[00:00:00] Philip Pape: Welcome to the Wits and Weights podcast, for busy professionals who want to get strong and healthy with strength training and a sustainable diet. I’m your host, Philip Pape, and in each episode, we’ll examine strategies to help you achieve physical self-mastery through a healthy skepticism of the fitness industry, and a commitment to consistent lifting and nutrition.

[00:00:28] Welcome to episode 17 of Wits & Weights. Today, I have the honor of hosting a very special guest Tyla Serro for the first ever interview on this podcast. Tyla is not only an engineering colleague of mine. We worked for the same aerospace company. She finds time to train and compete as a raw power lifter.

[00:00:50] Placing second, this March in the 2022 USPA Connecticut state championship in her weight class. And she only missed coming in first by a close tiebreaker against their training. I invited her on the show because I think her story is very relatable to those of us who are working professionals with busy lives, maybe a full-time job and a family who still want to find a way to get big, strong, jacked, ripped, fit, tone, lean, healthy, whatever term you want to use.

[00:01:16] Tyla juggles work family and the challenges of life using a sustainable approach to training and nutrition. So I wanted to pick her brain and how she makes it all work Tyla. Sarah, thanks for joining me on the show. 

[00:01:28] Tyla Serro: Thank you, Phillip. It's an honor to be your first guest. 

[00:01:31] Philip Pape: Absolutely. I'm really excited. I know we've talked a lot recently about training nutrition, um, excitement, frustration, all these things.

[00:01:40] I just want you to start off by telling us your story, you know, how did you get into lifting? 

[00:01:46] Tyla Serro: Sure. So, as Phillip mentioned, um, I worked for the same company that he does. And since about March of 2020, we've been working with. And, um, I'm officially not going back into the office, probably ever. I opted to be completely remote.

[00:02:02] And for me personally, that has been a huge game changer life hack, in my opinion. Um, I'm not totally against going into the office if I absolutely need to. I can, but now, um, I became a parent since they started the pandemic too. So just having that. Almost two hours back and commuting time has really been huge in my ability to do all the things that Phillip just mentioned.

[00:02:29] So 

[00:02:30] Philip Pape: that makes a huge difference. Doesn't it? All that time. Yeah. 

[00:02:32] Tyla Serro: Yeah. But other than that, um, I am a wife, I'm a military spouse. My husband is actually in the air national guard and he works at Pratt and Whitney, which is a sister company to the company that Philip and I work for. And he actually just got home from a depression.

[00:02:48] He's we're both into health, wellness, fitness, if you will, but he's a runner and actually training for the Marine Corps marathon in DC. So I'm not into that 

[00:03:02] Philip Pape: and different sides of the spectrum. Right? All fitness though. 

[00:03:06] Tyla Serro: I'd much rather strength train. But, um, other than that, you know, those are probably the least interesting things about me.

[00:03:13] I think the most interesting thing about me is that I volunteer with, uh, Here in Connecticut called protectors of animals. And I've been with them since 2018. I work with the rescue dogs. Uh, they work with, they have cats as well, and I volunteer about two hours every week, uh, walking them, feeding them, cleaning, kettles, and doing that sort of thing.

[00:03:33] And that's kind of my passion other than lifting. Oh, that's that's 

[00:03:37] Philip Pape: awesome. Yeah. We have a couple dogs. One of them is getting up there in age and yeah, they're, they're part of the family. So yes. Awesome. So a lot has happened during the pandemic in the last few years. It sounds like your, your family situation changed.

[00:03:51] Your husband, went on deployment and came back. Um, I've read a lot of your Insta posts about the, your powerlifting journey. You know, what, what got you into that? I mean, how, how did you get to that point here, knowing that you're a busy professional, like I am, and you know, there's only so much time for other.

[00:04:07] Tyla Serro: Sure. So I started competing in the sport of powerlifting in 2016. So it's been about six years that I've been competing. And what really got me into that was before then I had been lifting, you know, at like planet fitness, commercial type gyms. I did start work, um, working out at a CrossFit gym around 2013.

[00:04:28] That didn't last very long. I got hurt pretty soon into that doing like overhead snatches and things. I did something to my shoulder and was like, I just, 

[00:04:39] Philip Pape: it sounds like a whole layer storage. 

[00:04:42] Tyla Serro: Yeah. Everybody's intro to CrossFit, but I mean, I, I could go down a tangent on that, but, um, and so I then after that, I just, I wasn't, I was starting college and, you know, I wanted to look good and that was kind of my primary reason for working out, but I was definitely not doing the right things.

[00:04:59] You know, I was doing way too much cardio, not eating. Binge drinking and doing all sorts of things that were probably negating most of the stuff that I was doing inside of the gym. So I've been working out, I would say consistently since around 2013. Um, however, in 20 16, 1 of my best friends, who's actually my nutrition coach right now.

[00:05:21] She did her very first powerlifting meet, um, in Rhode Island and invited me to go be a second. And I went, I had no idea what to expect. I kind of had that stereotypical idea of what a powerlifter was or looked like as like somebody commits kind of fat kind of fit. Um, You know, maybe like Sumo wrestler. I didn't, I didn't really.

[00:05:45] Yeah. You know, I was like, that's not really for girls, is it? But whatever I went and I was amazed and an off by watching, you know, 63 kilogram girls. Lifting pulling 400 plus pounds squatting 300 plus pounds benching close to 200. And I literally was like, wow, can I be that strong? I want to be that strong.

[00:06:09] That's so cool. So right around that point, 2016, I was wrapping up my undergrad. I was getting ready to start graduate school and I started tranq training at, um, a local gym called lightning fitness. It's in Southwest. Um, it's a phenomenal, phenomenal facility. Uh, they keep the owner actually just bought a bigger space and there they're doing so much more than what it was back then.

[00:06:35] And that was really kind of like the PivotTable pit pit of. 

[00:06:41] Philip Pape: Pivotal target 

[00:06:44] Tyla Serro: point in my life where I really started to training kind of became a big part of my life. A lot of the relationships that I have today, friendships, um, stem from that gym and from the people that I met there. And so, yeah, it's been about six years that I, that I started powerlifting.

[00:07:00] I did my first competition. Three months into actually working with. So my very first coach was actually the owner of that gym. Um, Matt mills, and about three months into training with him. I did my first competition in, uh, USA PL down at Gleason's performance gym in Derby, Connecticut. And I fell in love.

[00:07:21] It was, it was so much fun. 

