Habits and Hustle
Episode 438: Tara LaFerrara: Why Quitting Alcohol Is Your Secret Weapon for Better Fitness
Fri, 04 Apr 2025
Is alcohol consumption holding back your fitness progress? in this Fitness Friday episode on the Habits and Hustle Podcast, I talk with Tara LaFerrara and she gets brutally honest! We discuss why alcohol, even in moderate amounts, negatively affects everything from sleep quality to body composition. We also dive into the importance of daily mobility practices for joint health as we age and share practical advice on finding motivation beyond willpower. Tara LaFerrara is a certified strength and mobility coach who transformed personal struggles with body image and unhealthy habits into a mission to help women approach fitness from a holistic perspective. With 13 years of industry experience, she advocates for sustainable, enjoyable movement rather than strict regimens, empowering clients through her app Broadzit and virtual training programs. Tara specializes in a well-rounded approach to fitness that combines strength training expertise with mindset coaching, emphasizing community support and individual needs. What we discuss: Why alcohol is "straight up poison" for fitness goals and overall health The impact of alcohol on perimenopause and menopause symptoms The visible aging effects of alcohol on skin and body composition The importance of joint mobility as we age (1-5 minutes daily) How to incorporate mobility work into your existing routine The best time of day to work out based on personal circumstances Thank you to our sponsor: AquaTru: Get 20% off any purifier at aquatru.com with code HUSTLE Therasage: Head over to therasage.com and use code Be Bold for 15% off TruNiagen: Head over to truniagen.com and use code HUSTLE20 to get $20 off any purchase over $100. Magic Mind: Head over to www.magicmind.com/jen and use code Jen at checkout. BiOptimizers: Want to try Magnesium Breakthrough? Go to https://bioptimizers.com/jennifercohen and use promo code JC10 at checkout to save 10% off your purchase. Timeline Nutrition: Get 10% off your first order at timeline.com/cohen Air Doctor: Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code HUSTLE for up to $300 off and a 3-year warranty on air purifiers. Bio.me: Link to daily prebiotic fiber here, code Jennifer20 for 20% off. Momentous: Shop this link and use code Jen for 20% off To learn more about Tara LaFerrara: Website: https://www.taralaferrara.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taralaferrara Podcast: Broads: The Bold & Badass Fitness Podcast for Women Find more from Jen: Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: https://www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagements
Chapter 1: What is Fitness Friday on Habits & Hustle all about?
Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits & Hustle. Crush it! Hey friends, you're listening to Fitness Friday on the Habits & Hustle podcast, where myself and my friends share quick and very actionable advice for you becoming your healthiest self. So stay tuned and let me know how you leveled up. What's your take on intermittent fasting for women?
I don't have enough information to give my opinion on that. However, I personally am not someone that would do that.
How about alcohol and body composition?
This is a hard, unpopular opinion for a lot of people, I'm sure. Alcohol is poison. It's straight up just shouldn't be drank. I don't drink it at all anymore. It's empty calories. It makes you feel like shit. Speaking of sleep, like it's going to make you sleep like shit. I work with a lot of women in perimenopause and menopause. It will make your symptoms 100 times worse.
Chapter 2: Why is alcohol considered detrimental to fitness and health?
Like that is a proven scientific fact. If you want to feel better and healthier, I would say one of the first things you should do is maybe not even give up, but just lighten how much you are currently drinking.
Now, listen, you're preaching to the converted. I don't drink at all. To me, it's the biggest waste of calories ever. I'd rather eat the drink any day of the week. And what it does to your skin and to your body is horrendous. It also ages you 20 years. I mean, people I look at who are like 45 who are drinkers versus not, massive difference.
Chapter 3: What are the visible effects of alcohol on aging and body composition?
massive difference you know the bloating the just in terms of this overall what it's just it's the worst thing you can do like i agree like smoke a joint instead of uh honestly then other than then take it like drinking a glass of wine i mean i'm not i'm not saying do either one but if you're gonna if you're gonna pick your poison i'd rather you pick that my opinion
Yeah, although I will say as someone that is California sober, marijuana is not poison. Alcohol is.
