Kelsey Heenan on Building Confidence Through Strength Training

Summary

Stronger with Don Saladino

Episode Title: Kelsey Heenan on Building Confidence Through Strength Training
Air Date: June 16, 2026
Host: Don Saladino
Guest: Kelsey Heenan

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the deeper meaning of strength, focusing not just on the physical, but on emotional and mental resilience. Don welcomes fitness coach and entrepreneur Kelsey Heenan—a longtime friend and collaborator—to discuss her journey overcoming an eating disorder, building true confidence through strength training, and developing a balanced, sustainable relationship with food, fitness, and self-image. Personal experience, practical mindset shifts, and actionable advice on training and nutrition make this episode highly relatable and motivating.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Kelsey’s Background and New Projects

• Meeting Don & Professional Collaboration

  • Kelsey and Don reminisce about their 10+ year friendship, sharing memories of training, content creation, and mutual inspiration. (02:23-03:09)

• Entrepreneurial Work

  • Kelsey and her husband Dennis run multiple fitness ventures, including the recently launched "Workout Buddies" app and their longstanding "Hitburn" platform. Dennis is now deeply involved in tech and app development.

    “We wanted to create something that had a little bit more functionality to just kind of take us into the next chapter.” — Kelsey Heenan (04:00)

• Work-Life Dynamics

  • Balancing business, training, and relationship: schedules often conflict, but the couple supports each other’s evolving passions.

    “With that, I’m kind of running all over the city. So training times are different.” — Kelsey Heenan (05:21)

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2. The Value of Trying, Failing, and Choosing Training Styles

• Experimenting with Different Fitness Approaches

  • Kelsey’s personal journey included trying CrossFit, which taught her valuable skills and boosted confidence with pull-ups but ultimately didn’t align with her need for sustainable, joyful training.

    “I just didn’t want to have that be a part of my regular routine...I learned a lot of skills, but it's just not for me.” — Kelsey Heenan (06:10)

• Individualized Training

  • Both Don and Kelsey emphasize customizing workouts to fit current needs, minimizing risk and focusing on longevity and enjoyment.

    “I’m so personally risk averse...There were certain things where I just was not comfortable doing them.” — Kelsey Heenan (07:34)

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3. Simplicity, Adaptation, and Recovery in Training

• Quality over Quantity

  • Both have evolved toward concise, focused strength sessions—sometimes as brief as three main movements.

    “My workouts now, if you looked at them on paper, you’d say, oh, that’s it. But there’s so many things I'm thinking about...” — Don Saladino (09:04)

• Tuning into Your Body

  • Developing intuition for when to push and when to recover takes time, self-experimentation, and even therapy.

    “It took a lot of years and a lot of time and a lot of therapy to figure out what that difference is.” — Kelsey Heenan (10:19)

• Advice for Listeners

  • Try journaling, pay attention, treat training as an experiment, and aim for consistency over perfectionism.

    “Treat it like an experiment...If the difference is your mindset being ‘I’m going to be consistent for the rest of my life,’ you’re going to be a lot more successful.” — Kelsey Heenan (13:04)

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4. The Power of Journaling & Self-Reflection

• Tracking Progress

  • Don illustrates the power of meticulous tracking for both performance and injury recovery.

    “I can go back two years ago and open up to a specific date and see...slept three hours. It's so helpful to be able to go back and reference that.” — Don Saladino (15:09)

• Humanizing Progress

  • Both hosts share how tracking normalizes setbacks and celebrates small victories.

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5. Kelsey’s Personal Journey: Eating Disorder and Recovery

• College Struggles

  • Kelsey openly recounts developing a restrictive eating disorder as a college athlete, which manifested amidst well-intentioned efforts to improve performance.

    “Without realizing it, I really went into this quick downward spiral. My intention...was, ‘I’m going to start eating more healthy to be able to perform better...’ All with these great intentions, right?” — Kelsey Heenan (16:13)

• Warning Signs & Intervention

  • She describes how her boyfriend (now husband) Dennis noticed severe changes and staged a crucial intervention, prompting family support and treatment.

    “He confronted me about it...I burst into tears. I said, ‘I don’t know what’s going on, but something is not right. I know I am not myself.’” — Kelsey Heenan (21:09)

• Lasting Lessons

  • Her experience shapes her philosophy: she supports others in building mindful, flexible, and positive approaches to food and training.

    “I do want to be a source for people to encourage them, to help educate about mindfulness with food and exercise in the body. Learn how to build more confidence...” — Kelsey Heenan (18:00)

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6. Building and Sustaining Confidence

• Not Always Feeling 100%

  • Confidence, for even the most accomplished, is a practice not a fixed state—self-respect and honest self-talk matter.

    “I do feel confident in a lot of areas, but I still feel human... you’re not going to wake up every single day feeling 100%...” — Kelsey Heenan (25:32)

• Respect Over Perfection

  • On tough days, respect for effort carries you when self-love falters.

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7. Consistency, Habits, and Motivation

• Systems over Motivation

  • Kelsey attributes long-term consistency to building flexible routines and habits that accommodate real life.

    “If we are too rigid in our workout plan or our nutrition plan, we’re setting ourselves up for failure.” — Kelsey Heenan (27:30)

• Mindful Indulgences

  • Food can be part of social joy and celebration—having no forbidden foods fosters a healthier, guilt-free relationship.

    “That’s why I have no food off limits. I truly believe that in the depths of my soul.” — Kelsey Heenan (29:29)

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8. Ongoing Growth & Vulnerability

• Areas of Personal Development

  • Kelsey's current focus is on cultivating self-advocacy and boldness in professional and personal situations—balancing kindness with assertiveness.

    “What I’m working on most actively is figuring out the balance for self-advocacy and boldness.” — Kelsey Heenan (32:09)

• Letting Go of Control

  • Don shares his own challenge: learning to let go of things beyond his control and respond with patience rather than reactivity.

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9. Women and Strength Training

• Challenging the Stereotypes

  • Kelsey busts myths that women should avoid heavier weights, sharing her own history of intense, traditionally “masculine” training and the empowerment and physical benefits that follow.

    “It’s so empowering to me...now I get to add value, I get to add confidence, I get to add strength through strength training.” — Kelsey Heenan (36:49)

• Advice to Women

  • Embrace heavy lifts, train for strength, and enjoy the process.

    “Try and strength train at least a couple days a week because it’s so important for your health and it’s empowering.” — Kelsey Heenan (37:47)

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10. The “Unlightening Round” (Rapid Fire Questions)

See section for fast-talking, fun, and candid takes on training, food, and life. Notable exchanges:

• Morning or Evening Workouts?

  “Morning 100. If it’s after 5, get out of here.” — Kelsey Heenan (40:59)

• Music Preference?

  “I love hip hop...But I love a Broadway show tune.” — Kelsey Heenan (41:32)

• Most Underrated Exercise?

  “Pull-ups. They add so much value, certainly for your upper body, but also your core gets so strong.” — Kelsey Heenan (42:12)

• Burpees: Love or Hate?

  “Hate.” — Kelsey Heenan (42:57)

  • Both discuss safety concerns and the risk of poor form in group settings.

• Workout You Dread but Love When Done?

