Lift Free And Diet Hard with Andrew Coates
By Andrew Coates
Lift Free And Diet Hard with Andrew CoatesMay 03, 2022
EP #308 Dean Somerset: The Dean of Fitness Career Success
Dean Somerset returns as one of my most featured guests including episode #1 over 6 years ago.
Dean shares:
-Why training full time in person still fills his cup
-Why he's creating career success resources for the gaps in traditional fitness career education
-His mindset on long term payoffs vs obvious immediate benefits of effort and action
-How he filters and chooses opportunities
-Why he wanted to write his upcoming book
Enjoy this episode with one of the most foundational role models who paved a path I've been heavily influenced by.
EP #307 Rachel Henley: Lead Magnets, Email Lists, and How Social Media Stardom Does and Doesn't Change You
Rachel Henley has one of the most popular and fastest growing IG accounts in the fitness industry. Learn how:
-She used a lead magnet to grow a 90,000 subscriber email list.
-How social media and her list helped explode her business.
-How knowing her metrics helps.
-How she uses her authentic humour to attract her ideal audience.
-Social media has changed her life but how little has changed about her.
EP #306 Jaime Filer: Interaction Not Transaction
Jaime Filer joins me in a discussion about focusing on how the other person can come out of an interaction better and why she so naturally approaches interactions this way. Jaime takes a selfless interest in others while knowing how to ask for opportunities that also provide value to the person she's asking.
Please check out more of Jaime: https://www.instagram.com/jaim91?igsh=MWVxYWpxdHM2N2R6eg==
EP #305 Nick Shaw: Authenticity in Your Brand and Media, Dealing With Rough Patches, and Getting Comfortable Promoting Yourself
Nick Shaw, co-founder and CEO of Renaissance Periodization guests to talk about:
-How RP succeeded when it let Dr. Mike Israetel be his authentic self
-How to navigate conflict with people online
-The role luck plays in success
-Dealing with rough patches
-Getting comfortable with self promotion
-and more
EP #304 Mark Young: How I Almost Died, Plus Lessons From Old School Fitness Industry Networks
Mark Young has been long overdue for an appearance. Mark made a surprise appearance at my 2023 conference after a major health scare and painstaking road to recovery. Follow the tale Mark shares with Mark's trademark humour.
Mark also shares his experience and wisdom from a lengthy career that predates the rise of social media. He shares how affiliate networks and blogs worked, and lessons that endure.
EP #303 Dr Natasha Barnes: How to Develop Your Coaching Program Offering, Training for Climbers, and Boundaries vs Responsiveness
Dr Natasha Barnes joins to talk about:
- her work coaching climbing athletes
- important concepts in strength training that coaches should focus on,
- How she runs her online programs and lessons for coaches in developing their own
- Navigating fear of injuries with clients
-Boundaries vs responsiveness
-and much more
EP #302 Andres Vargas: Nutrition, Training, or Both
Should you specialize in nutrition or training, or do both. Andres Vargas provides context and why he offers both for his clients. We also wade into the confusing realm of social media training, and talk about the fundamental that matter and the sensational stuff that doesn't. Plus much more.
EP #301 Tasha Whelan: Generosity and Abundance
Take a lesson from Tasha Whelan's kind, generous, and abundant mindset. Tasha is the consummate cheerleader for friends and peers all while working tirelessly to be successful leader, coach, and educator. Notice how Tasha tries to flip the questions and attention back on me during this fun discussion. We discuss where this comes from, the importance of communication skills, and other notes on continuing education.
EP #300 Sean Madden: The growing popularity of MMA in fitness, training considerations, and coaching a celebrity
Sean Madden joins on a special episode, lifetime #300. Going forward I will officially count all 300, including the original 150 with my good friend Dean Guedo as cohost. Sean talks about:
- the growing popularity of MMA within fitness and in general
-important training considerations for MMA
-coaching a celebrity(someone I personally am a big fan of) listen in to find out who
EP #149 Paul Revelia: The Value of Industry Friends and Going From Solo Coach to Building a Team
Paul Revelia joins to talk about the impact of having like minded peers, role models, and kindred spirits close to him throughout his career. We talk about how Paul went from a 1 man show into hiring a team and what it's allowed him to do with his career.
