Today I’m sitting down for a completely unscripted conversation with my friend and teammate, Jill Esplinn. Jill’s personal fitness journey mirrors what so many women go through today. If you’ve ever longed to feel stronger and healthier but weren’t sure where to begin, her story will truly resonate. I have a feeling it will leave you inspired, motivated, and ready to take your own first steps.
When Jil began, she had a naturally slender build with very little muscle. Once she started paying attention to her macronutrient intake, she noticed quick results and lost weight almost immediately. Still, the gym felt overwhelming at first. She went only here and there, struggling to build consistency and confidence. Over time, that began to shift. Interestingly, by filming Jil’s workouts I realized just how powerful digital coaching can be for guiding people through the gym and helping them feel supported.
Within just a few months of consistent effort, Jill’s body composition started to transform dramatically. Today, she has surpassed even my own results in some ways. She talks about how working with me not only changed her body but also gave her the knowledge and confidence to stay grounded in fitness long term. No matter what life throws her way, she knows how to reset and never feels completely “off the wagon.”
Jill’s transformation sparked for my program, The Body Composition Project. I realized that true change requires more than a quick fix. It takes time, education, and support, which is why the program runs for six months. In our conversation, I even challenge Jill to take the next bold step in her own journey, and together we unpack the very real fears that come with pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone
Now is the perfect time to make a change, and trust me, anything is possible! I hope you’ll join me in the Body Composition Project.
I hope you enjoyed this episode!
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Holly Perkins 00:00
If you have ever thought to yourself, I would love to be stronger, more fit and leaner, but I feel intimidated and I have no idea where to start. Today's interview will inspire you to take action. How surprised would you be if in just a handful of months, you will have reduced your body fat by 5% and increased your lean muscle mass by five or more pounds. If you want to hear what that actually takes, keep listening. Welcome to the Holly Perkins Health Podcast. If you're a woman over the age of 35 and have health, fitness or nutrition questions for your body, you're in the right place.
Holly Perkins 00:49
I'm Holly Perkins, a women's strength and nutrition expert with over 30 years of experience helping thousands of women transform their bodies to be stronger, more resilient and more energetic inside and out. Every week, you'll walk away with a real plan for improving your body composition so you can feel better now, reduce inflammation and create lasting health. So if you're ready to create the body that you need to keep up with the life that you love, let's dive in.
Holly Perkins 01:24
Hello and welcome. If you are new here, I'm Holly Perkins, and I help women, especially over 40, improve their body composition so that at least 70% of it is lean muscle. Why you ask, because when you do that, you'll reduce your risk of disease and create the body that you need to keep up with the life that you love. Today's episode feels extra special to me because it is a completely unscripted and unplanned episode, and it's an authentic conversation with my dear friend and teammate, Jill Esplin. Jill and I first met when I was in my early 40s, and we instantly clicked. Over the years, our relationship has worn many hats, from client and coach to trusted advisor, to travel buddy and now colleagues.
Holly Perkins 02:26
After years of nudging and begging, I finally convinced Jill to join my team, and I could not be more thrilled. What I love most is that Jill's personal fitness journey reflects what so many women experience today. If you've ever longed to feel more fit but weren't sure how to get there, Jill's story will truly resonate. I have a feeling that it will leave you inspired and motivated and ready to take your own first steps. So without further ado, let's dive in. I am so excited for you to meet Jill.
Holly Perkins 03:16
Personally, I am so excited about this interview today. So Jill Esplin is here with me today, and we have a very long history together. It originally started as good friends, and then it also launched into a coaching client relationship alongside our friendship. Many years later, now Jill is actually a part of my team, and I think about her so often because her personal journey from weight loss and a health journey to coming full circle to body composition, to me, speaks volumes for what so many women are struggling with these days. She is such an incredible example of what is possible when you start to look at your body, your health and your fitness very differently. So Jill, I'm so excited that you're here.
Jill Esplinn 04:17
Hello, hi there. I'm so excited to be here too.
Holly Perkins 04:21
I think it's really cool. So we're going to take this opportunity today to really talk about Jill's journey. She's my inspiration a lot of times for programming that I write for women, and some of my best programming has come because of watching her walk through her journey and also counseling and guiding her through some of the hiccups. She really is, and was, the inspiration for what is now hands down my best selling program, The Body Composition Project.
Holly Perkins 04:57
So we will talk about that as well. But first, Jill, take us back. Gosh, what, 10 or 15 years now, when you and I first met and you were interested in really improving your fitness and your health and getting into better shape. Take us back to then and what you were struggling with specifically.