[00:07:22] Philip Pape: So you jumped right in. So I want to, I want to take a step back. You, you mentioned how you started with CrossFit, your original goal was aesthetics and getting fit, getting, you know, um, you had some injuries, you maybe didn't see the results you wanted and eventually you found strength training and what it, what it sounds like to me at least is you have a passion for the training itself.

[00:07:42] Maybe the process, maybe the competition and getting strong, which is a very. Goal or, you know, immediate goal than aesthetics, even though it kind of gets you that result. Well, would 

[00:07:52] Tyla Serro: you say? Yeah. And that's the interesting thing because you know, when you're, I think not even I was going to say a young person, but I think most people want to look good and.

[00:08:03] Um, a lot of times you'll hear people say like, I'm exercising, I'm eating right. I'm doing all these things. And do you know, I actually had a coworker recently reach out to me and say, Hey, I know, you know, a lot about like exercising. Um, this is what I'm doing. Like, do you think I should be doing more core workouts?

[00:08:18] And I, you know, that's the biggest thing is people will ask about like crunches and sit ups for abs. And I'm like, it sounds so corny, but you know, I remember hearing this years ago, like abs are made in the kitchen. And, uh, that really stuck with me. And it's you see it through the work that you put in that if you do eat well, 80% of the time, um, you know, more, if you can eat better more of the time.

[00:08:45] Great. You know, if that can just be like a habitual thing that you do, you just learn to like eating well, you're going to see body composition changes and the aesthetics will kind of come along. The, uh, strength training, if you will. So it's kind of, you get the best of both worlds. You get to be strong and you get to look good.

[00:09:04] Philip Pape: And I liked that you mentioned nutrition because you can't have one without the other, unless you want to be an old school powerlifting look right. Want to get bigger. Um, but yeah, you mentioned, uh, nutrition and you also mentioned core work and all of these things. I bet you're getting your squat up to a new PR help your stabilizer muscles as well, or.

[00:09:24] Tyla Serro: Yeah, definitely. So I'm going into core stuff. So. I have baby about two years ago. And actually during my pregnancy, I started to notice that my core was changing quite a bit, which is a total normal thing that happens during pregnancy. Um, your abs literally have to separate in order to make room for growing baby, but it really freaked me out.

[00:09:47] Um, I would be doing certain movements and exercises and I would just see this dome slash cone. They call it doning and combing, um, where you get this kind of like little mountain Ridge that kind of jumps out in between your. And, you know, if, if you're in tune with your body and you're paying attention and you see something like that, it looks really freaky.

[00:10:07] And, uh, I ended up going to work with a pelvic floor physical therapist, and that was really incredible, um, for, for a few reasons that that physical therapist taught me how to actually breathe and brace into those like deep transverse abdominal muscles that most people cannot properly. And even as like somebody who had been lifting for years at that point, doing a very, very simple exercise to try to get those, um, muscles engaged was really, really hard.

[00:10:43] Um, so I think that when you learn how to breathe right, and brace, right? Like you said, you know, my, my squat going up, I've noticed a huge change in the way that I squat and deadlift. And I can tell too, after I do a live. If my bracing was just off just a little bit, that lift is not going to move as easily if I engage properly.

[00:11:04] Philip Pape: So, and that's with a belt without a belt. 

[00:11:08] Tyla Serro: Um, I like wearing a belt when I get past like an RPE seven or eight, or it depends too on reps. So if I'm doing more than like three reps, I prefer a belt because it's easier for me to feel myself bracing and I, and I don't think that. The way that I use my belt is I can feel it's at an actual physical barrier that I can feel my belly breathing out against and making that contact with the belt.

[00:11:38] So that way I know I'm engaged. Does it actually support my back or do anything like that to help me be stronger? No, I don't think so. Um, It maybe gives lifters a little bit of like a placebo effect, thinking like this is keeping me safe, but again, if you're, if you're bracing your core correctly, You don't really need a belt.

[00:12:01] Philip Pape: Yeah, no, I totally agree with everything you said, like, you know, if I'm working in the 65 or 75% range, I'm not going to wear a belt, but as I warm up to doubles, triple singles in that range, you right as it gets heavier, it helps with the inter abdominal pressure and you shouldn't rely on it for, you know, preventing an injury.

[00:12:18] Like I had back surgery last year and I know that breathing. It helps, but you don't rely on it to have bad form, you know? Um, so that's awesome. Uh, so we talked about you getting into powerlifting, your coach, uh, very soon after starting got you to compete. Was that hard to do, um, or did you jump at the chance?

[00:12:42] Tyla Serro: Um, so I was kind of cocky or arrogant, I guess when I first started my lifting career, I remember thinking. You know, oh, I just pulled three 15 for like the first time these are new beginnings. I'm going to be pulling 406 months. And, uh, I remember my first meet. So the thing with powerlifting too is you should, if you're training for a meet, you really should train with the committee.

[00:13:07] I don't know how much you want me to talk about 

[00:13:08] Philip Pape: that, but I love to hear, because this is something I don't know much about. And I think the listeners would be fascinated with. 

[00:13:14] Tyla Serro: Okay. So with powerlifting and with any sport, right? There's always rules. And within the different federations in powerlifting, there are different rules as well.

[00:13:24] So I've competed in USA, PL and USP. They have very similar rules at their, at the four, but they do have different rules as well. So what I'll be talking about is mostly as it relates to USDA, because that's what I'm most familiar with in that the last three or four competitions that I've done have been USPA.

[00:13:44] So in the sport of powerlifting, there are three main lists that you are tested or that you could be in, which is squat bench and deadlift. You have three attempts for each lift. So a total of nine lifts for the day. And there are three judges, one that sits darkly in front of you and two to the side. So often you'll hear like, um, something like three white lights and that's what you're going for.

[00:14:06] So the judges will all bass, you know, they're held to a standard, they have to be like either state qualified, nationally qualified judges. They have to sit through a test, um, in order to qualify to be a judge. And then they actually have to sit for a certain number of meats as. In order to be like, basically pass a standard that they're all judging to the same standard.

[00:14:27] And I make a point of that because different federations don't have standards like that. So if you go compete in, um, I don't, I don't want to throw shade, but I'm kind of going to like an RPS meat or something like that. I'm not really sure what their standards are for picking judges and stuff like that, but they're kind of notorious for people that squat really high or yeah.

[00:14:50] You know, like you'll just see the white light somebody, and then the next person will go and you'll be like what that call made no sense. So, yeah. That's why I prefer. Especially for new lifters. I think it's better to compete in like a USPA or USA, PL Federation they're, um, USA. PL is drug tested. USPA has tested and on tested competitions.

