support to enhance give them that that little aid and enhance their
Rutha Berhane: A little oomph yeah.
Arabella: little yeah. And
Rutha Berhane: Mm-hmm.
Arabella: I would say at this point, like the Pilates industry, like they they're pushing that that bulky myth in order to profit themselves. And it it's
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: just it's so wrong. Because lifting is actually such a powerful tool. Like if you want defined arms, you know, shape and definition to your biceps and your triceps, if you want bigger Rounder glutes, if you want that bubble butt, if you want like more
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: shape to your legs, if you want to improve your posture, and you know, ease your lower back pain, that's likely a result of lack of muscle in your glutes, if you want a better metabolism, if you want to be able to eat more and not gain weight, if you want to look at fit, if you want that toned. all of this is that tone look that most people want. You're gonna need to go to the gym. And you're gonna need
Rutha Berhane: Real talk.
Arabella: to train hard at that.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah. Which brings us to a perfect topic for you guys because we're not just gonna yell in your face with no solution. You know, we come with a solution. We've
Arabella: Don't worry, we always got the magic trick for ya.
Rutha Berhane: always got the tricks for you. All you gotta do is just let it clock though. We need it to clock, please, and thank you. But, you know, yeah.
Arabella: Need to be open to these recommendations.
Rutha Berhane: Be receptive, And so what to do instead, okay? What to do instead, practical recommendations. We have a few of them. Obviously, they're still gonna take work. So if you're still trying to avoid that work at the end of the day, would you rather start now or start five years down the line being like, they've always been right, just do it and the time goes anyways, you know what I mean? And you could save a shit ton of money too, but we're gonna start heavy with,
Arabella: Besides the point.
Rutha Berhane: yeah, we're gonna start heavy with the women that genuinely do love Pilates. Don't think that you have to give it up, okay? Again, we love Pilates. We think it's very, very helpful and everything that Bella already said. There's not gonna repeat it, but can't add it. No, keep it and add resistance training, okay? Because Pilates is a good way to fix your mobility or enhance it, recovery work. And it has a genuinely valuable role in that, right? But it needs to go hand in hand with resistance training. always those that will be a magic combo for you because your body is healing and it's also working so you're actually going to have your dream body in no time if you just combine them instead of choosing the one and calling it a day.
Arabella: Mm. Don't forget to take your rest days as well on that. But yeah, you know, go to like two, three Pilates classes a week and go to the gym, like three, four days a week. It it doesn't have to be like one or the other, it's not super black and white. If if you love going to Pilates and you love the the environment of Pilates, then by all means like we're not saying like Pilates sucks and you Have to go to the gym, and that's the only way you're gonna achieve your dream body. no, do do what brings you joy, do what you can stay consistent with, because at the end of the day, that's what's gonna drive results, is consistency. But you do need to be putting effort and intention into your strength training workouts in addition to Pilates, and still giving yourself the rest that your body needs because muscle growth happens at rest, not when you're in the gym.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, so you can pair it up with if you're gonna
Arabella: No.
Rutha Berhane: if you want to not drive yourself to the ground because Pilates classes are hard you do leave there feeling something trust me, but it's just not the feeling something that you want to be growing muscle You know what I mean? So if you went and had two resistance training sessions a week and then adding your existing Pilates sessions in there, that's gonna be more effective seeing it in a few months rather than just a year of only Pilates. So think two months, you'll see results starting to happen compared to a year or more. Like you're just slowing yourself down. And as humans, we do have the instant gratification thing. Unfortunately, if it's just a trait that we carry, which is fine. But with that and not seeing progress for a long time, it's going to bring you back to point A. Because you're not gonna wanna keep doing it and stay consistent if your eyes are not visually pleased at end of the day.
Arabella: Exactly, exactly. So yeah, like Rutha just said, like two to four gym sessions a week, training to failure, that is really important. Progressively overloading week to week, so whether that be increasing the weight, decreasing rest periods, increasing the number of reps that you do at that weight, improving your mind muscle connection, there's multiple ways you can progressively overload, but improving week to week and training each muscle group, like Anywhere between 10 to 20 sets per week is pretty optimal for muscle growth is really important, but you're not gonna make any progress if your nutrition also isn't in check. Like
Rutha Berhane: Okay.
Arabella: I I hate the saying abs are made in the kitchen, like I think it's so oversaid but it stands valid. You know, if you're not
Rutha Berhane: Mm-hmm.
