The Warrior School Podcast

Amy Bowe
  • 5.0 (5)
  • Fitness
  • Updated weekly

Welcome to The Warrior School Podcast - THE podcast for women who train. Warrior Schools mission is to completely redefine how you train, and how you see exercise and life. Myself, and tons of experts, will help you learn how to play (and win) the new game in women's health and fitness as a woman in her 30s, 40s and beyond. You'll find tons of info on training, nutrition, hormones, female physiology and mindset to help you build a strong foundation and prepare your body (and mind) well for this second stage of your life.

  1. 2 days ago

    Training Era: The Same Unsexy Sh*t Builds the Best Bodies

    A few months ago, I asked you about your health and training. And almost all of you said some version of the same thing: "I feel like I'm doing all the right things... so why isn't it working?" You’re training. You’re walking. You’re eating protein. You’re trying to tick all the boxes. And yet you still feel stuck. You're tired from thinking about training. You're carrying the mental load of trying to get it right. The food.The workouts.The steps.The supplements.The sleep.The recovery. And somewhere along the way, you've lost clarity. In this EP, we're talking about the final layers of the Training Hierarchy: Exposure. Adaptation. Recovery. Because your bod doesn't change during training. She changes afterwards. And if you're not getting the results you want, it's often not because you're not trying. It's because the adaptation cycle isn't being completed. This episode will help you understand why. What You'll Learn In This Episode Why most women are exhausted by the mental load of training. The difference between:TrainingRecoveryAdaptationThe complete adaptation cycle:StimulusDisruptionRecoveryAdaptationWhy repeated exposure is required to build strength, muscle and body compositionThe biggest mistake women make with programs and exercise selectionWhy constantly changing workouts is sabotaging your resultsWhat progressive overload actually meansThe six pillars that drive training success:ConsistencyTechniqueProgrammingPresenceMindsetPainWhy recovery is far more than taking a rest dayThe "overcooked pasta" analogy and what it teaches us about modern lifeHow to find your training "sweet spot" Key Takeaways Your body adapts after training, not during it.One workout creates a signal. Repeated exposure creates change.Novelty feels like progress. Exposure creates progress.Most women leave a program just as adaptation is beginning.Recovery isn't a day off. Recovery is a state.The goal isn't doing more. The goal is finding your sweet spot.Effort doesn't build the body you want. Strategy does. Powerful Quotes “Most of you aren't tired from training. You're tired from thinking about training.” “Your body doesn't adapt during training. She adapts after.” “Novelty is not progress. Progressive exposure is progress.” “Recovery isn't a day. Recovery is a state.” “You're not short on effort. If effort built the body you wanted, you'd already have it.” “A lot of women feel like overcooked pasta.” If this episode resonated with you: Subscribe to The Warrior School PodDownload and save this episodeShare it with a woman who feels like she's doing everything right but still feels stuck The Big Girl Lifts — Free Video Series You've been told to lift heavy. But no one's taught you how. The Big Girl Lifts is a free video series where I teach you the six lifts that actually change your body — not just what they look like, but how to own them.  How to get your body in the right position, create real stability, and produce the kind of mechanical tension that builds lean muscle, gets you stronger, and changes your body composition for good. Each lift is taught through the lens of the Training Hierarchy — position, stability, and force. So you stop accumulating fatigue and start creating the signal your body actually responds to. And because seeing is everything — film your lifts and send them to me. I'll personally review your technique and tell you exactly what I see. This is how we train properly, girl. Grab it here: https://warriorschool.co/the-big-girl-lifts/ 💋

