Vigor Life Podcast

Brad Stulberg’s book Peak Performance has always been on my top list of recommendations for entrepreneurs. I just found out he had written a new book just as I was scheduling an episode with him. I read it within days and was glad I did, because The Practice of Groundedness gave me a deep poke on things I needed to continue to work on. Brad researches, writes, and coaches on the characteristics that underlie sustainable excellence. No gimmicks or “hacks.” Just what works. Brad’s books are The Practice of Groundedness and Peak Performance. They have sold more than 350,000 copies and have been translated into more than 20 languages. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, where I am a regular contributor to the opinion section, as well many other publications including The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wired, The New Yorker, Forbes, GQ, Outside Magazine, TIME, and more. In his coaching practice I work with executives, entrepreneurs, physicians, and athletes on their performance and overall well-being. He’s the co-creator of The Growth Equation an online platform dedicated to defining and realizing a more fulfilling, genuine kind of excellence and sustainable success. Brad is also a fellow at the University of Michigan’s graduate school of public health, where he advises and lectures on health, human potential, and excellence. IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN: Even though Brad was successful in his field and had it all together on the outside, inside he had an anxiety and frenetic energy that always made him feel he was on shaky ground, this led to finding out why and writing this book The reason many high achievers and successful people feel are always striving and not feeling at peace with where they are. Why do entrepreneurs want to “turn it off” and have some peace but when they do they feel like they should be working. How to find the balance between striving to be excellent in your craft and career, and not losing yourself and having peace. What is “Summit Fever” and how it may lead to a huge downfall after a success. How to be grounded in the process of striving where you spend 99.9% of the time. Is awareness the most important principle to become grounded and something that is critical to becoming aware. Breaking down the 6 principles of groundedness and  how to practice them in a skill based way. Why “good enough” consistently can make you the best in the world. A practice and strategy to be able to take your own advice; true wisdom. What is performative vulnerability vs. true vulnerability, and the power of this principle on your life and business. What is deep community and why it may be the most important one to build roundedness. Why Brad and I agree that its better to have one gym that makes a deeper impact than a chain of national gyms (and our reasoning behind it). How being the most know and being excellent at your craft are two very different things. The power of movement and exercise and how it affects mindset, psychology, health, and is a catalyst to improve every factor of your life. The formula for discovering the right movement approach for you to have lifelong success and health.

It was about time I had my friend Ben Bruno on the Vigor Life Podcast. Ben went from starting of in the industry working for Michael Boyle and putting in the work day in and ay out, eventually moving to LA, and with time becoming one of the most well known celebrity and elite athlete trainers in the country. Throughout all this time he has remained humble, a great voice in the industry, both for how to get results, treat clients, conduct yourself with integrity, and also how to succeed as a trainer. We dive-in and talk about many topics, ranging from his beginnings in the industry, what it takes to stand out, how to get results and retain clients for over a decade, and how to have success on social media while staying yourself. This is truly a MUST listen to episode if you’re a coach (or anyone for that matter!).

A lot of the programming that I do these days falls into this category, and it’s essentially what I program for myself and many non-pro athletes I coach (even though the way I coach my pro athletes has so many overlaps, just some minor tweaks) who want to have “the show and the go.” They want to look, feel, perform like an athlete, while not being beat up, getting rid of nagging pains and joint issues, and have the energy and cardio to do everything they want in life. I’ve come to this way of programming through 30 years of training myself, doing that from high school to the pro’s in basketball, and then later working to be the fittest possible and constantly striving for top performance. It’s also from having a 17-year career in coaching, training thousands of clients from every walk of life, elite athletes to everyday people wanting to improve their life through fitness. I’ll be doing more episodes like this on training, coaching and program design, to help you get the most out of your training and coaching clients.