Arabella: eating enough protein, if you're not tracking your macros, making sure you're getting An adequate ratio of protein, carbs, and fats, then you're probably not going to end up with the physique that you want and you're gonna feel stuck. You're gonna feel stalled, especially if you're cutting out carbs. They are so important for energy and endurance. And protein, as for protein recommendations, normally around one gram to 1.2, 1.3 grams per pound of body weight is the ideal range to support muscle protein synthesis.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: paired with carbs, paired with healthy fats and micronutrients is gonna be the key. The key to achieving that that lean look.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah. And at the end of the day at the end of the day, if people want to get super technical, everything is built in the kitchen because if you're not eating enough to support the training that you're doing, you're not gonna make any progress. Like try it. If you're forcefully starving your yourself and you're still going to the gym five, four times a week, that's not gonna do anything. It's not. There's no Yeah.
Arabella: No, you're gonna feel weak in the gym for one. so it's gonna make it very hard to progress in the gym. Like when we are deep in prep and carbs are low and we're in a deep caloric deficit, burning way more calories than what we're consuming, our workouts are trash. We're not progressing. That is not the time we're building muscle. So I don't know why anybody else thinks that starving themselves is the answer.
Rutha Berhane: They can. Yeah.
Arabella: And not to mention it's
Rutha Berhane: Saw the answer, guys.
Arabella: down regulating your thyroid and your metabolism at the same time, but that's a whole other whole other topic. But yeah, really prioritise
Rutha Berhane: Yes.
Arabella: strength training, nutrition, and then throw a couple Pilates classes in there every week if if you love it. and also, one last thing, follow the same strength training program for months, if not a year plus. On end, don't be switching up your workouts every single week. How are you supposed to
Rutha Berhane: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Arabella: make progression on the same movements if you're constantly switching them up?
Rutha Berhane: Exactly. We've had ours forever. And I always say this like we've had ours forever. And that's where you see yeah.
Arabella: Literally over a year. I would love to change it. I would love to, trust me.
Rutha Berhane: Hundred percent. We're like everybody else. We do want change 'cause we're
Arabella: Yeah.
Rutha Berhane: human. But at the end of the day, why fix something that ain't broke, right? And the your bread and butter are gonna be the most basic things,
Arabella: Exactly. Yeah.
Rutha Berhane: right? The most you don't need to be climbing a Smith machine for your glutes to grow. You just you can do the regular, boring stuff and it will work 'cause it was created in the first place for for a a reason. So just
Arabella: No need to reinvent the wheels.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, you're not we we don't need to become scientists today. Okay. We just just do the workout in silence. It's okay.
Arabella: Literally keep it simple. Keep it simple. Even with nutrition,
Rutha Berhane: Exactly.
Arabella: like don't you don't need all of these fancy meal prep recipes. Just cook a couple protein sources, a couple carb sources, some veg, throw it in a bowl and call it a day. You're good. Like we talked about last week. Yeah. Yeah. But
Rutha Berhane: The bowl. The bowl. Yeah, exactly.
Arabella: to wrap things up here, remember that Pilates, yeah, it's a great tool, but it's not the right tool if building muscle and Changing your body composition is your ultimate goal. use it for what it's actually good at and add resistance training to build that muscle and achieve that lean look that you're hoping for. And for the love of God, stop letting your fear of getting bulky keep you out of the gym. Because the gym is a great, great tool in and of itself as well.
Rutha Berhane: Hundred percent. We swear by it. Hopefully we swear by it.
Arabella: Yeah, we love her. Don't know what I would do without the gym, honestly. My saving grace.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, sometimes I think about that. I'm like, if we weren't bodybuilding, what would we be really doing? If we didn't leave in like the gym, what would we do what would we be doing?
Arabella: I was partying before bodybuilding, so maybe that living a very unhealthy
Rutha Berhane: Yeah. Main party.
Arabella: lifestyle. I don't know. I don't wanna know.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, anyways. I don't want to even find out actually, you're right. Let's not speak that into the air. Take aback.
Arabella: Yeah. But
Rutha Berhane: But yeah, that's the, whole podcast episode we had for you guys because we hate seeing just wrong information being funneled through all social media platforms day in and day
Arabella: That and
Rutha Berhane: out.
Arabella: yeah, that and it's like frustrating for us to see put people putting in effort and, you know, trying to achieve their dream bodies yet staying stuck and not making any progress and we know exactly why that's happening. We have the solutions and answers for you.
Rutha Berhane: Ma'am, yes, ma'am. And obviously we don't know everything, but at the same time, if we have the results that other people are trying to achieve and we've done all the work already and know the process, always listen to somebody, in my opinion, listen to those who've gone through the process or have been educated on the process. That's the only people that you should be listening to, not Betty from TikTok, who has like three million followers. I don't care. I don't care how many million. I wanna see results. Honestly results. But yeah.
