Ali Gilbert makes her first ever appearance to talk about her work coaching men and their health. Ali shares a lot of information about why men's testosterone levels are declining and what coaches need to know to help their clients. Ali shares how her niche found her plus her thoughts on if and how you should develop a career nice. Ali also shares why she's leaned into building her own brand and why she's passionate about speaking and creating her own event.
Dec 27, 2022•50 min
Holly Baxter returns to talk about her career and life progression. Holly shares how her media has changed as her mindset and relationship with herself evolved. You see this evolution from someone who felt pressure to portray an almost superhuman physical aesthetic paired with entrepreneurial career success. Holly is now more open about the challenges and cost of such an effort and shows the difficult tradeoffs required to build her career. Holly also shares why she now utilizes a team of allied...
Dec 22, 2022•45 min
Sprint coach and educator Derek Hansen joins to share a lot of knowledge about sprinting, sprinting mechanics, and create a bridge to coaches like myself who don't have much knowledge or exposure to sprinting. Derek shares the value in not only working with Olympic medalists and major pro sports teams, but also in working as an educator within the fitness industry. Derek shares the value and fulfillment from his fitness industry relationships.
Dec 06, 2022•50 min
Dr. Michael Mash guests to talk about his work with Barbell Rehab, offering educational resources to fitness professionals. We discuss educating coaches about how to deal with their clients experience with pain. Michael shares how to navigate language around pain, and offers nuance to the extreme trend to demonize barbells as tools in our world, all to get more people moving and strong.
Nov 29, 2022•45 min
My friend Ben Mudge is back to talk about how and why he's build his new business Be More HQ with his friend Josh Taylor. We talk about how Ben's Cystic Fibrosis affects his long game career decisions. We talk about his brand ambassadorship with Ghost and how to ethically navigate brand partnerships. Plus a lot of discussion about our shared belief in supporting others and Ben's long game career philosophy. We also talk about our shared love of "geek culture" and leaning into it as a fitness pro...
Nov 15, 2022•50 min
Dr. Nick Nwabueze joins to share his approach to getting his patients healthier and more active. Nick shares his philosophy of proactive health care in prescribing exercise before rushing to medications. Nick believes in practicing what he preaches as a devoted CrossFit practitioner but explains why he doesn't always point his patients to his preferred workout methodology. We also dive into navigating the extremes of tribal narratives around obesity and how to find effective messaging to help pe...
Nov 08, 2022•55 min
Joel Jamieson returns and shares his humble beginnings. Joel shares how he was broke but put everything he had into education and developing relationships with mentors. We discuss all of the keys to a successful career before worrying about social media likes and followers, but we also discuss how we've each approached social media engagement, and the tactics and deliberate effort in building it. Joel shares details about a new nutrition and supplement project he's about to launch called Precisi...
Nov 02, 2022•49 min
Don Saladino joins to reboot The Lift Free and Diet Hard Podcast after a brief hiatus. Originally intended as retiring this podcast to focus time and energy elsewhere, I realized just how valuable this platform is and I couldn't leave it and everyone behind. Don shares stories of his career, his former gym Drive 495, and the not so glamorous challenges he's overcome to get to where his career is today. This includes the self limiting beliefs he's discarded along the way. We talk about Don's new ...
Oct 26, 2022•56 min
All good things must come to an end. Or at least go on hiatus. Thank you for being a regular listener to The Lift Free and Diet Hard Podcast for 100 episodes, and thank you for being here for the previous 150 with my co-host Dean Guedo as The Fitness Devil. After 5 years and 250 episodes it's time to take a break and focus on other projects. Dean returns as my final guest to talk about the legacy of our podcast and what its done for his career. Plus why you might benefit fro starting your own po...
Oct 04, 2022•54 min
Cody McBroom joins the podcast to talk about how he built his successful coaching business with a few key practices. 1) Relentless focus on serving the client/potential client. 2) Building a library of resources to serve his audience and gain relevance with a broader community. 3) A deep understanding of SEO. We share key inspirations and influences along our similar career paths and timelines.
