Ever since we had Dr. Shannon Ritchey on the show, you guys have blown up the episode with comments, wanting to know more. Well, you’re in luck: there’s another Dr. Shannon Ritchey podcast with TSC here for you now!
For those of you who want to know a little bit more about the incredible woman who founded Evlo Fitness before you dive into her must-watch episodes, we’ve got the details available for you below.
Dr. Shannon Ritchey is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, a fitness instructor, a personal trainer, and the owner of Evlo Fitness. She’s changing the way women work out through her company, creating an emphasis on gentle consistency rather than high-frequency intense workouts.
Her company has been absolutely blowing up, and for good reason. You get high quality workouts with Evlo Fitness, and they’re unlike any other classes on the market. Dying to know more? We’ve got the information you’re looking for right here. Our introduction on Shannon Ritchey is below. When you’re done, make sure to check out Dr. Shannon Ritchey’s podcast episode with TSC right here:
Meet Dr. Shannon Ritchey
In this post, we’re going to do a deep dive on Dr. Shannon Ritchey: who she is, how she started Evlo Fitness, and her thoughts on fitness in general. Of course, you can also learn about all of this in Dr. Shannon Ritchey’s episodes on the Him & Her show here and here. We loved having her on the show, so we wanted to share her story with our listeners.
Who Is Dr. Shannon Ritchey?
Dr. Shannon Ritchey is the owner of Evlo Fitness, a revolutionary fitness program with workouts designed and taught by Doctors of Physical Therapy (DPTs). Dr. Shannon is a Doctor of Physical Therapy herself. She’s also a 200-hour trained yoga teacher, fitness instructor, and Muscle Activation Technique specialist.
Her career began in the world of physical therapy, where she met with very fit clients like herself suffering from chronic pain just like she was. This is where her journey to Evlo Fitness began. But, how exactly did she go from Doctor of Physical Therapy to fitness entrepreneur? We’ll get specific below.
How Did Dr Shannon Ritchey Start Evlo Fitness?
Evlo Fitness is a brand born out of personal experience. Dr. Shannon Ritchey was working as a physical therapist while personally dealing with chronic pain. Her back, hips, wrists, and shoulders hurt constantly. Chalking it up to the pain of being fit, Dr. Shannon continued practicing an intense exercise regimen. No pain, no gain, after all.
Her clients came to her as well young, fit people dealing with chronic pain. Dr. Shannon counseled them within the same line of thinking that she applied to her own workouts.
But, something changed when she stopped consistently exercising: she felt better. She realized something needed to change, and it wasn’t her body. It was her routine.
She dove into the science behind exercising, and realized much of the fitness industry is filled with toxicity. Many of the popular workouts were about beating up your body, rather than building it up.
She learned that many people over exercise doing heavy cardio, and then they’re absolutely exhausted. But the science showed that lifting weights in a low-intensity workout is more effective at building muscle.
Many women feel intimidated by the thought of weight lifting, whether because of a fear of becoming “too bulky,” or they feel nervous lifting heavy weights or doing compound lifts. But Dr. Shannon Ritchey contradicts this. “It is very difficult for most women to build muscle,” she told us on her first episode of the Him & Her show.
Many women are also socialized to be thinner, leaner, and more toned. As a result, they may be trying high-rep workouts that don’t change body composition very much. It burns while you do it, but it’s not actually burning fat or building much muscle.
Dr. Shannon Ritchey wanted to provide a fitness program that was different. She wanted it to be good for your body, not hard on it. And, she wanted it to feel accessible for women, rather than intimidating. So, she created Evlo Fitness in 2020, with a goal of empowering women through science-backed training.
What Are Dr Shannon Ritchey’s Thoughts About Fitness?
Dr. Shannon believes in “less pain, more gain.”
When Dr. Shannon began researching exercise based on science, she realized that just because something is harder does not mean it’s building muscle. High intensity workouts that leave you feeling completely drained are not necessarily the best option for building muscle. These workouts are also more likely to leave you injured or burn you out.
Instead, Dr. Shannon built her company on the philosophy of Gentle Consistency®. She believes workouts should feel good, while still building muscle. Now, she ascribes to the “work smarter, not harder” philosophy, rather than “no pain, no gain.”
She believes your workouts shouldn’t be something you dread.
When you dread your workouts, you are much more likely to cancel on them. Dr. Shannon is all about her philosophy of Gentle Consistency®, where strength training is paramount, but so is kindness to your body. The goal is showing up to every workout and meeting yourself where you’re at.
Gentle Consistency utilizes progressive overload as its main strategy for building muscle. We’ll talk about what that looks like below.
The best workouts for building muscle push you close to muscle failure on every set within 6-30 reps.
Like we said above, Evlo Fitness’s program uses progressive overload to build muscle. In this practice, you slowly add more load to individual muscle groups, either by increasing the weight or increasing reps.
These workouts push you close to muscle failure within 6-30 reps on every set. This comes from science-backed research on the most efficient way to build muscle.
If you’re not familiar with muscle failure, it’s basically when your muscles can’t do the reps as efficiently without losing form. So when you get up there in the reps and you feel yourself slowing down, you know you’re making progress. For a better explanation, listen to Dr. Shannon explain it in this episode.
High-rep workouts do not make significant progress toward building muscle.
The science is in: high-rep bodyweight and resistance band workouts are not going to efficiently change your body composition. This means that there’s not going to be a significant increase in muscle, or significant decrease in fat.
While these workouts claim to burn fat in targeted areas, the burning feeling actually comes from a buildup of hydrogen ions in your muscles, rather than burning fat or microtearing muscles for growth. To learn more about workouts that might be ineffective for your fitness goals, you can check out the episode with Dr. Shannon here.
Women should be building muscle.
Many women fear lifting weights, for multiple reasons. For a lot of women, this fear comes from not wanting to look “bulky” or manly. We can promise you, it takes a lot more work to get bulky than you think. Many men try to bulk up for YEARS with no results. You’re certainly not going to bulk up overnight.
But, women have also been socialized not to be interested in lifting weights. For years, the goal has been to slim down, tone up, and generally make yourself smaller.
Dr. Shannon argues that weight lifting is a great way to empower women. She says she’s hoping the culture continues to shift away from the negative stereotypes about lifting for women. There’s a reason Lauryn is so into lifting weights, y’all! It can literally change your life.
Safe but consistent muscle-building exercise can support pregnant women’s postpartum journey.
Many professionals recommend conservative fitness regimens for pregnant women, such as gentle pilates.
We would never want you to ignore your doctor’s advice but we DO recommend that you have an in-depth conversation about your fitness status, goals, and lifestyle. Because, as Dr. Shannon recommends, pregnancy can actually be a great time to build muscle, or at least work toward building muscle.
Lauryn also pointed out that getting stronger during pregnancy makes sense so you are able to carry your baby more easily. For more of this conversation, check out our episode of the Him & Her show with Dr. Shannon Ritchey here.
If you’re not building muscle despite doing muscle-building workouts, you should take a look at your nutrition.
“Protein is your best friend,” Dr. Shannon told us in this episode of the Him & Her show. “Without the protein, you’re not going to build lean mass. Your diet and your exercise have to be dialed in in order for you to see muscle growth and physical results.”
Dr. Shannon Ritchey is revolutionizing the world of fitness for women.
We’re so impressed with the fitness program she’s built. We are all about empowering women here at The Skinny Confidential Him & Her show, so it’s amazing to see all the ways this program has impacted women. If you’re interested in checking it out, you can see what it’s all about here.
What’s your go-to workout in the gym? Are you seeing the results you’re looking for? Let’s talk about it! You can find us on our Instagram let’s chat!