Arabella: Yes, proof, social proof. But hopefully this yeah, hopefully this episode
Rutha Berhane: Receipts. Receipts.
Arabella: gave you some clarity. And if you have
Rutha Berhane: Yes.
Arabella: any questions, as always, we are here and let us know your biggest takeaways from this episode, and we will chat to you all next week. Bye.
Rutha Berhane: Sam Bye.
Arabella: Hi everyone and welcome back to another Consistency Code episode Episode Podcast Episode of our podcast. Hello.
Rutha Berhane: episode yep episode podcast yep me yep
Arabella: Today we are gonna be diving into a hot trending topic. the whole Pilates debate. Is Pilates gonna get you the body that you want? Is Pilates gonna build the muscle that you want? Is Pilates gonna make you toned? I hate that word, but it's trending. And Pilates girls like love ya. Love ya. I do even enjoy a Pilates class myself from time to time. But I feel like nobody in the fitness space is like actually being truly honest about what Pilates does and doesn't do for your body. And there are so many women. I talk to so many women who are spending Lord knows how much on a Pilates membership every single week, you know, doing
Rutha Berhane: Too much.
Arabella: like upwards of three classes a week and they're not getting the results that they're hoping for. So we're gonna clear that. Clear
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, the Pilates scam, if you will. I call it the Pilates scam because it is. It is a scam.
Arabella: It low key yes, it is a scam. Like in what world can we be charging like four hundred a month for a Pilates membership?
Rutha Berhane: That's diabolical. In this economy, in this climate, four hundred and you're three classes a week and you're still not getting results? I would ask for a refund.
Arabella: Straight up. 'Cause you can go to Planet Fitness for like what, ten bucks a month?
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, don't knock down to fitness by the way, guys. It's really key.
Arabella: hearing good things about it actually. Yeah. Yeah.
Rutha Berhane: It's tea, yeah. That was my first gym. I love it. But yeah, no, the Pilates scam obviously bar Pilates, hot yoga, all that stuff is so fun, right? I used to partake in it until I just started being lazy and the burn really doesn't like intrigue me. I'm going to be honest with you. It's not like fun.
Arabella: my god, don't even get me started. People chase the burn. They're like, it burns so much.
Rutha Berhane: People love the burn.
Arabella: I must be building so much muscle. The burn is crazy. Guys, first and foremost,
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: let's stop chasing the burn. Secondly, it
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: actually blows my mind how people will drop $400 a month on a Pilates membership, no problem. But then when it comes to say $300 a month on coaching, it's like, nope, that's too much. Too expensive.
Rutha Berhane: It's a no. No. It's outrageous. Yeah. And this is not like an anti-Pilates episode or anything like that. It's genuinely... Pilates is great, but we're just here today to tell you what it's exactly great for and the actual reasoning Pilates was actually created and so on because a lot of you might not know where Pilates originated from, what it was originally for until people started changing it into what... it is today and modernized it to be something that's really not in our opinion.
Arabella: Yeah.
Rutha Berhane: And, you know, there's a lot of gaps between what the Pilates world promises you and what the research will actually show you with your results that you're getting.
Arabella: Yeah, exactly. And obviously it's it's something that's been very glamorized, I would say, like since since COVID and it's trending, right? So that's why, you know, everybody and their mom and their dog is doing it at this point, but like
Rutha Berhane: And I'm still on dog. There's dog pilates now. There's dog pilates, cat pilates. There's dealership pilates. There's literally pilates anywhere.
Arabella: That's actually so funny because I said that as a joke, just as a saying, but literally there is dog block. Yeah. Yeah, which is
Rutha Berhane: Yeah. yeah, it's everywhere. Yeah. It's an aesthetic.
Arabella: crazy. Crazy. But yeah, like people lack the understanding of what its original purpose is
Rutha Berhane: Yes.
Arabella: and what you're actually gonna get out of it. So let's dive into it.
Rutha Berhane: Exasperating. Let's start big.
Arabella: So Pilates, if you didn't know, was actually originally designed for injury, rehabilitation, core stabilization and strengthening, and just movement quality. Like it was never designed to be a primary muscle building modality. And that's where people lack understanding and clarity. So Pilates is really, really, really beneficial for core stabilization and TVA. activation, so your transverse abdominis muscles, that's your deep core stabilization muscle.
Rutha Berhane: Okay.
