Dr. Susie Spirlock

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Dr. Susie Spirlock Helping you get under the barbell, reduce injuries, and fall in love with strength training.

10/19/2026

What if January didn’t have to feel like starting over, again??

You’ve got a little under 3 months to get stronger, fitter, and healthier BEFORE 2027 starts, so why not start building some of those habits, now??

🎃 Want me to handle the programming for you? The brand-new 8-week PSL: Pump, Spice, Load block is LIVE, in my group training program, Supple Strength, where you get access to FIVE programs for $37/month!

So tell me, what’s ONE thing you want to accomplish before 2026 is over? 👀

Somewhere along the way, we started treating mechanical stress on the body as something we should be avoiding instead of...
10/16/2026

Somewhere along the way, we started treating mechanical stress on the body as something we should be avoiding instead of recognizing that it’s quite literally how our tissues adapt 🙂

Your tendons, muscles, bones, and joints are exposed to mechanical stress every single day, and when that stress is appropriately dosed, it’s one of the primary reasons those tissues become stronger and more capable of handling future demands.

Yet I constantly see exercises being labeled as dangerous because they create compression, shear, tension, or some other form of mechanical stress on a particular structure.

Okay??? And???

The presence of stress tells us absolutely NOTHING about whether that stress exceeds someone’s current capacity to tolerate it.

A movement that is excessive for one person might be perfectly tolerable for another. A load that someone struggles with today might be something they can comfortably handle six months from now. And even within the same person, tolerance can fluctuate depending on fatigue, recovery, training history, and how much work they’ve already accumulated.

This is why context matters so much more than simply identifying which forces are acting on a tissue!!!

We cannot simultaneously argue that tissues need mechanical loading to become more resilient while treating the existence of those same mechanical forces as evidence that an exercise is inherently harmful.

The goal of exercise isn’t to eliminate stress. It’s to develop the capacity to tolerate MORE OF IT 👏🏼

10/15/2026

The Lorax speaks for the women 🤌🏼

The ones told to stay “small,” to “tone,” to do more cardio, to stick with light weights.

But if you aren’t training for strength, power, and muscle, your body is quietly losing all three.

Starting in your 30s, you naturally lose 3–8% of your muscle mass every decade unless you actively preserve it through heavier resistance training.

Less muscle = weaker joints, less capability, more falls, less functional mobility, and more.

Add in bone density decline (especially after menopause) & that’s a perfect storm for fractures, pain, and the kind of “fragility” women are wrongfully labeled with.

But the cool part is you can stop it!! Even reverse it!!

Since muscle and bone are living tissue, they respond to mechanical load aka resistance training.

Pilates, yoga, walking ARE great forms of movement. But they don’t cut it for long term muscle growth & bone density.

When you lift weights, your bones get stronger.
Your metabolism is supported.
Your tendons thicken.
Your joints get nourished.
Your body literally rewrites its code to become harder to break.

This isn’t only about aesthetics, but more-so LONGEVITY!

Lifting gives you power, independence, and protection.

It’s how you keep hiking at 60, carry your kids without pain, and do the damn things you love without fear of “hurting yourself.”

If you’re not lifting yet, the Lorax needs you to start, NOW.

I made a program to get you there, and we start a new 8-week training block Monday October 5th 🤓

1️⃣ Designed by a physical therapist & strength coach
2️⃣ Access to FIVE different programs to fit your lifestyle, group chat, detailed exercise videos, weekly form checks, & an amazing community.
3️⃣ Perfect for women who want to stop shrinking and start adapting

You deserve more than “safe and light.”

You deserve to be strong, capable, and anti-fragile!!

The Lorax has spoken, & you should listen 😉

Come join my group program, Supple Strength 💪🏼

WHERE ARE MY ADAPTING WOMEN AT?!

10/14/2026

Bulgarian split squat 8-8-8’s 💀

Where your quads cry, your glutes ascend, and your will to live is tested!!!

8 reps with two dumbbells.
8 reps with one dumbbell.
8 second mid-range isometric hold.