Michael is a restaurateur and chef, entrepreneur, TV host, wellness leader and founder of Kreatures of Habit, an in-your-face lifestyle and wellness brand reimagining how you establish healthy habits in your life. Honoring his 17 years of sobriety by launching his newest venture on August 17th, Michael’s goal with Kreatures of Habit was to create easily accessible nutritional products that are rooted in adopting the positive habits that transformed his life and allowed him to replace alcohol with the nutrition and fitness he needed. Michael channeled his fire for culinary and community by curating and building some of New York City’s beloved restaurants including The Meatball Shop in 2009 with childhood friend Daniel Holzman, which has now grown to five locations across New York City and resulted in the release of The Meatball Shop Cookbook in 2011, co-authored by Michael and released by Ballantine Books. In 2015, he founded SEAMORE’s, a Manhattan restaurant that combines Michael’s love of fishing and culinary expertise, expanding to five locations peppered across New York City. Michael Chernow, who has founded hospitality ventures The Meatball Shop and Seamore’s, appeared on Food Network’s Beat Bobby Flay, Kitchen Casino, and Chopped, co-authored cookbooks and landed magazine spreads for his Olympian-like physique, possesses a resume with marathon-like momentum. A poster child for how to live a life well-lived and reach business mogul status, Chernow adopted positive habits that allowed him to replace alcohol with nutrition and fitness and propel his ascent in the New York restaurant scene.

Marc Megna’s path towards becoming the foremost strength and conditioning coach in Miami was paved with obstacles; As a child, Megna was overweight and a target for bullies, dreaming that one day he’d play in the NFL.  During his collegiate football career, Megna became a two-time All-American athlete and was drafted by the New York Jets in 1999. His gridiron career spanned several seasons in the NFL and CFL for the New York Jets, New England Patriots, Cincinnati Bengals and Montreal Alouettes. He was coached by NFL greats like Bill Parcels, Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll and Dick Lebeu. In 2007, Marc decided it was time to complete his career as a professional athlete and decided to utilize the knowledge and skills he learned in the NFL to help people improve their quality of life through movement. He settled in Miami where he worked tirelessly to make a name for himself as a fitness trainer, training clients from all walks of life including notable clients like Alex Rodriguez, Gabrielle Anwar, Vernon Davis, Rob Gronkowski, Kevin Spacey and Hollywood Film Director Adam Shankman. Megna also frequently contributes to fitness publications including Men’s Fitness and Bodybuilding.com,and became a recognized fitness model even gracing the cover of Muscle & Fitness Magazine. In 2013, Marc became the co-owner of Anatomy Fitness, a state-of-the-art fitness facility in Miami, Florida. Anatomy Fitness now has 4 fitness facilities including a facility inside the 1 Hotel South Beach. In 2016, Marc launched the Megna Method podcast where he interviews some of the most famous athletes, entrepreneurs, and celebrities in the world. Marc is the subject of the Just A Kid From Fall River documentary film created by Randy West of Monarch Productions. Marc is also the Author of Dream Big Never Quit, which was selected as one of the Best Sports Biographies by Amazon Book Review editor, Jon Wahlgren.

A couple of weeks ago we had the launching of Box n Burn boxing training at Vigor Ground and I was fortunate that Tony Jeffries and Glen Holmes came out to help us launch it, run some sessions and foundations of boxing while also raising thousands of dollars for Alzheimers Association. Tony is the worlds #1 boxing educator, 2008 Olympic Bronze Medalist, he competed at the highest possible level as a boxer, winning 7 British titles, several multi-national titles – including a European gold medal, and a total of 106 career fights. Tony has been in the gym nearly every single day since he was ten years old, competing competitively for a total of 17 years. Unfortunately, his boxing career came to an end in 2012, when he was forced to retire as an undefeated professional due to severe hand injuries. Tony co-founded the now world famous Box N Burn gym in 2012 in Los Angeles, CA. Tony travels the world with his team mentoring & instructing fitness professionals and fitness business owners not only how to teach boxing for fitness through the Boxing Fitness Academy, but also how to have success as a gym owner with boxing fitness classes, marketing and business development. Tony’s also built a YouTube channel with millions of followers where he educates people on how to box and get fighting fit.