Arabella: And yeah, it's really good for like posture and and recovery, stretching, movement quality, flexibility, mobility, injury prevention, mind body connection, and like in a sense almost like calming the CNS like yoga as well, depending on what kind of pilates
Rutha Berhane: Thanks.
Arabella: you're doing. and then even like a study Back in 2025, confirmed that Pilates-based core training significantly improved those deep stabilizer muscles and particularly the transverse abdominis and internal obliques. So, yes, there's a huge benefit to that. And even with my clients and myself as bodybuilders as well, it's really, really important that we are training that TVA, those deep core muscles. But let's not get that confused with. Building your glutes, building your legs, building your shoulders and your arms, because that's what most people are going into Pilates chasing is that muscle building, not necessarily the core strengthening. So yeah, I will I am a like I'm very pro we are very pro Pilates for the actual benefits of it, but let's just not get that confused with building
Rutha Berhane: Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
Arabella: your arms, building your shoulders, like toning your arms. That's Pilates is not gonna do that and we're gonna dive into what toning actually means in this episode too because that word drives me nuts.
Rutha Berhane: 100%. It's too much. It's used so loosely to the point where everybody's believing it. And then when people actually come out with what that tone look is, people don't want to believe it because it does require more work in reality. You know what I mean? And when people refuse to do their research on what we just talked about how pilates was first introduced in 1920 for a specific reasoning was actually, meant for low load, controlled movement and where heavier loading isn't yet possible for a person, right? So genuinely it was first created for rehab purposes. And so when we take something like that and turn it into a propaganda of that actually where you show up to Pilates maybe
Arabella: Yeah.
Rutha Berhane: you will get bigger delts too but they'll say they won't say bigger they'll just say toned arms toned legs that model-esque physique and the instructors sometimes have this look but the instructors also have a background or still go to the gym on their own time and don't get me wrong newbie gains is a thing at the end of the day there are there is some resistance with the bands and things like that that you use, right? So if you're already low body fat and you're working a certain part of your body, right? You might see a little bit of change because you are using some sort of resistance, but it's not going to be the amount of change that you will see when you are resistance training in the gym, progressive overload and so on. So we're going to go deeper into it, but taking something that was meant for rehab first, and then selling it to women specifically in this category is such a pink tax thing to do.
Arabella: Like you said, it purely is propaganda at this point. And
Rutha Berhane: 100%.
Arabella: I wanna make one thing really clear. There is no special physiological state called toning. It does not exist as a biological process. Like
Rutha Berhane: Yell it louder. Yell it louder.
Arabella: Physically impossible, okay? What most women describe as a toned body is the combination of two things, okay? First of all, having sufficient muscle mass and having low enough body fat for that muscle shape to be visible. That's literally it. Two variables: muscle, body fat. There's no toning in the process. It's losing enough body fat, getting lean enough in order to show the muscle. If there's no muscle there, You're gonna look skinny fat because there's no muscle to push through the skin and to do that quote unquote toned look. But
Rutha Berhane: Thank you. Yes. Yes.
Arabella: you cannot tone a muscle. End of story. You can build it, you can shrink it, which actually is very hard to do as well. You can reduce the fat that's covering it. You obviously can gain body fat to cover it, but toning is not a thing that you can physiologically do to your body. It's
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: a visual outcome of those two variables being in the right ratio and I would much prefer you use the word lean instead of tone because leaning out is the physiological
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: process. Toning is like I don't even know who came up with that term, where it started, but like we need to get rid of it.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, and I think the plot is industrially using and pushing the word toned in a lot of promotions that they do. It just sounds more achievable and less threatening than, you know, people thinking of the bulky look, right?
Arabella: Yeah.
Rutha Berhane: It's more describing an outcome for those who want that specific look. But again, my huge argument kind of comes and where people think like, okay, I'm gonna go to the gym and I'm gonna get bulky. It's when we go to the gym, it doesn't mean just because you're lifting that you should be eating more. It doesn't always mean that, okay? Yes, your body will require more calories, but sometimes we have to, I'm gonna say this harshly, that's fine. Sometimes we have to understand to go like this and close our mouth and not pick up the fork as much just because we're lifting, right? That's where the bulkiness is coming from. You're getting fat. You're getting fat.
Arabella: Just because you go to a workout
Rutha Berhane: Bye!
Arabella: class, just because you go to the gym, just because you get your cardio in is not an excuse to go eat those calories you just burned off. That is the reason you are bulky. If you feel like you are bulky, you are just fat.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, take the word bulky actually out of your vocabulary fully because we don't know what bulky is. If you talk about bulky enough, it doesn't mean you know it. You know what I mean? So replace bulky with fat.