[00:15:15] Um, but they're both held, held, like I said, really high standards, so that that's important, you know? Um, so as I was saying, there's three judges and your goal is ultimately to get two out of the three judges to give you a white light, which means you pass a lit. Um, you have to so say, so you start with SWOT and if you fail your squat on your first attempt, you have to retake that attempt again.

[00:15:39] If you feel it a second time, you get one last chance to take that squat. And if you fail it a third time, this is called something, um, bombing out. You don't want to bomb out because then depending on the size of the meat, if it's a small local meat, they may still allow you to compete for the day, but it's not going to counter.

[00:15:58] Got it. 

[00:15:58] Philip Pape: And it just, it ruins your total, of course. Yeah. 

[00:16:02] Tyla Serro: Like you, you could potentially, you know, go have, you could have a really good day with bench and deadlift, but it doesn't actually count. Sure. You're not going to set any records or anything like that. Um, so you, you want to be conservative with at least your first attempt when you pick it, it should be something that you could do.

[00:16:17] You know, if you have a cold or flu, you're not feeling well, you're really confident you're going to go under that bar and you're going to be able to hit that. 

[00:16:25] Philip Pape: Got you. So you're, you're not, you're not going to hit, go for your all time PR on the first, first 

[00:16:28] Tyla Serro: lift. No, probably not a good idea. Um, so yeah, so that's, that's kind of how the day looks.

[00:16:36] And then there are things called lights, which are based on weight class usually. So there'll usually be a flight, a B, C, um, and depending on it, the meat is split up into like one large meat for the day. Sometimes, if it's a, they'll split it into two, which I prefer meats that are held on two days. Usually they'll have like the females on one day and the males on the other day.

[00:16:56] And that makes for a shorter day because otherwise, you know, like, you'll go squat, like meats typically start around 9:00 AM. I'm in one of the first classes because I'm a relatively small female and all squat and be done by like 10 squatting. And I'm not going to bench probably until like noon. And I'm not going to devil it until two or 3:00 PM.

[00:17:18] So it's a long day 

[00:17:21] Philip Pape: on a rest between lifts. Okay. 

[00:17:23] Tyla Serro: Yeah, a lot of, a lot of, so you have to be smart too with like how you warm up and how, you know, how quickly you do that. But ideally you have a coach and the handler, if your coach is not also your handler, um, and that handler should be somebody who can help you throughout the, literally handle you throughout your day to make sure that you're staying hydrated, you're eating.

[00:17:45] Um, you're not just sitting there eating candy, right? That was something that I did a lot during my first meet, because I remember going to that meet where I watched my friend compete and seeing all these powerlifters, eating donuts and sour patch kids, and like a bananas. Kind of crap food all day long.

[00:18:03] So I thought that's just what you do. That's what powerlifters do on, on the day of a meat. Yeah. But then as, as it went on and I competed more, um, I noticed that stuff would, is not something that I eat on a regular basis. And, you know, I don't have stomach issues per se, but if like, I, my nerves are going and then I'm eating something that I'm not used to eating.

[00:18:23] The last thing you want to have to be doing on the day of a meet is be running to the bathroom. That's not any fun. Yeah, definitely. Um, I would say for people who are just getting started into powerlifting, just pick a local meat, you know, if it's in the state that you live in, that's great. There's no point in traveling really far, um, for your first meet.

[00:18:45] It's that traveling in and of itself is stressful and you want to limit as many things as you can to. Have a good day. Yeah. 

[00:18:55] Philip Pape: That makes sense. And it's cost last. You don't have to travel. Um, I, you mentioned powerlifting or competing in general can be intimidating for some people. It's not something I've ever considered, to be honest.

[00:19:06] Um, ma maybe in the masters class, it'd be a good thing to consider. But, um, you talked about at the beginning, you, you thought you were being a little arrogant about your lifts and so what happened there? 

[00:19:18] Tyla Serro: Yeah. So. I actually had wrote down. I can find it in my notes, my first, uh, meet. So my first meet was in September of 2016.

[00:19:28] Like I said, I competed in USA, APL. I went six for nine for the day, which isn't great. Um, I think I had jumped some commands, so I remember hitting my third squat and I swatted it perfectly. But that's one of the things too, that I, I forgot. I neglected to mention earlier when I was talking about how powerlifting is set up, um, you're given commands.

[00:19:50] So for the first slip SWAT, there is, um, two commands and you'll on rack. The bar you have a minute to, so as soon as you get on, they'll say platform ready. The lifter walks out onto the platform. You have a minute to do the lift, which a lot. That's another thing too, that a lot of new lifters or new computers will think of they're rushing, rushing, rushing, and they, they go fast.

[00:20:12] A minute, seems like a short amount of time, but if you're ready, you're standing there. You're chopped up. You're ready to go. Your lift is going to take about 10 seconds. Take your time, take a breath, take a breath, set up. Try to tune all Alvin, all the noise. Don't look at the spectators. Focus on like that head judge.

[00:20:30] Cause he's going to have his hand up like this and he's going to say squat, and he's going to his hand is going to come down. You're going to squat. You're going to stand up and then you're gonna to. For the rack command. And that is something that a lot of new lifters don't do, especially if they nail the lift because they're excited, they're like, yes.

[00:20:49] And then they rack it too soon. And then you just, you got three red lights because you didn't wait for a command. Okay. 

[00:20:55] Philip Pape: Now, now explain that to me. Cause I always wondered that command as well as the bench pause at the bottom, like I always wondered about why, why, why do they exist? 

[00:21:04] Tyla Serro: Um, it's a country. It's one of, so don't quote me, right?

[00:21:07] I'm not a, I'm not a USPA judge, but it's a control thing for one. So I know for bench, right? The point of the, so with bench that's one of the more technical lifts, there's three commands. So they'll say start you'll unrack the, the bench or the bar and you'll. You'll bring the bar down and you want to bring that bar down, slow and control, the more slow and controlled that you bring that bar down the faster you're going to get a, um, an up command, um, or press command, I should say.

[00:21:37] So if you bring that bar down sloppily, and it's kind of like coming down and you're, you have no control over that bar. They're going to, what the judges are looking for is no movement in the barbell. That's so that's why those commands exist. And I think it's another thing that has to do with standards, right?

[00:21:54] You have to squat to a certain depth, which is like breaking parallel with bench, your butt. Can't come up off the bench, um, USP your head, 10 chemicals off the bench. USA cannot your feet. They can be up like you can be up on your toes. Some people I lift that way. Other people have their heels completely flat, but your feet cannot move.