Sep 27, 2022•44 min
Sam Miller of Sam Miller Science joins to talk about his career progression, his work mentoring and educating people on the science of metabolism. Sam dives into the gap in our knowledge and the nuanced middle ground between polarized extremes on metabolism, with the goal of helping people who feel lost or unequipped to have these conversations with clients. We talk about how Sam stays grounded and humble. Plus some details about his upcoming book Metabolism Made Simple.
Sep 06, 2022•51 min
Eric Bugera joins me to talk about his work with the Pre-Script team and why they've been successful. We explore the rise in combativeness and tribalism within various fitness industry communities and in our online space, and how to navigate. We also share our philosophies on how to approach social media on our terms to help people.
Aug 30, 2022•44 min
Derek Mendoza returns to share early details of his February 2023 conference Raise The Bar. Along with cofounder Nick Lambe, Derek executed on one of the best fitness conferences and lineups I've personally attended, in their 2022 inaugural event. Derek shares how they plan to improve upon last time. Derek also shares some of his efforts in building a new coarse for driven entrepreneurs. We dive into developing an identity around career success and the importance of building community with his e...
Aug 23, 2022•39 min
Enrico Incarnati is a media strategist and videographer, formerly working with Jordan Syatt. Enrico provides tons of advice on developing you media, social media, and video skills, plus he shares his experience working with Jordan Syatt as he grew his own career. Enrico also shares the important choices and skills he feels matter most for creators and fitness professionals now and in the future.
Aug 16, 2022•45 min
Dr. Gabrielle Fundaro makes her long overdue appearance on the podcast to deep dive into the challenge of navigating a sea of overblown, sensational, combative, and polarizing fitness industry media, while maintaining your values, integrity, and sharing the nuanced truth. Gabrielle shares some practical insight into the evidence based nuance of the gut health discussion and some practical takeaways for coaches to share with clients. We provide some insight into the growing combativeness within t...
Aug 09, 2022•47 min
Lee Boyce shares his best advice for new and young fitness professionals on the path to growing your career and media. Lee shares his process for deciding what to allocate his time to and advice for setting boundaries. We deep dive into the value of developing organic and authentic relationships across the industry, and warn against being transactional in your approach to relationships.
Aug 02, 2022•34 min
Dr. Caleb Burgess brings his expertise as a doctor of physical therapy and as a strength and conditioning coach to explain some of the tribal and polarizing behavior displayed in the fitness industry and where it intersects with physical therapy. We tease out the nuance of what can often appear to be extreme and polarized positions and ideas, and explain why these battles happen and what you the fitness professional can do to avoid being caught in the middle. Caleb talks about his positive and e...
Jul 26, 2022•49 min
Matthew Ibrahim returns to talk about his recent speaking appearance at the national NSCA convention and the career path to get there. We discuss how educating other coaches through writing, speaking, and other forms is not about the money but paying it forward to other coaches, and growing authority in the industry. Matthew also shares why he never wants to fully stop coaching clients in person.
Jul 19, 2022•41 min
Marc Megna is one of the ownership team of the popular Miami based gym chain, Anatomy. He's a skilled storyteller and shares lessons from his experience as a pro football player, trainer, gym owner, and other highlights and low lights of his life. Marc is student of leadership and great example of humility. Marc shares what to know before venturing into opening a gym and the best parts of the experience.
Jul 12, 2022•42 min
Steve Hall of Revive Stronger makes his first appearance and shares the humble origins of his career leading up to his rise as a popular evidence based coach. Steve elaborates on his experience building his online business, on how to choose a great business partner, how he built systems, and how he didn't have all the answers he just learned and figured it out as he went.