Jill Esplinn 05:17
Absolutely. Yeah, so when I met you, you were the age that I am now. There is an age difference between us, and I thought, wow, she has the fitness that I desire to have when I turn 40. I remember saying at the time, I think I was 29 or 30, and I said, I want to be more fit on my 40th birthday than I am today. You were like, great, that's easy. And I was like, what? How is that easy?
Jill Esplinn 05:47
Because before meeting Holly, I had a mom who was very athletically inclined, who would always say, Jill, get to the gym, let's go. Growing up, I was always skinny, quote unquote. I learned later that that was called skinny fat. Holly taught me that. I appeared skinny, but actually I had no muscles and just a naturally more, not even lean, a skinny frame, but it was like fat on bones. That's how I would describe myself when I met you. Is that accurate?
Holly Perkins 06:16
I would agree. You looked to me like so many women, especially in their 30s. No one would say you were overweight. I don't think anyone would say you were skinny, but I think people would say you had a slender build. Yes, and I don't think either one of us really realized how much extra body fat you did have until those first few months when you started exercising differently. You started looking at the macronutrient distribution of what you were eating.
Jill Esplinn 06:46
Oh, I was eating nuts like they were going out of style. I was just eating handfuls of almonds. I probably had like 800 calories a day, unconsciously, just in nuts.
Holly Perkins 06:57
Yes, exactly. And so when you started looking at the protein, fat and carbohydrates of what you were eating, I remember you lost weight so fast. That is when we realized more of you was fat than we knew. Eventually, we found out through a body composition screening that yes, you were the classic definition of skinny fat. I hate that definition, so let's clarify it. Really, what it means is that a person looks normal. Their BMI, which as you know I'm not a fan of because it's so erroneous, falls into a healthy category.
Holly Perkins 07:38
Their doctor tells them they're the picture of health. No one would ever say they're overweight, but when we look deeper at their body composition, their body fat percentage is higher than it should be in order to support health. And so we found that out later with you. Talk a little bit about those first few—
Jill Esplinn 07:57
Months. I'm going to start with the spaceship. So when I say the spaceship, if any of you have gone into a gym and you see that machine where there's like four parts to it, one part is where you would now do with that triangle. I still ask Holly the technical terms. You know, the triangle you pull and it makes your back stronger.
Jill Esplinn 08:18
What is that exercise, Holly?
Holly Perkins 08:20
Lat pull down.
Jill Esplinn 08:21
There you go, the lat pull down. And not the triangle one where you're sitting and you're pulling it—
Holly Perkins 08:26
Seated cable row.
Jill Esplinn 08:27
Thank you. Now you all have the visual, right? The seated cable row is on one side, the lat pull down is that long straight bar. And then on the other side, you're supposed to know which type of device is supposed to go on the machine. I was overwhelmed on a scale of one to 10, like a 50. I would look at that thing.
Jill Esplinn 08:46
And I remember calling it the spaceship. I said to Holly, you know that spaceship with like four different stations, and people go up to it and look really confident and use it? She looked at me like I had 10 heads. I said, that machine, I want to know how to use it. She was like, done, great. This was where I came in. I had a desire, and I would go to the gym from time to time, for a week, for three weeks, then I would fall off the bandwagon. For me, it was about feeling confident and understanding how to do things.
Jill Esplinn 09:21
Like I said, my mom was always fit. She would say, go to the gym with me. She loved working out. I was overwhelmed. Meeting Holly truly changed my life. Because again, I tried the Pilates, I tried spinning, I tried every different thing because I wanted to really have fitness, but I didn't know how. That's where I started. Keep in mind, in LA, we lived about an hour away, so we were friends. We would hang out, but I said to her, I want to do this, and I don't have the money right now to hire you as a full time trainer. When I met Holly, she was living her nine to five, or I should say 5am to 3pm, in the gym. I was not at a place to hire her as a trainer.
Jill Esplinn 10:08
What can we do? I said, I will do anything. I just want to feel confident in the gym. I said, if you take me and we can even record videos of what to do, I'll watch those videos, and then I can go to the spaceship thing, aka the gym by my house, and do what you show me in the videos. So Holly, how did the videos come to be?
Holly Perkins 10:30
I love this, and this is always such an entertaining story for me, because it's a little different every time. I forgot about the spaceship story, but it's true. This really was the origin of when I started to realize I could put together virtual coaching programs for people when I didn't have to see them in the gym. It really started here. So we shot some video tutorials, and I was able to just say to Jill, go do this, that or the other, and wrote up a program for her. In a very short amount of time, within a few months, your body fat came down significantly, your skill level increased. And the irony was that we really didn't spend that much time together in the gym. Would you agree with that?
Jill Esplinn 11:20
Absolutely. You had way too many clients. I wanted to be your friend, and I just had to watch you on video and go try all these exercises you gave me. She was the busiest trainer. She was up at five in the gym, and then by three she'd be done, but then she'd be tired and have the next thing to do.