[00:22:15] They cannot slide or anything like that. Or it can actually lift up off the floor. And it's just, in my opinion, it's a way to kind of. Make it, so that way there is a standard across the sport. That way everybody's kind of lifting to the same. It's hard. It's hard to grade something or judge something when you don't have like standards, I guess, you know, so deadlift is the easiest one.

[00:22:40] You, you go out there and you pull that bar and then they just say down and that's it. So a lot of things, a lot of times new lifters will, um, they'll go out there and no. They think like you're going to get a command to say, like start or something, but you don't. So it'll be like this awkward thing where like the judges aren't allowed to talk to the lift and then I'd be like, okay, go now.

[00:23:00] You know? So sometimes it's funny. You'll see, like when it's somebody that's like 60 years old and it's their first meet and they're super excited and it's a local meat to most, you know, like, um, a friend of mine is actually the meat director for USDA. They're not gonna take it that seriously. Like somebody is like, okay, you know, you just.

[00:23:18] It's not a big deal. Um, but if you're competing at like the national level or even higher than that, it's, you're not going to get that leeway. I guess that was another thing too. And I was talking about being arrogant. I remember doing my first meet and I had a few friends who had competed at the national level and I was like, oh, I'm going to go to nationals next.

[00:23:41] Philip Pape: You got to start somewhere. I mean, I like the ambition, right. You know, to push yourself. Um, I mean, let's, let's so let's talk numbers. You made a lot of progress over the years, especially even in the last few years I saw, you know, the excitement of getting back into it with your training partner. I mean, Y, you know, sharing your PRS or even just the process you went through to get to this point.

[00:24:02] Tyla Serro: So my very first meet, I totaled 650 pounds. I think I squatted about 2 25. Maybe I bench around 115 pounds and I dead lifted. I want to say like three 15 and I was, I was stoked to get an over 300 pound dead lift. I thought that was 

[00:24:17] Philip Pape: so cool. Awesome. That's 

[00:24:19] Tyla Serro: great. Yup. And then my second knee. A little less than a year later in may of 2017, I totaled 705 and a half pounds, which that's a decent jump.

[00:24:33] Right. I think that's probably no looking at it to add anything more than like, you know, At 50 pounds plus to your total, 

[00:24:45] Philip Pape: right? Yeah. 

[00:24:46] Tyla Serro: Yeah. Yeah. The following me I did was in August of 2018. So about a year later and I totaled seven 16, so there wasn't much progress there. That was only about 10 pounds that I added to my total.

[00:24:58] I did another meet the following spring in April of 2019, and I totaled 7 43 0.4. So, I mean, I'm still making progress. Every meet. My total was getting better. Which is something that I didn't actually even realize until I started preparing for this conversation, actually. So I was, I was proud of myself. I gave myself a little pat on the back for seeing that like, Hey, you know what, it doesn't, it doesn't always feel like you're going in a smooth line, right.

[00:25:28] With lifting. But overall, my, my journey with looking at it has been. '

[00:25:34] Philip Pape: cause in, in the moment you feel like you're, you're not quite where you want to be, but relative to the last time, if you're still getting stronger and that's the point, right? That's the point. 

[00:25:41] Tyla Serro: Yeah, for sure. And, um, so the fifth meet that I did was in November of 2021.

[00:25:46] So can't believe that was already, almost like six months ago. I totaled over 800 pounds. That was a huge goal for me. I totaled 804.7 pounds. And I have to say that was probably the best meat of my life. For, for a bunch of reasons, there was a lot going on at that time. I, my husband was deployed. My kid had been sick.

[00:26:09] Like non-stop, I know you have children to fill up. And it's probably been awhile since they've been in daycare. But my goodness, like, you know, at that point I wasn't even worried about COVID. It was just like hand foot, mouth disease, stomach bug. It was so bad. And an I had gotten sick right before the MI.

[00:26:29] Wasn't good, but I ended up going nine for nine that day, which was, uh, that was the first I had never, I had never hit all of my attempts on all of my, uh, lifts. I squatted, um, 303 that day and it, it blew. And, uh, I could have cried, you know, for me to squat over 300 pounds that took six, six years for me to get to that point.

[00:26:52] So that was a really good day for me. And. Uh, my friend, my training partner was going to compete in March cause she had actually broke her foot that fall and it kind of threw things off because initially she was going to compete with me in that meet as well. Um, she didn't end up competing, but I still did.

[00:27:11] And despite all of the crazy stress that I had going on in my life, I had a great day. So I was really stoked about. And then the most recent meet that I did, I came in first to, at that meet. Awesome. 

[00:27:23] Philip Pape: That was good. 

[00:27:25] Tyla Serro: But there may have only been, I think there were only three people, two or three. I'll have to look at that.

[00:27:31] So there, there may have only been two people in the meat and I came in first, which whatever, but whatever still got the first place that was cool. My most recent meet was in March of this year and I told them 8 21 0.2. I did not squat over 300 pounds like I did in November. But I added about 10 pounds to my bench.

[00:27:52] So I benched 1 75 point something, which was really awesome. Um, I think for a lot of, I don't know about men, but for females, bench is probably one of the harder lifts to like see, go up and 

[00:28:08] Philip Pape: pretty quickly on 

[00:28:08] Tyla Serro: that one. Yeah. Like, you know, it's, it's pretty hard to make big. Achievements there, like usually a five pound PR couple pound PRS is huge.

[00:28:18] Whereas squat and deadlift, I feel that there's a little bit more room for bigger, bigger PRS. So for me to, for me to bench 1 75, like that was, and it wasn't, it wasn't super slow either. I felt like I saw more gas in the tank, which was pretty awesome to think that, you know, back in 2016, when I went to see my friend compete and I was watching female lifters about the same size as me benching close to 200 pounds.

[00:28:43] And me thinking, oh, that's going to be me next year. And then me a few years into Powelton being like, I am never going to bend over 150 pounds to now benching over 150 pounds. That's it's, it's a really, it's really cool to, to see that happen. And then deadlift 

[00:28:58] Philip Pape: it. Was that something you, you specifically focused on that lift, uh, leading up to that, or just kind of got lucky and pushed it up more than the others?

[00:29:07] Tyla Serro: No. Um, I will have to credit that to having a really awesome coach. Uh, I think I'm benching more or doing more arm or upper body, like, uh, variations of benching, I think is important. Like don't just binge once, once a week or overhead pressing. And I know you're a big fan of that. That's huge too. Like if you can overhead press a lot, you could probably have a pretty big bench.