  “Leg day...If I could only train upper body and have the benefits of everything, I would.” — Kelsey Heenan (44:55)

• Favorite Cheat Meal?

  “Pizza. Smash burger...I also love breakfast burritos.” — Kelsey Heenan (46:06)

• Dessert Choice?

  “I love ice cream. I love chocolate.” — Kelsey Heenan (47:16)

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Memorable Quotes

• “You’re not going to wake up every single day feeling 100% in every single category, and that’s okay...On those days where that love is not shining as brightly, it has to be respect.” — Kelsey Heenan (25:32)

• “You have to take a step back and go deeper to realize, okay, what are all the other choices that we’re making? Why am I making this choice? Am I allowing myself to actually feel my body?...” — Kelsey Heenan (18:00)

• “The work is the dream. Showing up every day, consistently seeing what your body can do. That’s what it’s all about.” — Kelsey Heenan (quoting Kobe Bryant, 40:24)

• “Build a plan that you can stick to...For myself, I have a range, a spectrum of guidelines. So I train three to five days a week.” — Kelsey Heenan (49:33, 50:08)

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Actionable Takeaways

• Consistency is Key: Don’t aim for perfection; create flexible systems you can stick to long-term.
• Journal Your Progress: Even “small” notes help track the true story of growth, setbacks, and wins.
• Strength Training is for Everyone: Women especially benefit from lifting heavy—empowerment and health go hand in hand.
• Mindfulness Over Restriction: Including “fun” foods without guilt sustains a healthy relationship to eating.
• Confidence Grows Through Respect: Self-love fluctuates, but self-respect can anchor self-worth during tough days.
• Vulnerability is Strength: Sharing struggles, seeking support, and asking for help are foundational for true confidence.

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Important Timestamps

• Kelsey’s intro, meeting Don – 02:23-03:09
• Training evolution & CrossFit reflections – 05:32-07:34
• Experiencing burnout, adaptive training – 09:34-10:19
• Tracking workouts & injury recovery – 13:53-15:09
• Eating disorder story & recovery – 16:13-21:09
• Building confidence & respect – 25:32-26:27
• Habits and flexibility in routines – 27:28-29:29
• Women & strength training myths – 36:49-39:19
• Unlightening round rapid-fire Q&A – 40:38-48:17
• Best advice for getting stronger – 49:33-51:29

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Tone & Style

Conversational, warm, and authentic. Don and Kelsey’s chemistry is evident, blending humor, candor, and empathy. Light moments—like joking about cheat meals or favorite workouts—balance serious discussion of mental health and resilience, making for an episode that is equal parts practical and inspirational.

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For Listeners

If you want motivation, actionable steps toward sustainable fitness and confidence, and honest talk about the journey—not just the highlight reel—this episode is for you. No matter where you are in your strength journey, Kelsey and Don offer wisdom, compassion, and the reminder that you don’t have to do it alone.

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“Let’s get stronger—together.”

Transcript

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

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[Don Saladino]

Hey guys, welcome to Stronger. And on today's episode, I just had on my good friend Kelsey Heenan. Kelsey has been a friend of mine for over 10 years now and we've trained together, we've shot more content together than I've probably ever shot with anyone. And she is just absolutely incredible human being. Her and her husband Dennis are very good friends of ours. But Kelsey's story is very interesting. She brings it back to college when she had a a little bit of a turn when it came back down to her health and her affiliation with food. She talks about how she reestablishes a good relationship with food and turns into one of the strongest women I've ever met. One of the most well rounded individuals that I know. She's got an incredible affiliation with food. Today we talk about everything from training to nutrition to cheat meals. We let you into Kelsey's life to really understand how she thinks, what she battles with and the things she's trying to work on. So I think this is going to be an incredibly relatable episode. I had a lot of takeaways from it and I've known Kelsey for all this time, so I know everyone's going to leave here with some really incredible nuggets about her. And listen, the whole idea is just to get a little bit better every single day. This episode is definitely going to help you do that. Let's go. First off, welcome.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Thank you.

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

Don't come here.

[Don Saladino]

I love it. So Kelsey and I, guys, a little background. You and I met. It's got to be close to 10 years. Now it's 2,000. It's 20, 26. When did we meet? 16, 17.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah, I think like 17 or 18, probably.

[Don Saladino]

You walked in with Ben Bruno.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yes. Who I had just met that day,

[Don Saladino]

which is insane to me, because Ben, he's such a good friend of mine. But you're probably also. If I was. I mean, this is by a landslide. If there's one woman I've shot the most amount of content with besides my wife, hands down, you. Yeah, it's gotta be. I mean, you and I at drive. I mean, I still now on my phone, there's all these, like, reminders or like, you and I like, you know, training. Whatever. It was eight, 10 years ago. And just like, we need to get

[Kelsey Heenan]

back in the routine of that. We had so many fun days.

[Don Saladino]

We gotta do. And we're gonna do it. And I'm disappointed in your husband. And what the hell is he doing? He's at Disneyland right now. You're up here working.

[Kelsey Heenan]

He's at the Angels game today. Disneyland is in a couple days. I know. I said, dennis, come on, man. You gotta come.

[Don Saladino]

I got Charlie Weingroft coming on tonight, who's, like, a Disney fanatic. You mentioned angel game, and then you mentioned Disneyland with your husband. Of course.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Of course. It makes sense.

[Don Saladino]

So much to talk about today. Tell me about what you. What you have going on lately.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Gosh, quite a bit. Quite a few things going on. I've been. Well, Dennis and I have our online company, so we just came out with a new app called Workout Buddies. We've had Hitburn for Lot of Hippos forever.

[Don Saladino]

And that's a separate Instagram page. Guys, if you haven't. If you've gone to the. You sell the Daily Kelsey. It's still called the Daily Kelsey, but Hitburn is an account that they have together. It's like their joint account. So all in all, you probably have a million, million and a half followers, whatever it is, between both accounts. I'd figure you're probably around there.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah, yeah. And so we're. We're still running that. We still have that app, but we wanted to create something that had a little bit more functionality to just kind of take us into the next chapter. And so Dennis built this new app from scratch, and it's really cool.

[Don Saladino]

Is he doing all. Is he doing all app builds now?

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah, he's doing so much fun tech stuff behind the scenes. You'll need to deep dive with him on all the projects he has going, Mel.

[Don Saladino]

Like, since. Since I think Dennis was one of the.

[Kelsey Heenan]

One.

[Don Saladino]

One of the people that really got Mel into it. Mel's, like, coding now. She's just like. She's like, diving.

[Kelsey Heenan]

She's so freaking cool. Can I just say, she's one of my favorite people.

[Don Saladino]

She really is. She's one of my favorite people. But it's so funny because I remember Dennis getting her started. Now she's turned into, like, this little monster.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I love it.

[Don Saladino]

Really, really genius. Are you and dad still working out a lot together?

[Kelsey Heenan]

As much as we can.

[Don Saladino]

Okay.

[Kelsey Heenan]

So we try to train together at least once a week, but he's kind of in the flow coding. And then I'm off doing training or all the other things. So, yeah.

[Don Saladino]

From the husband and wife standpoint, how's that dynamic for you guys? Because I know my wife, she doesn't really work out with me much.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Sure.

