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106 - Self-Esteem & Service Reflexes w/ Luka Hocevar
100 Plays4 days ago
Luka Hocevar [@lukahocevar] didn't choose coaching because it was safe. He chose it because nothing else gave him the same feeling — watching someone go from doubt to capable, from stuck to moving. Twenty-one years later, that hasn't changed.
Luka is the founder of Vigor Ground Fitness in Seattle, one of the most respected performance gyms in the country, and the creator of Built to Last — a consulting business helping gym owners build something worth keeping. He's coached everyone from Super Bowl champions to clients who were told they'd never walk again. And his philosophy is simple: coaching is the master skill, and most people are treating it like a hobby.
In this conversation, we get into the 51 percenters — Danny Meyer's framework for why emotional skills outweigh technical expertise in hiring and in leading. We talk about the service reflex, the self-esteem bank account, why regressions are the real progression, and what separates the coach who turns up the music from the one who actually changes lives.
If you lead people — on a team, in a weight room, or anywhere else — this one's for you.
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Transcript
Impact of Personal Commitments on Self-Esteem
00:00:00
Speaker
When you say that you'll do a thing, not like, not me saying it to you, me saying it to myself, right? Damn it. This year is going different. I'm going work out five days a week. I'm going to do, but bit but you know, I'm going to do all these things.
00:00:14
Speaker
And then so then you wake up and you're like, oh my God, I'm tired. The kids kept me up. fucking it You don't do it. Boom. You said you're going to it. You didn't do it. You get a debit in your self-esteem bank account.
00:00:26
Speaker
Right? And the thing about that is like when you get enough debt, like you basically become bankrupt in self-esteem. And once you become bankrupt in self-esteem, now you don't believe anything that you're saying. It's not even about what I tell you. It's about what I tell
Luka Hošovar’s Journey to Fitness Coach
00:00:38
Speaker
myself.
00:00:38
Speaker
What does it take to go from a scrappy kid in Slovenia playing junior pro ball, getting into trouble, and figuring out training in a gym your mom half ran, to then building one of the most respected performance facilities in the Pacific Northwest?
00:00:54
Speaker
Today's guest didn't just figure it out. He lived failed through it, and built a philosophy around it. Welcome to the Captains and Coaches podcast. We explore the art and science of leadership through the lens of athletics and beyond.
00:01:07
Speaker
I'm your host, Tex McQuilkin, and today I travel to Seattle to sit down with our guest, Luka Hošovar. He is the founder of Vigor Brown Fitness in Seattle, the creator of Built to Last Gym Consulting, and one of the clearest thinkers on what it actually means to be a coach, not just someone who counts reps and turns up the music.
00:01:30
Speaker
We get into the 51%ers, the service free flex, and why coaching is a master skill.
Vigor Brown Fitness Facilities Overview
00:01:37
Speaker
Also, what separates elite coaches from everybody else playing the same game.
00:01:42
Speaker
Very excited for this one. I know you are too. With that, let's pass it out to Luca to help us raise the game. Ready, ready, and great. Action live from the Pacific Northwest in Luca's library.
00:01:56
Speaker
Podcast room slash library slash well like office sometimes. Yeah. Well, it's, yeah, beautiful facility downstairs. A lot of action. I mean, so this is, I mean, I saw a lot of people with some BFR cuffs.
00:02:10
Speaker
What's the specialty at our location here? Just so we can give people that are in the area. So you need to find you right now. The time that you came is a pretty kind of like mellow time. um So you'll see you saw a couple of semi private coaching clients, but a lot of it is a physical therapy. So we we lease out to def physical therapy, which is integrated, which I love.
00:02:31
Speaker
So you're seeing a lot of people doing rehab because they have like multiple offices in cause because I own the whole building and then there's the gym, there's PT, there's a DEXA fit business that has a DEXA scan VO2 max testing. We have a fit bar, smoothie bar.
00:02:44
Speaker
And then I also have like, there's a med spa and like a nail salon that that we lease out to as one-top shop One-stop shop. One stop shop. I mean, I'm not putting it this way. the The nail salon has been there for a while. um And there was ah there was a hair salon too that a med spa took over, which I appreciated. But the the internal integration of where the gym is, is obviously to our gym, there's the physical therapy.