[00:29:34] So. Yeah, bench. That was probably, I don't know. It's hard to say between bench and deadlift. Cause devils has been a lift that I have struggled on for ever. And I'm like you not as severe, I've definitely have not had back surgery or anything like that, but I have had back pain on and off. Ever since I started trait training, like I can remember, you know, you you'll pull your back doing something or you might not feel it when it happens and then you go home and you're like, okay.

[00:30:03] Yeah, this isn't good. And then you lay down in bed and you're like, I can't get up. You can't walk. And it's just that like crippling feeling of pain and I've gone to PT and chiropractor. After a couple of weeks, it starts to get better. And I, and I still don't know whether or not that was because was it the dry needling?

[00:30:21] Was it all the PT was at the chiropractor or was it this, or was it just time? Right, like sometimes time just, it just takes time for you to heal a strain, muscle strain or something like that. But, um, hurting my back a couple of times, it made me kind of afraid to do. Um, I was so especially, so I pulled conventional for the longest time and I tend to pull out of position more so on conventional, you know, my back will round like a cat as I'm pulling, which you don't want that to happen.

[00:30:56] I mean, you, you wait, you want to 

[00:30:58] Philip Pape: set you back. So some, some elite lifters get away with, you know, odd form and they develop and adapt to it over time. But yeah, generally you don't want to do. Right. 

[00:31:08] Tyla Serro: Right. And that's the thing too, you know, like form is, is important. I think, I, I believe that it is. It may not be the only thing that keeps you from getting injured, but it's definitely going to minimize, minimize that.

[00:31:21] And it is a lot, a lot of weight too, you know, it's, it's a lot of weight. 

[00:31:24] Philip Pape: Hey guys, I just wanted to thank you for listening to the podcast. If you find it valuable, you'd be doing me a huge favor by sharing it on social media. Just take a screenshot, share to your Instagram story or Facebook, please tag me so I can personally thank you.

[00:31:40] And we can talk about what you found. And how I can improve again, an incredible thank you for supporting the podcast and enjoy the rest of the episode. 

[00:31:49] Tyla Serro: So I was afraid to like lift over 300 pounds for a long time and I would constantly sandbag deadlifts. Like I would just not put in a lot of effort because I don't want to push it.

[00:32:00] I don't want to. Yeah. But I'm at that meat. So the meat that I just did with my friend, Sam, it's funny because the whole day, right? Like, so. I just went squats, just weren't feeling good, but, um, I squatted 2 97 on my second attempt and salmon salmon, my, uh, our coach and everybody was like, you know, you squatted three or three at your last meat, go for 3 0 8.

[00:32:24] I kinda knew it wasn't there that day, but I was already at three a week. How did I have chosen 3 0 3? What I've gotten it I'm honestly not sure. I, I don't think so. 2 97 did not move that well. Um, But I ended up failing that third attempt. So I was calculating, right? Like, so I knew Sam had her, she got all three of her lifts in squat.

[00:32:45] She squat around 2 75. So then when bench came, I was doing the math in my head because as much as like, you know, I'm happy for my friend and I. The whole point of competing is you want to win? Why can't you don't want to win? Right. So I'm in my head thinking like, okay, what do I have to hit on bench? What do I have to hit on deadlift to get a first place here?

[00:33:07] And so, um, uh, I had failed my third attempt, so I knew I had like 10 pounds on the squat. And then for bench, um, we, we took the same attempts for bench or benches, very, very close, and she failed her third attempt at 1 75. So she just. 1 65 for bench, but her deadlift has like 20 plus pounds on mine. Okay. So I hit my third attempt in bench 1 75.

[00:33:31] So then I had, I had her in the squat and the bench by squat by like 10 pounds bench by 10 pounds. But I knew when deadlines were coming, I'm like, she's got like 20 to 25 pounds on by the same 

[00:33:42] Philip Pape: amount. Yeah. You 

[00:33:43] Tyla Serro: know, so in my head, I'm thinking like this is so close and I was so happy for Sam to like, like I said, we're training partners.

[00:33:52] It's friendly competition. So we go for Douglas and like her third devil's attempt was amazing. Like I was, I was as excited for her on that third attempt that I was for myself on my third attempt. I can't remember what she pulled, I think around like 3 70, 3, 69 or something like that, which is, is huge.

[00:34:11] And, uh, I had pulled 3 36 at my knee in November. Which was a PR by a couple of pounds. And, uh, I went for it on my third attempt, you know, I was like, whatever, I'm just going to go for it because if I don't hit this, I'm definitely not going to get first place. I went for 3 47 0.2, I think. I don't know what the 

[00:34:31] Philip Pape: 10 pound PR you're saying.

[00:34:33] Tyla Serro: Yeah, 3, 3 36 in November 3 47. Yeah. 11 point something pounds. Um, and I pulled and I pulled and I pulled and I waited for that down command and I got it. And then I. And the lights were actually broken for my third attempt. So they have little buttons that they press for the red and white license. And in my, in the video, you can see me like, look, I look like you're crazy person.

[00:34:54] Cause I'm like, where's the light? Where are the lights? And, uh, they had papers. So they, everybody, the judges held up like a white sheet of paper and I was like, 

[00:35:04] Philip Pape: I got three. And then you thought, okay, I won right. 

[00:35:08] Tyla Serro: Well, I don't know. I didn't talk about the other Sam at that point. I had not, I was not convinced that I had won the meat or out totaled my friend, Sam, uh, because I have not talked about the other Sam who was competing in our weight class that day.

[00:35:21] So there was another Sam in our weight class and she, I think that might've been her first meet. She's definitely, she's a new lifter, but she's strong as hell. Um, she has phenomenal, dead lifting. Her squat and bench. Isn't that great. But most lifters aren't when they first start. And I think that if she sticks with the sport, she's going to be a national lever level athlete, like most likely, um, she pulled, she outpolled Sam and I, and like I said, she's been lumping for like six months, I think.

[00:35:53] I'm not sure. Um, but yeah, she was, she was really strong. So Sam and I out total, Sam R and I out totaled Sam. Um, however, Sam L polled significantly more than us, and she's younger than us too. She's still in college. So, um, she's got a lot of, a lot of years to get better and to get stronger. And I, I think she absolutely will.