EP #148 Shaina Garcia: Pro Coaching
Today I’m joined by Shaina Garcia, an IFBB Pro competitor and coach based in Perth Australia
Today you’re going to get:
-The value of an IFBB pro card and if it’s enough to set you up as a coach
-Why dedication and care for your clients works
-Importance of relatability as a coach
-Dealing with the pressure to maintain a certain look while balancing physical and mental health
-How to encourage a winning mindset with clients
-and more
EP #147 Tom Morrison: Youtube Success, Mobility, and Long Form Media
Today I’m joined by my friend and fellow T-Nation writer Tom Morrison. Tom is a strength and mobility coach from Belfast Northern Ireland who’s seen his YouTube channel grow to half a million. You’ll hear:
- Whether YouTube subscribers or instagram followers are more valuable
- How to leverage Youtube following
- How media growth has changed Tom’s career and life
- A breakdown of some important mobility concepts including the difference between active and passive mobility
- How to intelligently program variety
- The value of getting published on a notable publication vs building your own library of resources.
- And more
EP #146 Nick Lambe: Public Speaking Workshop
My friend and prolific public speaker Nicke Lambe returns to talk all things public speaking. We've seen a rise in interest among coaches to speak at events, share their experience and knowledge, and educate within the industry. Nick has worked on ways to teach thee skills to more coaches and presents a lot of insight you can act on right now and further resources to follow up with.
We also tease why you should join us at his event Raise the Bar in Dallas in late February.
EP #145 Steve Kamb: Level Up Your Life, Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Goals, and Augmented Reality in Fitness
Back from a short and unplanned hiatus, today Steve Kamb founder of the successful brand Nerd Fitness and author of Level Up Your Life joins to talk about how his brand niche found him. Steve shares a lot of ways his coaching philosophies evolved with a humble and engaging attitude. Steve shares how he's deeply focused on fostering intrinsic vs extrinsic goals. He also shares his nuanced throughs on augmented reality(think Pokemon Go) and gamification in fitness.
EP #144 Eric Wong Kai Pun: Should You Work In A Commercial Gym?
Eric Wong Kai Pun, the Director of Personal Training at Goodlife - one of the biggest gym companies in the entire world, joins to chat about whether trainers should still work within a commercial gym setting. We talk about the pros and cons, the valuable skills you can learn, and the difference in starting a career now in fitness vs 10-20 years ago before social media played a role. We discuss the tradeoffs between support and stability and the work needed to work on your own and build a brand. We also talk about some red flags to watch for within any work space that should have you consider moving where you work.
EP #143 Dr. Sam Spinelli: Rehab and Performance
Dr Sam Spinelli returns as part of a series featuring the presenters at my Oct 13-14 event in Edmonton, The Evolve Strength - Business and Coaching Conference.
Sam shares what attendees can expect and his approach to both rehab and performance as different places on a spectrum of training stimulus, load, and intensity.
We also talk in depth about the value of Sam's brand and media, and what he looks for in credible resources in the strength and rehab space.
EP #142 Logan Dubé: Boundaries vs Roadblocks
Logan Dubé returns in a candid discussion about challenging tour belief structures as a fitness professional. Logan shares the value of spending time in a traditional commercial gym model, but the importance of being able to break out of rigid thinking from this system. Logan also explains the early career focus on boundaries and how these can inadvertently become career roadblocks. We challenge the rush to get off the gym floor and the value of a strong in person coaching business during tough economic times. Logan will also be one of the speakers at my Oct 13-14 event in Edmonton, Alberta, The Evolve Strength - Business and Coaching Conference and we discuss why you should join us. Message me for more info.
EP #141 Paulie Campbell: Developing Your Business Strategy
My friend Paulie Campbell shares wisdom and experience from his lengthy career on how his business has shifted with different seasons of his career. Paulie shares why he sees connection with others in the industry as valuable to his own career development.
EP #140 Funk Roberts: How to Crush on Youtube
Funk Roberts brings his big energy from years of success on YouTube to this episode so share his experience building a strong audience and a massively successful business. Funk shares mistakes along the way but getting right with his brand by doubling down on the brotherhood and community of his clientele .
EP #139 Dan Go: Brand and Media Growth Mastery
Fitness entrepreneur Dan Go shares a masterclass in his philosophy and tactics on building his brand, his following across several social media platforms, and direction people to his newsletter. Dan shares his focus on large scale impact to help more people and the limiting beliefs that hold most people back, including himself in the past. We also give a class in how and why to increase your rates. This episode is a goldmine of ideas for coaches.
EP #138 Dr Joey Munoz: All Things Nutrition
Dr. Joey Munoz joins today to talk about navigating the polarizing and volatile battleground of online nutrition. Joey shares how he manages online bullies while not paying attention to what others are doing, and being focused on serving people with good information.