[Don Saladino]

But anytime we work out together, she knows how I operate. I know how she operates. And we always have a good session, get done what we need to get done. But I'm always kind of like, is she, like, do I just. Am I around her too much? Is that why she, like, not. Is she, like, not think. Is she, like, you know what? Like, I'm out of debt. He has his space. I have my space. With you guys, it's just differences in schedules, right?

[Kelsey Heenan]

Totally. We actually used to train together a lot more, but I started taking on more in person people. And so with that, I'm kind of running all over the city. So training times are different.

[Don Saladino]

Can you, off the top of your head, I'm putting you on the spot here. Can you remember something that you. That you tried and you're like, oh, this is interesting. But just not for me.

[Kelsey Heenan]

CrossFit.

[Don Saladino]

Yep. Okay.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I. I did CrossFit for a couple years.

[Don Saladino]

Okay.

[Kelsey Heenan]

And this was probably 2015, 2016. And just heard a lot about it. One of our friends invited us to try it, so we started going to this noon class. This is when we were living in Minnesota still.

[Don Saladino]

Oh, my God, I forgot you were living there.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah, it was cold.

[Don Saladino]

Was that like six, seven years ago?

[Kelsey Heenan]

Oh, yeah. That was a long time ago. We've been in LA now for six years.

[Don Saladino]

So I met you when you were living in Minnesota.

[Kelsey Heenan]

We were in Portland at that time. So we went, Minnesota, Portland, here.

[Don Saladino]

Okay.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Or la. Not here. I'm in New York right now.

[Don Saladino]

Interesting.

[Kelsey Heenan]

But, yeah, so we tried it because a friend invited us and I thought it was interesting to learn new skills in Olympic lifting and lots of different. All the metcons were really challenging. But I realized I just, I didn't feel great doing it. It wasn't super fun for me. I. And I'm sure we'll talk about it at some point. I had phases of my life where I was just pushing myself way too hard. And I don't like that feeling anymore. So I don't like being so exhausted. I'm laying on the floor, I can't breathe, I feel dizzy. And I. Not to say that CrossFit is bad and experiencing that is a bad thing, but I just didn't want to have that be a part of my regular routine. And so I said, you know what? I'm so glad I tried it. I learned a lot of skills, but it's just not for me. One thing I will credit to CrossFit, I feel like it helped me get the confidence to start practicing pull ups.

[Don Saladino]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Because I was getting stronger pretty quickly just from there's so much volume and you're doing it so much. And so doing some of the kind of jumping pull ups. I never could get the kip. I never could figure that out.

[Don Saladino]

I can't do it. I don't want to do it.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah. And that I kind of wanted to learn how to do it strictly anyway, so it didn't really matter. It wasn't important to me. But I started getting stronger and so I think that that really pushed me to be able to have the confidence to keep practicing in my own way. I am so personally risk averse.

[Don Saladino]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Heenan]

There were certain things where I just was not comfortable doing them. I mean, I'm definitely strong enough to do handstand push ups now, but I don't like being upside down and having my head go towards the ground for high reps. Right. So there are just certain things where I said, you know what? That's not for me today. A lot of the super heavy, like overhead squat with a barbell, that kind of stuff. I'm just so risk averse that I would never push myself in those types of things. But you observe other people in the class and they're strong people, but there's just a lot of people in the class and it's hard for even the best coach to monitor all of these things. And it comes down to the coaching too. It comes down to the programming. It comes down to so many different things. I just did a video with Noah Olson, who is.

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Don Saladino]

He's a very. He's an incredible CrossFit competitor.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yes. And he's been competing for 10, 15 years.

[Don Saladino]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Heenan]

And it was really cool to get to talk to him because he is a professional athlete. He. This is what he does. And he's so methodical about his training. And it's. It's very different when you are a professional athlete versus someone who's just starting lifting. There needs to be a lot more foundations for. For some of these people who are gen pop, like me. Right.

[Don Saladino]

My training throughout the years has gotten. It started very simple. I went through a phase where it got a bit busy.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Sure.

[Don Saladino]

Because you start learning a lot of information. And, you know, yesterday I think I did. After my prep, I think I did four movements.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yep.

[Don Saladino]

Four movements hard, like compound exercises. Maybe there's a little isolation in there. My workouts now, if you looked at them on paper, you'd say, oh, that's it. But there's so many things I'm thinking about when laying out a program, and I want. And I understand that at a certain level, that intensity starts dropping, which I like to train intense, and that recovery starts diminishing. Have you gone through phases in your life where you feel like my body's not bouncing back from the type of training I'm doing?

[Kelsey Heenan]

Absolutely. I feel I have gone through every possible phase of. Of that. And in more recent years, that sparked something for me. The other day, I went in, I did three strength moves. That was it. And I was like, that's enough for me today.

[Don Saladino]

What were the movements?

[Kelsey Heenan]

What did I do? I did a hip thrust, an rdl, and was it either a walking lunge or a Bulgarian?

[Don Saladino]

Okay.

[Kelsey Heenan]

And that was it.

[Don Saladino]

Yeah. Got some. Two hip movements.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah.

[Don Saladino]

And you got your one, you know, whatever. It was more of a, you know, a unilateral squat.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yep.

[Don Saladino]

A little more knee dominant, whether it was a Bulgarian or whatever it was, but just needed.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Need a little something. A little something.

[Don Saladino]

And how'd you feel after? And what. And why. Why'd you cut it at 3? Were you just like, that's all I have today?

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yes. Well, I've done that many times. Sometimes that's all I have today. And I don't want to be a hero where just because it's written, if my body is not feeling up to it, because there's a difference between not wanting to do something and with your mind and your body not being safe, in the position to keep going. And I've taken a lot of years and a lot of time and a lot of therapy to figure out what that difference is. And so I. That's one thing. And. And a lot of times there was a A couple weeks ago, I was so busy, and I had four workouts that week cut short because of just all these obligations. So that was another type of scenario as well.

[Don Saladino]

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[Kelsey Heenan]

It's. It's tough. But I would say give yourself some practice. Like, give yourself a month or two where you really are focusing and paying attention, taking notes on how your body is feeling.

[Don Saladino]

Perfect.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Allow yourself the opportunity to maybe make a mistake. Maybe you could have gone a bit harder today. Maybe you should have dialed back a little bit. But if you kind of treat it like an experiment, it'll help you be able to differentiate those times and it's still not going to be perfect. And honestly, that's okay because if the difference is your mindset being I'm going to be consistent for the rest of my life versus I'm on this program right now for this next month, you're going to be a lot more successful in the long run if you learn how to be consistent with all right, I haven't worked out in three days. Got to get going, got to get it going. Versus I can never take a day off. And I took a day off. So now it's over. I'm just done because I know a lot of people who have experienced that too, where they. They go hard for a month and then they quit.