[00:36:16] So I, that whole, so then after the meet, right, like I was saying, it's a long day after we got done competing. Because there were two sessions in one day, the whole meat day goes till about seven or eight o'clock, which kind of stinks. Like you're stuck there for a long time. Um, my husband and son did come down to, I think they saw like some of my bench and deadlift, but like I have a toddler and that's, he likes to be running and not in a gym, like.

[00:36:42] Cooped up. And it's not really something that's super fun for my husband. He said they weren't going to stick around until like, you know, metals were being handed out and stuff like that. And I wasn't sure that I was going to stick around to metal suit because if I'm not placing, I don't really care. Um, and it, it just takes too long, you know, to, to be there from you're there from 8:00 AM to like 8:00 PM.

[00:37:01] It's a long day. But, uh, I was, so me, Sam RN, Sam Al, we were all very friendly. And that's another thing that I love about the sport of powerlifting too, is most people aren't for lack of better word, like Dick's like most people are really kind and helpful and want to help you. Right. So if you're warming up and there's one, um, so at this path neatly used a squat bar, which has knurling all across it versus like a power bar that has knurling in the middle of knurling on the side.

[00:37:32] I prefer a power bar, just because that's what I've used for the last 10 plus years. So I know exactly where my hands go 

[00:37:40] Philip Pape: comfortable. 

[00:37:43] Tyla Serro: Absolutely. And you know, Sam are my training partner and I had been training on a squat bar for the last, the whole entire meat prep. But I still, when I walk up to that bar, I'm like, where the heck do I put my pinky?

[00:37:55] You need to like break out a friggin ruler and measure it because it's just, it throws. So I'm like I was saying though, like in the sport of powerlifting, I have found that most people are very kind and helpful and friendly and I have a pretty outgoing personality too. So when I'm at a meet, I'll just walk up to someone and be like, Hey, I really like your singlet.

[00:38:14] Where'd you get it? Just to start conversation and kind of have that icebreaker and like, let people know, like, yes, it is a competition, but we're all here to first and foremost have fun. And that that's been something that I've learned too over the years is that. Don't take yourself so seriously, if you do, if you walk into that meat and you've got your headphones on and you're like, you know, screw everybody.

[00:38:35] I'm just here to like crush PRS. If you fail a lift and you're in that mindset of like, oh, angry powerlifter, you're probably gonna get like down on yourself and it's just going to spiral. Yeah. It's going 

[00:38:49] Philip Pape: to be devastating. Stay friendly, enjoy the community. It sounds like a great community. Um, and. And you've been doing it now for, like you said, six years, right?

[00:39:00] Um, you talked, so you talked about your training partner, Sam, you guys have like a friendly competition, so to speak and you also push each other. It looks like in training. I mean, what, what does your training look like? Um, and maybe talk about what it's like to have a training partner, what, you know, advice for some people listening as to how that works.

[00:39:16] Tyla Serro: Yeah. So I never had a training partner up until about the end of 2020, right. Um, I had powerlifting coaches who did my prescribed my training. And then I would, this was before I had a child. And, you know, that takes up a lot of my time now. But before then I would go to the gym and I would spend about three hours a day, maybe four or five, six days a week at the gym.

[00:39:41] Was I training for three hours? Absolutely not. I was probably training for an hour and a half, maybe two max, but it was a big social thing for me. So instead of like going to a bar or something like. That's what I did. And like I said, a lot of my close friends now are still people that, um, train at lightening fitness, but it just wasn't conducive for my life at that point anymore to train like that.

[00:40:03] And even like I had said, 

[00:40:05] Philip Pape: because of how much time 

[00:40:06] Tyla Serro: it took. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and just, it just, wasn't something that I was really super interested in. Um, I was breastfeeding, which that's a whole other thing too. Like I just, I didn't like to be away from my baby for that long. I didn't want to have to like bring a pump or anything like that.

[00:40:20] It was just too much. The thought was just very overwhelming and COVID was still, that was kind of the height of COVID as well. So the gym had just opened back up and I was not comfortable. I had a newborn baby vaccines were not a thing yet. It just wasn't comfortable being around a bunch of mass close people at the gym because.

[00:40:40] Totally understandable. 

[00:40:43] Philip Pape: Yeah. You've got a baby at home. Like I understand. So, 

[00:40:45] Tyla Serro: um, yeah, I, uh, I was kind of in this like depressed, maybe state and in the end of 2020, I, I stopped lifting. So if I back up a little bit to my pregnancy, when I noticed the whole diastasis recti thing going on, the coach that I had at the time was not very receptive.

[00:41:07] And I don't know how much experience he had with coaching pregnant. Well, I knew that that was a niche that other people, other coaches had more experience with. So I decided to 

[00:41:16] Philip Pape: do this is the abdominal issue you talked about. Okay. Okay. Just to clarify for, yeah. And I can't, I can't relate, 

[00:41:24] Tyla Serro: but, um, I had, I had read up on it that there were certain ways to breathe and my physical therapist who was like, absolutely no, I'm back.

[00:41:33] Is it called? Like. About valgus breathing. When you basically, when you do a squat or a w hold your breath. Yeah, that's it? Yup. Um, she was like, don't do that. Like imagine like your, your ad dominal area as a canister. And when you do salvo maneuver. You're putting so much pressure on like your pelvic floor and like there's already a baby growing there and you don't want to add all of that pressure because what happens when a pressure there's too much pressure it's Thanksgiving.

[00:42:03] Interesting. 

[00:42:05] Philip Pape: Okay. So you're being advised not to do that because of your unique situation. 

[00:42:09] Tyla Serro: Well, just, she just said during pregnancy, in general, not a good idea to breathe, breathe like that. 

[00:42:17] Philip Pape: Got 

[00:42:17] Tyla Serro: it. Yeah. You really should breathe through the lift, which that was completely foreign to me to breathe through a squat, breathe through a devil.

[00:42:23] Oh. So 

[00:42:23] Philip Pape: it's like you have to brace while breathing. Is that the idea? Yeah. 

[00:42:27] Tyla Serro: Like you're, you're not, you're not holding your breath at all. Um, you're trying to minimize as much pressure as you're putting on that, like pelvic girdle area. Um, so like I said, my coach didn't really know a lot about it. Wasn't really comfortable with it.

[00:42:41] So I started switched to, um, Briana battles. You are a female in this world and you have been pregnant or, you know, anything about that. Like, she's pretty big in that area. So she had a, uh, pregnant, pregnant and postpartum athlete training. And I actually really liked her program. It was more of like a CrossFit kind of like a power building type of thing.