  2. 2 days ago

    Training Era: The Muscle-Building Signal Most Women Never Create

    This is THE episode the whole series has been building toward girl. We've done the position work. We've done stability. And now, we finally get to talk about force production and mechanical tension— the third layer of the Training Hierarchy and the actual thing that drives muscle growth, strength, and body recomposition. She’s the queen! In this EP, I go alllll the way into the science. I break down what mechanical tension is at a cellular level. I go deep on motor units, the Henneman's Size Principle, internal load versus external load and proximity to failure. This is THE episode that makes it all click girl. The one that explains why you've been working hard and not seeing the results you want. Key Takeaways Mechanical tension is force applied to muscle fibres under load while they are actively contracting. It is the primary signal for muscle growth, strength adaptation, and body recomposition.The length-tension relationship explains why position and stability come first. Every muscle has an optimal length at which it can produce maximum force. Motor units are recruited from smallest to largest — Henneman's Size Principle. The high-threshold motor units, the ones most responsible for muscle growth and strength, are only recruited when load is genuinely challenging and effort approaches failure.The effective reps — the ones that actually drive adaptation — are the reps that hurt your feelings. The ones that slow right down. Most women are training at a five, six, or seven out of ten. They feel like they're working hard — and they are. But they're not close enough to failure to recruit the high-threshold motor units.Proximity to failure requires position and stability to be intact. Grinding reps with broken form is not proximity to failure. It's compensation. The signal goes to the wrong tissue.Your body does not respond to external load. It responds to internal load — the actual mechanical stress on the target tissue.A highly skilled lifter creates more internal load with less external load. Because she knows how to direct force into the target tissue. This is why the hierarchy matters — build position, build stability, build the skill.Beautiful movement builds beautiful bodies. Not as an aesthetic statement — as a physics statement. Beautiful movement means force is going exactly where you want it to go. Directed. Intentional. Landing in the muscle you came to train. That is when the body changes. Powerful Quotes from This Episode "Your body does not respond to the weight on the bar. She responds to internal load — the force being applied to the specific muscle fibre you're trying to train. The number on the bar is not the point. Where the force actually lands is the point." "Those last few reps — the ones that hurt your feelings, the ones that slow way down, the ones you have to grind through — those are the reps where the high-threshold motor units are firing. Those are the reps that change your body. Everything before them is just getting there." The Big Girl Lifts — Free Video Series You've been told to lift heavy. But no one's taught you how. The Big Girl Lifts is a free video series where I teach you the six lifts that actually change your body — not just what they look like, but how to own them.  How to get your body in the right position, create real stability, and produce the kind of mechanical tension that builds lean muscle, gets you stronger, and changes your body composition for good. Each lift is taught through the lens of the Training Hierarchy — position, stability, and force. So you stop accumulating fatigue and start creating the signal your body actually responds to. And because seeing is everything — film your lifts and send them to me. I'll personally review your technique and tell you exactly what I see. This is how we train properly, girl. Grab it here: https://warriorschool.co/the-big-girl-lifts/ 💋

  3. 2 days ago

    Training Era: Why You Keep Flaring Up (And How to Build Stability)

    You can find the position. You can stack your joints, create your brace, get yourself organised. And then the set gets hard — and you lose it all. You start to feel her in your lower back. And every damn time you try to deadlift or back squat you flare her up. That's a stability problem girl. And it's one of the biggest reasons women plateau in their training. Today we go allllll the way into stability — the second layer of the Training Hierarchy.  In this episode we talk about what stability actually is. I explain the difference between passive and active stability, the three components that make it up (muscle strength, coordination, and proprioception). I go deep on technical failure versus muscular failure — and why technical failure is stopping most women before their muscles ever reach their real limit. I also break down the difference between skill-based movements and output movements — and why knowing which one you're doing changes everything about how you train girl. Plus four practical tools to build stability right now: tempo work, pauses, unilateral training, and using stability to determine your load. By the end of this EP you'll understand exactly why you've been getting kicked out of the room — and exactly how to start staying in it. In this episode you'll learn: Why stability—not strength—is often the biggest thing holding your body back.The difference between position and stability, and why you need both before you earn the right to lift heavier.How your nervous system decides whether you'll express strength or put the brakes on.Why "I train but I don't look like I train" is often a stability problem—not an effort problem.The difference between passive and active stability.Why balance isn't the same thing as stability.The three pillars of stability: muscle strength, coordination and proprioception.Why slowing your lifts down can actually help you build more muscle.How tempo, pauses, unilateral work and constraints create stronger, more resilient movement.Why technical failure often happens long before muscular failure.How to identify your own stability ceiling in your next training session. Powerful Quotes "Stability isn't what gets you into the room. It's what keeps you in the damn room." "The nervous system is the gatekeeper to force output." "The answer isn't to push harder into the ceiling. The answer is to raise the ceiling." "Beautiful movement builds beautiful bodies." If you loved this episode... If this EP changed the way you think about training, I'd love if you shared it with another woman who feels like she's doing everything "right" but still isn't seeing the body she wants. And if you haven't already, hit Follow on The Warrior School Podcast so you don't miss next week's conversation, where we dive into expression of strength—the piece that finally turns great movement into real muscle-building results. The Big Girl Lifts — Free Video Series You've been told to lift heavy. But no one's taught you how. The Big Girl Lifts is a free video series where I teach you the six lifts that actually change your body — not just what they look like, but how to own them.  How to get your body in the right position, create real stability, and produce the kind of mechanical tension that builds lean muscle, gets you stronger, and changes your body composition for good. Each lift is taught through the lens of the Training Hierarchy — position, stability, and force. So you stop accumulating fatigue and start creating the signal your body actually responds to. And because seeing is everything — film your lifts and send them to me. I'll personally review your technique and tell you exactly what I see. This is how we train properly, girl. Grab it here 💋