[Don Saladino]

The journaling piece of it's interesting because there's certain areas in my life that I just I. My preference, my decision. But me waking up in the morning and writing down the things I'm grateful for could be an incredibly powerful and positive thing for most people. I don't. It's not where my time is best spent, but journaling my workouts and writing down things on how I feel like, I'm going to give you a perfect example. Today was the first day I started close grip benching again. Okay, I. I messed my shoulder up, my AC joint up months ago. Powerlifting just unracked the bar a little bit weird. It just was like it was a bad position. Plus hockey didn't help me. And then I flared up my left elbow. So close grip bench pressing wasn't in the cards. Today was the first time I did it. Shoulder did not bother me. Elbow was 95 better. But I wanted to keep the loads light. I literally have, you know, I have my app, but I also have a little notepad and I can open up every page of the notepad and next to the weights. Like, I only went up to a certain way today, but I just wrote down like elbow in parentheses because I knew that's a. That's a reminder that like we were just keeping an eye on this. But at the bottom was like first day back, feel, feel, feel great. Excited Will and I'll make little notes. I go back and reference those notes every single week.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Incredible.

[Don Saladino]

I mean, I can go back two years ago and open up to a specific date and see slept on my neck wrong. Like, like slept three hours. It's so helpful to be able to go back and reference that one. I think it shows that we're human and to talk about being in tune with your body and really understand and quantifying progress. Because If I did 175 pounds today on close grip bench and I felt this 95% of the time, but next week I do one 75 pounds and there's no elbow pain, that's progress.

[Kelsey Heenan]

It's so easy to forget history.

[Don Saladino]

Yes.

[Kelsey Heenan]

If we don't have a little bit of record of it and the little aches and pains, the little wins that we have along the way. If you have those notes, you can

[Don Saladino]

always reference back 100%. So you've been very open about your history. But I need you to share with the group, if you don't mind, of course. Because I think it's. Why is it an incredible story? Because you can speak now and inspire other people and you got through it. Absolutely. If you don't mind sharing it with us.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah. So when I was in college, I developed an eating disorder. I have always been a type A personality and always very driven, always hardworking. And college was a really tough transition for me. I moved across the country from Minnesota to California, was playing basketball at a competitive level. It was just a lot all at once. And without realizing it, I really went into this quick downward spiral. My intention in my brain was I'm going to start eating more healthy to be able to perform better in my sport. I'm going to start getting in extra workouts so I'm in better shape so I can get more playing time so that I get better at what I committed to do. All with these great intentions. Right. So I started putting these different rules in place for how I was going to eat, how I was going to get in my extra workouts, how I was going to put the most in every single day. And it got really stressful and really scary really quickly because I didn't try to. But trying to get better. Okay, well, I'm. I need to get a little bit faster, so I'm going to get a little bit lighter, so I'm going to eat a little bit less. And then these rules just quickly compounded into not allowing myself to eat entire food groups to the point where I was too scared to go to the cafeteria. I wouldn't go. And I would go on super long runs after my practice. I would work out before practice, after practice, all these times. So it got really scary. I dropped about a third of my body weight in just a couple months. And I did.

[Don Saladino]

Your coaches, I've never asked you. I know your story.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah.

[Don Saladino]

But there's always things that I pick up on where I'm like, wow, that was like I didn't realize that you were running before practice. Did your coaches see any of this and sit you down at the time?

[Kelsey Heenan]

I'm sure people noticed.

[Don Saladino]

Sure.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I mean people said things like there would be kids on campus. They're like, you're always running. Do you ever stop running? And I'm like, haha, no I don't. I just love running. Even though I hated myself, they never said anything about my over exercising. And I think people didn't understand or just didn't realize the extent of my food restrictions. For example, trigger warning for anyone who is experiencing anorexia or any sort of eating disorder. But I wouldn't allow myself to order off of certain parts of the menu. I wouldn't allow myself to, for example, like no carbohydrates. I would only order salads. If there were extra cheese or anything on it, I would not allow myself to have it. And a lot of times people would kind of applaud me for making these choices. Because in a regular non disordered experience, people are like, oh, you're making a nutritious choice. And that's not a bad thing. And to this day making nutritious choices is a wonderful thing for your body, but you have to take a step back and go deeper to realize, okay, what are all the other choices that we're making? Why am I making this choice? Am I allowing myself to actually feel my body? Am I eating enough when my body needs it? And there's just so many different layers that need to be unpacked and that's why I do what I do now. This is why I talk about exercise the way I do. This is why I talk about food the way I do. The way I talk about and don't talk about people's bodies the way that I do. I am so careful with my word choices and how I go about things because I understand the nuance. Not everyone is going to have a restrictive eating disorder. Most people won't. Most people will struggle with their body image. Most people will struggle with understanding how to fuel their bodies or trying to get to the gym or trying to figure out their workouts. That's where I live. I'm not a doctor, I don't treat eating disorders. But I do want to be a source for people to encourage them to help educate about mindfulness with food and exercise in the body. Learn how to build more confidence, learn how to have that consistency that we talked about. It's okay to take time off. It's okay to push hard sometimes too. So all in all, I basically went through that whole process. I lost so much weight so quickly that Dennis, who's now my husband, was. We were dating at the time.

[Don Saladino]

You guys been together for how many years now?

[Kelsey Heenan]

So we will have been married for 16 years in June. We got married right out of school.

[Don Saladino]

Right. But you guys met. So what do you guys think? Other 20 years now?

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah. So we started dating in 2008.

[Don Saladino]

Yeah. So it's 18.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah.

[Don Saladino]

That's 18 years.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah. That's crazy.

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

It does not.

[Don Saladino]

Mel and I. Mel and I'll be married 20 years this September.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Oh my gosh.

[Don Saladino]

And that, like, I just can't thank you. And you too. But like, I just can't believe where time goes.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I know. It feels like five years, honestly.

[Don Saladino]

How is Dan handling that? Because Den has been. You've been a massive support system for him and vice versa.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Right.

[Don Saladino]

Was he noticing what was going on and saying, kelsey, like, we gotta. We gotta change things up a little bit for sure.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I mean, he. He had never personally dealt with the things that I was. Yeah. And so. And he's a kid. I mean, we're in college. So at that time, he didn't fully understand what was going on. But he knew that I was different. He knew that I wasn't eating with him. He would bring me, you know, some of the things that I felt like I was allowed to eat from the cafeteria. Cause I was too scared to go there. So he knew that I had these weird food behaviors. He also knew that my personality had changed a lot. I was so anxious. I was painful, paralyzed with anxiety. I was incredibly depressed. I would fall asleep at 8pm he's like, Do you even like me anymore? You never even want to hang out. So he realized something was going on. And that's when. So he confronted me about it. We were in the car in the parking lot at our college and I just burst into tears. And I said, I don't know what's going on, but something is not right. I know I am not myself. And I don't understand why I feel this way. And he's like, I know you're struggling. And. And so he said, kels, this. This isn't okay. I don't know what to do, but you need to call your parents or I will. And so we called my parents from the car and my mom flew out the next day.

[Don Saladino]

What an incredible thing to have a support system like that.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah.

[Don Saladino]

And you know what? And, you know, thank you for being open. And I, I appreciate all the emotion because, you know, you're, you're getting me a bit of motion too, because, you know, we love you. And the, the. To think that you went through that is. Yeah, it's a terrible thing. But what's the irony of is now is that out of anyone I know in the industry that probably has a better relationship with training, a better relationship with food, I, I, I, I put you at the top of the list.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Thank you.