Jill Esplinn 11:37
So no, I truly did not have gym time with Holly. It was sacred when I did get it, but truly it was through the videos and me asking her questions and having another friend shoot a video of me, sending it to her and saying, am I doing this right, can you correct me, I don't think this is accurate. We really went back and forth. Now what her virtual coaching is, we were informally doing it, but it felt like I had a trainer. In fact, I did have a trainer before in the gym with me, and she was better on video than my in-person trainer I got at the gym. Truly she was better.
Holly Perkins 12:18
Thank you for saying that, because there are so many pieces of my history I forget about. I think a big reason why I excel in that area, being able to coach people virtually, is because after 20 years of being on the gym floor, looking at women's bodies, learning women's personalities, understanding their psychology and seeing how they move, I've really cultivated this short list of the priorities you've got to focus on to get the results most women want. I think of it as triage. I use that word a lot. It's like each person comes to me, and I immediately start triaging what's most important for them.
Holly Perkins 13:02
It was clear with Jill that she needed some nutrition programming, for sure, but it was her skill on the gym floor, using the spaceship and really coming to understand technique, that was going to be the biggest needle mover for her. As I said, after she dropped some body weight, it was very clear she is a very slender, low muscle mass type of woman. We would put her into the somatotype of an ectomorph. She is naturally thin. Now that her body fat is at a healthy place, I would even say a relatively low place, and that really revealed how important it was to bring up her muscle mass through strength training. I think that's a big reason why you and I were so successful in those early years, because it was so clear to me the top things you needed to focus on to become stronger and more fit. Absolutely.
Jill Esplinn 13:56
And I would say, I'm the type, and I would say having now been in Holly's community as long as I have and seen the grads of the Body Composition Program, the type of women that come in were the type of woman that I was and am. I'm like, tell me what to do, and I will do it, literally. She would say, okay, let's try this now. So she would teach me, right? This is carb, fat, protein. Tell me how you're eating. Now we're going to shift it this way. Are you counting calories? No, not really. I'm eating healthy, and I was. I would eat a salad at lunch with some protein on it. Like I said at the time, I clearly got the memo that nuts were healthy for you, because I remember scooping almonds like they were going out of style. My fat percentage had to be so high at that time if we were tracking.
Jill Esplinn 14:47
But for me, it really was this education that I was ready for, and I was willing to do again. The premise was anything it took, because I was so inspired by her fitness, by her physique. And I was like, I want my body to look more like yours. I really thought that was such a long shot of a goal. I really didn't even believe it was possible. And she was like, promise you, Jill, we can get you there with strength training, with intentional cardio, because that's the other thing. I would just run. I'm going to just go run, no rhyme or reason. I'm just going to take a spin class, no rhyme or reason. With intentional cardio and intentional macro eating.
Jill Esplinn 15:30
She's like, kind of Grasshopper, follow my lead. And I was like, all right, I'm willing to do it. And I will say, on my 40th birthday, which she was at, I said, you know, truly, you added years to my life. If I did not meet you when I did, I would not be at an amazing birthday party in Mexico, in my bikini, feeling so strong and so proud and really confident with my fitness. Sure, I looked better than I did when I met her, but I felt better, and it's like the neck and back. I used to complain about my neck, my back, I had a kink, my gut health, all of that cleaned up in the work we were doing together.
Holly Perkins 16:15
And I would even say to come full circle, on your 40th birthday, you were in the shape I was in when we met when I was 40. You achieved that. And I would even argue at that time for me, your 40th birthday, I would say your fitness is on par with mine. Now sometimes your body composition, I would argue, is maybe even a little better than mine.
Holly Perkins 16:45
That's how full circle we have come. And it took some time, for sure, because there are ages and stages of this. But it's really incredible to look at where you are now. A few more years, and you just keep getting better and better. And so to put these numbers really into context and metrics, what was your most recent body composition scan? Do you remember what your body fat percentage was on that last DEXA?
Jill Esplinn 17:13
Let me look at that. Yeah. But I want to say one more thing that you really sparked in me when you said fitness and ages and stages. The other thing I want to highlight too is, this year was really hard for me in terms of family stuff. I intended, there was a Body Composition group that launched in February, and I was like, I'm going to do it all in. And it was right around the time my grandfather passed away, and truly, I was not able to keep up with the group just because of what happened in life. But I will say this, I didn't lose my fitness altogether. I didn't fall off the bandwagon altogether. I modified. I didn't show up the way I wanted.
Jill Esplinn 17:54
But the biggest thing is, once you work with Holly, once I worked with Holly, I could go into the gym anytime, and I had the education, the knowledge and the ability to just jump back in. So my intention now, having had a really rough six months coming into this session of the Body Composition Project, is to go all out alongside her, being with everyone. But the biggest thing I want to say too is it's not like it happened and it was like, well, that was then.