Then switch legs and question every life choice that led you here 🙂

As evil as they feel, Bulgarian split squats are one of the most effective lower-body movements you can do.

They train single-leg strength, balance, stability, and control all at once. You can’t hide weak links here!

If your glutes aren’t pulling their weight, if your core isn’t locked in, or if your foot control sucks, this movement will kindly expose it 💅🏼

They load your legs hard without needing a ton of weight, which means less spinal fatigue and more pure muscle stimulus.

They also challenge your coordination, hip control, and force production in a way that transfers beautifully to running, jumping, lifting, and just being a functional badass human 😎

So yeah, it blows.
But it also BUILDS.

And around here, we love a little pain with our progress 💁🏼‍♀️

You’ll find these in the newest block of my group training program, Supple Strength, along with a ton of other moves that have the members bullying me in the group chat lol.

I personally LOVE Bulgarian split squats. Should I talk to my therapist about this?

The hardest part about struggling with chronic health issues isn’t always the symptoms themselves.It’s the constant stop...
10/13/2026

The hardest part about struggling with chronic health issues isn’t always the symptoms themselves.

It’s the constant stop-and-go.

Just when you start to feel like you’re gaining ground, another wave crashes over you and suddenly you’re back at square one.

Lately, the gym feels less like a playground and more like a reminder of everything I’ve lost.

I pick up a weight I used to move with ease, only to realize my body can’t keep up right now.

I walk into my garage gym to train without my best girl Winnie, who’s been by my side for the past 6 years.

I head out for a run hoping for freedom, but it ends in shortness of breath and grief.

It’s humbling in a way that doesn’t feel very fun.

And if I’m being really honest, sometimes it makes me question myself.

I’m the one people look to for answers about pain, setbacks, and training. Yet here I am, drowning in my own.

But maybe that’s the paradox?

I’m living proof that no one is immune, not even the professionals, and maybe that’s exactly what makes me relatable instead of unreachable.

Resilience isn’t glamorous. It doesn’t always look like a comeback story with a highlight reel.

Sometimes resilience is dragging yourself through another “day one,” again and again.

It’s the ability to keep finding reasons to try, even when you’re sick of starting over.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re stuck in that rinse-and-repeat cycle of setbacks, you’re not alone.

Strength isn’t built only in the seasons where everything goes right, but also the ones where nothing goes according to plan, and you still find a way to keep moving forward.

Drop a 🫶🏼 if you’ve felt this too, or share this with someone who needs to hear they’re not the only one stuck in the valley right now 💕

10/12/2026

You don’t have to LOVE strength training.

But I’d argue that you probably DO love being able to get yourself off the toilet, carry your own groceries, climb a flight of stairs, pick something heavy up off the floor, travel without needing help with your luggage, and generally have a body capable of doing the things you want it to do 🤷🏼‍♀️

And that’s really what lifting weights is about!!

Building and maintaining muscle, strength, power, and bone density becomes increasingly important as we age. We want to preserve as much physical capacity as possible while we do it, because, well, if you don’t do it, we know what is inevitable: losing it all entirely.

Before you get your pitchfork: no, lifting weights does NOT guarantee you’ll never develop osteoporosis, fall, break a bone, need a walker, use grab bars, need a raised toilet seat, or require assistance someday.

There is also absolutely ZERO shame in using adaptive equipment or getting help when you need it. Disability, illness, genetics, injury, and approximately one million other variables exist, and none of us gets complete control over how our bodies age.

But that doesn’t mean we have no control 👏🏼

Strength training is one of the most powerful modifiable tools we have for maintaining muscle mass, strength, physical function, and bone health across the lifespan.

You don’t need to become a bodybuilder! You don’t need to live in the gym, either! You don’t even have to particularly enjoy picking up heavy circles and putting them back down!

But your muscles and bones need sufficient stimulus to have a reason to adapt, and two or three intelligently programmed strength sessions per week can go a hell of a long way.

You’re going to age either way!