Arabella: Too guys, I think I mentioned this like a while ago on our podcast. When I first started lifting, I literally would skip shoulder day. I remember going to I like worked out with my guy friend at the time, and he would hit upper body and be like, No, I don't train shoulders because I felt like I was bulky at the time. I
Rutha Berhane: Heh.
Arabella: was just fat. I literally was just skinny fat. Because when I actually went into a cut and got lean, guess what? I had very minimal shoulder mass and upper body muscle.
Rutha Berhane: Okay.
Arabella: So if you want that visible muscle definition in your arms, in your glutes, in your legs, your shoulders, wherever it may be, heck your core, your abs, you need two things: enough muscle mass to push through the skin to define the muscle, and low enough body fat to reveal it And Pilates
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: alone is. super limited in its ability to drive either of those things significantly in trained individuals.
Rutha Berhane: Okay.
Arabella: Pilates is not going to burn body fat. It's not going to get your heart rate up high enough to burn body fat. And you're most likely not tracking your nutrition either, which is key to losing body fat. And it's not going to provide enough resistance or the opportunity to progressively overload to build that muscle optimally.
Rutha Berhane: 100%.
Arabella: And in addition to that, we have the muscle fiber problem. So you probably heard of type one, type two muscle fibers. Pilates
Rutha Berhane: Okay.
Arabella: is gonna primarily target type one, which are your slow twitch muscle fibers, through pretty low weight load, slow controlled time under tension
Rutha Berhane: So.
Arabella: movements. These fibers are fatigue resistant and important for endurance and stability. And when you're feeling that burn in Pilates. That's the activation of your slow twitch muscle fibers. But that doesn't mean that you actually are building muscle. Significant muscle
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: growth, the kind that changes the shape of your body, requires recruiting type two, fast switch muscle fibers. And those fibers have the greatest growth potential and are primarily recruited through guess what? Heavy resistance training, explosive movements, training at or near true muscular failure. So that's the other thing. If you're in the gym, you need to be training at high intensity, leaving like one, two reps in the tank maximum. Not quitting when it starts to feel hard, you need to be training to muscular failure in order to activate those type two fast switch muscle fibers. So because Pilates isn't giving you that intensity, you're not, you know, you're not lifting weights.
Rutha Berhane: Okay.
Arabella: at a significant load in Pilates. That's why like the hypertrophy stimulus is it's just it's not happen you're not getting any of it in Pilates, right? No matter how hard or consistently you're going to Pilates.
Rutha Berhane: Mm-hmm. Exactly.
Arabella: And that's yeah, that's the biggest issue with Pilates. So yes, there are so many benefits to Pilates, but if you're looking for the muscle growth then physiologically just not possible because you're not picking up weights in Pilates, you're just doing resistance training.
Rutha Berhane: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And then from that, and also people don't want, don't do that kind of research, right? Because it's not common sense knowledge, I guess, which is totally normal. You have to look into things on your own timing, but at the same, in the same breath, it's also, if you're not ready to do your own research and really look into things that before going into any journey, you have to do a significant amount of research, then... At that point, a free for all, whoever speaks in your ear is correct then. it's a give and take, you know what I mean? But we have, this one actually is, I just found out about it today because Bella told me like, yeah, people are talking about this. And I was like, goodness gracious, thank God, because we just needed some more BS going around, right? We have the claims going around about the long and lean muscle that Pilates will give you instead of the short and bulky, right? This is absolutely like frying me. It, it ass fried me. Yeah,
Arabella: It's bullshit. So actually you're pulling that out of your ass.
Rutha Berhane: I looked at her funny. I was like, there's no way people are saying that. was like, yeah. And I was like, what the fuck? Okay. But I think we need to sit down and think like when people talk about genetics a lot like that, we shouldn't be undermining genetics to this extent where we're just claiming this. Okay. Muscle shape is determined by your genetics, the length of your muscle bellies and Sorry, and the angle of your muscle insertions, okay? Also, I do have to say, when two people are together, okay, I have seen friends with, different looking muscle bellies, where their biceps will just look longer. You know what I mean? Someone else might have.
Arabella: Or bikini in bikini competitors, when you look at everyone's glutes, some some girls will have short glute tie-ins, shorter glute insertions. Some girls will have glute tie-ins
Rutha Berhane: longer.
Arabella: halfway down their hamstrings, super long. It's
Rutha Berhane: yeah, like it's long, it's long.
Arabella: we didn't build the shape of our muscle bellies or insertions. That is all genetic. You cannot change that.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, and understanding.