Well, I was going to say that, too. I don't think it's poison at all. But it's how you consume it, though, right? Like if you're smoking it, it's not so great for you. If you're vaping it, it's not so great for you. If you eat it, I guess it's much better for you. Or take a gummy. That's way better for you.
Yeah, but then you have to look at like sometimes they put flavorings or something in those too. I mean, if you look at the grand scheme of what you consume, how can you take out just like small things that can make you feel better in general? So for me, my first thing was alcohol. I'm never going to give up a chocolate chip cookie, but I will give up alcohol.
Chapter 4: How does alcohol impact sleep and what are the benefits of quitting?
Oh, my God. I could not agree. By the way, if there's more calories and empty shit in a glass of wine, it's all sugar. You're basically drinking sugar. Yeah. Versus having a chocolate. It's like so much more satiating. But I guess there are people out there who don't care about food and they like alcohol. Not me. That's not me, but...
But also it's very important to note that there's a lot of people that say, oh, well, I just drink one glass or I just have this. What is that? That's not big of a deal. And it's like, no, you're right. It's not that big of a deal. But that one glass of wine will still interrupt your REM sleep. It will still hinder you the next day.
Even if you think it does nothing for you or it actually makes you relax, it actually does the opposite in your brain. So important to note.
Oh, yeah. I think the number one thing people should stop doing if they want to look fit and be fit and be healthy is eliminate alcohol 100%. Worst thing they can possibly do for their bodies, for their overall, for their skin, for their looks, for everything.
And also that people don't even realize that like you may think that, oh, you know, I'm not sleeping well, but that's what that you end up eating more because of it. You end up making bad choices because of it. You're not like the ripple effect is so terrible. Yeah. Okay, one more question. And then we're going to like wrap mobility. Let's talk about mobility.
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Chapter 5: Why is joint mobility crucial as we age?
How important is mobility in comparison to let's say the weight training, the cardio, all these things? Because I think that like, as we get older, our mobility, our flexibility definitely gets worse.
100%. Mobility is in all of my training and I really just add it within the warmup and actually like in the strength programs. So it doesn't necessarily have to be this like extra thing, although it can be. Mobility is just the ability to move freely within your joints. So if we think about strength training is for our muscles, mobility is for our joints.
So for example, sitting down on the floor and standing up, putting your arms overhead and not having to arch your back to get your arms there, being able to twist to the side without your lower back hurting. It's just to be able to like move a little bit more freely within your body.
Chapter 6: How can you incorporate mobility exercises into your routine?
This is obviously very important as we age because we want to be able to, if we do fall, get back up on our own, be with our kids on the ground as they, you know, are growing up. Also be able to like take care of our own selves, like wipe your own ass at the end of the day. Right. And so as long as you are making sure that you add that within your training.
How?
In your training session.
Sorry. What are some good mobility exercises? Yeah.
Yeah. So I like to look at mobility from a joint by joint perspective. So we think about our major joints that we use on a day-to-day basis in a lot of exercises are ankles, our hips, our shoulders, wrists, and spine, really, I would say are like the biggest ones. So for ankles, that's something that you can do a passive squat. I'm sure you've heard of it as like a yogi squat.
A lot of people in Asia sit in these squats all day long. You'll see babies sit in a squat. So it's just heels and toes out and just sitting down.
Also, guys, you can Google it. You can Google what a passive squat is. Yeah. And that's really good for your mobility.
Yes. So that is hips and angles. You can kind of do both of those at the same time. You can kind of rock in and out of that. I do it while I'm watching TV or I'm on my phone or something easily while I'm doing something else. Really great one for hips is called a shin box switch. You can look that up, but it's basically 90 degrees on either side and you're just rotating your knees back and forth.
So you sit on your butt, your legs are at 90-90 and you just shift your knees, but keep your heels and butt on the ground. This is great for internal and external rotation of the hips. So a lot of times we are moving forward, but it's nice to be able to move the hip joint side to side and around. So this is a great one for the hips.
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