00:03:06
Speaker
There's DexaFit business um and then there's a smoothie bar, right? That's kind of like an
Early Fitness Influences and Mentorship
00:03:10
Speaker
integrated um and and we're we're very much so um I would say results based performance based gym, right? We don't have like open gym coming into your own thing. Everything's coached. Everything's guided.
00:03:22
Speaker
We either do, you know group sessions or we do personal trainings, you know, semi-private personal training being our kind of like main, what we're best at. And and we were, um I would say the the first gym in this state that was doing semi-private personal training on like a membership model, paying monthly. So we've done that for a long time, that and small group.
00:03:40
Speaker
personal training. So that's kind of like, you know, I say the the really kind of big picture, like 10,000 foot view yeah of what we do that the the gym is, if you count the lobby, it's about 8,400, 8,500 square feet. So it's pretty big gym. um So we have space, you know, yeah and we we we if you if you like training, and you walk through the gym, like, there's all the all the shit that people you know, It's like the gadgets now, a person that's not into training would probably be like, what's that weird bar? Right? like but we Like every bar, every attachment, every, you know, like all those things that you'd want to have for for performance training. Yeah. And everything is coached.
00:04:15
Speaker
They don't have to ask those questions. Correct. Everything's coached. Everything's coached. Yep. Yeah. Well, man, shout out to Josh Sucher who connected us. So thank you for that. And he believed you were a great fit for this because of your history as an athlete.
00:04:28
Speaker
And then I mean the world that you've built for yourself as a coach. And I want to highlight and take us back to your playing career where you started ball and and then you got an opportunity to become a player coach and leading your guys through strength and conditioning.
00:04:43
Speaker
So, I mean, take us back to that mindset where you're taking on this responsibility or you were training so hard that they trusted you to take over for their performance. Yeah, it was it actually some context to that. So this was probably, let's see, was it my second year a playing pro in Slovenia?
00:04:59
Speaker
I was like, you know, my my mom opened up a gym when I was 13 years old and it was like she worked at the bank half the day. Her friend ran the gym in the morning. My mom would go straight from the bank to run the gym the other half of the day.
00:05:11
Speaker
and And I was like in that phase when I'm you know i'm a basketball player, but I'm a pretty scrawny kid, like not very i' I'm not like the shortest kid, but I'm also not. I mean, like, you know, in Slovenia point guards are six five, right? like i'm I'm six foot, you know, when I was grown, six one of my sneakers, maybe. um So I definitely was not a tall kid. Right. I wasn't like crazy genetically gifted.
00:05:34
Speaker
So I, you know, and I had all the insecurities of a 13 year old. Right. Which is like, man, how do I look muscle? Like I'm not jumping the highest. I can't jump, help run as fast as these ah other, you know, so it's like my work ethic was, I would say, ah kind of like my superpower, you know, still to this day. And I started going to gym and, you know, I would say that my mom obviously was running and it was, you know, some of it I would I would just call it ah I would call it you just call it luck, you know, or maybe the environment being proximity in the right place. Right. um Because in that gym, there was a power lifter. They just lived locally and was like, this was a good place. You know, it was ah very close to him. So he started training there.
00:06:18
Speaker
But he was a a national powerlifter, record breaker. And he started showing me around like basics, you know squat, bench, deadlift. um And of course, you know to have somebody to do that for you, I mean, like at 13. Yeah.
00:06:31
Speaker
Great. Right. The basics and just teaching you little stuff and you know obviously form and intensity and just explaining rep ranges and you know fatigue and all like basically know like I'm 13 years old so it's great now the other thing that happened is at the bottom you know so in Slovenia at that point in time this is right post war, right? Post Yugoslavian war were independent and you had like all these physical education buildings, right? This place was called Partisan. And in there, there's basketball courts outside, there's tennis, there's gymnastics, there's all this stuff. And at the bottom of this building, because lot of times it's subsidized by the government was this little small gym, gymnastics gym. And in there was, you know, two of the world's best gymnasts, one of them being Eliash Pagan, who was
00:07:19
Speaker
I'm going to like five time world champion in the straddle. Like we're talking best of the best, you know? And I mean, little, you know, if you looked at the gym, you'd be like, what the hell? um But same thing, they'd come up and they do some weights and do some stuff. Obviously, majority of their training was more bodyweight and gymnastics stuff.