[Don Saladino]

And that's the cool thing about it, is I never, since I've known you, I've never known you to be a person who's like, oh, I have to do legs tomorrow. Yeah, no, no, no, I have to do this. Or, oh, I didn't hit this number. Or Don, I have to eat right now. It's kind of like, where are we going? Oh, great. We'll find something to eat on the menu. Awesome. It's delicious. Even the stuff that you post, it's colorful. It's different. Like, I know you have certain things that you like to eat, but you have no problem eating out or going to healthy restaurants. You love your coffee. You and Dan, that's part of your life, and it's part of you being social with your dogs. And you have such a nice relationship with eating and training. It's kind of what I would hope for most people to have is what you have trained to develop.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Thank you. It's been a process because there were times where I didn't. First of all, I didn't know if I would get better. I'm like, is this my life? Because I can't live like this. And so it took a, it took a long time and a lot of. Well, first of all, I had to go to treatment, so that helped, and then continued therapy thereafter and then working with my family. So my, my mom was huge in the process of helping with my recovery. Dennis was huge in the process in supporting me. And I had to figure out. And it wasn't. This was not perfect. There were times where I wanted to throw the plate against the wall. And I'm a very calm, collected person. It takes a lot to piss me off. Yeah, but when you're, when you're sick like that, it's not you that's really experiencing those things. So I had to come to terms with, okay, I, I know that whatever these thoughts that are infiltrating my mind, that's not who I really am. So I need to figure out how to differentiate these thoughts and not believe every single thing that pops into my head, because I've always been so able to trust myself and my instincts, I had to unlearn some of that and then relearn how to trust myself.

[Don Saladino]

I got a confidence question for you, because I understand that at that time, your confidence was definitely tested here. You're a successful athlete. You've. You've. On the outside, you've got this level of health that anyone today would have looked at and been like, I want to be like that. I mean, you carry yourself now like that, but later on in your life, like, now or maybe the last couple years, did you feel like your confidence ever got tested again? Do you ever feel like you're in a situation where you're like. Like, this isn't. You know, Don gave me the ultimate compliment, but this is still difficult. Or maybe because the world and the business is changing a bit. Do people test your confidence online? Like, do you ever get rattled like that? Because I'll be open and honest. Like, sure, I might sometimes. Like, it is hurtful when people say things. I'm just curious, you know, your. You know, your thought process on that.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yes, absolutely. Look, I do feel confident in a lot of areas, but I still feel human.

[Don Saladino]

Right?

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

Right.

[Kelsey Heenan]

There are certainly days where I wake up and I don't love everything about how my body looks or about the skill sets that I have. I wish I was smarter in this area or that area. I wish I was more accomplished in this area or that area. I think we all need to realize we're not going to wake up every single day feeling 100% in every single category, and that's okay. And I think that's part of it. And for me, being able to differentiate between, like, love and respect for myself is really important because, yes, I do love myself, and I do my best to show up every single day with that love. But on those days where that love is not shining as brightly, you're not

[Don Saladino]

gonna have a great day every day.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Exactly.

[Don Saladino]

It just happens.

[Kelsey Heenan]

It has to be respect. I respect my body every single day because of what it does for. For me. I respect that. I work hard, and I will continue to work hard even if I am not as smart as I want to be in all the areas. I'm going to continue to do that, continue to learn. And to me, the hard work and the respect are what is going to carry me through back to that highest level of confidence.

[Don Saladino]

And how about just being a good person?

[Kelsey Heenan]

Oh, that helps.

[Don Saladino]

That's. But seriously, like, people. People online overshadow other people by knowledge and just be a good person and teach and you're not going to have all the answers and you're not going to be perfect and you're not going to put up the perfect clip or just if you continue to follow the plan of just. Just be a good person.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Exactly. I completely agree.

[Don Saladino]

What about motivation? So waking up every day, we've talked about it. You don't feel. Oh, you don't always feel motivated.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Nope.

[Don Saladino]

But for some reason, you're one of the more consistent people I know.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah.

[Don Saladino]

So how does that work out for you?

[Kelsey Heenan]

Habits.

[Don Saladino]

Yeah. Talk to me.

[Kelsey Heenan]

So I just. Because of my learned experience in recovery, I realized, like, I don't want to have strict. You have to do this at this time every single day or eat this, whatever it is. I build in flexibilities into everything that I do to allow myself the potential for needing to make adjustments. So that also helps me be able to build habits that I can actually sustain. If we are too rigid in our workout plan or our nutrition plan, we're setting ourselves up for failure. Because you're gonna wanna go to that birthday party and have a piece of cake to celebrate your daughter who is so amazing. And that's. Food can bring a part of community. It can be a part of celebration. And yeah, is sugar good for us? It's not going to be beneficial for. For our overall health, but man, how wonderful was it to share that piece of cake together?

[Don Saladino]

I actually think it is. And I argue with people sometimes. Is it beneficial? I think it's beneficial for our mind to kind of release and let go and just say, I want to have this right now. Last weekend, Mel and I did something we haven't done in I don't know how long. We were supposed to be somewhere in an hour and a half. I was starving. We didn't really do meal prep yet. We were in kind of a weird mood. We went to this, like, incredible pizza place and we just walked in and we just ordered food and we sat down and we just ate and I walked out of a pizza parlor. And it's like, it was kind of funny to say, like, I haven't, you know, I know the last time I did that it was when I hosted a pizza party for a group of young kids that, that are at my church. And. But to be able to go in there and do that, I didn't feel guilt.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah.

[Don Saladino]

I actually felt great.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yes.

[Don Saladino]

And I actually woke up the next day. A little more energy, a little more motivation and super Happy that I'm able to have that affiliation with food. And then, you know what? Not feel like I have to get on the bike or go for a run to work that off. I just say it's time to get back on the things that make me feel great physically and mentally.

[Kelsey Heenan]

That's it, truly. That's why I have no food off limits. Like, I truly believe that in the depths of my soul. Certainly we all have different things that work for us and. But for me, I'm gonna have that pizza, and I'm not gonna feel guilty about it. I eat when I'm hungry and until I'm satisfied. And I know that I'm gonna have that pizza again. I think sometimes when we create these rules to completely abstain from sugar or pizza or carbs or whatever it is, you just make it something so much bigger.

[Don Saladino]

Right.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Than it needs to be.

[Don Saladino]

And there's two extremes, though, right? Like there's someone like you who has a good affiliation with food, and that's taken work. And, you know, if you're going to go have it, it doesn't need to be where you're having it the next night and the next night, the next night. Because you understand that, yeah, now you're giving into something that should be very normal, but there could be a cost of that. And what's that cost? Like, maybe you're someone that can eat those things and not put on weight, right? But how are you going to feel if you put on 10 or 15 pounds? And if you feel fine with that, then great. If your blood works good, okay, who am I to tell you? But if you start feeling poor about that, if you start put bad choice of words there, if you start feeling like, wait, you're, you're giving in too much and things are slipping away, I don't think that's good for your mental health either.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Completely agree. And that's where understanding mindfulness and having a general understanding of nutrition is very important. I think you should be educated about the foods that are going to nourish your body well, for whatever your goals are. I don't think it's wrong inherently to want to change how your body looks. I think that's totally fine as long as. As long as the, the reasoning behind it is an overall healthy reason. If the approach is a healthy approach and a sustainable approach, I think that's great, but not at the cost of your. Your mental health and enjoying things periodically.

