Mind & Muscle

Welcome to Mind & Muscle! This captivating podcast combines science, philosophy, and storytelling, providing you with the tools to create a life in alignment with your desired self. I’m Chelsy Barber and I’m obsessed with finding the tried and true secrets to living a fulfilled, high quality life. With a decade of experience, a degree, and *many* certifications, I’m your friendly fitness expert and neurolinguistic practitioner. I’ll be offering practical advice on exercise and mindset practices to transform your well-being the way I’ve been able (and continue!) to transform my own AND hundreds of clients. If it’s replicable and possible for me, it is for you too. Prepare to be inspired and empowered as we deep-dive into intriguing and thought-provoking subjects (personal growth, parenthood, wellness culture, fitness, relationships) equipping you with the knowledge to thrive in all aspects of your life. Take what you need, leave what doesn’t serve you. It’s THAT simple. Pull up a seat, get cozy, and prepare to be refreshed in this honest container. Welcome and enjoy!

42) How to Excel at Fitness & Make Your Commitment Feel Easy 10/16/2025

41) How to Set Realistic Expectations as a Coach (Stop People-Pleasing Your Clients) 09/10/2025

40) The Top 5 Mistakes You're Making in Your Fitness Journey & How to Solve Them All 08/30/2025

39) Are We Going to Have Another Baby?! 08/20/2025

38) When Woo-woo meets Biological Systems: How I Process Thoughts & Emotions for Ultimate Wealth 08/20/2025

37) Struggling to Pick a Fitness Program that Actually Works? Listen to This. 08/13/2025

36) How Neuro Linguistics Re-Educated my Brain to Solve my Depression & Anxiety 07/28/2025

35) SOBER CURIOUS: One Year Without Alcohol & What's Next 07/22/2025

34) 6 Sneaky Thought Traps Keeping You STUCK & What to do About Them 07/01/2025

33) Why I Don’t Overshare: The Real Difference Between Authenticity & Reliability In Coaching 06/18/2025

32) Transform Your Workouts & Get Better Results Instantly 06/11/2025

31) Your Nervous System Is Starving for THIS Awareness (change your life in 35 minutes) 06/04/2025

31) Your Nervous System Is Starving for THIS Awareness (change your life in 35 minutes) In this episode, I unpack how awareness — real, honest, moment-to-moment awareness with an understanding of HOW the mind structure reality — is the gateway to emotional freedom, clearer thinking, and better behavior patterns. We talk about: Why your mind filters everything you experience (and how to interrupt it) How to create more behavioral and emotional choices (and why this is SO freeing) The power of challenging your automatic thoughts instead of obeying them (you are not your thoughts or your behaviors) Why you don’t have to pick between being spiritual and grounded, soft and strong, playful and ambitious (obsessed with nuance right now) If you’ve ever felt reactive, misunderstood, or stuck in your own habits — this episode might just rewire something inside you. Not by telling you who to be, but by showing you how much more is possible when you start noticing what’s already available to you. takeaways Embracing multiple perspectives enhances life experiences. Emotional regulation is a powerful tool for personal growth. Understanding emotions can lead to better decision-making. Negative emotions can provide valuable insights and motivation. Awareness of emotions allows for healthier responses. Surrendering to emotions can lead to peace and clarity. Self-discovery is a continuous journey of growth. Letting go of control can create space for joy. Language is essential for expressing and understanding emotions. Finding balance between extremes leads to a fulfilling life. Chapters 00:00 Embracing Nuance in Life 06:32 The Journey from Extremes to Balance 12:51 Understanding Filters and Worldviews 19:32 The Power of Awareness and Choice 26:35 Finding Joy in the Mundane 34:03 The Conscious Learning Gap and Personal Growth 36:43The Conscious Learning Gap: Developing Emotional Awareness and Regulation /episode/index/show/176054e0-0764-4da9-b6de-0251a95df932/id/36806730

30) Navigating Bad Body Days: A Journey to Self-Acceptance 05/28/2025

29) When Goodness Means Self-Betrayal & Happiness Feels Like a Threat 05/21/2025

28) The 2 Most Underrated Strategies for excelling in Fitness (No, Really) 05/14/2025

27) The Psychology of Fitness Motivation: Dopamine, Dips, and Breakthroughs 05/09/2025

26) Mastery Over Variety: The Key to Real Fitness Results 09/03/2024

25) Navigating Love while Self Healing: A Story of Not Letting Trauma Interfere with Love 08/28/2024

24) The Sacred Journey: Kishori Gopi on Facing Grief and Embracing God 08/21/2024