00:07:34
Speaker
And um they taught me stuff. They showed me stuff. Right. So like got now I got like some world champions showing me stuff because, you know, it's like it's like you're the son of the, you know, oh, mom always, you know, it's like, ah you know, so they're showing me stuff around. And but what happened is that I lift the weights, I train and you know that part is like you get the beginner gains. Right. So yeah putting on some muscle.
00:07:56
Speaker
And now on the court, I'm like, oh, wow, like I couldn't touch the backboard, but now i can touch the backboard. And man my step is a little faster. I'm like, man, when I bump this guy, like they can't move me. So now I'm getting this feedback. Right. I work hard. I lift weights. My performance improves. you know Obviously, as a kid, you're kind of like man, i'm so my shoulders are coming in. right like You just see all this stuff. right So I'm building confidence.
00:08:20
Speaker
And I think to you know when I look back at that point in time, I could i would never tell the same answer is this way. right It's just kind of
Transition to U.S. College Basketball
00:08:26
Speaker
foresight 2020, looking back. But That was, I think, where I got the bug for training because it was like the training gave me better performance on the basketball court and it gave me better confidence in the way that I looked. Right.
00:08:41
Speaker
So and the reason I say this is because I think it it matters to kind of give the context of like how I got into training. And then when that happened, I got super into like studying training.
00:08:51
Speaker
Okay. You know, and again, I was reading, you know, Zizorsky's and Verhoshansky's stuff when I was 15 and, you know, the speed trap from Charlie Francis and just anything I could get my hand And I also did all the dumb stuff. i don't know if you remember, like, air alert. No. You know, so, like, but back then it was these, you know, vertical jumping programs called air alert, which were dumb. but it Or, like, the the shoes, the elevated shoes. I'm sure you saw those, right? yeah. Spudweb. man i would try all that stuff right like uh but i was just like i want to be able to dunk i want to be able to you know perform well and i got into the education of it and you know so fast forward right like fast forward i um you know also i also was a very very kind of knucklehead kid you know my my my teenagers were were riddled with being involved in crime a lot and so i would say like basketball truly saved my life and
00:09:43
Speaker
when you know When the time came, the way I went to play college ball was, you know, it's a whole and other story is like where our basketball team from Slovenia, we went to the US to essentially go and at experience, you know, playing against US players. yeah You know, for our team, it was just like a bonding experience.
00:10:00
Speaker
And we went to um Eastern Invitational in New Jersey, which was kind of like the the place to go where all the best high school kids were you know playing and getting recruited and stuff like that. And I had a great experience. I did really well. in ah And a coach, his name was Wayne Jones, who was the coach on my team there, was like, yeah have you ever thought about going to play college basketball? you know And I was already playing junior pro, you know like getting paid to play pro at the table and and stuff like that. and So I didn't really think about it, but Wayne kept in touch with me. And that year I also got in a lot of trouble. you know Wayne kept kept in touch with me. So he was like, man, you should come out to Denver because that's where you live. We'll train and then we'll go to Eastern Invitational back to back because you had multiple kind of camps. Right.
00:10:43
Speaker
So because I got into so much trouble that year, or should I say that life was very looking like, man, this is not going the right direction. Thankfully, and you know, my my coach from Slovenia actually had pointed that out to me, which is important because why are coaches so powerful and like why I think I was drawn to being a coach as well.
00:11:00
Speaker
um You know, it made me go out there and like. ball out without
From Player to Coach: Luka’s Challenges
00:11:05
Speaker
knowing what the hell scholarship, you know, that there's deadlines for scholarships, that there's, you know, at by the end of May, there's no more scholarships left. But yeah East Invitational was like, you know, July, August. Right. So I ball out.
00:11:18
Speaker
I get a bunch of D1s, Quinnipiac, Delaware State, Western Michigan, they're like, hey man, we really like you, but you're gonna have to walk on. you know Now walk on money at those schools is like 45, 50K that like yeah we cannot afford.
00:11:31
Speaker
um But there was a one of the teams I played on, the coach was like, hey, I i used to coach and I used to play and used to coach at this school in upstate New York, Broome Community College, it was in JUCO.
