In this episode, Ryan Jore sits down with Miranda Wilson to discuss her fitness journey, from competitive athletics and CrossFit to finding a sustainable approach centered on strength training, mental health, and longevity. Miranda shares how fitness evolved from a pursuit of weight loss and aesthetics into a powerful outlet for managing stress, building confidence, and improving overall well-being. The conversation explores common fitness mistakes, injury recovery, nutrition, habit-building, the importance of lifting heavy, and why long-term consistency matters more than short-term transformations. Listeners will walk away with practical insights on creating a healthy lifestyle that supports both physical and mental health.

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Ryan Jore 0:00 Hi guys, welcome back to the podcast. Today we have on Miranda Wilson. Miranda, thanks for joining us.

Miranda Wilson 0:19 Excited to be here.

Ryan Jore 0:21 So, what got you into fitness? I know you’d mentioned at one point that you were a spin instructor.

Miranda Wilson 0:25 Yeah, so I was an athlete all through my childhood, after high school. You know, the typical thing happens, you quit participating in sports and your body changes, and I actually got up to like 181 85 ish, and really was just absolutely miserable in my body. It was foreign, I didn’t know who I was anymore. I was like, identity crisis, right? So I actually started out in CrossFit, yeah, which is not all that shocking, but this is not going to be even more shocking, as of course it came with injuries, right, my athleticism came back very quickly, and so did the competitiveness, and so I’m competing at levels where my body just wasn’t ready for, and I did CrossFit for probably three to five years, and I enjoyed, like, the heavy lifting aspect of it, but my body was inflamed all the time, I was sore all the time, I have injuries that I’m still probably going to fight for the rest of my life, but it was a good foundation for what was to come. So I then, at that point, transitioned to a different gym and decided to go just traditional body,

Ryan Jore 1:39 More bro lifting.

Miranda Wilson 1:39 Yeah, bro lifting, that’s the best way to put it, and I absolutely loved it. My body absolutely loved it. And then a new gym opened, and I was like, hey, I mean, I guess I could try something different again. And I got into spin instructing, and I have been in just like bro lifting ever since. And then I moved to Billings and tried out a couple of different gyms, and

Ryan Jore 2:01 Found that Granite was the best obviously.

Miranda Wilson 2:03 Obviously, yeah.

Ryan Jore 2:04 So, I know you’d mentioned for you a lot of the benefits seem to came from like a mental health perspective. How do you find that lifting helps with that?

Miranda Wilson 2:11 Yeah, so I mean, obviously lifting is always going to be beneficial to like what you feel like and what you look like, but for me it was like the more fit I got, I still found that like my mental health wasn’t matching that. It was like I was always attaining the next goal, or like maybe when I have a six pack I’ll be happy and peaceful and chill and confident, and it was like I was always striving to like fit into the next mold, and it wasn’t until I like started using lifting as an outlet for like when I was stressed or when I had emotions I didn’t know how to process that it really transformed everything for me. I come from a pretty chaotic childhood, and so it was always something that I just normalized, right? Like, oh, I’ll just always have like this background noise in my head, and there’s so much truth in the statement of, like, you can build the body of your dreams all you want, but until you address, address what’s going on in your head, like you’re still going to have the same issues. A different body isn’t going to change that. And when I embraced that and started doing the work and using it as an outlet, as opposed to like a fix for my body and my confidence, it was a night and day difference.

Ryan Jore 3:38 It is always interesting. I feel like most people get into fitness exactly for that’s more the esthetic side, and the people who stick with it are the people who make it about something more than that, like actually realizing I can enjoy the workout and not have to think like what is this getting, it’s like I can just, I’m doing it because I enjoy the workout.

Miranda Wilson 3:53 Yeah, I mean, I think for me I still will always have like that, I gained so much weight in the back of my head, so there’s always going to be the aspect of like the esthetics part of it for me, and I’ve just come to accept that that’s just a little demon, if you will, that gets to sit on my shoulder and remind me it’s a motivation in a way, but it also is something that I’ve learned to overcome, and

Ryan Jore 4:21 Weight loss in general, like weight loss can be a good thing or it can be a punishment, but against there’s you can still chase esthetics without it being a negative thing mentally. I think it’s when it becomes the only thing that it probably becomes more of an issue.

