Lift Free And Diet Hard with Andrew Coates

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.

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.

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.

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.

Dr. Trevor Kashey discusses focusing on high value efforts in fitness, navigating the industry, tribal behavior, reevaluating weight loss systems, expertise misconceptions, and importance of skill acquisition in coaching for lasting lifestyle changes.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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.