00:11:41
Speaker
And it's like, man, you could start there year one. Right. Like you're you're you're really good. I think you start there year one. But, you know, you can't get a full ride because they don't have it. But, you know, as a D2, you could get this, that and the other. So I came back to Slovenia and like it's like beginning of August and started working on on a visa.
00:11:59
Speaker
Right. And that's what essentially, you know, again, fast forward, got me to the US, did two years in JUCO, two years in Southern Virginia and then went play pro. And you know, this whole time on in the underlying part of this is like, I am always into performance. I mean, I am obsessed with it, you know, like in and so my second year or 30 round playing for Tila, you know, it's like one of the coaches is like because I was about 206 pounds, you know I looked more like maybe ah a football player where a lot of schools I go to, like, oh, man, you got a football team? I'm like, basketball team, right? So i was I was much bigger than most you know basketball point guards. But I wasn't slow. I mean, I could i could jump high, like I could run fast. i had really good conditioning.
00:12:42
Speaker
So like, hey, where do you train? Who trains you? And I you know i was like, I train myself, like I study this stuff. And that's where it was like the conversation started and I was and was like, well, we don't really have a like bonafide strength and conditioning coach. Because even though it was a D1 team you know back then, man, I mean, you just didn't have you know the financials or the mindset wasn't there for that. yeah But it's like, hey, would you write programs for the team? you know And I was like,
00:13:08
Speaker
for a little bit extra money, sure. Did y'all have a weight room, training, fitness center for the school? What was that? No, so there was a weight room. I mean, it was not great, know, far from great, but that didn't matter because I had a lot of experience of having a career. Getting creative. Yeah, it's getting creative. actually think it's a really important thing kind of skill set is like to have, I think Dan John was the one that said it, right? When you have a kind of restriction, you create innovation. um He gave an example of, because he trained like shot putters, I think, and was like, you know, the best schools have these fields and they could throw the shot put in the javelin and the hammer and
00:13:45
Speaker
Then they throw it and have to go pick it up and come bring it back. It's like, well, we just had a wall. Right. But it's like what ended up happening is we had a ton more reps. Yeah. Because we didn't have to go as far. Right. We're just throwing med balls.
00:13:58
Speaker
And you know then they started winning. And it was like that, like restriction created innovation to for improvement. And for me, it was the same thing. like i We did a lot of, kettle you know, I was doing kettlebells in early 2000s. And, you know, Pavot Satsulin was kind of a mentor because we did the first RKC in 2004 in Denmark. Right. So I've been doing kettlebells for a long time and, you know, small tool you can take anywhere. Yeah.
00:14:21
Speaker
And we had to do that because it's like we didn't have the money for, you know, even when I started my first gym in Slovenia, we didn't have the money to buy all this equipment and stuff. it was like barbells, pull-up bars, kettlebells.
00:14:32
Speaker
That's it. You know, where we got to rock and roll. So Even with a smaller weight room that didn't have a lot of stuff, like it was... you know By the way, back then, ballplayers, they're not really into strength and conditioning. right like it's it's It wasn't part of the culture. and Don't get me wrong. In Slovenia, like the preparation for sports was, I think, pretty damned out then. Just Eastern Europe, if you look at it as a whole.
00:14:59
Speaker
But, you know, you still have my coach, you know, would would tell me like, oh, man, don't lift weights. going up your shot. You know, i mean, this this was kind of like, don't get too big, you know, like, feel which look, there's yeah, don't become bodybuilder big. But hey, if you get bigger, stronger and you can produce more force and you can keep your mobility like it's usually going to help you with the majority of things. And so, you know, we did basics, you know, I mean, to me, it was basics because I had a lot of experience at that point in time. But, you know, to a lot of those guys, it was like,
00:15:27
Speaker
revolutionary, but, you know, everybody got stronger. yeah Everybody got faster, you know, and that was kind of like the beginning. um at least for me and timeout observation new coaches getting into the field are really smart and intelligent when it comes to programming or understanding practice plans and their sport in really bad at people they have high IQ and low EQ I spent the past 14 years traveling the world teaching people how to teach people lifting weights understanding sport but most importantly
00:16:01
Speaker
Connecting with people. I've taken all those lessons from all over the world and put them into a new course. Why they're not listening. Coaching today's athlete. If you want the first lesson free, head to the website listen.captainsandcoaches.com to learn more.