Joey also shares a number of seemingly evidence based ideas and misconceptions popular within our industry.
EP #137 Kyle Dobbs: Career Mindset and Tactics
Kyle Dobbs, founder of Compound Performance, joins to share why he works within both coaching of clients and education for coaches. Kyle dives into a lot of valuable and actionable tactics and minutes about your fitness career. There are a lot of great takeaways you'll use right away to pave a path to future success.
EP #136 Jennifer Van Barneveld: Aspire To Inspire
Strong Magazine and Team Strong Girls owner Jennifer Van Barneveld is today's guest and Jennifer shares her mission in supporting women to "take up space", to "find their strong", and levelling up physically while celebrating the accomplishment. Jennifer shares how she build Team Strong Girls, and the process finding great coaches to build around. Jennifer also shares wisdom for coaches who want to write and get published and featured in publications like Strong.
EP #135 Aram Grigorian: Being a Humble Coach
Aram Grigorian appears and shares his philosophies around serving others, being responsive and supportive, and of being transparent. Aram shares how his career has grown by being humble and helping others. We talk about how he put together his successful event The Real Coaches Summit and what he has planned for the next one March 11th and 12th in Vegas.
EP #134 Lee Boyce: Trainer For Life
My good friend Lee Boyce returns to talk about how to stay in fitness as a long term career on the gym floor coaching clients. We often see trainers leave for "real jobs", gravitate online, or think there are greater financial rewards in "business coaching", but Lee shares why he feels being an in person coach is a legitimate and viable long term career path. Lee also shares his thoughts on the risk of AI replacing the human coaches in person.
EP #133 Edwin Mejia Jr: Generation Iron and Video Media
Generation Iron co-founder Edwin Mejia Jr. appears to talk about the legacy of media built by GI. Edwin shares his thoughts on how important it is for coaches to embrace video based media, and why genuine storytelling matters. We discuss the importance of attention as a scare resource now and in the future. Edwin also shares how he feels Generation Iron can help coaches in their careers with his brand's resources.
EP #132 Eric Bach: Marketing Clarity
Welcome to the newest episode with Eric Bach. Enjoy this discussion including what Eric means by meeting people where they're at. We explore the value of Eric's legacy as a long time T-Nation writer and how Eric is pivoting his media to shifting trends in media consumption. Eric explains the philosophy and tactics behind scaling your ability to produce and repurpose content. We dive into why it's still valuable to develop writing skill. We also explore why Eric's media and marketing is comfortable speaking about the desire to look good naked, and we push back at some of the industry that polices such messaging.
EP #131 Ebenezer Samuel: Writing, Injuries, Identity
Fitness Director of Men's Health, Ebenezer(Eb) Samuel appears to share how he navigated media creation and the invincible fitness professional identity while recovering from an injury. We dive into why "No one cares about your story" when you're looking to write for fitness publications and get featured on fitness media, and how to instead earn opportunities through "being of service". Eb shares the value of writing skill even with the present popularity of social media. We also dive into the nuanced intersection of the evidence based science of coaching merged with the art of coaching the individual.
EP #130 Michael Ranfone: Sell Solutions For Your Perfect Client
Michael Ranfone guests to share wisdom from 2 decades of coaching, gym ownership, and developing an online coaching business. Michael talks about getting the right clients to self select to your brand and business, by getting clear on building solutions for the person you want to serve. Michael shares his identity evolution from athlete to coach and from gym owner to something even more.
EP #129 Jason Phillips: Impact at Scale
Jason Phillips, founder of NCI and Coaching Con, makes his first appearance to shatter your limiting beliefs about the possible scale of your impact and the business you could create. Jason explains his goal to help 1 billion people and we challenge the attitudes and beliefs many fitness professionals hold. Jason shares why he believes specializing is the best path for impact. We deep dive into the value of being wired to give instead of take in your career interactions.
EP #128 Ben Pakulski: Exploring Your Limits
IFBB Pro and prolific educator Ben Pakulski makes his long overdue first appearance and shares how he approaches life and work with an endless desire to learn, grow, and push the limits of what he could do physically and in learning to help others. We share why Ben's abundance mindset led to breaking through some early limiting beliefs. Ben explains how he sees every person as an opportunity for a positive interaction that benefits everyone. Ben also explains how he's learned to create boundaries to focus on learning and educating. We also explore some of the valuable info and the bioscience myths coming out of a career in competition, and how to approach learning something fro everyone.