24) The Sacred Journey: Kishori Gopi on Facing Grief and Embracing God Follow Kishori on instagram @kishorigopiyoga Visit her website at: E-RYT 500 hr Bhakti Yoga Teacher, Master Reiki / Energy Healer, End of Life Doula Kelly Skinner, also known as Kishori Gopi (her devotional name) is a spiritual teacher who is a conduit of divine love and a vehicle for Divine grace to heal and awaken. In this lifetime, her medicine is to help beings live radiantly and die gracefully through the practices of Bhakti Yoga, Meditation, Reiki, and End of Life Doula Work. She approaches both life and work with awareness, aliveness, and compassion. When you see or talk to Kishori you can feel her light. She is free of judgement. She is humble and curious. She listens to understand. She actively practices and shares everything she teaches. To her, there is nothing more rewarding than seeing another being remember and fall in love with their own true nature. This episode is SO special because Kishori talks about the two topics we tend to avoid most: Death and God. If you don't have an aversion to both of those you probably do or HAVE had an aversion to one of them. Both are difficult topics that often come with very personal emotional baggage/responses. Kishori shares parts of her path with death and handling grief, as well as her history with being triggered by the word God, rejecting a connection to a God, and re-discovering what all of that means to her and how she connects with LIFE. For myself (Chelsy), I used to be anti-God, anti-religion, and VERY triggered/angry when people would bring it up. In recent years I've found myself interested in the idea of higher powers and other belief systems in a way that resonates with the deep love I have for life and others. It's been a refreshing re-discovery into what once felt wondrous as a child and quickly developed into an intense hatred in young adulthood. My beliefs around spirituality NOW have circled back to that wanderous, mystical, connected curioustiy I had as a young child. It has also opened an interest in hearing how others are experiencing their own beliefs around a Higher Power. This episode is going to be a peaceful deep dive into a much desired 1:1 conversation between two souls who love to dive into emotions, spirituality, healing, and more. ENJOY! /episode/index/show/176054e0-0764-4da9-b6de-0251a95df932/id/32561877

23) Freedom in Sobriety: My Journey from Sober Curious to Sober 08/14/2024

22) PELVIC FLOOR UNCOVERED: Dr. Kaleigh Mulpeter on Anatomy, Incontinence, Prolapse, Sexual Function, and More 06/12/2024

21) BABY SLEEP: Tiffany Lebano, RN, on The Science of Baby Sleep, The 4 Month Sleep Regression & Support for New Moms 06/05/2024

21) BABY SLEEP: Tiffany Lebano, RN, on The Science of Baby Sleep, The 4 Month Sleep Regression & Support for New Moms Today's episode is SO special! We have TIffany Lebano, a Registered Nurse of 10 years with a BSN from Hopkins and a BSN in public health. She has been a pediatric nurse from the start of her career and has worn many hats in that time -- She's been a doula, worked in the NICU and in the pediatric ER. Tiffany LOVES all the work she has done and continues to do, but her most important job is being a mama to 3 littles -- all under the age of 4! Tiffany became a Mama Coach after her second postpartum experience when she realized there was a huge lack of support and an abundance of misinformation floating around. Even as a pediatric nurse, she felt unprepared for the wild ride of motherhood. During her second pregnancy she set out on a mission to learn everything she needed to know to fill the gaps of what was missing the first time around (breastfeeding, pumping, bottles, formula, newborn sleep, regressions, teething- everything). This transformed her postpartum experience and, when she became the nurse-friend everyone was always texting asking their baby questions. she decided it was time to pivot and take things into her own hands. TIffany offers support in many ways, as you'll hear in the episode, but the main takeaway is that if you're struggling at all with baby sleep, reach out to her! She would love to help, support, comfort, educate, and guide you -- HOW TO CONTACT TIFFANY: Instagram: @themamacoach.tiffanylebano Email: Website: EPISODE SUMMARY: Chelsy shares her personal story of hiring a sleep consultant as a new mom and the transformative impact it had on her family's sleep. The conversation delves into the challenges of postpartum, the four-month sleep regression, the science of baby sleep, and the philosophy of supporting healthy sleep habits. It also explores the nuanced approach to sleep learning and the importance of evidence-based support for families. This conversation explores the importance of setting sleep expectations, the role of nighttime feeds, and the flexibility of bedtime routines. The conversation also emphasizes the significance of parental confidence and the impact of sleep training on attachment and family dynamics. The conversation covers a wide range of topics related to baby sleep, including newborn sleep patterns, bedtime routines, sleep training, and the importance of sleep for both babies and parents. The conversation also delves into the challenges and support systems for new moms, as well as the financial and emotional aspects of seeking professional help for baby sleep. Tiffany's approach emphasizes individualized support and flexibility to meet the unique needs of each family and she provides valuable insights along with practical advice for parents seeking to improve their baby's sleep. /episode/index/show/176054e0-0764-4da9-b6de-0251a95df932/id/31608927