Miranda Wilson 4:32 Yeah, totally.

Ryan Jore 4:34 Now, with your, you’d mentioned, like, as far as having injuries and stuff, when you have, say, a setback in your fitness or anything like that. How do you address that?

Miranda Wilson 4:42 Oh, that’s.. I’m probably.. don’t listen to my advice. I am not good at resting unless I’m like forced to. Luckily for me, I’ve only had a couple of setbacks, and one of those I was training for a Spartan race and decided to live. Too heavy, in addition to all of the running I was doing, and I had a hip flexor injury, and that, that put me down for a long, long time. It really, I took a hit into my strength, too, and that was, that was hard to overcome, because I was always an ego lifter, too. You know, like, the heavier I can lift, the cooler I am. Yeah, so I, it’s taught me a lot of lessons about the importance of just like taking care of your body and not just like wrecking it for the esthetics.

Ryan Jore 5:29 I think that’s a problem a lot of people have is this idea of like, well, I have to be back by x number by a certain point. It’s like, if we, if we take the deadline out of it a lot of times, we just recover a lot faster. It’s your financial future is generally not based on what you’re doing in the gym, so it’s like if we get there in three weeks or three months, it probably doesn’t change much on that perspective.

Miranda Wilson 5:46 Yeah, and I think over the years my goals have obviously changed a lot, and now it’s more of like overall health and longevity for me, and keeping my body in a place that feels good, but still allows me to have a more active lifestyle, where I’m not tired all the time, and I’m not fatigued, my body’s not sore all the time. I mean, I still love, like, a good muscle soreness, but it’s totally different from what it used to be for me.

Ryan Jore 6:11 I think it’s been interesting last, like, two years, especially if, like, longevity has become just a bigger topic in general, of, you know, it’s like not about looking your best at 30s, like, how can we continue to look best when we’re 78 and actually still be able to, I think, one of the original authors I read always talked about, said the most underrated thing you can train for is just being able to get on and off the toilet when you’re 80, like, if you can do that, you’re ahead of most people.

Miranda Wilson 6:30 Yeah, which is crazy, because that’s not something most people will take the time to think about, right, you’re just like, oh, what about tomorrow or five years from now, but it’s like, I don’t want to be like using a walker if I absolutely don’t have to be at 80 years old, like I want to be able to live my life for as long as I can on my own, and

Ryan Jore 6:48 There’s actually a keep her anonymous here, person I know I remember, and she’s like probably early 50, and I remember hearing her saying, like, well, like we’re getting rid of our, we’re getting, get rid of our two level house, because at certain point I feel like I won’t be able to go up the stairs, like I just assume I’ll be in a wheelchair. It’s like that’s probably a good time to adjust your fitness, like maybe being fittest at 45 it means being a wheelchair at 60s, maybe not.

Miranda Wilson 7:10 Yeah, and it’s crazy how normalized that is, like, oh, you know, I don’t want to have to worry about these stairs, and man, I would just wish more people understood that it doesn’t have to be like that, like if you take care of yourself now it makes a difference down the line.

Ryan Jore 7:26 Yeah, almost always the fittest people you meet are people that just kept doing little enough over the long haul. It’s not like this six week program to build the biggest biceps, like how can I just continually adding little bits over time?

Miranda Wilson 7:36 Yeah, I think that’s a trap I’ve fallen into too, you know, especially yeah, when you’re like after the esthetics, and how big can my muscles get, and how strong can I get, you lose sight of the big picture. And my body is so much happier when I took a step back from that. And I do the same lifts every single week, five days a week. I rarely ever change it, unless I find that, like, my body’s not loving what I’m doing, and then I’m like, hey, maybe this would make me feel a little bit better, as opposed to it always being about how is this going to make me look.

Ryan Jore 8:09 Yeah, exactly. It’s finding what works for you and sticking with. I mean, that’s yeah, good advice for basically anything.

Miranda Wilson 8:14 Yeah, and I people overthink that. They definitely overthink that, especially in the fitness industry. It’s like, just stick to it. It doesn’t have to be like a six week or eight week or 12 week program. Just do the same,

Ryan Jore 8:25 But that’s not good for Instagram engagement. Yeah, that show like you need to have that like eight week photos, like yeah, blows it up.