EP #127 Pete Dupuis: Fundamentals of Great Business
Cressey Sports Performance cofounder Pete Dupuis returns to deep dive into how strong business and service fundamentals allowed CSP to survive and thrive during the last few challenging years. Pete shares his formula for building trust with his clients. Pete explains how you put yourself in a position to benefit from luck. Pete also shares how his passion for a "side hustle" in mentoring gym owners grew into his current role with Business For Unicorns. This includes how Pete recognized the parts of the work he liked and the parts he didn't, shifting his focus to doing more of what he liked.
EP #126 David Thomas Tao: Doing It Right, Right Away
David Thomas Tao, co-founder of BarBend and now Head of Brand after it's recent acquisition joins the podcast to share the history of how and why BarBend started and where it's headed as a strength sport news outlet and strength training resource. David digs into the lessons from his approach to building BarBend, why timing and network effects matter, and why a commitment to getting it right early on was essential to building credibility. David also shares how they intend to support coaches going forward plus some lessons on how to approach getting published.
EP #125 Adriell Mayes: Passion, Curiosity, and Growth Mindset
Adriell Mayes is crushing in business, social media, in kettlebell education. Adriell joins to share how he built his media and foundation of his business. Adriell shares how he's approached coaching with a dedication to creating a fun and memorable client experience, and built his career through equal parts passion and curiosity. And like recent guest and peer Marcus Martinez, Adriell shares how he approaches kettlebells as a tool and extension of his body to focus on movement.
EP #124 Kait Callahan: Skill Investment
This episode could have easily been titled "Mindset Mastery" but it fails to grasp the intelligence and depth behind this conversation with Kait Callahan. Kait is one of the most intelligent, knowledgeable, and articulate guests ever on the podcast, as she explores and challenges our fundamental beliefs systems and the emotional underpinnings of our decision making. Kait explains her philosophy of investing in skill development as the best return on investment. This episode should make you think, challenge how you allocate your time in your career, and challenge you to ask better questions to create greater client impact.
EP #123 Marcus Martinez: Kettlebells and Creation
Kettlebell master and expect educator Marcus Martinez makes his long overdue appearance to chat about the key inflection points that led to his brand growth. Marcus shares how he navigates making kettlebells accessible to more people yet exploring the fun and creative side of their potential. We talk about how Marcus regular spends social time with a community of like minded and successful fitness professionals, and how this materialized. Marcus shares why he feels it's important to establish strong values early in your career so you can learn when to say yes or no to opportunities. He also shares how he's never worried about what other coaches are doing, he's focused on creating to help people.
EP #122 Adam Bornstein: You Can't Screw This Up
I'm honoured to have Adam Bornstein as a first time guest. Long overdue, Adam is one of the industry's most influential figures, coaches, writers, and teachers of sustainable nuanced lifestyle and nutrition habits.
Adam answer why coaches will get a ton of value from reading his new book "You Can't Screw This Up", a book written to help the overwhelmed, frustrated, and confused end user. We talk about coaching, asking better questions, and communicating with our clients in a way that supports change.
Adam also answers why he's deliberately operated more behind the scenes rather than lean into aggressive forward facing brand development.
Enjoy this episode and check out Adam's new book out soon.
EP #121 Beth Feraco: Ask For Help
Beth Feraco shares her experience hiring help and building a business off the back of social media success. Beth approaches her work from a place of "who can I help today", but has also embraced a willingness to "ask for help" herself. Beth shares tactics to get started and navigate social media growth, and how to leverage social media into systems like an email list. Beth also highlights some of the more challenging sides to social media "success".
EP #120 Santana Anderson: Creating Community In Your Gym
IFBB Pro and gym owner Santana Anderson joins me to share how a strong community supported his gym through closures and led to a stronger business that supports and invests in its coaches. Santana shares how getting an IFBB pro card shouldn't be an all encompassing mission and how it doesn't alone guarantee career success. Also pay attention to how Santana flips conversation to make it about the other person, a demonstration of a rare but trainable skill that showcases why he's thrived serving others.
EP #119 Eve Guzman: Hard Truths and Helping People
Eve Guzman and I both spoke at The Real Coached Summit in Las Vegas in March. Eve was the speaker who brought the most attendees because she mobilized the women in her community and mentorship to show up. Everyone had an amazing time. Eve shares how she battled obesity from a young age, lost the weight, pivoted from a science career in a lab, took a leap of faith, and started coaching others through evidence based nutrition. She was so successful other women kept asking her to mentor them. Eve shares her career progression and how she's build such a strong community. Eve talks about leveraging the support from key people around her while learning to turn off the naysayers. We discuss the power of embracing hard truths instead of peddling comforting lies in the effort to help more people feel healthier and empowered.