It was only a matter of time before I had Mike on the show and it was great to catch up with an industry legend and talk about how to become a great coach, getting results for clients while not getting them hurt, and how to build a successful career in fitness while being smart with your finances.  Michael Boyle is one of the foremost experts in the fields of Strength and Conditioning, Functional Training and general fitness. He currently spends his time lecturing, teaching, training and writing. In 1996 Michael co founded Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning, one of the first for-profit strength and conditioning companies in the world. Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning exists for one reason: to provide performance enhancement training for athletes of all levels. Athletes trained range from junior high school students to All Stars in almost every major professional sport. Prior to Co- founding Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning, Michael served as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Boston University for 15 years, also for the past 25 years he been the Strength and Conditioning Coach for Men’s Ice Hockey at Boston University.  Mike also was the Boston Red Sox strength and conditioning coach in 2013 that won the World Series. In addition to his duties at Boston University and the Red Sox, from 1991-1999 Boyle served as the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. Michael was also the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the 1998 US Women’s Olympic Ice Hockey Team, Gold Medalists in Nagano and 2014 Silver medalists in Sochi, and served as a consultant in the development of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michael has been a featured speaker at numerous strength and conditioning and athletic training clinics across the world and has produced 20 instructional videos in the area of strength and conditioning available through M-F Athletic. Michael has also lectured all over the world. In addition, Michael published Functional Training for Sports for Human Kinetics Publishers.

Alan Aragon has over 20 years of success in the fitness field. He earned his Bachelor and Master of Science in Nutrition with top honors. Alan is a continuing education provider for the Commission on Dietetic Registration and National Strength & Conditioning Association. Alan lectures at national and international conferences, and maintains a private practice designing programs for recreational, Olympic, and professional athletes, including the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Kings, and Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Alan is a contributing editor and resident Weight Loss Coach of Men’s Health magazine. His book Girth Control is considered to be one of the most in-depth manuals for improving the body and understanding nutrition for fitness & sports. Alan has co-authored the most-viewed article in the history of the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. Last but not least, Alan writes a monthly research review providing critical analysis and practical application of the latest science on nutrition, training, and supplementation. It’s been a while since Alan and I caught up and it made it that much better as we dove into the principles of nutrition that helps people get leaner, maintain/build lean muscle, get healthier; and do those things for the long term (longevity).

I’m joined by my friend Andrew Coates, who’s a personal trainer, speaker, fitness writer for publications such as Muscle And Fitness, T-Nation, Generation Iron Bar Bend, and many more; and host of the “Lift Free Diet Hard” podcast. Andrew has had a journey of “starting late” as a coach in the industry and yet building a very successful in person coaching business, as well as becoming a sought after writer, speaker and now launching online offerings for his services. We dive into the principles of success for becoming the go to person in your area, the blueprint to building powerful relationships in the industry and becoming a super connector, and the steps to not only Crete great content, but also get paid for it through the medium of writing, speaking, and mentoring.

Jason Brown, a combat veteran, and former box owner is the founder of Box Programming & Jason Brown Coaching, and published Author of "Lower-body Training" via Human Kinetics. Jason has a Masters of Science degree in Exercise Science, is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the NSCA, and is a Certified Special Strengths Coach with Westside Barbell. He regularly writes for T-Nation.com, EliteFTS.com, and serves as a presenter with the National Strength & Conditioning Association. Jason and I finally get to do a show on the Vigor Life Podcast and since we both love the conjugate training model, owned gyms, and do some form of education of coaches nowadays, this conversation was full of insights on best program design principles, insights to succeed as a in person coach or gym owner, or how to develop your brand online. There’s so many nuggets to take away from the conversation with Jason.