20) MINDSET: Navigating Inner Turmoil - Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and Embracing Change 05/22/2024

19) FITNESS: Pre-framing & Setting Expectations For A Smoother Client & Trainer Experience 05/15/2024

18) PART TWO: Dr. Aubrey Carpenter on How to Talk to Our Kids About Food and Be Vulnerable As Parents 05/08/2024

17) PART ONE: Dr. Aubrey Carpenter on Disordered Eating, Why It's Not Your Fault, and Where to Find Quality Support 05/01/2024

17) PART ONE: Dr. Aubrey Carpenter on Disordered Eating, Why It's Not Your Fault, and Where to Find Quality Support All resources linked in the show notes -- this episode, part one of two, is PACKED with information, resources, support, comfort. Whether you're a coach wanting to elevate the way you support your clients, a person wondering if you're teetering on having an eating disorder, or you've recovered but a refresh of insight and resources will be helpful, this will be impactful. is a licensed clinical psychologist who has spent over a decade working as a pediatric psychologist, educator, and researcher in child mental health and parenting support. She completed her PhD at Boston University, her predoctoral internship at Boston Children’s Hospital, and her postdoctoral fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital before returning to her native Vermont to raise her family. Dr. Carpenter spent three years working at UVM Medical Center in the adolescent eating disorders clinic, and was involved in state-level advocacy that led to increased funding for eating disorder programming and training for Vermont providers. She also recently started a private practice called , where she is exclusively seeing parents and caregivers in need of support, after seeing firsthand that behind the youth mental health crisis is a widespread community of parents doing their best with limited resources. Contact info: 802-448-0336 @ittakesavillagevermont UPCOMING EVENT - BURLINGTON, VT: National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) walk on 5/4/24: RESOURCES MENTIONED: National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) toolkit (this website is great for educators and parents too): Britt's course for personal trainers: Psychologist Lisa Damour who focuses on teens: Psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation: Whole Health Nutrition, their RDs are excellent eating disorder experts, especially the founders, Abby Wadsworth and Leslie Langevin: No Diet Dietitian, Val Goldberg and her team are exceptional and each person specializes in a different and specific niche: JVN and Sabrina Strings podcast on fatphobia: FREE TEST: Harvard IAT - the one mentioned in this episode is on weight bias but there are many! Mirna: @themirnavator /episode/index/show/176054e0-0764-4da9-b6de-0251a95df932/id/31038553

16) FITNESS: In Person Training & Online Training - Which Option Is Right For You? 04/24/2024

15) FITNESS: How to Craft Your Perfect Fitness Plan - Mastering the 2 Essential Components for Success 04/17/2024

