The Ready State Podcast

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What if the biggest breakthrough in women’s health isn’t a brand-new protocol… but learning how to better apply the fundamentals to the person in front of you?

Kelly and Juliet Starrett sit down with Dr. Abbie Smith-Ryan, professor of exercise physiology and nutrition at UNC Chapel Hill, to explore what the latest research can teach us about training, body composition, creatine, and women’s health across the lifespan. Drawing from more than 15 years in the lab – and her experience as a collegiate runner who suffered 9 stress fractures – Abbie explains how our understanding of female physiology has evolved.

They unpack how women can use body composition data without becoming ruled by the numbers, why creatine may become even more valuable as we age, whether women really need female-specific strength programs, and how to approach HIIT and recovery during perimenopause and menopause.

The takeaway? Human bodies aren’t black and white. And now that we have more tools than ever, the focus should be on finding the ones that work best for you.

What You'll Learn in This EpisodeHow Abbie’s experience with 9 stress fractures shaped her approach to training, fueling, and women’s health
Why body composition data can be a valuable tool for tracking muscle, bone, fat, and long-term health
What the research says about creatine for women, from muscle and hydration to potential cognitive benefits
Why women don’t necessarily need “women-specific” strength training – and when female physiology should influence how you train
How to use high-intensity interval training, recovery, and scaling to get results without turning every workout into an all-out effort

Key Highlights: (00:00) Intro
(01:43) Meet Dr. Abbie Smith-Ryan
(04:00) Advocating for Women's Health Research
(06:37) Women's Health Research: What's Changed & What's Missing
(11:40) 9 Stress Fractures, Underfueling, & Low Energy Availability
(17:54) Body Composition & Injury Risk
(23:21) DEXA, Bod Pod, & Measuring Body Composition
(30:43) Body Composition for Midlife Women
(35:47) Juliet's Bone Density Loss During Menopause
(37:28) What the Research Says About Creatine for Women
(41:42) Creatine Hesitancy, Myths, & Safety
(45:41) Creatine Loading & the Menstrual Cycle
(48:23) Creatine Dosing: 5g vs 10g & Brain Benefits
(52:32) What's Changed in Athletic Performance
(54:43) Applying Elite Performance Science to Everyday Women
(55:27) Women-Specific Strength Training: Science vs Marketing
(1:00:32) Overcomplicating Exercise
(1:02:16) HIIT, Recovery, & the Menstrual Cycle
(1:04:50) HIIT vs Sprint Interval Training
(1:07:30) The 20-Minute HIIT Protocol: 1 Min On, 1 Min Off
(1:09:48) Abbie's Proof of Practice Podcast
(1:13:49) No Black & White Answers
(1:16:07) Have We Improved Sports Science?
(1:20:23) Infinite Shelf: '90s Rap Music

Huge thanks to our sponsors, BEDGEAR, Momentous, and LMNT.

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Juliet and I are officially empty nesters. Both girls are launched, the bathroom is clean every morning, and we're figuring out what the next phase looks like. It rhymes with dusk bike rides, protein shakes for dinner, and a cereal bar in Marin we somehow didn't know existed until now.
We also revisited one of our longest-running household debates: women's pain tolerance. An Instagram infographic claiming childbirth equals breaking 20 bones made the rounds and reignited everything. We cover what the McGill pain scale actually says, why medical research has failed women on pain, and the full story of my eardrum, which ends with blood in the ER and a pain scale I have never quite recovered from.

From there we got into our book Outplay and the data shaping every youth sports conversation right now. The number everyone cites is that 70% of kids drop out of sport by age 13. A researcher on LinkedIn tried to find the primary source and came up empty. So did researchers at the Aspen Institute. So did everyone else. We unpack what the CDC data actually shows and why citation drift doesn't mean youth sports is fine.

