AMA: Megan Gallagher AKA MegSquats, creator of Stronger By The Day and Before The Barbell!

[mlenadc]

@kentuckyblue I also wanted to add I appreciate the vibe & the energy you bring to the fitness community

 

[jammiehow]

@susanedgar37 Hiii Meg!

My question is regarding pull-ups. I’m unsure where to add in negatives and scap-pull-ups with my current training. I follow PPLUL, if that makes any difference.

 

[kentuckyblue]

@jammiehow I wouldn't over think it. Try on upper body days before training

 

[jammiehow]

@kentuckyblue Thanks! I just started doing hollow body holds and dead hangs anytime I’m in the squat rack before my workout. Its been improving my grip strength more than I thought it would!

 

[luigari]

@susanedgar37 Just curious what your second favorite lift is? Since squats is #1 of course!

PS - Thank you for SBTD! I hit a 315 deadlift during the test week in October of 2019 before I got pregnant and had a baby. Still one of my all time favorite moments I'm most proud of!

 

[kentuckyblue]

@luigari PULL UPS! Congrats on the big 315

 

[bab]

@kentuckyblue You’re my pull up inspiration - I am working, working, working … getting there slowly.

At a family gathering recently my cousin asked me what the secret to my arms was and I introduced you to her. No questions from me, just thanks.

 

[dynamitex]

@susanedgar37 We are so excited to have you here today.

What was your opinion on the whole YLLAM (You Look Like a Man on instagram) debacle? Have you gone through similar experiences?

Also, we all know supplements are very minor compared to hard work and consistency, but what supplements do you recommend for female lifters?

 

[kentuckyblue]

@dynamitex

Also, we all know supplements are very minor compared to hard work and consistency, but what supplements do you recommend for female lifters?

I do own a supplement company, so in this context I'll answer generically and avoid a plug since you can find many of these ingredients and products from other brands.

Creatine and protein are probably the best use of money. You can skip the protein if you're able to hit your protein goal daily with regular food - protein powder just helps you reach it.

I also like Chasteberry (vitex agnus castus) to help with symptoms of PMS. Really interesting research around this, here's the research summary on examine.com.

 

[kentuckyblue]

@dynamitex I'm not sure exactly which debacle you're referring to - but I've definitely had my share of weird comments. I find the YLLAM page to be a fun place to rant and discuss some of the crap we deal with, but overall it can be exhausting to put too much energy into those convos. No shade to that creator obvi - doing the lord's work.

 

[currycoma]

@susanedgar37 Hi Meg! First, THANK YOU, because your videos on YouTube are pretty much the reason I had any little bit of confidence to start lifting with a barbell and then to keep going There aren't any other women lifters on YouTube I've come across that explain things so well and who emphasize strength and power over aesthetics while being personable and relatable.

I guess I'll add a question: I follow SBTD and know there are warmups provided. Do you have any recommended routines for cooling down and stretching post-workout? My lats and traps tend to get particularly tight so foam rolling and somewhat regular massages help a lot.... but massages are not exactly affordable.

 

[kentuckyblue]

@currycoma I don't have any specific routines that I follow or suggest. I do a short walk with my little brother after training, but that's about it. Since my time in the gym is limited, I definitely spend more time focusing on a quick high quality warm up and then training. As far as recovery goes, I focus on training & fatigue management, nutrition (high protein especially), consistent quality sleep where possible (TY infant lol), and overall stress management... Prioritizing these factors has done a lot more for my overall recovery and progress than any particular stretching or recovery implement, personally!

 

[elijahtocome]

@currycoma I’d love to hear the response to this!! Been struggling to figure out the best cool down after an intense lifting session.

 

[crr]

@susanedgar37 Hey Meg! Big fan and been loving SBTD for over a year now. I have really seen some consistent achievements in my power and strength. My favourite achievements are my upper body (Bench and OHP) PRs, but my all time PR on deadlift was also a nice confidence boost.

Question: do you ever plan on incorporating more Olympic lifting into the programming? Or a separate Oly program?

 

[kentuckyblue]

@crr We're planning on adding some goal-specific training functionality (more explicitly align your training cycles to your near term goals, whether that's peaking for a PL meet/retest day, more dedicated hypertrophy training, etc) within the next 6-12 months, but at the moment that won't include Olympic lifting.

I would like to see the app grow to rival some of the larger fitness apps (like Sweat -- ok now that is ambitious), and many of them host other coaches to provide different expertise. I'd be interested in doing this down the line, but right now we're focused on getting it perfect with the current SBtD format and the flexibility mentioned.

One of our team members runs Kristin Pope's Dynamic Pursuit and she loves it! (I also love Pope, so I'm biased)

 

[michael3817]

@susanedgar37 Welcome Meg! What do you think of the whole hypertrophy vs. strength rep ranges?

 

[kentuckyblue]

@michael3817 Good question! These kind of ideas still float around a lot, but research has shown pretty robust results that specific rep ranges is a pretty antiquated concept. Significant Hypertrophy can be achieved anywhere as low as 30% of 1RM, with the biggest driving factor being high stimulus reps when pushed near/to failure with mechanical tension on the specific muscle group. The challenge there is that hitting super high rep sets requires a lot of low-stimulus reps that accumulate a lot of global fatigue (low stimulus-to-fatigue ratio - since the first 10-20+ reps might not be very hard). On the low rep side of things, performing