How To Optimize Your Workouts & Nutrition For Results That Last
If you’ve ever felt like you know what to do for your health but can’t seem to follow through, you’re not alone, and it’s not about discipline. According to Ashley Damaj, BCBA, MSW, CN, CPT, behavior analyst, nutritionist, therapist, trainer, and founder of Mothership Wellness, the key to long-term health isn’t willpower; it’s strategy. She’s also the personal trainer for my wife, mindbodygreen’s co-founder and co-CEO, Colleen Wachob, so we’ve experienced her incredible expertise and influence firsthand.
On the mindbodygreen podcast, Damaj explains how changing your body often starts by changing your mind. Drawing from her work in behavioral science, fitness, and clinical therapy, she helps women over 40 reshape not only their bodies but also the thoughts, routines, and environments that shape their health decisions.
A behavior-first approach to fitness & health
Most health plans focus on macros, movement, and motivation. But Damaj starts with behavior. She believes lasting change requires more than just knowledge or good intentions. It’s about understanding what drives your daily choices, then systematically adjusting those inputs.
For example, modifying the environment where behaviors occur, like meal prepping to reduce impulsive eating or setting out gym clothes the night before, can be more effective than relying on motivation alone. “How we structurally bring in elements to modify our environment, beliefs, and thoughts truly dictates our outcomes in a deeper way,” she explains.
Rather than asking clients to push harder, Damaj asks them to think more strategically. This mindset shift is especially important for women in midlife, when hormonal shifts, energy fluctuations, and deeply ingrained habits often make it harder to “just be consistent.”
Muscle is your superpower
Damaj’s approach centers around body recomposition, building lean muscle while reducing fat, as a primary goal for long-term health. While many women have been conditioned to equate weight loss with cardio and calorie cutting, Damaj emphasizes resistance training as the foundation for sustainable results.
“When you gain muscle mass, a lot of other things begin to happen,” she says. Muscle supports metabolic health, hormone balance, blood sugar stability, and mental resilience. Despite common fears, she assures clients: “We don’t get bulky when we lift weights.”
Rather than prescribing a one-size-fits-all workout, Damaj uses a layered approach that includes strength training, coordination work, agility drills, walking, cardiovascular training, and somatic movement, offering both structure and flexibility.
But perhaps most importantly, she says movement should feel good. She explains that enjoyment is one of the strongest predictors of whether someone sticks to a fitness routine. This could include skipping a gym session for an early morning hike, or playing your favorite sport as your workout for the day.
Building the optimal workout
Damaj’s go-to workout structure is simple and strategic: 40 minutes of resistance training followed by 20 minutes of cardio. She emphasizes lifting first, cardio second. “If you start with cardio, you’ll fatigue yourself and won’t be able to perform your lifts,” she says. That said, if starting with cardio gets you to the gym, that’s still a win.
For cardio, Damaj prefers intervals over steady-state training. Alternating between high and low heart rates can improve fat oxidation and metabolic efficiency. This might look like walk-jog intervals, depending on your fitness level. “You get more bang for your buck when your heart rate oscillates,” she explains.
When it comes to lifting, tempo matters. Damaj recommends a slow, controlled eccentric phase (lengthening the muscle) and a faster concentric phase (contracting). Rushing through reps or using the same weights for months stalls progress. “Building muscle requires increasing the stimulus,” she says, which means gradually lifting heavier or increasing volume over time.
She also alternates training weeks—strength (6–8 reps, heavier weights) and hypertrophy (10–15 reps, moderate weights)—to target different muscular adaptations. This approach balances building strength with visible muscle gains.
Every 8 weeks, she recommends a deload week: lifting lighter, reducing volume, or focusing on yoga and recovery. Life often builds in these breaks naturally, but intentional recovery helps prevent burnout and supports long-term progression.
Protein, timing & the biggest nutrition mistake
One of the biggest gaps Damaj sees in women’s health, particularly for those in their 40s and beyond, is under-fueling. Specifically, most women are not eating enough protein to support muscle maintenance, let alone growth. And it’s not just how much protein you're eating; it’s when you’re eating it.
“The most effective thing we can do to optimize body composition is to eat a higher-protein diet,” Damaj says. She notes that women in midlife often fall into patterns of skipping meals, working out on an empty stomach, or underestimating how much fuel their bodies need, especially if their goal is fat loss. But this approach can backfire, leading to fatigue, poor recovery, and stalled results.
Nutrient timing is critical here. “It starts with pre- and post-workout nutrition. No woman over 40 should be walking into the gym in a fasted state,” she explains. In a fasted state, cortisol levels are typically elevated, which can make it harder to build muscle and easier to break it down. Pair that with midlife hormonal shifts, and the body becomes less responsive to exercise-induced muscle building, unless it's properly supported with nutrition.
Why protein and carbs matter before & after your workouts
Damaj recommends eating a balanced pre-workout meal that includes both carbs and protein, ideally about 45 minutes before training. Her go-to: one banana with a scoop of mindbodygreen protein powder, which delivers roughly 30 grams of carbs and 20 grams of protein. She keeps fats minimal pre-workout, since they can slow digestion and blunt the quick energy response needed for strength training.
Post-workout, the goal is to replenish glycogen and support muscle repair. This means consuming a solid mix of carbohydrates and protein, ideally within 30 minutes of finishing your session. “Carbs are the car that drive protein into the muscle,” she explains, so focusing solely on protein won’t cut it.
The combination helps shuttle amino acids into muscle tissue during the short post-exercise anabolic window, something Damaj says becomes increasingly important with age, especially for women who naturally have a narrower recovery window.
The takeaway
If you’ve hit a wall with your health goals, it might be time to zoom out. Damaj’s integrative method reminds us that sustainable health is less about trying harder and more about creating a system that supports your success.
That means choosing movement you enjoy, lifting weights regularly, eating enough protein, especially around your workouts, and reworking the behavioral and environmental patterns that are keeping you stuck.
The result isn’t just a stronger body. “You will see results, and you’ll feel results,” Damaj says. And perhaps more importantly, you’ll build the confidence and clarity to keep going.