Arabella: unfortunately for some people because it's gonna hold them back, but it's nothing you can change, right? Muscle shape is purely determined
Rutha Berhane: Yeah. Is this something I have to work around?
Arabella: by your genetics.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, no exercise modality is going to change that shape, unfortunately, like Bella said, but at the same time, there are ways that you can, you know, go and work around it where you can hide certain things while amplifying other things. So it is possible to still get like where you want to, but understanding that there are limitations that you cannot control due to your bone structure or your genetics. It's just, unfortunately, what the cards that you're dealt, right? But the appearance of the longer muscle that these girls are talking about is simply because of the posture Pilates is giving you and the low body fat that you have in that stance. Also, sorry, have you seen, not really off topic, but have you seen transformations that we'll see on like TikTok or Instagram and it's a girl who... is not overweight but just has significant amount of body fat and she'll post like, I did Pilates and I just ate clean and this is I look like now and she's like this stickly girl, okay? she's skinny as they come and people are like, see, I told you, Pilates will give you the results, I told you.
Arabella: Another thing I was just thinking about discussing actually is the fact that Pilates is becoming so popular because
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: these girls are going on TikTok, Instagram, posting their transformations and saying that Pilates did that. And so, of course, if you don't know, if you're not educated, of course you're gonna see that and be like, my gosh, I'm gonna go do Pilates because going to the gym also has this super negative stigma, which is so unfortunate that like going to the gym is gonna make you bulky. And obviously nobody wants to be bulky, but that is just not the truth.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah. Yeah. And yeah,
Arabella: Yeah, it it's so backwards. It's so backwards.
Rutha Berhane: just, it's just, cannot lengthen a muscle through exercise. Unfortunately, like muscles are at a fixed point, right? Your origin and insertion. you cannot, a pilates class does not move those attachment points, right? Please, like, neither does the gym. No. Yeah. What
Arabella: Neither does the gym. You are building muscle on those attachment points.
Rutha Berhane: you were born with, we're just actually adding on to that. Right? Unless
Arabella: Yeah.
Rutha Berhane: you go get surgery. That's a different topic for another time, but on your own, you cannot change certain things. So I don't know why we think a random class, just because it's $400, is gonna get it done. No, it's not.
Arabella: And I know so many people listening to this have like the fear of getting bulky, right? But and we've talked about this time and time before, but women are not going to accidentally build large bulky muscles from lifting weights. It doesn't
Rutha Berhane: Are you sure? Are you sure?
Arabella: it does not happen accidentally, like we've said so many times. We wish it was that easy. We have been training our butts off for how many years now? How consistently?
Rutha Berhane: Too damn long.
Arabella: And we s are still not even close to big enough or have the size and density that we want to be at a highly competitive level in bikini. Like we wish it was that easy. You're not going to casually go to the gym and just get bulky.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, piece of bit some people's like nightmare would be like looking like me. And so it's like, guys, like at end of the day, if you got to this point and then just lost weight, your muscles gonna show what's been hiding under the body fat. You know what I mean? So your fear is actually what's gonna get you to where you need to be. If I could go to bed
Arabella: Exactly.
Rutha Berhane: and wake up swole, huh, there goes my first wish. That would be the first one gone. Solve world hunger? No, make me bulky the next day.
Arabella: No. Exactly it.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: Literally, literally. The fear of accidentally getting bulky from strength training is one of the most persistent and damaging myths in women's fitness. For sure heavy on damaging,
Rutha Berhane: Heavy on damaging, heavy on damaging, yeah.
Arabella: yeah. And what we need to make clear, which I know we have already, yet people are still not picking up what we're putting down. That it's not clocking for some reason. Building
Rutha Berhane: What's not clocking you? That's what it's giving.
Arabella: significant muscle mass is extraordinarily difficult and requires years A progressive overload, a sufficient caloric surplus, so an intentional building phase. And often when you see like bulky bodybuilders, they're not natural. Like heavy pharmaceutical support to enhance give them that that little aid and enhance their
Rutha Berhane: A little oomph yeah.
Arabella: little yeah. And
Rutha Berhane: Mm-hmm.
Arabella: I would say at this point, like the Pilates industry, like they they're pushing that that bulky myth in order to profit themselves. And it it's
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: just it's so wrong. Because lifting is actually such a powerful tool. Like if you want defined arms, you know, shape and definition to your biceps and your triceps, if you want bigger Rounder glutes, if you want that bubble butt, if you want like more
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: shape to your legs, if you want to improve your posture, and you know, ease your lower back pain, that's likely a result of lack of muscle in your glutes, if you want a better metabolism, if you want to be able to eat more and not gain weight, if you want to look at fit, if you want that toned. all of this is that tone look that most people want. You're gonna need to go to the gym. And you're gonna need
Rutha Berhane: Real talk.