Miranda Wilson 8:31 Yeah, which nine times out of 10 isn’t even real.

Ryan Jore 8:35 Would you say so? Has your nutrition approach changed during that time as well?

Miranda Wilson 8:38 Oh yeah, that’s been all over the board. I’ve been a crash dieter 1,000% I will own that, and I will own that, because balance – and balance is such an overrated word, right? Because true balance is hard to find. It’s always going to be heavier on one side of the scale, no matter how you try to weigh it. I now just take the approach of like I eat to fuel my body and to enjoy food, like I’m a foodie. I love trying new food, I love pizza, I love all of the things that I shouldn’t love, but everything in moderation is doable. It’s like if I can look at my week at the end of the week and be like, okay. Well, I ate a burger and pizza every single night, like probably not great. And I’ll try to balance that out, of like, okay, how can I 80% stay on track with like whole foods, like lean meats, rice, a lot of vegetables, but still find a way to enjoy the pizza once a week?

Ryan Jore 9:38 Well, that’s something you do for the rest of your life versus, yeah, if you’re just doing chicken and rice and broccoli, it’s like that works for a while, and like some people can sustain it longer than the nerves, but at certain points you’re going to crash out, and it’s like, especially like we talked about traveling, like if I’m traveling, I don’t want to like think I’m never going to get a chance to eat that again, like, you should be able to find a way to fit that into your plan,

Miranda Wilson 9:56 Absolutely, and I used to be a really hardcore macro counter, and anything in moderation, right, but there, there breaches a certain line, and everything, where you’re, you’re overdoing it, and it becomes more of an obsession, or like an unhealthy habit that started out as a healthy habit. I got really, really thin at one point, and, like, my goal was always to build muscle, but I couldn’t build the muscle because I was under eating to be thin, thinking that thin was where my muscles were going to show, and I like, I wasn’t building any muscle because I was just hungry all of the time, and you get bored, like, life is so short and boring when you just eat chicken and rice every single meal.

Ryan Jore 10:41 Well, it’s like, was to say, like, most guys who think they need to put on more muscle actually need to cut some fat to show their muscle, and most women who are the exact opposite, like, they actually need to put on some muscle because they just don’t have any yet.

Miranda Wilson 10:51 Yeah, and that kind of leads into, like, a different topic for me too, is I wish women were not afraid to lift heavy.

Ryan Jore 10:59 Yeah

Miranda Wilson 10:59 It’s like you can try and tell them all day long, but like, if I had $1 for every time somebody’s like, “Hey, how did.. how did.. how do you look like that? It’s like you’re not gonna like the answer, and it’s.. I lift really heavy.

Ryan Jore 11:12 No, it’s that my wife’s the exact same way. It’s like she does.. I have her doing at this point, like she has like 20 minutes on the elliptical or something once we can. That’s like her only cardio, but it’s like, yeah, when she’s on her nutrition, she nails that, and she lifts really heavy four or five times a week.

Miranda Wilson 11:25 I think your wife might lift heavier than me, if we’re being honest.

Ryan Jore 11:27 Possible. Yes, she can do like 345.

Miranda Wilson 11:29 Yeah, that’s tough.

Ryan Jore 11:29 Never on bench, though. That’s, we’re still working on bench.

Miranda Wilson 11:31 Bench is probably my weakest, right?

Ryan Jore 11:32 She’s like 135.

Miranda Wilson 11:33 Yeah, that’s where I’m at.

Ryan Jore 11:37 Okay, we can have a competition at some point.

Miranda Wilson 11:39 No, those days are behind me.

Ryan Jore 11:43 But yeah, it’s funny, because it’s like you said, no one ever, the answer is almost always what people don’t want to hear, right? And it’s, I think, women, for so long, were thought to chase, or were told to chase, like sensations, like you know, burn and sweat, and all these other things, and I said it’s good to be sore from occasion, like if you’re never sore, that’s probably an issue too, but chasing actual results and not just chasing sensations, I think matters so much more for people.

Miranda Wilson 12:04 Yeah

Ryan Jore 12:05 Again, like, actually, I don’t think Brittany gets sore that often, other than like recently I changed her program up, and she’s getting some soreness now, but it’s like she went years without that, and she was still staying really late, even when we were doing bodybuilding prep, like she never got that sore, she just got jacked.