The biggest chunk of this episode is something I wanted to make sure we gave real time to: what two years of running the Starrett System has actually taught us. Most people coming into the program weren't working a coherent physical practice at all. They might have been doing some weight training or riding a Peloton, but nobody was hitting all three legs of the longevity triangle: strength, conditioning, and mobility. Nobody was sprinting. And a lot of people believed that the moment they felt discomfort, they should stop.

Watching that shift has been one of the most rewarding things we've done. Member Lily gained 5.4 pounds of lean mass in eight months. Cole said he's craving training every day for the first time. The fall cohort starts September 8th. Early bird: $200 off at starrettsystem.com.

What You'll Learn in This EpisodeWhy the "70% of kids drop out of sports by age 13" statistic cited by the American Academy of Pediatrics and major sports governing bodies may have no verifiable primary source, and what the CDC and Aspen Institute data actually shows
Why the claim that childbirth equals breaking 20 bones is a myth, and what the McGill pain scale says is actually more painful
Why medical research has historically underserved women on pain, and how self-reporting skews the picture
What two years of running the Starrett System revealed about what most people were actually missing in their physical practice
Why having a strength practice, a conditioning practice, and mobility work are three separate things, and why most people were only doing one of them
What the "longevity triangle" is and why most wellness and longevity conferences have almost no conversation about it
How teaching people to train around injuries and physical limitations, rather than stop, has been one of the biggest shifts for Starrett System members
Why the program's nutrition approach centers on abundance and eliminating nothing, and what happens when people who have been chronically underfueling start eating enough

Key Highlights(00:00) Welcome to RECESS / Kelly and Juliet go officially empty nest
(00:31) The bathroom story and Byron Katie's towel wisdom via Gabby Reese
(03:19) Life as empty nesters: bike rides at dusk, protein shakes, cereal for dessert
(04:43) Listener ask: send your best recipes for two
(05:18) Women vs. men pain tolerance: the debate renewed
(06:44) Kelly's eardrum story
(08:57) McGill pain scale and Juliet's finger
(11:11) Outplay: preparing families for youth sports
(13:32) Pay-to-play, private equity, and the Norwegian youth sports model
(16:26) The 70% dropout stat and its missing primary source
(19:12) Starrett System: origin story from the YPO conference
(26:48) Starrett System: member results and the September 8th fall cohort
(30:41) Cereal bar in Marin and the great Raisin Bran debate
(34:07) Wrap and early bird CTA

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Andy Stumpf spent years navigating some of the most extreme environments imaginable as a Navy SEAL, but he says the hardest lessons he learned had nothing to do with combat. In this episode of the Ready State Podcast, Kelly and Juliet Starrett sit down with the retired SEAL Team Six operator, pilot, skydiver, and author of Drownproof to explore the mindset that helps people stay steady when life feels anything but that.

From a chaotic military skydive gone spectacularly wrong to the emotional toll of divorce, Andy shares why the ability to "chunk" overwhelming challenges into the next manageable step has become one of the most valuable skills he's ever developed. Along the way, the conversation dives into self-talk, asking for help, ownership, leadership, flow state, and why resilience isn't about being fearless – but about learning to focus on what you can control when everything else feels out of control.

Whether you're navigating a personal setback, leading a team, raising kids, or simply trying to build a more resilient mindset, this episode offers practical lessons for staying grounded, making better decisions, and keeping your head above water when the inevitable storms of life arrive.

What You'll Learn in This EpisodeWhy resilience is less about toughness and more about controlling what you can control
How breaking overwhelming challenges into small, manageable steps can help you navigate almost any crisis
The surprising role that self-talk plays in performance, confidence, and decision-making under pressure
Why asking for help is one of the strongest leadership skills, not a sign of weakness
How finding a healthy "flow state" can improve focus, reduce stress, and build long-term resilience through work, sport, or everyday life

