AMA: Megan Gallagher AKA MegSquats, creator of Stronger By The Day and Before The Barbell!
- Thread starter susanedgar37
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- ama female fitness
nicole1997
New member
@pinkyandthebrain Why are people downvoting this girl? Let her ask her question!
beautigirl1
New member
@susanedgar37 Hi Meg, love your work and excited that you’re doing this AMA! My question is, I’ve started running Stronger By the Day and I’ve noticed that this program has more volume than some other lifting programs out there and workouts take longer (around 90 minutes for me). I know how much thought goes into the programming for SBTD, so I was wondering if you could talk about the rationale behind this. Thanks!
kentuckyblue
New member
@beautigirl1 I'm praying for anyone who has recently joined because this block is especially tough, it's probably the hardest we've run in the past 12 months. We're currently in the mesocycle 4 of 5 in a big 21 week focus. This is how it was structured:
We haven't written the next macrocycle of training, but usually in the summer we run a hypertrophy focus to give everyone a breather. In the past we've called it "Peaks and Cheeks" where we train upper body and glute heavy. I honestly can't wait for it lol. Since I'm still ramping up postpartum, I've struggled with some of the sessions, but I can't exactly feel everyone's pain bc I'm not as close to my usual training maxes.
- Accumulation Phase - Building work capacity
- Intensification phase (we're at the very end of this right now) - we're translating increased potential from accumulation into higher numbers.
- Realization phase - This is where we'll peak and then retest 1RM for Squat, Bench, Deadlift the week of May 23rd
We haven't written the next macrocycle of training, but usually in the summer we run a hypertrophy focus to give everyone a breather. In the past we've called it "Peaks and Cheeks" where we train upper body and glute heavy. I honestly can't wait for it lol. Since I'm still ramping up postpartum, I've struggled with some of the sessions, but I can't exactly feel everyone's pain bc I'm not as close to my usual training maxes.
beautigirl1
New member
@kentuckyblue "Peaks and Cheeks," how cute is that!
Oh hi, it's me.
Thank you for taking the time to write about the factors that are currently contributing to longer training sessions. I'm hanging in there! Looking forward to summer!
Oh hi, it's me.
Thank you for taking the time to write about the factors that are currently contributing to longer training sessions. I'm hanging in there! Looking forward to summer!@susanedgar37 Hi Meg! I've been doing SBTD for a few months now, after lifting for a year or so beforehand, and I'm seeing a ton of progress. I have a question about squat depth. Due to an old leg injury, I have very limited flexion in my left ankle, which means I can just barely squat to parallel and definitely can't go lower than that. What's your opinion on the importance of squatting really deep? Can I make as much progress as anyone else, or is there something I should be supplementing my squats with (aside from the already programmed accessories of course!)?
kentuckyblue
New member
@kentuckyblue Ok, good to know! I haven't tried a heel lift yet, but will definitely try it today. Thanks!
@susanedgar37 Hi Meg! Thanks for doing this. My question is this: when should newbie lifters progress from working with dumbbells to working with a barbell?
kentuckyblue
New member
@orbie I have a program called Before the Barbell that I recently uploaded on instagram completely free: https://www.instagram.com/beforethebarbell/ that can guide lifters to this answer (we introduce a bar on Week 3).
Biggest thing with a newbie lifter is that they have their gym habit somewhat solidified, and are committed to 3x/week to start. I suggest this so they have an opportunity to continue working on form with the bar.
Biggest thing with a newbie lifter is that they have their gym habit somewhat solidified, and are committed to 3x/week to start. I suggest this so they have an opportunity to continue working on form with the bar.
zombijesus
New member
@susanedgar37 Hi! What advice do you have for helping maintain consistency? Newbie here looking to turn my occasional enthusiasm into lifting more often each week.
kentuckyblue
New member
@zombijesus
- Schedule it and go at the same time each day
- Not everyone likes morning sessions, but going in the morning is when I'm least likely to skip a workout
- Find a buddy
- Commit to a program (we just made Before the Barbell free - it's 8 Weeks long only 3x/week)
- Take a preworkout or just simply caffeine before training
- Look at current habits, and try to stack 'GYM' on top of it. If every morning you leave work at 6PM, go straight to the gym - even if it's for 20-30 minutes to start`
zombijesus
New member
@kentuckyblue Thanks so much!
@susanedgar37 Hi Meg! Long time fan. Been following you for a few years now and your journey has been very interesting to watch.
Two questions:
- Have you/would you team up with Aaron Horschig (squat university) to deliver content? I would think with Aaron's video/blog content you'd be able to educate women with an even greater reach
- As you've progressed from IG/youtube content producer into a business leader (Buffchicks) how have you found the process? I've seen typically when people start branching out into product sales, regardless of what they may be, there is backlash for "selling out" for lack of a better term. Have you received a lot of this?
