LTB Podcast

In today's episode, Stuart talks to Brett Barthomolew about burnout, where it comes from and how to spot the things that may end up with you burning yourself out, why working on your communication skills is an essential aspect of being a coach and whether or not you can build buy-in with your clients quickly. Brett Bartholomew is a strength and conditioning coach, author of the excellent Conscious Coaching, consultant, and Founder of the performance coaching and consulting company, The Bridge Human Performance®. His experience includes working with athletes both in the team environment and private sector along with members of the United States Special Forces and members of Fortune 500 companies. You can find out more about Brett and all of his work by heading to artofcoaching.com Timestamps: [02.20] - How he's finding being a new parent [05.15] - A discussion about burnout [20.35] - What doesn't work for preventing burnout [23.00] - Why he takes so much inspiration from other fields unrelated to the fitness industry [33.00] - How to assess how effective your communication is [40.35] - Can we build buy-in quickly? [48.05] - What coaches can do to build buy-in more effectively early on in the coaching process [52.10] - How he's dealing with the uncertainty of what's going on right now Find Out More About Brett: Instagram Website Free Field Guide Find Out More About LTB: Website Instagram Facebook

In today's episode, Stuart welcomes on Claire Winter and Maggie Elliott to discuss whether or not you should consider training your clients outdoors (if your country allows it) whilst gyms are unavailable. They chat through how to make the decision about training outdoors, considerations for what to do if you decide you're going to do it, equipment recommendations, programming structure, whether you should use music, what to do about the weather and much more. Claire Winter is LTB's Head of Operations and Maggie Elliott runs Spark Fitness, a personal training studio based out of Prestwich, England. Timestamps Claire Winter's portion of the discussion [02.47] - Would Claire train her clients outside just now? [05.54] - Why there's a chance you might be feeling guilty about doing mobile personal training [08.30] - Should you consider training your clients outside considering it may be months before all of them feel safe going indoors? [10.50] - What kind of things should you consider if you do decide to train your clients outdoors? [16.07] - Communicating with your client base [17.22] - Why you don't have to move outdoors even if your clients want to [20.37] - Why you have to consider what you'll do if you or one of your clients get the virus Maggie Elliott's portion of the discussion [22.45] - What decision Maggie has made around training her clients outside [28.35] - What kind of things would have to happen for Maggie to start training her clients outdoors? [33.25] - Programming considerations for outdoor PT [36.30] - Session length [38.20] - Whether or not she uses music? [41.20] - Does she think more PTs will take to mobile due to fewer people using big gyms? [43.10] - Other things to consider that you only learn by experiencing mobile PT Find Out More About Claire Winter: Facebook LTB Website Blogs mentioned - Claire's LTB blog, Covid-19 spreading more easily in indoor environments blog Find Out More About Maggie Elliott: Website Instagram

Nicola Hobbs is an author, counsellor and international yoga and meditation teacher. She has an MSc in Sport Psychology and her work is grounded in the interface of ancient wisdom and modern science, integrating the time-honoured practices of yoga, meditation and spiritual living with modern mindfulness, psychology, and mental fitness. In the episode, we discuss Nicola's journey through an eating disorder that was diagnosed when she was just 15 and then we get into all things writing. Timestamps: [02.49] - How she's finding teaching Yoga through Zoom. [04.06] - What first got Nicola interested in health, fitness and nutrition. [07.16] - Stuart and Nicola discuss her eating disorder (ED). [13.26] - What her recovery from the ED looked like. [19.58] - How long it's taken Nicola to feel like she's able and willing to share her story around her ED. [22.53] - How Nicola has come up with the ideas for each of her books. [25.58] - Does she always enjoy writing? [29.58] - Stuart and Nicola discuss her writing process. [36.16] - How she deals with the internal voice that tells her it's not worth writing the books she creates. [38.16] - What her editing process looks like. [43.03] - Book recommendations for writing. Find Out More About Nicola Hobbs: Instagram Website Books Her LTB Course Books mentioned: The War of Art, Bird by Bird, The Artist's Way, On Writing, Big Magic. Find Out More About LTB: Website Instagram Facebook