Jill Esplinn 18:22
This is now. I know, and I am educated for the rest of my life, how to get those results again. I just wanted to highlight that, Holly, because truly, what you taught me is an education I have for the rest of my life. Because what you do is you educate. Now I know, quote unquote, the magic formula to continually get those—
Holly Perkins 18:43
Results. And that is where the magic is. So many women out there are struggling because they're looking for one quick fix that's going to change their lives forever. And it doesn't happen that way. I have the gift of gab, and I know that I can talk. My sessions run long. It's hard for me to keep my podcast episodes under an hour, and I'm aiming for 30 minutes.
Holly Perkins 19:10
And the reason for that is because I believe once you, dear listener, are educated and understand the whys and the hows, you will be permanently changed, just like Jill was saying. Because it is about up leveling your experience, your skill level in the gym, and your understanding of the whys and the hows to do it, because it will go with you forever. So my program, The Body Composition Project, as I said, really was birthed from so many things I observed through Jill's journey. Previous to that, I had been, how shall I say, swindled into believing that exercise programming for my customers needed to be eight or 12 weeks long, because that is the longest that people would stick around and stay committed.
Holly Perkins 20:00
And so for years, I would write programming that was only eight or 12 weeks long, two or three months long. After a long incubation phase and watching Jill's journey, as well as some of my other long standing clients, I realized that if I'm really going to help women become more muscle and less fat, it can't be a two or three month program. It has to be a longer program. So The Body Composition Project is six months.
Holly Perkins 20:39
And I think Jill, what you just shared about your grandpa is so relevant, because I always say in life, every woman is going to have to go through a storm. She's going to have to go through phases and chapters where things are particularly upsetting or demanding or limiting or challenging, and your fitness has to be there with you and also able to be adjusted to support that time in your life.
Holly Perkins 21:11
And that's exactly why I created a six month long program. That is unheard of in the fitness industry, because most people won't stay committed for six months. But here's the thing, when you start to get educated and start to understand the whys and the hows, six months flies by. But on the other end of it, you will be permanently changed, just like Jill shared. So if I use my memory, Jill, going back to when we first met, I would estimate you were approximately 35% body fat at the time. Do you remember what your body weight was when we first met?
Jill Esplinn 21:49
Yes. When I met you, I think I weighed around the high 120s, probably 129 to 130, and I'm five seven, just to give a perspective. At five seven, I was probably around 130, I think I would agree. And let me tell you my psychology at the time, because I ran in college with a lot of friends that would be obsessed with the number.
Jill Esplinn 22:11
Pretty sure one of my friends had a full on eating disorder. I wanted to be like her, and she was 5'11 and wanted to weigh the lowest number you could imagine. I'm like, she was 5'11. What I know now, that's crazy. I think in my mind, I was like, I want to be, I don't know, it was a number. I wanted abs and I wanted a magical number, and it didn't really mean anything. It was probably literally a number I heard somewhere. I look back and I'm just like, that's so dumb. And I would argue it's probably the number that you're at right now. Where is your body weight right now, no judgments or any other—
Jill Esplinn 22:47
Yeah, I think it was like 118 to 120. I actually just went to a doctor, and on the little scale it said 118, and another time it was 120. Somewhere in between there, depending. Yep.
Holly Perkins 22:58
And so we're talking about body weight, not because these numbers are all that important. It's because I want to put into perspective and give you context as you're listening to the story. So at that time, when Jill and I first met at, let's say, close to 130 pounds on a five seven frame, her body composition was such that her body fat was probably around 35%, and according to the DEXA that she just had earlier this year, her body fat percentage is now 28%. And as we just mentioned, her body weight is obviously lower.
Jill Esplinn 23:37
According to that day, it was 116.5 pounds. There you go.
Holly Perkins 23:40
Perfect, 116 pounds. So her body weight came down, her body fat percentage came down. And if you are a podcast listener, you know that I don't want the world to be so focused on body weight and body fat percentage. I want to flip this conversation and have everyone focused on lean muscle mass percentage. I'm going to share some numbers here. Jill's body composition at any body weight, it doesn't matter what her body weight is, the percentage of her body currently that is fat is 28% body fat. Now that is a relatively small number of a human's body weight, correct, and that is why I like to flip this upside down and focus on how much of you is actually lean muscle mass.