Key Highlights: (00:00) Intro & Andy's Background
(05:15) Origin of "Becoming a Supple Leopard"
(11:00) Backstory of "Drownproof" Title
(17:49) Where We Learn Resilience & Life Skills
(20:22) Breaking Tasks Into Small Chunks
(23:12) Andy's Wild HAHO Jump Story
(30:43) Everything Goes Wrong Mid-Air
(37:52) Getting to Safety & Lesson From the Jump
(43:04) How Divorce Was Harder Than SEAL Training
(47:38) The Power of Self-Talk
(49:11) Asking for Help as a Sign of Strength
(54:32) After-Action Reviews, Accountability, & Leadership
(54:34) Why 85% Quit BUD/S
(58:14) The Chunking vs. Overwhelm Theory
(1:00:00) Hell Week & the Psychology of Time
(1:09:57) "It Takes Longer to Do It Wrong"
(1:17:32) Writing Drownproof
(1:20:38) BASE Jumping, Wingsuits, & Risk
(1:23:44) Flow State, Not Adrenaline
(1:31:23) The Sphere of Influence Exercise
(1:33:32) Redirecting Negative Self-Talk
(1:34:47) The Infinite Shelf: Money & Meaning

Huge thanks to our sponsors, LMNT and Momentous.

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We're back from one of the most bonkers trips of our lives. Juliet and I just finished hiking the Haute Route, the classic alpine traverse from Chamonix, France to Zermatt, Switzerland, roughly 90 miles over 10 days with our daughters Georgia and Caroline. Caroline's senior trip. Years of mental infiltration paid off.

Neither of us trained specifically for it. I spent the spring managing a torn ACL and calf. I skipped the surgery because we had this trip on the calendar, and I wasn't willing to miss it. Somewhere around day eight or nine on the trail, my knee actually started to feel better. That's the thing about movement as medicine: there's no substitute for the reps.

The trip had other highlights. We've been telling Georgia since she was three that we would someday find wild Edelweiss in the Alps. On day four, crossing one of the high passes, she spotted a patch. She actually cried. It was one of the best moments of my life.

We also dig into the news that Thorne, one of the most trusted names in supplement quality, has been acquired by Procter & Gamble for $3.8 billion, and why this deal raises real questions worth watching.

Then there's the Tour de France Femme and Kasia Niewiadoma's historic climb on Mont Ventoux: 5.3 watts per kilo for 55 minutes. We talk about the coverage problem, the naming problem, and why this race deserves far more than it's currently getting.

We close out with GLP-1 Watch: new data on cancer risk reduction, dementia, addiction disorders, and which grocery category is taking the biggest hit. Spoiler: it's chips.

New episodes of The Ready State Podcast drop every Thursday.

What You'll Learn in This EpisodeWhat the Haute Route is and why it's one of the great alpine treks in the world
How Kelly completed 10 days of hiking in Switzerland months after tearing his ACL and choosing not to have surgery
Why going uphill is easy and the downhill will humble you, and what "tissue exposure" means for how you prepare for a big adventure
The story behind finding wild Edelweiss on a high alpine pass and why Georgia cried when she spotted it
What Thorne's $3.8 billion acquisition by Procter & Gamble means for supplement quality, and what to actually watch for
Why Kasia Niewiadoma's 5.3 watts per kilo for 55 minutes on Mont Ventoux is one of the most extraordinary athletic performances in recent memory
What the current GLP-1 research shows about cancer risk, dementia, and addiction, and why all of it still needs to be taken with real caution
Why where your GLP-1 is compounded matters and what the black market problem looks like