Miranda Wilson 12:20 That’s the dream.

Ryan Jore 12:21 One of the things I saw in one of your posts is you’re talking about the importance of getting out of your comfort zone. So, what does that look like for you? Besides the podcast.

Miranda Wilson 12:30 For me, yeah. This is a great example of that. I think it’s really easy in life to get complacent, and the life you want is never going to be built within that complacency. The body you want is never going to be built within that complacency, and without constantly pushing yourself to your limits, you’re never going to know A, what your limits are, or B, what you’re, you’re capable of beyond those limits, and nine times out of 10 you’re capable of probably 10% more at least, and in the gym that’s something that pays off more times than not, right? So, like, if you’re going to push yourself to a heavier weight, you’re going to be like, “Oh, damn, I can probably lift 10 pounds heavier than this in a couple of weeks, and it’s like a fun competition you get in with yourself, but I think it applies to every area of life. It’s like every single area of life comes out of your comfort zone.

Ryan Jore 13:28 I think it is really cool seeing, like, especially like beginning when women start lifting heavies after a few weeks, like, holy crap, like that weight used to feel really heavy, now it’s just barely a warm up. And just really, again, like, I think you’ll realize this as someone who lists heavy, like most people don’t realize what truly pushing yourself hard actually is, like you know, they’ll list something and they’ve got 10 reps left and takes, like, that was hard, it’s like, well, that’s burning, it doesn’t mean you’re there yet.

Miranda Wilson 13:49 Yeah, like you shouldn’t be able to finish your last rep.

Ryan Jore 13:52 Talking

Miranda Wilson 13:53 Yeah

Ryan Jore 13:54 It’s yeah, and again, like, I think most people don’t, we always have goals, right, but we don’t realize like what the work is actually required to get to those goals, and I said it’s almost always whether that’s tracking your food or meal prep, or those are things that might take time, and that’s that might be the comfort zone for that person in the moment. It’s like just admitting, like, okay, I’m gonna have to watch a little bit less TV or do a little bit less scrolling on social media to get to what I actually want to get to.

Miranda Wilson 14:16 That kind of leads me to this other thought, too, of like, you know, this just as well as I do, but anything that is a drastic change in your life overnight, you’re gonna fail.

Ryan Jore 14:26 Yeah

Miranda Wilson 14:26 You’re gonna fail. You have to be able to take it in strides and small habit changes at a time, and that’s what leads to long-term life change.

Ryan Jore 14:37 You’re making it a habit, you’re not just making it something I do, for a few weeks. Miranda Wilson 14:41 Yeah, and that’s why I hate New Year’s resolutions so much. It’s like, my biggest pet peeve on the whole planet is like, dude, you didn’t know you haven’t been to the gym in eight years, and you think that you’re gonna start on January 1 and go every single day for the next,

Ryan Jore 14:56 And quit smoking

Miranda Wilson 14:57 Yeah

Ryan Jore 14:57 Quit drinking,

Miranda Wilson 14:57 Yeah, on top of it, and change your diet. And crash diet, like it’s, it’s awful. Please, like, don’t do that at home, don’t do that.

Ryan Jore 15:06 I like direct to the camera.

Miranda Wilson 15:08 Yeah, gotta call him out directly, gotta look him in the eye.

Ryan Jore 15:11 One thing that I’ve posted about a couple times recently is like telling people, like, when you’re, say, getting protein, like, actually stock up on protein, and I think initially you should think that was maybe more of, like, a financial thing, like, not everyone can afford to get, like, 60 pounds of meat and put it in their fridge, but I think I realized recently it’s actually probably more about they don’t consider themselves as doing this past two weeks, you know, and they realize, like, there’s this disconnect of, like, they know they have to do this for three to four months minimum to see the real changes, but yeah, every, like, they’re buying their groceries every week, just in case, just in case they quit this week, it feels like,

Miranda Wilson 15:41 Yeah, and how many of those people are buying stuff they shouldn’t be buying, like