[Don Saladino]

All right, so it's both and no 100%. So what's something you're still working on right now that most people, you know, would assume you already mastered. Oh, gosh, no. But think about that. Think about that question. Because I think on the outside here, people are looking at Kelsey Heenan. She's like this perfect fitness person that's knowledgeable and is kind and has a great marriage and has this incredible physique and is super strong and all this great stuff. But I know there's things that I'm always working on that people think like, you mean you haven't nailed that yet? And I'm like, no, I still. I still struggle with it. What is it? It could be. Maybe it's a fitness thing. Maybe it's a nutrition thing. Maybe it's a mindset thing. I mean, what do you. What do you. What's the first thing that pops into your mind?

[Kelsey Heenan]

There's a lot of things, Don. There's a whole lot.

[Don Saladino]

There's not.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I've got a lot of things I'm working on.

[Don Saladino]

There's a lot of things I'm working on, so I get it. But I'll tell you. Tell me yours, and I'll tell you mine.

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

Okay. This is fun.

[Kelsey Heenan]

So I would say the thing that comes to top of mind is what I'm working on most actively is figuring out the balance for self advocacy and boldness. Trying to figure out, okay, how I am. I'm from Minnesota. Like, I'm Minnesota. Nice. Right? And I do feel, not just because of where I grew up, but I do feel there is a kindness that is just baked into who I am. Never want to lose that. I never want to lose empathy and kindness. And in the same breath, I also want to learn how to negotiate better. I want to learn how to stand up for myself better. I want to be able to command the room in a certain way.

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

Sure.

[Kelsey Heenan]

So being able to work on those skills is something that is incredibly uncomfortable for me. But I'm trying to lean into opportunities where I can not argue with people necessarily, but be able to stand my ground in certain ways. Be able to phrase things in a way that feels authentic to me. That also gets my point across.

[Don Saladino]

Standing your ground with a level of class, I think is the way of putting it right. Because I think nowadays people will get very confrontational and they kind of lose their cool a bit. I learned there was a few mentors of mine that I was fortunate enough to be in a room with when they were negotiating deals, and. And I saw their level of patience. I saw how they commanded a room, and I saw how they were Able to really put their foot down without getting aggressive. And if someone asked me to sum it up in a few words, it's act, act like a pro. And when I left there, four or five different people I got in a room with like, big, big, big names and they acted like a pro. And when they left there, I was more drawn out to the fact that they commanded the room, but the fact that they left there, I had admiration for them because they were able to, you know, set levels and set bars and let people know, this is where I'm going with this. And they were calm and they didn't lose their cool. When someone started getting a little hot headed. And when the person in the room that started talking a lot, you could tell that person was, you know, probably the one with the least amount of power in the room. And the ones with the most were just kind of sitting there nodding. And I think commanding a room is not a problem that you've ever had. I' seen you in a room and I've seen you present coach's event or, or some of the other events that you came into. And I thought you did an incredible job.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Thank you.

[Don Saladino]

Putting your message across, letting go for me is stuff are things that, you know, situations that are out of your control. Yeah, that's the area that I've had to work most on.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Okay.

[Don Saladino]

When there were times at the club or in my life where things were getting a little out of control, I thought that I can control it where what I had to do is just let time happen and I had to be patient and stick it in the drawer or maybe not send that email out or maybe not pick up the phone and react, maybe go for a walk. And looking back on it now, I don't necessarily think there were mistakes. They were learning moments, but I learned from that. And I try and make it a point now. And I'm not perfect at it because there are some times where emotion takes place. And the next day you're waking up going, do that. Like, then I'm calling the person like, all right, maybe I was a little harsh. I apologize. And they're laughing, they're like, I love you. Don't worry. I'm like, we know it's comfortable, all right? But I was, I was wrong. And, you know, that's taken. That's taken a lot of work. And every time it makes me feel better when I'm able to recognize that I need a lot of work at that. So switching to training, a little bit more training now. I know we're going to get excited here. You know, I've been training with you now 10 years. I've been a coach now for 27 years. For 27 years, I've been saying that men and women need to train the same. Right. I think exercises need to change according to what that person can handle and what inabilities they have or, you know, that's where we need to really tweak exercises. You've trained like a guy since I've known you. I know that sounds like a sexist comment, but that's why I love working out with you. Yet you've developed this physique that women are going to want to have and this level of strength that women are going to want to have. But you've always done that, right? Can you. Can you talk to most women out there that are watching this? It's not about grabbing. You can't go heavier than five pounds, right? I mean, we hear a lot of this stuff online, and I think it scares a lot of women away from being strong. Yet right now, this year, I think we've had the best affiliation between strength training and women's exercise. Women now are. You see them deadlifting, you see them pushing sleds, you see them carrying heavy weight. Now suddenly it's cool to do what you've been doing a very long time.

[Kelsey Heenan]

And I love that. I love it. Let's keep it cool because it's going to help us so much in the long run with our bone density, with our overall health span. I'm here for it. I love strength training. It's so empowering to me when I felt like I just always had to do more to be less and to weigh less. And now I get to add value, I get to add confidence, I get to add strength through strength training. So to me, it's certainly gets me the physical benefits that I want, but it also, just mentally, emotionally is such an empowering experience. And look, I'm. I'm here for the things that people enjoy doing. If you like running, if you like Pilates, if you like yoga, do it. We need to move our bodies, right? So if you're going to enjoy something, keep doing it. It'll help you stay consistent. And also try and strength train at least a couple days a week because it's so important for your health and it's empowering.

[Don Saladino]

I actually remember, I think our last workout together might have been at the barn with Luca. And maybe Angela was there or maybe. Yeah, I think we had a whole crew in there. And I remember we were Deadlifting.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah.

[Don Saladino]

And we were deadlifting, like triples. Pulling heavy weight off the floor. We're doing heavy one arm rows. You're busting out pull ups with a weighted belt around your waist. With probably £20 at least around your waist. I mean, how heavy have you gone to the pull up?

[Kelsey Heenan]

Gosh, yeah. Maybe 20, 30.

[Don Saladino]

Yeah, 20, 30 pounds. I mean, think about that. And you're not like you're 5, what, 10, 11. If you're 5 foot 11, you got long arms.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Long way to travel, my friend.

[Don Saladino]

Long way to travel, my friend. Exactly. So my line. But how refreshing is that? I mean, we. For most people to hear, we went through prep. Remember me, you, Luca, were like choosing an exercise, a warm up movement. We were doing that on the floor in the barn. We went in, we had four movements and then we went in and we ate our faces off. A pretty perfect day. But is this what you're telling most women, like, try and work up to that, Be strong, like go in there and get after it.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah. Being able to challenge yourself and you continue to learn along the way. And that's really important. So there's a lot of moves that I felt, okay, I'm decent at this, and other moves that I did not feel good about. And I think that's probably a human thing where we all have things that we prefer and we tend to prefer the things that we're good at. Right. And I think that's fine. But we also want to work on our weaknesses as well. So being able to work those in consistently is really important.

[Don Saladino]

Remember that time we were in LA with 10 working out at one of those gyms outside, trying to remember on the rooftop of one of those.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Oh my gosh. Yeah.

[Don Saladino]

What was that place called?