Might as well bring as much muscle, strength, bone, and independence with you as you can 💪🏼

And if you’ve been thinking, “okay fine Susie, but I have no idea what the hell I’m supposed to do in the gym”…

Consider this your official invitation to join us ☺️

For those of you that lift, why do you do it?

You know the ones 🙃Your drawer full of KT tape that lives next to your heating pad and TikTok shop red light vibrating s...
10/09/2026

You know the ones 🙃

Your drawer full of KT tape that lives next to your heating pad and TikTok shop red light vibrating suction cup contraption you swear is ‘fixing your hip.’

Let’s get one thing straight.

I’m not anti-modality!!

I’m not here to take away your cupping, stim, dry needling, or whatever wizardry gives you temporary relief, because truthfully, those things CAN help.

They can reduce the perceived threat your nervous system is picking up on, they can downregulate an overprotective system and open a small, precious window where movement feels less scary and more doable, and sometimes that window is exactly what you need to start doing the damn thing.

But here’s the kicker.

Pain relief is not the same as ✨adaptation✨

Those modalities? They’re mostly just noise-canceling headphones for your nervous system. They dampen the signal, but they don’t rewire the system.

If all you ever do is chase relief, you’re speaking AT your nervous system, hoping it chills out for a bit.

But when you load, progressively challenge the tissues, show up consistently and gradually push your system slightly outside its comfort zone?

You’re speaking WITH the nervous system.

You’re teaching it:
🧠 This movement is safe.
🧠 This joint is strong.
🧠 This pain isn’t dangerous.
🧠 This body can handle more than it thinks.

That’s how you desensitize a system that’s been on high alert while also increasing tissue tolerance, building capacity, and actually reducing the need for constant symptom management.

You don’t need more gadgets!! You need progressive overload, tissue tolerance, and the unsexy consistency of a good-ass program that merges training with rehab.

Let’s stop slapping band-aids on a system that’s begging for adaptation.

Because until you start treating your rehab & training exercises like they matter just as much (if not more) than your favorite massage gun, you’re gonna keep asking the same question:

‘Why am I still in pain?’

Love you, mean it 😚

Your body isn’t broken. It just needs better input. Let’s rebuild it together through 1:1 Remote Rehab coaching with me & my team 🤓

I swear there is no accessory I own that makes me feel as confident as muscle does 💅🏼You can buy the dress, the shoes, t...
10/08/2026

I swear there is no accessory I own that makes me feel as confident as muscle does 💅🏼

You can buy the dress, the shoes, the jewelry, the makeup, whatever.

But there is something different about putting on a dress and seeing the shoulders, arms, and back you spent years building 🥹

Especially when a lot of that muscle disappeared last year when my health went to absolute s**t, and rebuilding it has been a much slower process than losing it was.

So seeing these photos and realizing “ohw wow… some of it IS actually back???”

Ugh. Sent. Me.

Then I had THREE separate people comment on my muscles that night??? I’m sorry, but there are very few compliments that hit harder than “you look jacked.” 💁🏼‍♀️

There are obviously a million reasons I want women to build muscle that have nothing to do with how we look — stronger bones, better function, greater physical capacity, healthy aging, being able to do cool stuff for as long as possible.

But we’re also allowed to say that having muscle can make you feel fu***ng GOOD in your body.

After spending a lot of the last year feeling like my body was becoming less and less recognizable to me, seeing some of MY muscle again feels really damn good.

Strong AND feminine were never opposites.

10/10 accessory 💪🏼

Would recommend building your own!!!

10/07/2026

We are all Jane Doe, and that is utterly abhorrent.

If you learned that 1–5 reps = strength, 8–12 = muscle, and 15+ = endurance, I have some beef with that chart. 😂Rep rang...
10/06/2026

If you learned that 1–5 reps = strength, 8–12 = muscle, and 15+ = endurance, I have some beef with that chart. 😂

Rep ranges are a LOT less rigid than fitness education has made them seem, and the number of reps alone tells us surprisingly little about the actual training stimulus.

Swipe before you decide every exercise needs 3 sets of 10 until the end of time 👉🏼

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