Ryan Jore 15:44 Exactly

Miranda Wilson 15:46 I mean, it comes back to the balance thing, right? Of like, I do think that you should still buy things that you enjoy, but if that’s all you’re buying and you’re not stocking up on the things that are going to help balance out that you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Ryan Jore 16:00 I was just talking with a client about this today with the Dilly bars, where her husband will go by like 36 of them, and she’s like, “I don’t mind, like, and I’ve always told clients this too, is like, “If you’re willing to get in your car, drive all the way down there just to get that snack, you probably actually needed that, like, you know, it’s one thing, you’ll move on, but if you have to walk three feet over to your fridge and get it, you’re gonna have one every day, it’s like, okay, you didn’t need it, you were just bored, or you’re stressed, or you’re using it for that. Like,

Miranda Wilson 16:25 Yeah

Ryan Jore 16:26 Save those things for the times you actually need it. And the cool thing is, you tend to appreciate them a lot more to just have that same ice cream every day.

Miranda Wilson 16:32 Yeah, I’m a board eater, 100% yeah. But I have also had to learn that the hard way, is like, if I know that it’s a vice for me, I can’t keep it on me. Like, I love candy, I love sour candy, and if I have it in the cupboard, I’m going to eat it. If it’s on the counter, I’m going to eat it. So, I found that, like, okay, I’ll allow myself, like, on a road trip, okay, I’ll enjoy it, but I cannot keep it on me at all times. Sabotages me.

Ryan Jore 17:04 I have clients who will literally eat an entire peanut butter jar. It’s in the house, which I love peanut butter, I can’t imagine eating it.

Miranda Wilson 17:10 No, that’s intense. I think it’s the texture for me that slows me down. Luckily

Ryan Jore 17:14 Yeah, you’re like a horse. You’re like,

Miranda Wilson 17:15 Yeah, yeah, I can’t breathe, I’m suffocating in this peanut butter, I gotta chill.

Ryan Jore 17:19 But, like, taste-wise, I get it. I’m like, I’m never sick of it. That’s not a problem. What other foods can you not keep? No, I’m kidding. Yeah, kind of wrap up. I wanted to do a couple quick hitters. So, that what is your favorite lift in the gym?

Miranda Wilson 17:33 Ooh, I think it’s dead lift.

Ryan Jore 17:34 Yeah

Miranda Wilson 17:35 Yeah, or pull-ups.

Ryan Jore 17:36 It’s always like there’s just nothing more satisfying than like lifting something really heavy.

Miranda Wilson 17:39 Yeah

Ryan Jore 17:40 And just knowing that, like, you don’t need a spotter, you can just pick it up. Worst-case scenario, you set it down.

Miranda Wilson 17:43 Yeah, it’s yeah, I mean, there’s been many times in my life I didn’t even get it off the ground.

Ryan Jore 17:49 That didn’t move. What is your go-to snack then?

Miranda Wilson 17:56 I love Sour Patch Kids. If I’m being naughty,

Ryan Jore 17:59 That’d be more my wife’s go-to, yeah.

Miranda Wilson 18:01 But I don’t, I don’t think I really have, like, a snack. I’m more of, like, a meal type of person. I’m not really much of a snacker.

Ryan Jore 18:08 Yeah, I like a good, like, a variety of things.

Miranda Wilson 18:11 Yes, me and cheese. Cheese is always a good one, but I’ve learned that cheese and I aren’t really friends, like I thought we were most of my life. Yeah, so I just have to do it in small doses,

Ryan Jore 18:21 Just plays yourself just a little.

Miranda Wilson 18:22 Yeah

Ryan Jore 18:23 And then, how does the building’s real estate market… no, I’m just kidding.

Miranda Wilson 18:26 Please don’t put me on the spot like that, I might cry.

Ryan Jore 18:30 Awesome. Well, thanks for coming on. We really appreciate it. Miranda Wilson 18:32 Yeah, thanks.

Ryan Jore 18:33 Where can people find you if they wanted to look online?

Miranda Wilson 18:35 Um, you can find me on Instagram @myy.randa, m-y-y I think, yeah, double couple, you could try a couple, maybe three, I don’t really know, or you can find me on Facebook for you to listen.

Ryan Jore 18:36 Awesome, thanks, you guys. We’ll see you next episode.

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Website: JoreStrengthTraining.com https://www.jorestrengthtraining.com/

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