[Kelsey Heenan]

It was called Health House. It's not there anymore.

[Don Saladino]

Oh, that was a great spot. But we were doing roof and elevated foot squats. And every time we go to the set, you're looking at me, you're like, oh my God. But there was something so rewarding at the end when you get through that and you're moving weight and we're literally walking down the stairs, holding onto the railing and you're sitting there having a protein shake. At the end of the day, I don't think any of us, all the people that I named today, I don't think we are obsessed with an outcome. I think we fall more in love with a process and a feeling. And I think just showing up sweating with other people, working, pushing yourself, seeing each other push ourselves, that's inspiring. And motivating. Whether I'm at 6% body fat or 9% body.

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

I don't.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I don't. I don't care.

[Don Saladino]

Like, I just. I want to go and be strong, feel good, show myself that I was able to push and challenge myself, and then leave there and rinse and repeat.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah. I mean, Kobe said it. The work is the dream. Showing up every day, consistently seeing what your body can do. That's what it's all about. And all of the other things, all of the other results are a byproduct of falling in love with the process.

[Don Saladino]

All right, now we're going to go into something I call the unlightening round. Okay. I'm not going to put a timer on you because you're not one of the people. I always have a timer on people when we have our stronger around the clock segment. Because when you have three people on, it's. It's too much for sure. Right now we're going to keep your answers to 15 to 20 seconds.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Okay. I will try to be succinct.

[Don Saladino]

You're going to be good. Morning workouts or evening workouts?

[Kelsey Heenan]

Morning 100. If it's after 5, get out of here.

[Don Saladino]

Oh, God. Do you ever do, like. Do you ever go do cardio in the evening?

[Kelsey Heenan]

I go on walks.

[Don Saladino]

That's nice.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Do you go with your dogs all the time?

[Don Saladino]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Or just. Dennis and I will go after dinner. We'll go on a spin.

[Don Saladino]

How nice is that? A spin? What is that? Just like a little.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Just like a spinner on the block,

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

you know,

[Don Saladino]

Thing to say.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I don't know if that is.

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

Just.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Might be me.

[Don Saladino]

When you train music or silence music, what do you listen to?

[Kelsey Heenan]

I. A lot of things. And some things are gonna be like, no, no, no.

[Don Saladino]

I never say that. I never say that. I listen to everything. So go.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Okay. I love hip hop.

[Don Saladino]

Okay.

[Kelsey Heenan]

2000s, like, throwbacks. I love. And maybe Emilia will appreciate this, but I love a Broadway show tune.

[Don Saladino]

Yeah. Well, yeah.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I mean, it gets me pumped.

[Don Saladino]

This is, in my household. My. What does my daughter call it? She's. Oh, God.

[Kelsey Heenan]

She.

[Don Saladino]

She calls it. I can't believe I'm not gonna get this right right now. She. It's her way of getting into her headspace. So my wife and I will be driving sometimes with her in the back, and we'll hear, like, Broadway twos blasting, and she'll be watching on YouTube and we'll be like, what are you doing? She's like, I'm getting ready.

[Kelsey Heenan]

It's her pregame she's like her pre game prep. I hear that.

[Don Saladino]

Love her so much.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Deep in my soul.

[Don Saladino]

In your opinion, most underrated exercise.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Pull ups.

[Don Saladino]

Okay.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Because am I still within my 15 seconds? I said one word.

[Don Saladino]

No, no, it's, it's over. I said one word. No, no, no.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I think they, they add so much value, certainly for your upper body, but also your core gets so strong from doing pull ups. And so I think if people want to improve their core strength, it's something that's really beneficial.

[Don Saladino]

I've also never not to throw. I mean, men and women. One of the more powerful things from a female standpoint, more when a woman gets onto a pull up bar and hits 10 pull ups with confidence.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yes.

[Don Saladino]

And jumps down. That's next level. So. All right, let's keep. Squats or deadlifts.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I don't like either. Bulgarian split squats.

[Don Saladino]

Okay, this one here.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I'm nervous.

[Don Saladino]

Ready? Burpees. Love them or hate them?

[Kelsey Heenan]

Hate.

[Don Saladino]

Thank you. I. I hate them. And I don't mean. And tell me, tell me, tell me why.

[Kelsey Heenan]

There's a few things.

[Don Saladino]

Sure.

[Kelsey Heenan]

My own personal perspective. Every time I do them, I, I have this shoulder ribbon situation and it just never works for me. I feel like my rib kind of always goes out on a personal level.

[Don Saladino]

Makes sense.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Working with clients and people through an online app. I'm not there. Well, if I'm there in person, people are going hard and most of the time it's really hard to control slamming yourself to the floor like that. People at home who are doing my app, I have no control over their form. I can teach all day long, but people think that they're doing it the right way, but they might not be. So just from a safety perspective, I think there are a lot of things that you can do to get your heart rate up that are a lot safer.

[Don Saladino]

I totally agree with that. And I also think that there are people out there that can perform these movements their entire life with a high level of quality. And they're like, I swear by these. But I think statistically when you break down and when I go into. If I was to go into a group class and I have 30 people, I can almost guarantee that at least 25% of them are going to fatigue and things are going to break down. And when I say 25 of them, that is a modest.

[Kelsey Heenan]

For sure.

[Don Saladino]

That is a modest number.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Well, it's the same thing. Going back to the CrossFit thing. Noah Olson, who's been a competitor for 15 years, can do all these Things a beast.

[Don Saladino]

Yeah, the guy's a beast. And he's. And he's a rarity. And it's like, you know, why would I argue with someone, you know, like, like that. That works for him, fantastic. But when I. Again, when I have that, you know, person in finance coming in that just hasn't been moving for 15, 20 years, and you're looking at rep number 10 and you're like, ah. And rep number 15, you're like, ah.

[Kelsey Heenan]

There are so many exercises that I'm so careful of. Maybe I don't do them with certain clients, but they're fine for other clients. It's just, it's all about safety and making sure that people are improving and feeling.

[Don Saladino]

Good work workout you dread, but love when it's over.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Leg day. Just in general. If I could only train upper body and have the benefits of everything, I would.

[Don Saladino]

You're the only woman I've ever heard that said that, by the way.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I, I just love the feeling of it. And honestly, I feel like from a nervous system perspective, it's just way easier. So maybe that's like a lazy choice for me, but it is, it's less taxing.

[Don Saladino]

It's a feeling choice. I think you also know that, you know, you train at a certain level and you trade under certain loads. And I think when you come in there, for me, I'll take a, like, like a hard leg workout that I'm able to go in and hit my numbers and feel strong and that is the most rewarding.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yes.

[Don Saladino]

But like, you know, getting an upper body, you know, pump sometimes is a lot of fun.

[Kelsey Heenan]

And do you enjoy the feeling, though, of doing super heavy deadlifts? Does that feel good to you? It doesn't feel good to me.

[Don Saladino]

It feels good to me.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Interesting. See, I want that. That's cool.

[Don Saladino]

Last I. I want to know, I've actually, I think I know the answer to this. What is your favorite cheat meal? You're talking a lot about pizza. Yeah, but I don't know, like, if you had to choose one cheat, the way I always like to phrase it is. Well, let's just start with your. With your cheat meal.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I'm going to give you two options. Three pizza.