15) FITNESS: How to Craft Your Perfect Fitness Plan - Mastering the 2 Essential Components for Success "I don't know where to start" "I don't know what to look for" "I'm not sure who to trust" "I just want to know how to make my own workouts" If you've ever thought or said any of the above ^ this episode (and the show notes) is for you! Join me in this conversation about what specific & SIMPLE details make a great workout program, how to have repetition AND variety so you can adapt without getting bored, and examples of how I structure a week of workouts for some of my own clients. FIRST COMPONENT: 6 MAIN MOVEMENT PATTERNS: SQUAT: From a functional perspective a squat is a movement to keep forever if you want to be able to do things like get off the floor, sit down in any chair and be able to get out of it, use the toilet independently as you age, and more comfortably play with your kids as they get older and bigger. From a training perspective, squats are an all inclusive movement that engage lots of different muscle groups depending on what you squat with and how you do it. For example, a super heavy goblet squat will also target your abs in a big way. And a barbell squat will get the muscles in your back a ton, as well as abs. Goblet squat, front rack squat, sumo squat, back squat, tempo squats, squat with pulses, overhead squats, heels elevated squat, toes elevated squat. HINGE/DEADLIFT: Being able to hinge at your hips the way a russian deadlift demands is suuuuuch a great skill to have. This stretch and strength makes the low back happy when you do it well. From a functional perspective, hinging is great for doing every day tasks that are more likely to injure you and create pain. Conventional deadlift, russian deadlift, good mornings, hip thrust, hip extensions. PUSH: Push movements usually target the muscles on the front of the body, which makes it easier to remember and visualize. Push movements, like an overhead press or chest press are great to balance and pair with PULL movements. Overhead press variations, chest presses, chest flys, push ups, push presses, sled pushes, squats. PULL: Pull movements generally target the muscles on the back of your body, like row variations and lat pulls/pull ups. The back of the body is easily forgotten and probably the most potent in terms of managing common every day aches and pains. Most programs that are bodyweight or band oriented wont be able to target the posterior chain (aka back of body) and so youre more likely to struggle with low and upper back aches, posture, hip and knee pains due to overuse of the front muscles, and it’ll be harder to get a true strong core! Bent over rows, sumo rows, cable rows, lat pulls, pull ups, banded pulls, trx rows, conventional deadlifts, sumo deadlifts. SINGLE LIMB: Single limb movements, like single leg glute bridges, squat to box, or rdls and single arm presses or rows, are perfect ways to find imbalances in the body, discover where you’re compensating more, and build up strength in a more balanced way. I love single limb work for helping to improve joint stability, mobility, and aches associated with compensations. Single leg squats, single leg rdls, single arm overhead press, single arm arnold press, pallof press, side plank, copenhagen plank, single leg glute bridges, single arm cable rows/pulls, single arm chest presses, incline row. CARRY: This one is more of a bonus! You don’t need to stress if you’re not adding this in BUT it is an excellent addition to a well-rounded training program and the benefits are vast. A carry is exactly as is sounds. You get something super heavy, like a kettlebell or a dumbbell, and you walk around with it in one hand, maintaining posture. This would be called a suitcase carry – easy to remember! Carrying one suitcase in one hand. Another carry variation is called a farmers carry – I imagine this is from carrying a bucket in each hand. So this is carrying something heavy in EACH hand. These are the two most basic forms of carries and truly all you need to know. But for the sake of educating, there are also mixed-rack carries, so that means you might carry a heavy weight at one side (suitcase style) but then in the other hand maybe you have a lighter weight held up overhead. That’s mixed. My personal preference is the suitcase carry. It hammers your core, it improves your grip strength, it offers you more awareness of your posture and how to hold tension up your spine. It’s a nice, low impact way of exposing your body to load without a ton of risk. You can easily drop the weight down too if it’s too heavy or your grip fails. Suitcase carry, farmer carry, mixed rack carries, overhead carries. SECOND COMPONENT: When I’m writing workouts for clients I like for them to repeat the main movements for 3-6 weeks with deviations and progressions in things like weight, reps and or tempo and pace. Repetition is VITAL for 2 big reasons: When you repeat your workouts you eliminate a lot of the anticipatory mental load that comes with too much variety. When you KNOW what to expect it can make your workouts shorter, smoother, AND easier to notice progress in because you’ll be able to feel and see a difference in your movements, range of motion, weight choices, joint stability, all the things. It’s like learning a brand new recipe and having to look at the measurements and directions constantly. But if you make this same recipe a handful of times then it wont seem as long or complicated. You start to memorize whats needed and maybe you dont have to keep buying all the ingredients because you have some leftover from last time. Its always harder to make a recipe a single time than it is to repeat it and fully understand it. AND the more you make it, the braver you get later on to experiment with new things and put your own spin on it. Same goes for workouts. Another benefit to repetition is that your body ACTUALLY gets the message to adapt. When you do a workout once and you’re all over the place, your body doesn’t get the opportunity to understand what you’re asking of it so it wont adapt. It will be confused. When this happens, you’re more likely to be too sore which means taking MORE days off, losing your momentum, and falling off. With repetition you get to adapt, eliminate soreness, and get real results. Some of my favorite resources for workouts are: Peloton! They have GREAT workout programs with a variety of trainers and equipment. You can do Pilates, strength training, cycling, shadow boxing, even pre and postnatal programs. You can do one-off workouts or do a 4-6 week series. And you dont need a peloton bike to access these. They have an app! Kayla Itsine has some really great programs to follow. Bodybuilding.com has phenomenal programs that are NOT just for bodybuilding so dont be fooled by the name of the website I have a handful of premade programs available to anyone once they’ve worked with me 1:1 in my signature program, Hypefit Method. And then there are a ton of great trainers online who you probably already follow on social media and can reach out to to see what they offer! -- if you're interested in working with me, come visit my website or find my on instagram! I'd love to meet you and get you started on your dream fitness journey ASAP! /episode/index/show/176054e0-0764-4da9-b6de-0251a95df932/id/30818533

14) MOTHERHOOD: A candid conversation about whats been hard, "easy", and how I'm navigating the changes in my body 04/10/2024

13) FITNESS: "Meet" My Signature Program, HYPEFIT METHOD: Unveiling the Ins-and-Outs of my Beloved Biz Baby 04/03/2024

Mind & Muscle

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