Jul 05, 2022•51 min
Writer, speaker, and online nutrition and behavior change coach Jeb Stuart Johnston returns to talk about how coaches can improve their communication and messaging to for greater career success and to make a greater difference in the lives of the people we work with. We dive into a big discussion about the discussions coaches fall into that don't help themselves or their clients. We talk in depth about the value of writing for career growth, and the value of attending events where like minded co...
Jun 28, 2022•1 hr
Brianna Battles makes her first and long overdue appearance to talk about her experience as a coach and educator for pregnancy and postpartum. Brianna shares practical considerations for coaches navigating this huge demographic, as women form the majority of fitness consumers, and many of those women will at some point in their lifetime go through pregnancy, and will then always be postpartum. Brianna explains her thoughts on "athletic maturity" and being adaptable to "stay in the game, even if ...
Jun 21, 2022•45 min
Dr. Jade Teta returns to talk about the importance of communication and connection to making a difference in our client outcomes. We expand into why these skills are so essential to long term career success and growth, and how Jade fostered his own skills. Jade shares why it's important to be purpose focused. He explains how compassion and empathy are the roots of good communication. He also explains why it's important to be aware of your own bias and dogma, and to be anti dogmatic.
Jun 14, 2022•1 hr
Meghan Callaway returns to talk about her business, media, and career growth. Meghan shares how her career has thrived when she put in place boundaries around her work and client interactions. We talk about how to approach your social media and how the right clients self select to you based on your media. Meghan shares how she channels all her work through the principles of educating, empowering, and exciting people. We also dive into the nuance around working with people who are careful about t...
Jun 07, 2022•52 min
Dr. Mike T. Nelson returns to share how gaining knowledge and applying it early in your career is a key foundation to later success. We tease the nuance our of the common question, "does a trainer need to be fit". Mike talks about how he now chooses where to apply his time and energy, focusing primarily on doing what he loves. Mike also shares why you shouldn't fear communicating with your following (in his case email list) daily.
May 31, 2022•46 min
Azaria Glaim is my latest guest. Azaria has been a lifestyle coach for women for the last 9 years. Winning her IFBB pro card at 20, we talk about how the competitive industry has helped her career and some words of caution for women considering entering this world, especially if they don't have a good relationship with food to begin with. Azaria talks about her approach to coaching, her focus on mindset, and how to approach the self limiting beliefs clients hold. We also talk about a controversi...
May 24, 2022•43 min
Belfast, Northern Ireland based fitness entrepreneur Phil Graham guests to talk about the difference between young business coaches spamming in your DMs, vs what it takes to develop a career of credibility as a business coach. Phil attacks the "I just want to help people" justification for not welcoming the effort to earn a greater livelihood in your fitness career. We dive into the nuance of the value of having social media followers measured against the pitfall of having so many that take a lo...
May 17, 2022•49 min
Dr. Mike Israetel returns to share how RP's social media and content creation have evolved with their brand growth and changes in social media platform reach. Mike eloquently explains why different prominent academics are more liberal or conservative in their interpretations of new research, and how you can navigate this. We also deconstruct the tribalism and hostility sometimes found within certain fitness industry communities, and how Mike prefers to navigate his interactions.
May 10, 2022•43 min
Brandon Senn is the VP of Athlete Experience and Head Coach at Kabuki Strength. Brandon provides a peek behind the curtain of his role with Kabuki and what it took to organize the 2nd annual Kabuki Education week this past January. Brandon shares how his value system have shaped his career, and his ambitions about continuing to educate and support other coaches. Listen and you'll also learn Brandon's answer to the question: "If you could have 1 million engaged social media followers tomorrow, wo...
May 03, 2022•45 min
Nick Lambe guests to share his passion and experience behind creating and hosting fitness events, like his upcoming Recovery and Sleep Summit and Raise The Bar in Orlando this past February. Nick is also a public speaker appearing at The Inland Empire Fitness Conference this August. Nick believes we can make the industry better by scaling our reach through mentoring other fitness professionals, and creating access to great education. Nick shares why he believes its more important to focus on peo...
Apr 29, 2022•41 min