Holly Perkins 24:37
So what I do is I've created something that I call the adjusted body composition. Taking the number 100% minus Jill's body fat percentage of 28% puts her at 72% lean muscle currently, whereas before she was more like 65% lean muscle. And that 70% lean muscle is really what I say is that initial target that every woman has to get to, where at least 70% of your current body weight is lean muscle mass through this adjusted filter. In other words, so that your body fat percentage is below 30%, and that's where Jill is now. And so what's interesting, the next part of your journey, and I know you and I haven't really talked about this explicitly, but it feels as though opportunity is presenting itself.
Holly Perkins 25:39
Life has settled down, and as we move into this next round of The Body Composition Project in October, we have a new group starting. I think this is an opportunity for you, Jill, to lean in, because at your current height, at your age and at your current body composition, I believe you need more muscle. That ties into bone density, and even at 72% lean muscle, I actually want women to achieve 75% lean muscle. So if you're up for the challenge, I vote in this next round of The Body Composition Project we target to get you to that 75% lean muscle mass, which would be a 3% improvement in your body composition. What do you say?
Jill Esplinn 26:26
Oh my gosh. So you know, we were talking about this earlier, and I was like, I don't know, I don't know, but now I feel like this is public, and I'm like, oh no. Six months from now, you're going to have an episode of, let's hear how it goes. But I feel like the public accountability is, I can do it. And if you're listening and you feel fear, I put that together and invented a new word.
Jill Esplinn 26:51
When you're feeling the fear, it's like, I'm excited and I'm nervous and excited, and I want to say, yes, let's do it. And I'm saying that because as you're listening, if you're also like, really, is this possible for me, I literally sit here today with as much doubt as I did when I met Holly. Remember, I was like, I'm never going to have abs. I can't change my body. I didn't believe it was possible. But having done it once, I'm like, I could do it again. So it's a long answer to say, let's go. And there's a little bit of fear, there is, if I'm being really honest.
Holly Perkins 27:27
And there always is. I think fear in this regard, at the prospect of changing your body, links back to homeostasis and survival. It is scary to think that you are going to change your physical body. I think this is one reason why so many women struggle to, quote, unquote, lose weight. On some level, your subconscious does not want your body to get leaner, and it definitely does not want your body to simply lose weight. It goes against our survival. And so it makes sense to me that you would be nervous, excited, or fearly, the new word, whatever your new word is, right? And I'm also like, but what if that doesn't happen?
Holly Perkins 28:11
Like, what if this doesn't work? And that's funny, because that's what we hear so many women say. It's like, they want to do it, but they have the fear. And I'm voicing it, truly, I'm like, coach me publicly. What's under the fear of, what if I do everything and in six months I let you down, or I let me down. What if it doesn't work? Why would it not work?
Holly Perkins 28:30
Let's do that. First, I want to say I want to set some targets, and then we're going to jump into why so many women have that fear of nothing has worked before. It's never worked for me in the past, so why would I be able to be successful now? And here's what I want to say. I would like to put on five pounds of muscle on you. I'll take four. I'd be happy with four, but I want us to target a five pound muscle gain. That would mean at the end of the next six months,
Holly Perkins 29:02
this is February of 2026, when my new book, Muscle and Bone, will probably be coming out. Perfect timing, book party. My goal for you is to be 120 pounds, or maybe 119. I want you to gain about four pounds on the scale. This is what's crazy, but that four pounds on the scale of pure muscle is also going to equate to five to six pounds of fat loss. The net total means your body composition is going to improve. You're going to hit that 75% lean muscle mass.
Holly Perkins 29:38
And here's what's crazy. We're going to watch the scale go up, but in the end, you're going to be smaller, tighter, leaner and better, despite what the number on the scale says. And I love to walk clients through that, because once they understand the metrics, it gets a lot more exciting, and they tend to let go of the number on the scale. Because it's now not about, if I were to just say to you, Jill, I want you to bring your body fat percentage down by 3%, most women would go out, they would cut back on calories and or carbohydrates, and they would burn more calories through workouts of some sort, usually cardio. Those two things lead to muscle loss.
Jill Esplinn 30:21
I think we did that, or right before I knew you, that's the plan I was on. I was eating less, making my calories less, hence my number was going down, but I didn't look fit, and that's what I didn't understand. I remember sitting in the hot tub with you, and I was like, how are you fit, and how am I not? I didn't understand, because I was not eating a lot, and I was moving a lot of cardio, but I wasn't lifting weights. I remember this vividly, wondering, how do you have muscle and I don't?
Holly Perkins 30:52
And I would argue you were lifting weights at the time. You were just doing it differently.
Jill Esplinn 30:56
Well, lifting weights haphazardly. I didn't have programming. I didn't have the right approach. It was like, I was going and just doing dumbbells. And what do you call those space machines? No, not the space machine. Just free weights. I'll go do some curls. I'll go do some abs. I was doing my best, but I was really lost. It was like a mystery that you had the answers to. Yes.