  4. 22 Jul

    Training Era: Why Your Body Isn't Changing (It Starts With Position)

    You can work as hard as you want girl. But if your position is off, the signal won't make it. Today we go deep on position — the first and most important layer of the Training Hierarchy. Because before we talk about progressive overload, before we talk about how heavy you're lifting, before we talk about any of that — we need to talk about whether you're actually in the right position to create a training stimulus at all. This is the stuff women's health and fitness isn't talking about. And it's exactly why so many of you are showing up consistently, lifting weights, following programs — and still not getting the results you're working toward. In this EP I break down what position actually means — your ability to organise your bod in space, stack your joints, and create the environment where force can travel efficiently through the system. I explain the two key positional principles that sit at the base of every lift: ribcage over pelvis, and intra-abdominal pressure. And I show you what happens when position breaks down — the force leaks, the compensation patterns, and why your body is feeling it in the wrong places. I also walk you through exercise selection as a position decision — because the exercise you choose determines the position you're asking your body to get into. If your body can't get into that position, the exercise is not doing what you think it's doing. By the end of this EP you'll have a completely different way of approaching your training session. Not just what you're doing — but how you're setting yourself up, why position matters before load, and how to know whether the exercise you're doing is actually the right exercise for your body right now. I give you a practical experiment to take into your next session and four questions to ask yourself about every exercise you do. This is the foundation. Build it properly and everything else gets easier. The Big Girl Lifts — Free Video Series You've been told to lift heavy. But no one's taught you how. The Big Girl Lifts is a free video series where I teach you the six lifts that actually change your body — not just what they look like, but how to own them.  How to get your body in the right position, create real stability, and produce the kind of mechanical tension that builds lean muscle, gets you stronger, and changes your body composition for good. Each lift is taught through the lens of the Training Hierarchy — position, stability, and force. So you stop accumulating fatigue and start creating the signal your body actually responds to. And because seeing is everything — film your lifts and send them to me. I'll personally review your technique and tell you exactly what I see. This is how we train properly, girl. Grab it here 💋

  5. 22 Jul

    Training Era: Have You Actually Earned the Right to Lift Heavy?

    Today I'm breaking down the Training Hierarchy — the complete framework that sits underneath everything I teach inside Warrior School and everything we're going to cover in this series. Once you have this girl, you'll understand exactly why your training is or isn't working. And you'll know what to do about it. The hierarchy has five layers.  Position and exercise selection — are you even doing the right exercise for your bod right now? Stability — can you actually own the movement, create intra-abdominal pressure, control the load?Force production and mechanical tension — can your bod actually express strength, and is your nervous system safe enough to let you? Exposure — are you giving your bod enough repeated, intentional signal over time? And adaptation — the thing you're working toward, the muscle, the strength, the recomp. She's a byproduct. She's the reward for following the hierarchy. I also walk through what this looks like in practice — why the goblet squat might be a better choice than the back squat right now, how to know if you're doing the right exercise for your bod, what intra-abdominal pressure actually is and how to create it, and why tempo work and constraints are some of the most powerful tools you have for building stability. This is the conversation that changes how you train. The Big Girl Lifts — Free Video Series You've been told to lift heavy. But no one's taught you how. The Big Girl Lifts is a free video series where I teach you the six lifts that actually change your body — not just what they look like, but how to own them.  How to get your body in the right position, create real stability, and produce the kind of mechanical tension that builds lean muscle, gets you stronger, and changes your body composition for good. Each lift is taught through the lens of the Training Hierarchy — position, stability, and force. So you stop accumulating fatigue and start creating the signal your body actually responds to. And because seeing is everything — film your lifts and send them to me. I'll personally review your technique and tell you exactly what I see. This is how we train properly, girl. Grab it here 💋