Two questions:
- Have you/would you team up with Aaron Horschig (squat university) to deliver content? I would think with Aaron's video/blog content you'd be able to educate women with an even greater reach
- As you've progressed from IG/youtube content producer into a business leader (Buffchicks) how have you found the process? I've seen typically when people start branching out into product sales, regardless of what they may be, there is backlash for "selling out" for lack of a better term. Have you received a lot of this?
kentuckyblue
New member
@twinmama
I've seen more backlash for "selling out" earlier in my career when promoting other brands and doing influencer brand deals. Surprisingly a lot of people had some not so nice things to say when I partnered with Kellogg's and Special K. IDK what everyone's problem was, Special K is delicious (the chocolate?!). I also landed the brand deal because I told the marketing execs at Pop-Tarts, that Bodybuilders for some reason are obsessed with them (they were shocked). Those brand deals helped fund other ventures, like free content, collabs, and events. Working with Kellogg's got a big spotlight on the main page of youtube.com where I was sumo deadlifting in 2017.
I don't think I'm the best at doing this, but I've found that the more creative and helpful I can get with promoting products the more receptive people are. People are more likely to be upset about a creator promoting a product when the delivery and messaging is lazy.
When I lead with free education, honesty, and communicating messages in creative ways, people are more receptive. With Buff Chick, we rely on research, fun recipes, nutrition and supplement education, and honesty. You'd be surprised how many people appreciate when I say that "GREENS DO NOT REPLACE VEGETABLES! But here's whats in them and what the research says about those ingredients..." Whether that means they buy the product, or they never buy the product, I'd rather them feel confident and educated in their decision.
I've seen more backlash for "selling out" earlier in my career when promoting other brands and doing influencer brand deals. Surprisingly a lot of people had some not so nice things to say when I partnered with Kellogg's and Special K. IDK what everyone's problem was, Special K is delicious (the chocolate?!). I also landed the brand deal because I told the marketing execs at Pop-Tarts, that Bodybuilders for some reason are obsessed with them (they were shocked). Those brand deals helped fund other ventures, like free content, collabs, and events. Working with Kellogg's got a big spotlight on the main page of youtube.com where I was sumo deadlifting in 2017.
I don't think I'm the best at doing this, but I've found that the more creative and helpful I can get with promoting products the more receptive people are. People are more likely to be upset about a creator promoting a product when the delivery and messaging is lazy.
When I lead with free education, honesty, and communicating messages in creative ways, people are more receptive. With Buff Chick, we rely on research, fun recipes, nutrition and supplement education, and honesty. You'd be surprised how many people appreciate when I say that "GREENS DO NOT REPLACE VEGETABLES! But here's whats in them and what the research says about those ingredients..." Whether that means they buy the product, or they never buy the product, I'd rather them feel confident and educated in their decision.
@kentuckyblue
Love everything about this. Thanks for being so open and honest in your answer as well.
Love everything about this. Thanks for being so open and honest in your answer as well.
kentuckyblue
New member
@kentuckyblue Both are very valid reasons it hasn't happened yet. I would love to see it in the future and will cross my fingers for you
furaycatholic
New member
@susanedgar37 Hi! I'm a big fan!
Question: I really want to do stronger by the day, but I realistically can only go to the gym max 3x a week. Would that work, and how would that 1 day of skipping affect the training?
Question: I really want to do stronger by the day, but I realistically can only go to the gym max 3x a week. Would that work, and how would that 1 day of skipping affect the training?
kentuckyblue
New member
@furaycatholic Thank you. The program is a 4x/week training split, and has 1 bonus (optional) accessory workout. While it's intentionally written to be run either 4 or 5 days, you can follow the progression with some tweaks. So lots of our members run Stronger by the Day and make some adjustments to make it 3x/week.
Instead of skipping sessions altogether, I suggest reducing some of the accessory work or giant sets. This way you focus on hitting the primary or main compound movements to fit your schedule.
In the app you can click into multiple training days and track progress for both days in your journal. The app isn't designed to make this the easiest thing ever, but it has flexibility so you can make it happen, and quickly choose which movements and days you want to combine.
One of the biggest upcoming changes to the app is the flexibility to run a 3x/week program, and that's something we're working on. It should be rolled out near the end of 2022, since it requires a bit more programming planning.
Instead of skipping sessions altogether, I suggest reducing some of the accessory work or giant sets. This way you focus on hitting the primary or main compound movements to fit your schedule.
In the app you can click into multiple training days and track progress for both days in your journal. The app isn't designed to make this the easiest thing ever, but it has flexibility so you can make it happen, and quickly choose which movements and days you want to combine.
One of the biggest upcoming changes to the app is the flexibility to run a 3x/week program, and that's something we're working on. It should be rolled out near the end of 2022, since it requires a bit more programming planning.