[Don Saladino]

Okay.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Smash burger.

[Don Saladino]

Okay. Well, you and I just shared pizza and burger and fries for me are like, those are smash burger. Yes, very good. Crispy, in n out burger, in and out.

[Kelsey Heenan]

It's fantastic. But have you had burger? She wrote.

[Don Saladino]

Oh, my God. Where is this place?

[Kelsey Heenan]

It's in Los Angeles.

[Don Saladino]

Oh, this is on Beverly again, like

[Kelsey Heenan]

Buddy, you gotta come. I will take you. I will show you the.

[Don Saladino]

I don't know if I could cheat on In N Out. In N Out burger.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Obviously, In N Out's amazing, but also there's. That's. That's, like, the best that you're gonna get as far as Burger She Wrote.

[Don Saladino]

Like, Murder She Wrote. Like.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yes. But burgers, it's, like, smashed. It's crispy. It's got the cheese. It's simple, but so good.

[Don Saladino]

I don't eat cheese except pizza. You don't like cheese except if it's on pizza. And it's got to be very thin.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Okay, fair enough. I respect it.

[Don Saladino]

Burger she wrote. And I've had. I had Smash Burger in Vegas. It was. It was. It was good. It was good.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Is different. This will rock your world.

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

I'm.

[Don Saladino]

I'm curious now.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I also love breakfast burritos. I want to throw that. I don't want this question to end without throwing that in there.

[Don Saladino]

How about desserts?

[Kelsey Heenan]

I love ice cream.

[Don Saladino]

I love ice cream.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I love chocolate.

[Don Saladino]

Oh. So just like, simple, simple flavors. Like chocolate, Vanilla. I'm a chocolate chip person.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah.

[Don Saladino]

Like vanilla chocolate chip. Chocolate chocolate chip. That's something.

[Kelsey Heenan]

So I like a vanilla ice cream with things added. So like a cookie dough. There's one that's down the street from us that has marzipan in it, so it's like almond flavored cookie dough. Kind of. It's so good.

[Don Saladino]

Cones or like, a cup?

[Kelsey Heenan]

I like a cup.

[Don Saladino]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I don't like being sticky, so I don't want to risk it getting on my hand in a cup.

[Don Saladino]

And let me. And you order, like, what do you order? A small or medium?

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah. I mean, this is.

[Don Saladino]

No, but this is like. I'm like, going in, I'm asking for a garbage pail, and the guy's like, what are you talking about? I'm like, I want. Like, if I'm going to the electric chair right now, that is the ice cream I'm having. And that always comes after either pizza.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Okay.

[Don Saladino]

Or burger. Fries.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yes.

[Don Saladino]

Like, there is no, like, have one or the other. That's bullshit.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yeah.

[Don Saladino]

And I'll never have it earlier in the day because then that's triggering something in my head. And I'm like, all right, now I want. Let's close the day out.

[Kelsey Heenan]

For sure.

[Don Saladino]

I'm normally twitching in my sleep.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I can't.

[Don Saladino]

But it's like, you know. You know what we have here, that's pretty good. Five guys Burgers is.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Five guys. Is good. I've had it a couple times. Yeah.

[Don Saladino]

What I had for the first time, and I'm not a fast food person, even though we're on this topic, I love this. For us, I had it for the first time was Chick Fil A. Chick Fil A.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Solid.

[Don Saladino]

Very good. And you know what? I was blown away by this. Have you had Chick Fil A? I was blown away by this. I'm sitting there, like, coming over like, can we get you anything else? Mints. I'm like, you're offering me mints right now? But, like the spicy chicken sandwich, just pickles on it.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Yep.

[Don Saladino]

I thought delicious. And it was besides in and out burger, it was the only fast food I ever had that I left. They're not feeling like, yeah, it's, it

[Kelsey Heenan]

goes down easy, you know, I like the little chicken nuggets.

[Don Saladino]

They were the chicken nuggets. I tried little dipping sauces. Yeah. They have one in Penn Station. I walked by it this morning. I was like, do you need it? Probably I don't need it. I, I, I don't need it. So I want to close out with one question. So if someone listening wants to be stronger a year from now, this person's listening. They want to want it. They're just like, God, I wish I was. I wish I was vested like Kelsey. Right. What's the most important habit they have to build starting today?

[Kelsey Heenan]

Build a plan that you can stick to. So in your workouts and your nutrition, in your free time, allowing that.

[Don Saladino]

But six days a week's better than three, right? I mean, come on, talk to me.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Thank you, buddy.

[Don Saladino]

No, I love the sarcastic question. So you're the only person I do that with because I love her face. She's like, what are you talking about?

[Kelsey Heenan]

You try to look, I could dive so much deeper into every single one of these topics, but dive into this.

[Don Saladino]

I want people to leave here going, you know, I'm going to take some things away from Kelsey. She's an inspiration. Doesn't have to be six days.

[Kelsey Heenan]

No.

[Don Saladino]

Five isn't better than four. Four isn't better than three. What is it?

[Kelsey Heenan]

I honestly, for, for myself, I have a, a range, a spectrum of kind of guidelines. So I train three to five days a week.

[Don Saladino]

Sure.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Some days, some weeks it's three, some weeks, it's five.

[Don Saladino]

All lifting, maybe some interval work. Depends on the week.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Depends on the week. Sometimes I'm on a progressive plan, but sometimes I just train a little bit more intuitively because I know what my body is needing. I'm very active in My life, I have to do a lot of filming. I have to do a lot of things. So if I had a super heavy filming day the day before, I'm not going to go into the super gnarly leg day that I had had planned. So for me, I do have a bit of intuitive and mindful training in that regard. I strength train at least three days a week, most of the time. If I can get four, then that's great. And then I'll do some sort of interval, interval work. I'll go on a nice hike, go on a really long walk. I try to just move my body a little bit most days of the week. At least six days of the week.

[Don Saladino]

You're doing that a lot through filming. But I do believe that the three days a week of strength training, if someone gave me 30 minutes three days a week, that's like. I think that's great.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Absolutely.

[Don Saladino]

I'd be like, hey, sign me. Sign me up for that. And put that on, Rinse and repeat all the time, and then just be active. And I totally agree. And by the way, thank you for being here.

[Kelsey Heenan]

Thank you for having me.

[Don Saladino]

This is like, you're always the best. Really. We could do this all the time. And I want to thank the team at the Post here. Matt, Chris, Eric, everyone who's making this possible. Joanna and Chip Gaines, who've been one of a huge support system for this podcast, absolutely love working with them. And Christian Ponder, the owner of the Post. I mean, this place feels like home now. You walk in, you're like, what is this place? And my friends are joining now because it really is. It's like, it's a special environment to be able to work out of and feel like you can host meetings and really, really good stuff. So, guys, hope you enjoyed that episode. I know I did. I mean, Kelsey and I could sit here talking for hours. She's got to come on again. I'm not even asking her. She's coming on again.

[Kelsey Heenan]

I would love that.

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

I'd be honored.

[Don Saladino]

Until next time. Thanks, guys.

[Kelsey Heenan]

The views, information or opinions expressed in the series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of Chip and Joanna Gaines by Now Audio nor Magnolia.