  6. 22 Jul

    Welcome to The Training Era: Exercise Isn't Training

    Welcome to The Training Era. Girl — If you feel like you’re doing everything right. You’re consistent. You’re showing up. You’re training, eating well, you’re trying to sleep, manage your stress. And your body is just... not responding the way you want her to. And you’re exhausted from trying so hard. From doing a lot of the “right things” and you still feel like your body is fighting you… then this series is for you. Over the next eight conversations, we are going to deep dive into how training actually works — the physiology, the mechanics, and the framework that explains why so many of you are working incredibly hard and not seeing the results you deserve.  Built around the Training Hierarchy and my Own the Movement framework, this series is the most comprehensive training education I’ve ever put on the pod. I am going to completely change how you think about training — and what you do every time you walk into the gym. Because here’s what most women don’t know. There’s a difference between exercising and training. Exercise is energy expenditure. Training is directed stress designed to create a specific adaptation in your body. And most women — no matter how consistently they show up, no matter how hard they work — are exercising. Not training. Your body changes when it experiences productive mechanical tension. That is the signal. Not sweat. Not soreness. Not exhaustion. Tension. And this series is about understanding exactly how to create it. Here’s where we’re going. We start with the Training Hierarchy — position, stability, force, exposure, adaptation. Five layers. Each one a prerequisite for the next. Most women are skipping the bottom two and wondering why the top one isn’t happening. We fix that here. Then we go deep on position — joint stacking, ribcage over pelvis, intra-abdominal pressure, force leaks, and why the exercise you choose determines the position you’re asking your body to get into. Then stability — your nervous system’s gatekeeper to force output. Why she caps your strength when she doesn’t feel safe. Why you cannot grit your way through a stability deficit. And how to earn her trust. Then force production and mechanical tension — the actual thing that changes your body. Motor units. Henneman’s Size Principle. Proximity to failure. Internal load versus external load. The one question to ask yourself every single session. Then exposure, adaptation, and recovery — because your body doesn’t adapt during training. It adapts after. The session is the signal. Everything between sessions is where the body actually changes. And finally — how to fit it all together. Strength, cardio, walking, recovery. What to prioritise. What to let go of. A simple, honest framework for a training week that works for your body and your big, beautiful life. This is the stuff women’s health and fitness isn’t teaching you. And it’s exactly why so many of you are showing up consistently and not getting the results you deserve. Welcome to The Training Era, Warrior Woman. Let’s go. 💋 The Big Girl Lifts — Free Video Series You've been told to lift heavy. But no one's taught you how. The Big Girl Lifts is a free video series where I teach you the six lifts that actually change your body — not just what they look like, but how to own them.  How to get your body in the right position, create real stability, and produce the kind of mechanical tension that builds lean muscle, gets you stronger, and changes your body composition for good. Each lift is taught through the lens of the Training Hierarchy — position, stability, and force. So you stop accumulating fatigue and start creating the signal your body actually responds to. And because seeing is everything — film your lifts and send them to me. I'll personally review your technique and tell you exactly what I see. This is how we train properly, girl. Grab it here💋

  7. 19 Mar

    From relationship to results: how you actually build the body you want

    Over the past six episodes, we’ve been talking about the relationship you have with your body and your training. But the next question is: How do you actually build the body you want? The strength. The muscle. The energy. The confidence. So, those outcomes are not goals. They are adaptations. And adaptation requires: the right signal the right conditions the right strategy and the right relationship with your body and your training This is where most women get stuck — not from lack of effort, but from a lack of clarity around how training actually works. If this series has resonated with you girl, and you’re ready to learn how to train properly and create real, lasting change… Warrior School is open. This is my six-month coaching program where you’ll build strength, improve your body composition, and develop a powerful, confident relationship with your body. We focus on: metabolic and nervous system health training that actually produces adaptation and the mindset and strategy required to sustain it I’m opening 5 spaces for March - September intake. You can apply here: https://amy639434.typeform.com/to/rr5xqSiS?typeform-source=warriorschool.co