[00:43:06] We still squatted a lot. Um, not really a lot of bench, but like I still deadlift. She was big on the, you know, breathing through each lift. Um, they had the app, I think, teachable. So it was, it was really easy to work with. Um, you could like watch a video of them doing the lifts. 

[00:43:25] Philip Pape: If you needed the, she found something that worked for you.

[00:43:29] Tyla Serro: It worked really well. And then that was like three months into 2020, and that was one of the pandemic hit. So I stopped having access to a gym at the time. Did not have a home gym. Uh, and nobody knew what the heck was going on with COVID so, yeah, and I kinda just was like, oh, whatever. And I stopped training.

[00:43:51] My husband, like I said, has always been a runner. So he was like, well, why don't you like pick up running? So I started running like a mile around the neighborhood, two miles, three miles, like, okay, I can do this, which I do not recommend starting like a completely new exercise regimen, like 20 weeks into a pregnancy.

[00:44:06] Probably not a good idea. So my husband was going for a longer run out, like one of the rail trails in our area. And he's like, I'm doing a five mile or today I'm like, okay. At five miles, no big deal. He was like, you sure you've only like run two or three miles. Yeah, I've got it. No problem. So I ran the five miles.

[00:44:22] It was an Allen pack and I was playing it. Cool. Like, yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine. And then by the time I got home, I was like, not fine. Uh, I think I ran maybe a couple more times. Um, and then I just kind of stopped lifting, like up until we, uh, we ended up getting a bunch of numbers. Bottom off of Facebook marketplace for a decent price.

[00:44:44] So I was doing some 

[00:44:47] Philip Pape: actually, yeah, I can totally relate. Yeah. Very few people had home gyms at that point, 

[00:44:51] Tyla Serro: but not structured. Like it was not structured at all. I'd stopped following that pregnant athlete program, wasn't really doing any. Then I had a baby, um, we bought a house. My husband was taking like a bunch of classes.

[00:45:04] He was going back into the office now. Cause at the time he was like active duty military leading up to his deployment. Um, so it was just really, really busy. And I could just feel my, and I, I had, okay. My, my maternity leave was up. I was going back to work. I was really stressed out about my son going to daycare because of course.

[00:45:24] Um, I wasn't sure how I would feel about going back to work. Thanks. I'm really grateful to be in a situation where had I had wanted to stay home. We would have been able to do that. Um, he went to daycare, I went back to work and I was like, yep. This is definitely where I like to be. So that worked out. And then, uh, that was probably around like November, October.

[00:45:43] December, our family ended up getting COVID and I was just bombed. I would just like, I didn't actually, I was asymptomatic that asymptomatic didn't have any symptoms. My husband was really sick. The baby was sick and I just was just not feeling good. And you know, it's so hard to look back on that time and say like, why wasn't I feeling good?

[00:46:03] Was it because I stopped lifting? Was it because I gave birth was because I gave birth during a pandemic. Was it, all these things combined, right, right. There was a lot going on, probably all the above. So I, I, my husband was like, you are miserable and you're kind of no fun to be around. And I really think you should go back to your gym because you're 

[00:46:21] Philip Pape: tasting it.

[00:46:23] That's what you love. And that's what makes 

[00:46:24] Tyla Serro: you feel good, right? Yeah. You know, and I was just like the thought, the thought of driving to the gym and like doing it. Like, it sounded good, but I wasn't sure if that was the right move. Um, So I had reached out to my friend, Sam and during the pandemic, her and her husband started building a really kick ass home gym.

[00:46:42] It took them some time, of course, over the year with all the shortages and whatnot, but they got some awesome equipment and she was like, Hey, why don't you come train with me? And that was actually, so the company that Phillip and I worked for, it shuts down between Christmas and new year's. We get like a week off.

[00:46:58] Um, so that week Sam invited me to come train. And I went there and, uh, Sam's husband, Carlos Rayez. He's a professional powerlifter, like ranked number eight in the world. Very strong guy. He and I look like, I look up to him like if Carlos gives me some advice, I'm definitely like, okay. Yup. Got it. So Carlos asked me that morning.

[00:47:21] He was like, what are you training today? No, I don't really know. I'm not sure. And Sam's like, well, why don't you do my program with. And I, and I was like looking at Sam and, you know, she's jacked and strong and those were programmed daily and I'm like, oh, I don't know if I can do your program, but I'll try it.

[00:47:41] Philip Pape: Maybe like a seven day 

[00:47:42] Tyla Serro: program or? Oh, no, no. Sorry. She trains, like, I think she's been training like four days a week. Yeah. Um, for years now, but poor choice of words. So yeah, so she she's been training on a weekly basis, whatever consistently and I had not been, so I knew whatever I did that day, I was going to be sore about what.

[00:48:03] Um, so I was like, all right, I'll do it. So I did all the same movements as her, but, you know, she was squatting with weight on the bar. I was squatting with the barbell and 45 pounds felt really heavy. Um, and I remember like, I think the day or two later, she was like, okay, like you coming over to train. I'm like, nah, I don't think so, Sam, I don't think I'm going to make it.

[00:48:19] Like, I feel like I got hit by a bus. I can't remember what she said to me. I wish I, I wish I still had the texts, but she was basically. Come on. Don't be like a chicken, like I can imagine. Yeah. Like the soreness doesn't last forever. Like just, just get here and train. And I was like, fine. And so I went back and then the rest is kind of history, right?

[00:48:39] Like since then her and I have been training consistently for a year and a half now. Um, and well, we knew my husband was deploying that wasn't like a surprise. So leading up to the deployment, I had said to my husband, like, listen to. We have a two garage bays. And I said, we're turning one of them into a gym because I know I'm not going to be able to get to Sam's house to train four days a week.

[00:49:04] It's probably not going to happen. I'm going to be doing things completely solo for seven months. So we need to get gym equipment making that a priority. And we did. And I'm glad that. Um, because it, it made being able to train for like my power lifting, meet in November a possibility when my kid was really sick.

[00:49:21] And the only time I could train was at night after he went to bed, which I do not prefer training at night. I definitely prefer training if I had it my way and I didn't work, I would train at like 10:00 AM every day after breakfast. Okay. You 

[00:49:34] Philip Pape: get the energy going? It's not too late in the day. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:49:39] And I hear you because I have to train early in the morning because of work. So there's a lot to unpack here. Um, because what I want to the heart of the matter here is the consistency. It sounds like you got significantly detrained we had the pandemic, so you didn't have a place to go. It's always a hassle to even go to a gym, right.