Key Highlights: (00:00) Welcome back to RECESS, and a recap of the hippo attack episode and puppet theater
(01:30) Introducing the Haute Route: Chamonix to Zermatt, and how Caroline's senior trip idea came to be
(02:22) The scale of the Swiss Alps: glaciers, wildflower valleys, and a moonscape where a glacier used to be
(02:41) Meeting hikers at the mountain hut who ask "Have you been training for this?"
(03:12) The bonkers 8-hour day: two 10,000-foot passes, extreme terrain, and extreme views
(03:50) The $500 Edelweiss bounty, day four on the trail, and Georgia's emotional discovery
(05:51) Fit but not prepared for the downhill: what tissue exposure means and why the kneecaps paid the price
(06:07) Kelly's "sprain plus": tearing his ACL and calf in February and deciding to skip surgery for this trip
(07:38) Working the plan: movement, swelling management, and a knee that improved over 10 days of hiking
(09:45) The family dimension: hiking as a unit of four, bird launchers, and the mountain bike trike side trip
(10:50) Thorne acquired by Procter & Gamble for $3.8 billion: what it means for supplement quality
(12:12) Why NSF Certified for Sport matters and the precedent of P&G's 2012 New Chapter acquisition
(14:28) Tour de France Femme: Kasia Niewiadoma's historic climb on Mont Ventoux
(17:40) The coverage problem: Peacock picking up halfway, and why this race needs Phil Liggett on the mic
(18:53) What 5.3 watts per kilo for 55 minutes actually means (and why you should try your local bike)
(19:47) GLP-1 Watch: grocery data from 150,000 households, chips down 10%, and yogurt on the rise
(24:18) GLP-1 and cancer: Penn Medicine study, breast cancer data, and why these are still observational studies
(25:53) GLP-1 and dementia: 40–70% lower risk across large studies, and what the mechanisms might be
(25:56) The caveats: observational data, socioeconomic skew, compounding quality, and the black market problem
(26:32) GLP-1 and addiction: alcohol, cocaine, nicotine disorders, and rewiring the brain's reward center
(28:20) What are we living for: Caroline's college move-in, the river trip, and whether Kelly needs an ACL for ski season

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Movement doesn't have to feel like punishment to improve your health. In fact, Caleb Marshall believes the secret to staying active for life has far less to do with discipline – and far more to do with joy. In this episode of the Ready State Podcast, Kelly and Juliet Starrett sit down with the creator of The Fitness Marshall to explore why fun, play, music, and community may be some of the most overlooked ingredients for long-term health. 

Caleb shares how growing up feeling like he didn't fit into traditional fitness or dance spaces inspired him to build a radically inclusive movement community where people of every age, ability, body type, and experience level feel welcome. They also dive into the surprising psychology behind making fitness sustainable, why creating a judgment-free environment helps people move with more confidence, and how Caleb's devastating ACL injury reshaped his relationship with recovery, resilience, and trusting his body again. 

Whether you're someone who loves the gym, avoids it altogether, or simply wants to enjoy moving again, this conversation is a powerful reminder that the best exercises are often the ones you look forward to doing.

What You'll Learn in This EpisodeWhy joy, play, and fun are essential ingredients for long-term consistency in fitness
How creating an inclusive, judgment-free environment helps people fall in love with movement
The surprising mental health benefits of dance, rhythm, and being fully present in your body
What Caleb's ACL recovery taught him about resilience, patience, and rebuilding trust in his body
Why mastering the basics – instead of chasing the latest fitness trends – is still the most effective path to lasting health

Key Highlights:(00:00) Intro & Guest Bio
(03:53) Welcome to the Podcast
(05:04) Caleb's Fitness Philosophy & Origin Story
(10:07) Joy as a Health Strategy
(14:09) Building Truly Inclusive Content
(20:10) The Ready State Live Tour Story
(23:05) Disarming People Through Non-Judgment
(25:03) Buying Richard Simmons' Wardrobe
(27:19) Origins of the Booty Army
(29:49) How a Fitness Marshall Video Gets Made
(34:56) Craziest Fan Moments: Zara Larsson & Sesame Street
(38:20) Audience Size & Recognition
(40:35) Tearing His ACL on Camera
(41:47) The Psychology of Injury Recovery
(50:37) Adapting to Seated Chair Workouts
(52:17) Launching Active Booty
(57:00) Balancing the On-Camera Persona with Real Life
(1:00:57) Movement Practice & Training Routine
(1:03:16) Staying Trend-Proof
(1:05:50) Most Popular Videos Revisited
(1:08:02) Infinite Shelf Recommendation
(1:09:30) Closing Thoughts

Huge thanks to our sponsors, Momentous and LMNT.