    From relationship to results: how you actually build the body you want

  8. 16 Mar

    The Relationship Era: Surrendering to the timeline — Why body recomposition takes longer than you think

    In this episode of the Warrior School Pod, I explore why building the bod you love often takes longer than expected — and why fighting the timeline can actually slow your progress. If you’ve ever felt frustrated with body recomposition, strength training results, or fat loss progress, this conversation will change how you think about training. I share how your nervous system, metabolic health, and recovery capacity determine the pace of transformation — and why the most powerful shift you can make is learning when to push and when to surrender to the process. It’s about understanding the era you’re in, choosing the right pace, and building a powerful relationship with your body and the practice. And sometimes the most powerful thing you can do… is stop fighting the timeline. Listen to this episode if you: Feel like your body isn’t responding to training anymore Are frustrated with slow body recomposition progress Want to understand how stress and recovery affect fat loss and muscle gain Feel pressure to get results faster with your training Want to build a powerful relationship with your body and the practice In This Episode Why body recomposition often takes longer than women expect How age, stress, recovery, and life context change the training timeline The difference between surrendering to the timeline vs giving up Why your body — not your mind — ultimately decides the pace of change How to identify whether you're in a maintenance season or a sprint season The nervous system’s role in body composition, recovery, and adaptation How impatience and pressure can actually slow your progress Why the right strategy depends on the era of life you're currently in. Key Takeaways The body is the boss — We like to think our mind is in control — but when it comes to health, fitness, and adaptation, the body ultimately sets the timeline. Surrendering doesn’t mean giving up — Surrendering to the timeline means accepting the order in which things happen. It means trusting the process and continuing to show up with the right strategy. Your era determines your pace — The training strategy that worked in your twenties may not work in your forties. Your body, stress load, recovery capacity, and life context all matter. Not every season is meant to be a sprint — Sometimes the smartest move is maintenance. Sometimes you sprint. The key is knowing which season you're in. Pressure slows progress — When training becomes driven by urgency, control, and impatience, the nervous system often pushes back. Powerful Quotes From The Episode “The body is the boss. We like to think our mind is running the show… but she isn’t.” “Surrendering to the timeline doesn’t mean giving up. It means accepting the order in which things happen.” “A lot of you want the result before the relationships have been built.” “Sprints work when they’re chosen — not when they’re forced.” “The Relationship Era isn’t about waiting. It’s about choosing the right pace for the era you’re in.” Ask Yourself What is my relationship with the timeline right now? Am I trying to force the result?Am I putting unnecessary pressure on myself?Or am I working with my body, my life, and the season I’m in? Because when the relationship with the timeline changes… everything else starts to move. Subscribe to The Warrior School Podcast If this episode resonated with you, make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next series. And if you loved the Relationship Era, I’d would love to hear from you. Send me a DM or email and share what landed for you. WARRIOR SCHOOL If this series has shifted the way you think about your body, your training, and the practice… and if you’re doing all the right things but your body still isn’t responding the way you expected — if it feels like you’re throwing things at the wall trying to figure out what actually works — that’s the work we do inside Warrior School. Warrior School is where we take these ideas and apply them — with coaching, structure, and a community of women committed to building strong, capable, powerful bodies. Inside Warrior School we strengthen the nervous system, the metabolic system, and the mechanical system so your body can finally respond to the work you’re putting in. If that’s the work you want to do next, you can apply to join Warrior School using the link in the show notes. I’d love to work with you. Apply to join Warrior School here https://amy639434.typeform.com/to/rr5xqSiS?typeform-source=warriorschool.co 🎧 If this episode shifted something for you: Share it with a woman who is exhausted from ticking boxes. Screenshot and tag @amybowe sharing your biggest takeaway (and so I can see you listening. 3. Follow and subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode in The Relationship Era series.

    The Relationship Era: Surrendering to the timeline — Why body recomposition takes longer than you think
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Welcome to The Warrior School Podcast - THE podcast for women who train. Warrior Schools mission is to completely redefine how you train, and how you see exercise and life. Myself, and tons of experts, will help you learn how to play (and win) the new game in women's health and fitness as a woman in her 30s, 40s and beyond. You'll find tons of info on training, nutrition, hormones, female physiology and mindset to help you build a strong foundation and prepare your body (and mind) well for this second stage of your life.

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