Holly Perkins 31:18
And in the end, what happened was you did get smaller and lose the weight, but you also lost the muscle with it, which was why your body composition was what it was. And so it's important to understand the metrics here, because I flip that conversation and say, Jill, now your task is to add muscle, which can be scary for women, understandably, but if we do it the right way, which we do with my programming inside The Body Composition Project, the scale is probably going to go up, but your body fat is going to go down more, and you're going to look better, smaller, tighter, leaner, more athletic.
Holly Perkins 31:58
And while your body is perfectly beautiful, and you've got good muscle definition now, that is the path to getting more defined abs, if you want, or more defined arms, or a bigger fuller booty, as some people want. And so to answer your question to the person who wonders, it is scary, and I've endeavored to improve my body before, and it has never worked, so why would this program work. Here is what I will say, first and foremost, and I say this with every new group that comes into my programs. If you take action and do what I tell you to do, you will get these kinds of results. And I can say that because I have a running tab of clients who have done just that. The programming works because it's based on metrics, it's based on numbers, it's based on equations, it's based on physics, and it's based on practices we know that work.
Holly Perkins 33:05
And so as long as the person comes to me, and Jill, this will be the challenge for you in October for the next six months, to actually do and take action, to follow the program. The reason why so often it doesn't work for women when they try to follow a program is either because, number one, they don't have the accountability of a coach, and they're not actually following through on the instructions and on the programming. That's the first thing. The second thing is, for every fitness voice, influencer, expert or doctor out there, there is a different protocol and a different program. And what I have come to see is that most programs are focusing on weight loss for women, and that is the problem, because as you lose weight, you lose muscle. The Body Composition Project programming is very different.
Holly Perkins 34:10
And so when someone says to me, why on earth would this work, I'm 55, I've done every program under the sun, and none of them have worked for me. I say that's because you haven't done my program, and the programming matters. You have to have what I call the trifecta of body transformation. You have to have the right progressive resistance strength plan alongside the right nutrition plan alongside the right cardio program. And Jill has always been such an inspiration for my programs, and seeing her journey really did influence all of this programming that I put into The Body Composition Project as this full on deep dive into body recomposition to help women become more muscle and less fat. The success is because of the programming. If you've got your programming right and you follow through, it works every single time.
Jill Esplinn 35:18
I'm listening to you, and I am literally so inspired by the work you're doing, by the women I know you're going to help. And I'm thinking of a conversation. Remember a few weeks ago, I said to you, Holly, if you know this works, and you keep telling me you've seen this transform hundreds of women, having them become stronger, leaner, pain free, more energized. I said, we know that people watching the three day Midlife Muscle Mastery, listening to the podcast, they don't know it's going to work. They're still sitting there going, I don't know, that's a lot of money.
Jill Esplinn 35:57
That's a lot of time. I said, would you give a money back guarantee. I know you've never done that. I said because, frankly, you know you would take away any doubt in terms of, well, if I do exactly what you say and I don't feel leaner, stronger, more energized, like truly, would you give me my money back. And we talked long and hard. Remember this conversation. Yeah, and I said, it's funny, I just bought, I went to the running store last week, I bought some orthotics, and they said, you know, they're one hundred and something dollars. And I said, what if I don't like them. I said, you have three months. If you don't like them, bring them back. I said, really. I said, great.
Jill Esplinn 36:32
There was no reason I wasn't going to try them. PS, I'm going to go get another pair. I love them so much. I am a fan. But they took away the doubt just because they gave me three months to try them. So I wanted to say, if you're listening now and you're like, wow, I am inspired to do this program, Holly is offering, like, offering a proof for pay nothing guarantee. And we talked about this, and I said, offer it, and it does ride on something. I want to notice what Holly said, the challenge is, you still have to show up and do it. So she said, if someone does it, if they truly, you'll hear more about the program,
Jill Esplinn 37:11
but essentially, she's like, if they show three exercise of the week videos, it's like the exercise of the week, and she could go more into what happens, and you can watch when she shares a little bit more about the program. But essentially, if you show three exercise of the week videos per month, if you log your workouts and show the eighteen weeks of workout logs, and download and submit the food diary for eighteen weeks, I will give the money back if they do not have a shift and feel longer, strong, longer, stronger, leaner, more energized, and I just want to speak to that, because that's how confident she is. And I heard that, I was like, wow, that's incredible.
Holly Perkins 37:52
Yeah, and thank you for saying that, because it's really true. I remember you asking me the question, and you almost asked it with disbelief, where you said, yeah, okay, if someone goes through your program and does it to a T, are you certain they will get results. And I said without any doubt at all, one hundred percent yes, without a doubt. And that's because we've done it. We've proven it. I've seen women in their 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s go through this program, and as long as they show up and they do it, yes, they get those results.