Jonny Stephens works as a head coach out of Curious Gym, which was previously named the LTB gym. We discuss how he's used cook-a-longs, step challenges and other engagement methods to keep the members of his gym feeling like they are part of a community while they can't come to the gym, how he's maintaining his own exercise during the lockdown, why sharing your struggles and challenges with exercise and nutrition will help you connect with your client base and more. Timestamps: [01.49] - How he is finding lockdown. [05.19] - Has this reinforced how much he enjoys the in-person aspect of personal training? [11.49] - How Jonny has found living alone during lockdown. [16.12] - A discussion around our struggles with maintaining exercise/ movement habits during lockdown. [23.10] - What the gym Jonny works out of, Curious Gym, have used to keep their clients engaged and interacting. [32.02] - If he was a 1-1 trainer with a smaller client base would he still try as many things as he has to engage his clients? [33.27] - What non-exercise/ movement things they've tried to engage their clients? [35.52] - Why it's a good idea to share what you're struggling with regarding exercise and nutrition with your client base. Find Out More About Jonny/ Curious: Jonny's Instagram Curious Gym Website Curious Instagram Curious Facebook Find Out More About LTB: Website Instagram Facebook

Phil Learney has been a personal trainer in the fitness industry since the early 90s and has worked in gyms all over England ranging from small private ones to big commercial ones. At his time of retiring as a trainer, he was the second-highest charging PT in the UK. Now he educates and helps PTs grow their businesses through his company the Advanced Coaching Academy (ACA). Phil tells some fantastic stories about being a PT in this episode and there are so many lessons about how to get more clients and run a better run business. We cover getting your finances in check, how to get a waiting list as a PT, early career mistakes trainers make, marketing and much more. Timestamps: [02.18] - How he would be handling things if he was a PT having to go through COVID-19 just now? [05.43] - Is he anxious or worried about the industry because of what's happening? [07.48] - Phil tells a story about having to smash a whisky bottle to pay his apartment rent [19.18] - Phil talks about why the hourly rate that PTs charge actually breaks down to very little income [22.48] - Can you speed up going through the inevitable client failures that most trainers go through? [31.18] - Why the only way the fitness industry will become more regulated is through the trainers in it lifting the standard of it [33.38] - Phil talks about personal training pricing [35.03] - Phil tells a story about a trainer who was charging £1000 per hour [39.44] - Why Phil has always had a waiting list in every single gym he's worked in. Find Out More About Phil: ACA Website Instagram Find Out More About LTB: Website Instagram Facebook

Today I welcome on Independent Gym owners Mike Waywell (Steel Habitat, Liverpool), Greg Mikolap (Icon Gym, Maidenhead), Will Holmes (Core Training, Switzerland) and Chris Burgess (Curious Fitness, Paulton) to discuss what comes next for Personal Training facilities. We talk through what Will has learnt bringing clients back into his gym in Switzerland after their lockdown ended, how all the guys plan to keep their clients safe when seeing clients in-person again, communication strategies, rewarding loyal clients, programming, gym layout and coaching changes, marketing and what their message would be to a commercial or private facility PT. Timestamps: [02.46] - Mike Waywell introduces himself [03.22] - Chris Burgess introduces himself [03.42] - Greg Mikolap introduces himself [04.55] - Will Holmes introduces himself [05.56] - Will tells about the specifics of the Swiss govt's reopening recommendations and how he has applied them [09.00] - Mike, Chris and Greg talk about specific plans for how they plan to reopen, use of outdoor space before going indoor (if possible) and keep their clientele safe [19.50] - Greg tells us what he asked in a survey he sent out to his client base to understand their concerns around coming back to the gym [21.23] - Will tells us what his client reception has been to coming back into the gym [26.15] - How they have all communicated with their client base through COVID and how they plan to communicate things moving forward [33.47] - Will talks about the changes he's made to programming and coaching [37.45] - Chris, Mike & Greg discuss programming and gym layout changes [43.40] - The guys talk about loyalty and rewarding clients who have stuck around during COVID [52.55] - How they are all thinking about marketing [64.05] - What they would all do if they were a personal trainer who doesn't own a facility and works in a commercial or private gym Find Out More About The Guests: Will Holmes Mike Waywell Greg Mikolap Chris Burgess Find Out More About LTB: Website Instagram Facebook

For the last 30 years, Larry Gold has spent most of his working life as the CEO of numerous different hospitals throughout the world. He's helped brand new ones start from scratch and helped struggling ones grow and become huge parts of their communities and at times he's managed over 3000 people. Nowadays he's a consultant to executives who work within healthcare. This episode is split into two sections: the first 15 minutes is about Covid-19 and how to effectively lead through this and the section after is all about Larry's career, leadership, managing people and building relationships. Timestamps: [03.20] - The difference between a manager and a leader [06.00] - The three critical leadership components that must be present during times like this [10.59] - What don't you want to do as a leader during times of disaster? [13.34] - Dealing with the uncertainty that Covid has brought everyone [17.02] - Larry sums up his career and tells us what he's doing just now [18.20] - How he got started in healthcare [28.10] - How he's approached growing within each new job he's done [30.45] - How he managed to get 3000+ staff all on the same page working as a CEO in a hospital [36.40] - Why every single person in an organisation needs to know why what they do is important [40.25] - Why he used to walk the halls in his hospital every single day to connect with his employees [43.25] - Why building relationships has been so important to his leadership style [45.05] - How to approach challenging staff situations [46.25] - Giving tough feedback and saying the things that need to be said [52.15] - How he's approached building up his weaknesses [54.52] - Revealing personal aspects of himself to his colleagues and employees [62.25] - Making the whole community proud of his hospital and what you can learn from it [66.28] - What he wishes he could go back tell his younger self Find Out More About Larry: LinkedIn Profile Find Out More About LTB: Website Instagram Facebook

