83: Kaisa Keranen: Stop Chasing Aesthetics, Train for Strength & Watch What Happens
Stop Chasing Aesthetics, Train for Strength & Watch What Happens
Movement expert Kaisa Keranen shares why mobility matters, how to stop fearing weights, and why training for strength beats chasing aesthetics every time. Learn how to build body confidence through movement.
Let's be brutally honest for a second: How often do you actually warm up before a workout? Or spend time on mobility work? Or train for strength instead of just trying to change how your body looks?
If you're feeling a little called out right now, you're not alone. Most of us skip the "boring" stuff and jump straight into workouts that promise to transform our bodies, but what if that's the exact reason we're not seeing the results we want?
In this episode, Tara sits down with Kaisa Keranen, founder of Just Move and a movement expert on a mission to change the way people (especially women) think about fitness. This conversation is packed with insights that'll make you rethink everything from your warm-up routine to why you train in the first place.
From Athlete to Movement Advocate: Kaisa's Journey
Kaisa's fitness journey didn't start in a traditional gym setting. As a former athlete, she learned early on that movement is about so much more than aesthetics, it's about performance, capability, and longevity. Her transition from competitive sports to coaching revealed a massive gap in how most people approach fitness, especially women who've been conditioned to see exercise as a tool for body modification rather than body empowerment.
Now, as a coach and trainer, Kaisa is passionate about making movement accessible and enjoyable for everyone. She specializes in helping people move better, feel stronger, and actually enjoy the process, which, let's be real, is something most of us struggle with.
Why Mobility Is the Missing Piece in Your Training
Here's the thing nobody wants to hear: you can't out-lift a mobility problem. Kaisa breaks down why mobility work is absolutely essential for strength training, injury prevention, and long-term fitness success.
Mobility isn't just stretching. It's about training your body to move through full ranges of motion under control. When you skip mobility work, you're essentially building strength on top of dysfunction, and that's a recipe for plateaus, compensations, and eventually, injuries.
Your mobility directly impacts your strength gains. Can't hit depth in your squat? Struggling with overhead press? Your mobility limitations are probably holding you back more than your actual strength. When you improve your range of motion, you can load your muscles more effectively and see better results from your training.
Injury prevention isn't sexy, but it's necessary. Those nagging aches, the tight hips, the cranky shoulders, they're all signs that your body needs more attention to mobility and movement quality. The time you invest in mobility work now will save you months (or years) of dealing with injuries later.
Kaisa emphasizes that mobility training doesn't have to be complicated or time-consuming. Even 10-15 minutes of targeted mobility work before your strength sessions can make a massive difference in how you feel and perform.
The Truth About Lifting Weights (Especially for Women)
Let's tackle the elephant in the room: the fear of getting "bulky" from lifting weights. Kaisa and Tara dive deep into this conversation, and spoiler alert, it won't happen overnight (or even in a year).
Building significant muscle mass takes TIME. We're talking years of consistent, progressive training with a strategic nutrition plan. You're not going to accidentally wake up looking like a bodybuilder because you picked up some dumbbells.
Strength training is the best thing you can do for your body composition. If your goal is to look "toned," strength training is actually your fastest path there. Muscle gives your body shape, boosts your metabolism, and helps you maintain results long-term.
The aesthetic changes happen as a byproduct. When you shift your focus from "how do I look?" to "what can I do?", something magical happens. You start getting stronger, moving better, feeling more confident, and then you look in the mirror one day and realize your body has completely transformed.
The conversation emphasizes a crucial mindset shift: stop chasing aesthetics and start training for strength, capability, and longevity. The body you want will show up as a side effect of becoming the strongest, most capable version of yourself.
Building Confidence Through Movement (Not Motivation)
One of the most powerful insights from this conversation is Kaisa's take on consistency and motivation. Here's the hard truth: motivation is bullshit. It's fleeting, unreliable, and not what's going to keep you showing up when life gets hard.
Confidence is built through action, not motivation. Every time you show up for yourself, even when you don't feel like it, you're proving to yourself that you're capable. That builds confidence, which is infinitely more sustainable than motivation.
The key to consistency is making movement enjoyable. If you hate your workouts, you're not going to stick with them long-term. Kaisa is all about finding ways to make movement feel good, whether that's through strength training, mobility work, or her personal favorite, jiu-jitsu.
Stop seeing movement as punishment. Exercise shouldn't be the price you pay for eating food or having a body. It should be something you do because it makes you feel powerful, capable, and alive. When you shift that perspective, consistency becomes so much easier.
This conversation touches on Kaisa's love for jiu-jitsu and how it's changed her relationship with movement. There's something about learning a new skill, being challenged, and seeing tangible progress that keeps people coming back, and that's the energy we should be bringing to all our training.
Changing Your Mindset Around Fitness
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this episode is the importance of mindset when it comes to long-term fitness success. Kaisa and Tara discuss how societal messaging has conditioned women to view their bodies as projects that need fixing, rather than incredible machines that deserve to be celebrated and cared for.
Shift from external to internal goals. Instead of "I want to lose 10 pounds," try "I want to deadlift my bodyweight" or "I want to do a pull-up." Performance-based goals keep you focused on what your body can DO rather than how it looks.
Body confidence comes from capability. When you realize you're strong enough to pick up heavy things, move furniture by yourself, or play with your kids without getting winded, that's when real body confidence develops. It's not about fitting into a certain size; it's about respecting what your body can accomplish.
Self-love isn't a prerequisite for training. You don't have to love your body before you start moving it. In fact, movement can be one of the bridges that gets you there. Every workout is an act of self-care and self-respect, regardless of how you feel about your body in that moment.
Empowering Women Through Social Media and Community
The conversation also touches on Kaisa's presence on social media and her commitment to creating content that empowers rather than diminishes. In a world full of before-and-after photos and quick-fix promises, Kaisa is focused on showing women what's possible when you train for strength and performance.
Her approach is refreshing: she shares her own training, talks openly about her journey, and creates content that makes fitness feel accessible rather than intimidating. It's not about perfection or having it all figured out, it's about showing up, doing the work, and encouraging others to do the same.
Embracing Change Through Consistency
As the episode wraps up, there's a powerful discussion about embracing change and understanding that fitness is a lifelong journey, not a destination. Your goals will evolve, your body will change, your relationship with movement will shift, and that's exactly how it should be.
The key is staying consistent through all of it. Not perfect, not obsessive, but consistent. Keep showing up for yourself. Keep moving your body. Keep challenging yourself to get stronger, more mobile, and more capable.
Because here's what Kaisa and Tara both know to be true: when you stop chasing aesthetics and start training for strength, everything else falls into place. The confidence, the body changes, the sense of empowerment, it all comes as a natural result of prioritizing what your body can do over how it looks.
What's one performance-based goal you're working toward right now? Share your strength goals with us on Instagram @broads.podcast, we'd love to celebrate your wins!