Arabella: to train hard at that.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah. Which brings us to a perfect topic for you guys because we're not just gonna yell in your face with no solution. You know, we come with a solution. We've
Arabella: Don't worry, we always got the magic trick for ya.
Rutha Berhane: always got the tricks for you. All you gotta do is just let it clock though. We need it to clock, please, and thank you. But, you know, yeah.
Arabella: Need to be open to these recommendations.
Rutha Berhane: Be receptive, And so what to do instead, okay? What to do instead, practical recommendations. We have a few of them. Obviously, they're still gonna take work. So if you're still trying to avoid that work at the end of the day, would you rather start now or start five years down the line being like, they've always been right, just do it and the time goes anyways, you know what I mean? And you could save a shit ton of money too, but we're gonna start heavy with,
Arabella: Besides the point.
Rutha Berhane: yeah, we're gonna start heavy with the women that genuinely do love Pilates. Don't think that you have to give it up, okay? Again, we love Pilates. We think it's very, very helpful and everything that Bella already said. There's not gonna repeat it, but can't add it. No, keep it and add resistance training, okay? Because Pilates is a good way to fix your mobility or enhance it, recovery work. And it has a genuinely valuable role in that, right? But it needs to go hand in hand with resistance training. always those that will be a magic combo for you because your body is healing and it's also working so you're actually going to have your dream body in no time if you just combine them instead of choosing the one and calling it a day.
Arabella: Mm. Don't forget to take your rest days as well on that. But yeah, you know, go to like two, three Pilates classes a week and go to the gym, like three, four days a week. It it doesn't have to be like one or the other, it's not super black and white. If if you love going to Pilates and you love the the environment of Pilates, then by all means like we're not saying like Pilates sucks and you Have to go to the gym, and that's the only way you're gonna achieve your dream body. no, do do what brings you joy, do what you can stay consistent with, because at the end of the day, that's what's gonna drive results, is consistency. But you do need to be putting effort and intention into your strength training workouts in addition to Pilates, and still giving yourself the rest that your body needs because muscle growth happens at rest, not when you're in the gym.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, so you can pair it up with if you're gonna
Arabella: No.
Rutha Berhane: if you want to not drive yourself to the ground because Pilates classes are hard you do leave there feeling something trust me, but it's just not the feeling something that you want to be growing muscle You know what I mean? So if you went and had two resistance training sessions a week and then adding your existing Pilates sessions in there, that's gonna be more effective seeing it in a few months rather than just a year of only Pilates. So think two months, you'll see results starting to happen compared to a year or more. Like you're just slowing yourself down. And as humans, we do have the instant gratification thing. Unfortunately, if it's just a trait that we carry, which is fine. But with that and not seeing progress for a long time, it's going to bring you back to point A. Because you're not gonna wanna keep doing it and stay consistent if your eyes are not visually pleased at end of the day.
Arabella: Exactly, exactly. So yeah, like Rutha just said, like two to four gym sessions a week, training to failure, that is really important. Progressively overloading week to week, so whether that be increasing the weight, decreasing rest periods, increasing the number of reps that you do at that weight, improving your mind muscle connection, there's multiple ways you can progressively overload, but improving week to week and training each muscle group, like Anywhere between 10 to 20 sets per week is pretty optimal for muscle growth is really important, but you're not gonna make any progress if your nutrition also isn't in check. Like
Rutha Berhane: Okay.
Arabella: I I hate the saying abs are made in the kitchen, like I think it's so oversaid but it stands valid. You know, if you're not
Rutha Berhane: Mm-hmm.
Arabella: eating enough protein, if you're not tracking your macros, making sure you're getting An adequate ratio of protein, carbs, and fats, then you're probably not going to end up with the physique that you want and you're gonna feel stuck. You're gonna feel stalled, especially if you're cutting out carbs. They are so important for energy and endurance. And protein, as for protein recommendations, normally around one gram to 1.2, 1.3 grams per pound of body weight is the ideal range to support muscle protein synthesis.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah.
Arabella: paired with carbs, paired with healthy fats and micronutrients is gonna be the key. The key to achieving that that lean look.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah. And at the end of the day at the end of the day, if people want to get super technical, everything is built in the kitchen because if you're not eating enough to support the training that you're doing, you're not gonna make any progress. Like try it. If you're forcefully starving your yourself and you're still going to the gym five, four times a week, that's not gonna do anything. It's not. There's no Yeah.