Adam Feit is Precision Nutrition's head strength and sport psychology coach. He's been an S&C coach at every level you can think of and currently, he's a PhD Candidate in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Springfield College studying the use of mental skills among S&C coaches. In today's episode with Adam we talk about time management tips, managing overwhelm, helping clients use their skills in other life areas to manage exercise and nutrition challenges, motivation science and much more. Timestamps: [03.14] - How Covid has affected Adam's day-to-day [07.22] - Whether he's structured all the time or allows some unstructured time [10.50] - Time management tips [15.07] - Managing overwhelm [18.39] - Looking for what PN call 'bright spots' when coaching clients [20.37] - What kind of coach was he prior to starting with PN [31.52] - The importance of having someone to check your blindspots [34.07] - How he's got better at receiving feedback [36.52] - Roses, thorns and buds daily reflection exercise [38.37] - What his PhD is and what it's teaching him [47.57] - How he used to think about motivation compared to how he thinks about it now Find Out More About Adam: PN Bio Facebook Twitter - @Adam_Feit Find Out More About LTB: Website Instagram Facebook

Dr. Yoni Freedhoff is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa, and since 2004, the medical director of the Bariatric Medical Institute, an ethical, evidence-based, interprofessional weight management centre. We discuss why a compassionate approach to obesity is absolutely necessary, how to help our clients manage their weight, reducing scale weight importance, whether education changes behaviour, childhood nutrition and much, much more. I know you're going to enjoy this episode, just make sure you've got somewhere to take notes as there are a bunch of times you'll want to pause and write something down! Timestamps: [01.55] - Why obesity isn't as simple as move more eat less. [05.00] - Why personal responsibility is always touted as the most important part of obesity. [07.30] - How we can improve the message we put out there about obesity. [09.35] - Does education help behaviour change? {12.26] - What country is leading the way in terms of weight management? [14.23] - Why environment is the main element of weight management. [16.14] - How knowing that environment is important for his patients informs his practice. [18.55] - How to teach our clients that exercise is not just something that burns calories and is used to lose weight. [20.32] - What we know for sure about weight management [23.50] - Does he think PTs should be working with their clients on behaviour change around nutrition? [25.59] - The two questions he asks his patients to consider when they want to eat junk food. [21.13] - How important is a clients why. [34.35] - What role the scales play in helping clients maintain weight loss. [37.55] - Helping clients remove the scales importance. [39.20] - Underreporting calorie intake. [44.55] - Helping kids develop healthy relationships with food. Find Out More About Dr. Yoni: Weighty Matters Twitter Find Out More About LTB: Website Instagram Facebook

Brian St. Pierre is the director of nutrition at Precision Nutrition. He's coached Olympic champions, NFL and NBA teams on nutrition and written some of my favourite and most shared articles on the PN site. We discuss COVID-19 and how he's thinking about its effects on how to coach clients just now, what his coaching evolution has looked like, why some emotional eating is perfectly ok, the PN process for creating blogs and why he used to remove potatoes from his now wife's Irish stew. Timestamps: [02.36] - Considering COVID-19, is now the time for fat loss? [04.45] - If he remembers trying to place his goals onto a client? [13.02] - The evolution of the coach [14.52] - Other things to consider when coaching clients during COVID [17.48] - Helping clients manage being at home and around food all the time just now [20.55] - Why it's important to normalise emotional eating [26.15] - What role do trainers and coaches have with clients and their nutrition [29.35] - Getting clients more in touch with their internal cues? [31.32] - Helping clients who feel eating slowly etc is too small a habit to help them move them forward? [34.45] - Why it's ok for clients goals to change throughout the coaching process [38.05] - His article "the cost of getting lean" and how it uses it when coaching clients [41.06] - The PN process for creating blog posts [45.20] - What he wishes he could tell himself about what he's learnt about writing in the last 10 years [46.37] - Why he isn't big on social media Find Out More About BSP: PN Bio The Cost of Getting Lean Article Find Out More About LTB: Website Instagram Facebook