Holly Perkins 38:23
And that's when I was like, oh, wow. So that's the guarantee, right. Because it's scary as a business owner to offer a money back guarantee when this is a hands on coaching program, like we, the coaches, are involved with the participants. We put a lot of time and energy into the participants. And so that's a scary prospect, but the truth is, without a doubt, if you do it the way it's spelled out, you follow my guidance, you follow the instructions, and you show up week after week, it will produce the results that we see of these other transformation prize winners that come out of the program, people who really get big, jaw dropping results. Totally.
Jill Esplinn 39:10
So I just wanted to share that on here, because I know a lot of people listen to your podcast, probably joined the three day Midlife Muscle Mastery, which, by the time this podcast airs, you would have already completed the three day live event. But if you're listening to the podcast now and you did not join Midlife Muscle Mastery, you can still watch the replays. Holly, you could put in the show notes where they could get those, and by the time this airs, you would have really spelled out what the Body Composition Program is all about. But I just wanted to highlight that proof or pay nothing, because I was in shock.
Jill Esplinn 39:44
I was literally like, great. Then offer it, you know, and again, it rides on doing it, but so many people have done other programs and they don't get the results. And that's why I said, well, then let's offer this. And that, to me, is incredible. And I was with Holly and these women at a live event this last year, and I was so inspired by the women, where they started, where they have ended on their journey. I know it works. I've seen it in my own life. I've seen it in every woman who comes through this program and shows up. I left so inspired, and the people you meet, and the women and the sisterhood, I could go on and on, because sometimes it's lonely, going to the gym on your own, but you actually meet people that get you in on this journey together, which I think is a really cool part of the program and the community you've created.
Holly Perkins 40:36
I'd like to highlight one of the biggest success stories and case studies that you actually got to meet, Jill, and that's Karen. Karen was at that live workshop. Yes. So last year, Karen came to me. She was a participant in the Body Composition Project, and in her mid 50s, she came to me because she had been dealing with debilitating degenerative disc disease in her neck and spine, and had been in a lot of pain for, I think it was ten years. She got to the point where her doctor was giving her shots to relieve the pain, and the shots weren't working. She had been limiting her strength training and her activity.
Holly Perkins 41:22
Even though she wanted to be more active, she hadn't been able to because of the pain and because she kept feeling so frustrated about starting and stopping and also not truly knowing the type of programming that would get her out of pain and would improve her body composition. So as a last ditch effort, she came to me and she enrolled in the Body Composition Project. Five months later, I ran a DEXA scan on her at the beginning, which was March of 2024. We ran another DEXA scan on her at the end of August of 2024. She was 57 years old. She had lost 19.3 pounds on the scale.
Holly Perkins 42:09
She had lost 8% body fat. She had dropped 21 pounds of pure fat, and she had gained two pounds of pure muscle. Her dangerous visceral adipose tissue fat went down by two pounds, and her bone mineral density improved by almost 1%. This was in five months. She's 57. And here's the kicker, she was completely out of pain. Those shots that her doctor was giving her in her neck and her back for years did nothing, but just five months on the right program with the right nutrition, she radically changed her body composition, and for the first time in at least ten years, she was finally out of pain. That, to me, really demonstrates the power of showing up, committing and taking action.
Holly Perkins 43:07
Because the Body Composition Project is six months, and it didn't even take her the whole six months. She did that in exactly five months. And I'll tell you how she did it, because people are like, I want that. How did she do it. It's a very short answer. She did everything I told her to do. She was an A plus student. I told her to do walking lunges. She did them. I told her to eat this many carbohydrates. She ate them. I told her to hit this heart rate range and this target in her cardio, and she did it. She didn't miss a beat, and she got ridiculous, life changing results. I'm just listening. And so yes, I met her, and it's almost so hard to believe, like, wow, but it works. She is one of many women.
Holly Perkins 43:50
Without a doubt. So as we wrap up here, obviously the Body Composition Project is going to be opening for new enrollment in October. It is application based. We review all applications to make sure that the participants are actually really right for the program, and to make sure you're right for the program and make sure you're on track. It really is smart to watch the three day training from the Midlife Muscle Mastery workshop.
Holly Perkins 44:18
You can watch those videos and learn everything you need to know about what we do here in the program so that you can submit an application to join us when we kick off in October. And so the way to do that, I'll put the link in the show notes, but it's to come over to my website, holly perkins dot com, forward slash free workshop, yes, and that's going to give you immediate access to the recordings from that three day training so that you can really understand more in depth what we're talking about here, and then submit an application for the program, so that we collectively can determine if it's really the right place for you. And so as we wrap up, Jill, two questions for you.