[00:49:56] Even when there is one available. So you had somebody that held you accountable, which, you know, maybe not everybody has that, but at the end of the day, it got you to try. Regularly. And then you did the home gym thing, which, which I've done. And I think I constantly encourage my listener to really think about that.

[00:50:12] It's a small investment compared to what you get out of it and the time you save and it's there, right. Staring you in the face. So you can't help it. 

[00:50:21] Tyla Serro: Yeah, exactly. And you know, my husband uses it too, even though he is a runner, like he, he does do some stuff, so it's, it's getting its use and it'll last forever 

[00:50:29] Philip Pape: runners.

[00:50:30] Don't try to do that, 

[00:50:32] Tyla Serro: but, um, it'll it'll if it, if you take care of it, it's going to last forever and it's you just can't it's invaluable, I 

[00:50:40] Philip Pape: guess. Absolutely. All right. Well, I would expect you to respect your time. I think I had, I had one last question I wanted to ask, um, and that is, do people have.

[00:50:49] Question or misunderstand what you're doing 

[00:50:53] Tyla Serro: all of the time. I'll pick a couple of things to talk about. First thing is, um, older family members, not even older, just family members will be like, you're gonna break your back. You're gonna hurt yourself. That's too much weight like, or no, you just like the, the stereotypes about like me being a girl or me being a woman and lifting, and it's not feminine.

[00:51:16] Like, you know, like whatever. No actually like lifting and I don't 

[00:51:21] Philip Pape: and I'm yeah, you're going to get too big. Right. Did you get that one? Like you're going to get too big or no, 

[00:51:26] Tyla Serro: you know, and, uh, my coach actually said this to me the other day. Um, my nutrition coach, she had said like, uh, I forget something about giving out free advice and just don't do it basically.

[00:51:36] Cause people aren't going to listen to you. Um, I can't tell you how many people have asked me, like, oh, you're in shape you lift weights. Can I, can you help me? How do I get to your point? And you're just, you give them like really basic information and then they proceed to not do any of it, or they'll say like, well, I don't want to get like big muscles.

[00:51:55] I just want to get tone, like a bodybuilder. 

[00:51:58] Philip Pape: And I hate the word you say, lifts those 10 pound dumbbells. I'm going to be, I'm going to look like a bodybuilder. 

[00:52:02] Tyla Serro: Yeah. And I hate, I hate the word tone. So I'm like, what does tone even mean? Like, do you want, you want to put on some lean muscle mass? Like what, but, um, yeah, so I think that the biggest thing I get.

[00:52:14] You're going to hurt yourself. Um, that has been like from the start. And I, I mean, I look back on some videos, right? And I'm like, Ooh, that is a cringey looking. But 

[00:52:27] Philip Pape: you have to figure it out at some point. Yeah. Cause I didn't want to mention the female angle. Right. Um, but, but you hit the nail on the head with the, I think they're not a double standard, but I mean like if, if somebody I'm a dude, you know what I'm saying?

[00:52:40] I'm working out. People are like, oh yeah, that makes sense. You know, that's generally accepted. But I imagine with, with being a woman that you get some weird looks sometimes. That's why I wanted to ask the 

[00:52:49] Tyla Serro: question. Yeah. I mean, or just the fact when I say I'm like powerlifter, people are like, No like female powerlifter, but it's so weird because I'm so far removed from that stage in my life.

[00:53:00] Uh, I've been a powerlifter now for so many years. So a lot of the circles that I'm in and the feeds that I follow are curated to other female lifters. So it's just, that's just the world that I lived. And every so often I'll talk to. Who doesn't shrink train and they'll say something that's just wild to me, you know, like wearing waist trainers or they're doing just tons and tons of cardio.

[00:53:22] And they're like, I can't lose weight and they're eating like 1200 calories a day and I'm like, dude, my toddler eats more than you 

[00:53:29] Philip Pape: too much cardio. 

[00:53:31] Tyla Serro: Yeah. So it's just, uh it's thanks. Like, I, I really do think the strength is for everyone. Um, I'd sent Philip a video the other day of like a woman who's in her second.

[00:53:41] Shrank training. I was like, that is so cool. You know, like you're never, you're never too old to start strength training. It really is for everyone. And you're probably going to lead a longer, healthier life. If you do lift some weights, 

[00:53:55] Philip Pape: that's what I totally advocate what you're saying. And how would you like, so people listen to this podcasts do want some advice.

[00:54:02] What is your advice for somebody who's maybe the brand new, or even maybe recreational wants to get more into. 

[00:54:09] Tyla Serro: Work with a coach. That's, that's probably the biggest thing in order for it to be sustainable. And for you to not actually hurt yourself, if you don't know what you're doing, um, because I don't know the science behind it and why I lift the way that I lift.

[00:54:20] Like, if you ask them, what kind of program are you on? I'm like, I think it's a power building right now, the phase that we're in, but I don't know, like the reason that we lift in the way that we do, but I know that it works. Um, and I have full faith in my coach to, to prescribe a program. That's going to keep me healthy and safe and having fun.

[00:54:40] Right. So that's probably my number one piece of advice. And the second advice is just pick a meet and sign up and sign up and do it. Don't don't yeah, don't wait until like you're oh, I have to be this strong for, I can do it because the sport of powerlifting, unless you are at that like elite national level, you're really competing against yourself at the end of the day.

[00:55:01] So if you're making PRS and you're, you know, Continuing to, to have progress. Then at the new day, you can copy because you're just competing against yourself. Really 

[00:55:12] Philip Pape: awesome. So find a good coach. However, you can get into it. Be consistent, have fun with it. Sign up for me. Go, go get at it and have fun and get strong.

[00:55:22] Um, so Tyla, where can listeners find more? 

[00:55:27] Tyla Serro: I am on Instagram @tylaserro. And, uh, yeah, if you have any questions or if you're new into lifting, I'd be happy to give you some advice. I'm not an expert, not a coach, but I can at least talk about my own personal experiences with the 

[00:55:40] Philip Pape: sport. Awesome. Well, thanks so much for coming on the show. I really appreciate. 

[00:55:45] Tyla Serro: Thank you Philip.

[00:55:48] Philip Pape: Thank you so much for joining me today. 

Before you go, I do have a quick favor to ask. If you enjoy the podcast, just let me know by leaving a review in Apple Podcasts.

This will help others find the podcast in search results, which makes a huge difference. Thanks again for joining me, Philip Pape, in this episode of Wits & Weights. I’ll see you next time, and stay strong.