EP #118 Mike Doehla: Hard Work + Luck
Mike Doehla returns to answer the theoretical question: what would you do if you didn't need the money? Mike lives this discussion having sold the company he founded, Stronger U, and we talk about what are the options and future directions for Mike to continue to do what he loves, helping people. We talk about pricing your services, the right to earn a good livelihood, how hard work and luck interplay for career success, and ask do we have an obligation to help every way possible. We also talk about the potential value in hosting a podcast and how to approach it.
EP #117 Nick Shaw: RP Origins
Nick Shaw, CEO and co-founder of Renaissance Periodization(RP) returns to share how 2 personal trainers became the architects of one of the most successful and respected coaching and educational businesses in the fitness industry. We share nuanced thoughts on training online early in your career, the challenge and sometimes discomfort of building a personal brand, and to underlie it all with a "be of service" mindset.
EP #116 Dr. Trevor Kashey: Skill Acquisition
Dr. Trevor Kashey joins me to discuss how he's able to focus on highest value and impact efforts by spending less time being forward facing with social media. Trevor and I devolve into a "intellectual journey" about the nature of the evidence based fitness industry and what ultimately helps the end user. Learn what Trevor means when he says "I care about getting to the crux of "your" problem." Stick around for the second half as Trevor gets into actionable take aways for how to help people with their lifestyle and nutrition, specifically his focus on helping people with skill acquisition and guiding people to "stop doing as much dumb stuff and start doing more smart stuff." Hope you enjoy Trevor's intellect and humour.
EP #115 Dr. Christle Guevarra: Managing Injury and Recovery for Clients
Dr. Christle Guevarra of Renaissance Periodization guests to deep dive into injury and recovery management for our clients. Christle emphasizes the importance of communication, keeping clients positive, and ultimately keeping them in the game. We talk about training strategies and if there's a practical limit to trying to progress while also trying to recover from injury. Christle shares why she pivoted into the fitness industry and the potential to scale her impact.
EP #114 Luka Hocevar: Building A Personal Brand
Luka Hocevar returns to talk all about developing a personal brand and how it comes from "being of service" to others. Luka talks about how experience creates a lot of ideas for content. Luka also shares how his strong personal brand and experience allowed him to build his small group training program. Listen to this episode to get a discount code on this program.
EP #113 Dr. Dwayne Jackson: Non-Biased Approach to Nutrition
Dr. Dwayne Jackson guests to share wisdom from his extensive education and experience teaching medical professionals and more recently within the fitness industry. Dwayne shares why he approaches research and practice from a non-biased perspective. Dwayne shares info to help coaches with questions around chronic stress and its relationship with obesity. Dwayne shares why he chose to leave academia and start a second career teaching nutrition within the fitness industry.
EP #112 Brad Stulberg: The Practice of Groundedness
Author Brad Stulberg joins the podcast to share wisdom from his book The Practice of Groundedness. Brad explains what he calls “heroic individualism” and where it can go wrong for fitness professionals in their careers. He explains the arrival fallacy and strategies for learning to enjoy what you’ve accomplished while balancing the goal of achievement. We also have a rare nuanced discussion about navigating some of the more polarizing elements of media and social media, and how you can stay focused on what really matters.
EP #111 Kelsey and Dennis Heenan: Trial, Error, Success
Kelsey and Dennis Heenan make their long overdue first appearance to talk about how they built their massively successful online business and brand HIITBURN. Despite their success they’re quick to explain how much they tried along the way that didn’t work out. They share how important it is to build your email marketing, how they developed their social media, and how life has changed from their early careers. Kelsey and Dennis also share how close industry friends have played a key role in their own success. Find out why they say giving yourself "permission to try new things" is important.
EP #110 Steve Krebs: I'm Here To Help
Steve Krebs joins the podcast to talk about the importance of establishing your values and making decisions in alignment with those values. Steve explains what he means by “make the main thing the main thing, always.” We talk about the importance of the people closet to us in our ability to thrive in our careers.
EP 109 Jill Coleman: Scaling Your Career
Jill Coleman returns to share wisdom, experience, and evolving attitudes as her career has grown and roles have shifted. Jill shares how she build her business to where she needed to embrace scaling her team and offerings. Jill highlights her willingness to invest in mentors, especially when it was financially challenging, and how it launched her forward professionally and financially. Jill shares her nuanced thoughts on what it means to scale your business. We also share why you should consider joining us at the fitness conference Raise The Bar February 24th-26th in Dallas where we are both speaking.