Arabella: No, you're gonna feel weak in the gym for one. so it's gonna make it very hard to progress in the gym. Like when we are deep in prep and carbs are low and we're in a deep caloric deficit, burning way more calories than what we're consuming, our workouts are trash. We're not progressing. That is not the time we're building muscle. So I don't know why anybody else thinks that starving themselves is the answer.
Rutha Berhane: They can. Yeah.
Arabella: And not to mention it's
Rutha Berhane: Saw the answer, guys.
Arabella: down regulating your thyroid and your metabolism at the same time, but that's a whole other whole other topic. But yeah, really prioritise
Rutha Berhane: Yes.
Arabella: strength training, nutrition, and then throw a couple Pilates classes in there every week if if you love it. and also, one last thing, follow the same strength training program for months, if not a year plus. On end, don't be switching up your workouts every single week. How are you supposed to
Rutha Berhane: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Arabella: make progression on the same movements if you're constantly switching them up?
Rutha Berhane: Exactly. We've had ours forever. And I always say this like we've had ours forever. And that's where you see yeah.
Arabella: Literally over a year. I would love to change it. I would love to, trust me.
Rutha Berhane: Hundred percent. We're like everybody else. We do want change 'cause we're
Arabella: Yeah.
Rutha Berhane: human. But at the end of the day, why fix something that ain't broke, right? And the your bread and butter are gonna be the most basic things,
Arabella: Exactly. Yeah.
Rutha Berhane: right? The most you don't need to be climbing a Smith machine for your glutes to grow. You just you can do the regular, boring stuff and it will work 'cause it was created in the first place for for a a reason. So just
Arabella: No need to reinvent the wheels.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, you're not we we don't need to become scientists today. Okay. We just just do the workout in silence. It's okay.
Arabella: Literally keep it simple. Keep it simple. Even with nutrition,
Rutha Berhane: Exactly.
Arabella: like don't you don't need all of these fancy meal prep recipes. Just cook a couple protein sources, a couple carb sources, some veg, throw it in a bowl and call it a day. You're good. Like we talked about last week. Yeah. Yeah. But
Rutha Berhane: The bowl. The bowl. Yeah, exactly.
Arabella: to wrap things up here, remember that Pilates, yeah, it's a great tool, but it's not the right tool if building muscle and Changing your body composition is your ultimate goal. use it for what it's actually good at and add resistance training to build that muscle and achieve that lean look that you're hoping for. And for the love of God, stop letting your fear of getting bulky keep you out of the gym. Because the gym is a great, great tool in and of itself as well.
Rutha Berhane: Hundred percent. We swear by it. Hopefully we swear by it.
Arabella: Yeah, we love her. Don't know what I would do without the gym, honestly. My saving grace.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, sometimes I think about that. I'm like, if we weren't bodybuilding, what would we be really doing? If we didn't leave in like the gym, what would we do what would we be doing?
Arabella: I was partying before bodybuilding, so maybe that living a very unhealthy
Rutha Berhane: Yeah. Main party.
Arabella: lifestyle. I don't know. I don't wanna know.
Rutha Berhane: Yeah, anyways. I don't want to even find out actually, you're right. Let's not speak that into the air. Take aback.
Arabella: Yeah. But
Rutha Berhane: But yeah, that's the, whole podcast episode we had for you guys because we hate seeing just wrong information being funneled through all social media platforms day in and day
Arabella: That and
Rutha Berhane: out.
Arabella: yeah, that and it's like frustrating for us to see put people putting in effort and, you know, trying to achieve their dream bodies yet staying stuck and not making any progress and we know exactly why that's happening. We have the solutions and answers for you.
Rutha Berhane: Ma'am, yes, ma'am. And obviously we don't know everything, but at the same time, if we have the results that other people are trying to achieve and we've done all the work already and know the process, always listen to somebody, in my opinion, listen to those who've gone through the process or have been educated on the process. That's the only people that you should be listening to, not Betty from TikTok, who has like three million followers. I don't care. I don't care how many million. I wanna see results. Honestly results. But yeah.
Arabella: Yes, proof, social proof. But hopefully this yeah, hopefully this episode
Rutha Berhane: Receipts. Receipts.
Arabella: gave you some clarity. And if you have
Rutha Berhane: Yes.
Arabella: any questions, as always, we are here and let us know your biggest takeaways from this episode, and we will chat to you all next week. Bye.
Rutha Berhane: Sam Bye.