Holly Perkins 45:00
So number one, yes. Now that this is a public forum, I'm putting the pressure on you. Are you up for the challenge to try and add five pounds of muscle in the next six months, knowing we'll consider it a success if you only gain four pounds. Five pounds of muscle would be the target. But as they say, shoot for the moon, land among the stars. Are you up for that challenge.
Jill Esplinn 45:24
I am. Something I know about myself is when I commit to something, I'm all in. Something I also know about myself is when I pay for things, I value money. When I had a trainer, I had no problem getting to the gym ten minutes early. Without a trainer, I somehow found it impossible to get to the gym on my own. Literally, we just got on this and we said, let's talk about the Body Composition Project, because we know some people listening to the podcast would not have been in Midlife Muscle Mastery. This is affordable to the place of, it's a six month program.
Jill Esplinn 46:04
How much money do we unconsciously spend when you go out for meals, when you go out for coffee. If you want to do this program, truly, we can work with you. And here's the other thing, if you're like, that's a lot, that's good, because for me, I'm just speaking personally, if I had a trainer at twenty dollars an hour, I probably wouldn't show up. The trainer I had at one hundred dollars an hour, that was a lot to me, and I showed up. This is a financial stretch for me, for many, and it's going to get me to show up. So I'm in, Holly. I'm making the investment because I want the full support, and that means I have the public accountability, and I'm bought in for the next six months, so I'm nervous, excited, and I'm in.
Holly Perkins 46:48
I think it's going to be so good for you, and I think that when we've got your before and after photos and DEXA, it's going to be so powerful. So I have one last question for you. If you were to look back upon the past number of years that we've known each other, and you look at where you were when we met and where you are now in terms of your physical ability, your physical health, your energy, your pride in your body, what would you say is the most important, biggest value in your life now that you've done this for yourself.
Jill Esplinn 47:19
Two things. Number one, I would say I value health. My grandma just entered an assisted living facility. So every week, I am reminded of the frailness that could be in my future. Because I go, I see her, I have dinner, I see women and men hunched over, and I'm like, that could be prevented. I am 42. I could do a lot now to shift that. So truly, the bone health and the health, I would say, are my biggest values, because without that, I have nothing.
Jill Esplinn 47:54
And that's also why it's like, I work with Holly. I would say, at times, I would say, I'm going to put this email first, or I'm going to put this thing first. But I'm going to be like, no, Holly, for the next six months. I might be late on a deadline. I probably won't because, you know, I'm still good like that, but I am going to put health and getting to the gym equitably as important as a work goal or something else that in the moment seems so important.
Jill Esplinn 48:17
But truly, my number one value, I would say, is health. And then on the facade side, or on the more surface level side, I love looking in the mirror. And for me, it's my shoulders. When you wear a halter or a tank top, and if my shoulders and my arms look strong, that's it. Holly said the booty or whatever, but on a surface level that feels so great. When I look in the mirror or I pick something up and I see a stronger arm or shoulder, I'm just like, wow, this is working. I'm being super superficial.
Holly Perkins 48:52
No, but it's not. And I always honor that, because here's the thing to me, there is no better feeling than when you're like, wow, I love that, whatever it is. And I think that this concept of vanity gets put down, and it shouldn't. I think that wanting to look good, wanting to enjoy where your body is and how it performs, is actually a reflection of self esteem and self respect. I think that we should value and care for and desire to look and feel well. And I think that when you look great, that's something that gets mirrored back to you multiple times during the day.
Holly Perkins 49:37
That really is such a boost to your mood, your happiness, your sense of self accomplishment, self discipline, all of these things. To me, that is a very positive, legitimate reason to go for it. So I love that. I'm excited to see your final DEXA in about six months. Maybe it will be seven months from now. Dear listener, you heard it here. Jill's up for the challenge. So be sure to check back down the road, and we'll give you an update on how she's doing.
Jill Esplinn 50:05
All right, I'll see you all in the Body Composition Project, because it's starting October 6. Game on, let's go.
Holly Perkins 50:11
I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I hope you are feeling inspired by Jill's journey. If you are and you want to watch the Midlife Muscle Mastery workshop recordings, just come over to my website, holly pricken dot com, forward slash free workshop. As soon as you sign up, you're going to get immediate access to watch those recordings, even if you have no interest in joining us for the Body Composition Project. Do yourself a favor and watch these trainings, because they are powerful, and stay tuned for another brand new episode on Tuesday of next week.
Holly Perkins 50:49
Stay strong, my friend. Thank you so much for tuning in to this week's episode. I am so happy that you're here, and I hope you loved it. If you did, please take a moment to subscribe, share with your friends and leave a review, and if you want more from me, check out my blog and coaching programs over at holly perkins dot com. That's all for now. I'll see you next week.