00:16:17
Speaker
And now, back to the show. Ready, ready, and break. Here's the other thing that was happening too. like Pro sports... And around the world is not always what people seem it to be. It's not like, you know, oh, i was pro basketball player and I made LeBron money like that year. I wasn't getting paid a lot of months.
00:16:34
Speaker
And it kind of goes like this. You know, the team thinks they're going to get X, y Z money from sponsors. Then they don't then they don't have the money, but they want to play the league. You know, if you go sue them, they'll literally tell you like, well,
00:16:46
Speaker
We'll pay you, but like if you sue us, we'll have to forfeit and drop to the third division, then you definitely won't get money, right? yeah And you play this game, and there's been seasons where I had to like you know sign a contract that says, like hey, instead of eight months' pay, we're gonna give you like five. you know But you have to ah agree to it, or you might not get anything, right? So and the reason I say this, that like I would do a morning practice and in between I'd go train people. You know, yeah this was the beginning of my like ah as I was playing pro sports, I was coaching people. Yeah. At you know this gym called Sokol, which was kind of like a
00:17:19
Speaker
you know, for Slovenia, bigger box gym, I guess. um And, and like, you know, people started paying me like very little, but I, i really enjoyed it though. You know, I think this is where I got feedback loop and learned that like, I really love coaching yeah because it was like, I wasn't making much money whatsoever, but it's like, I had i had a lot of, um,
00:17:39
Speaker
fulfillment, you know showing people how to do things, seeing them improve. It was like a kind of an addictive thing to agree, right? The kind of the competence, you know self-determination theory, feedback loop. Takes you back when you started lifting weights, you saw the progress.
00:17:53
Speaker
Absolutely. it's almost yeah every single day I get to relive that. Correct. It's it's that, like seeing people light up when they can lift more, their body starts changing. you know I had a bunch of athletes that was helping, like so their performance gets better.
00:18:05
Speaker
And so that's where I kind of got the but but but but my point being is so I am I'm at the same time playing pro sports. I'm actually helping my brother run his business because he was paying me some.
00:18:15
Speaker
And I'm at the same time i'm training people and this this team. Now, you know, it it was a ton of, um I would say, experience for me. And it's also kind of what got got me the bug because when I decided to stop playing pro sports, there was definitely like a crisis in identity because. Oh, yeah. when you dedicate so much of your life you know to to this sport you know and it's given you so much and then you are you you know i was very very uh I don't tethered by it, right? Because it's like, I got some offers and it's like, okay, do you go to Portugal now, you know, to Division Two? Do you go here? And and I was also like engaged to be married. So now it's like, okay, now my my soon to be wife would have to be traveling with me. And it's cutthroat, man. Like, you know, ah again, if you're not a superstar, if you're not a star,
00:19:02
Speaker
Like you have to, you know, you get injured. Like, for example, I have friends that play some of the highest levels in Europe and boom, they get an injury. And it's like, you're struggling, like getting picked up, right? Because you had an injury for six months and it's like, ah I don't know, like that guy's injured.
00:19:14
Speaker
You know, now you make a third of what you made before. So I just want to, and by the way, like I i wouldn't change anything, you know, because I definitely went through it. the very, very hard way, you know, and I made it further than I think anybody ever thought I would. But nonetheless, um I just want to shine realities on it that like, you know, my my last year and a half of playing pro sports, it's like I'm doing another job, doing two a days and coaching people in between.
00:19:38
Speaker
But what it did is it helped me kind of bridge that gap of identity crisis and made me decide to be a coach. And,
Transactional vs Transformational Coaching
00:19:46
Speaker
and you know, this is a time. So think about this. You know, this is I mean, a long time ago, this is like, you know, 21 years ago ish. And I couldn't really see somebody in Slovenia that was doing well with training to where it's like, wow, they have status and money. They're doing really well. that That didn't exist. Like that was you were either a strength coach that made OK money. You know, you weren't you weren't balling.
00:20:08
Speaker
or you were a hobby personal trainer like there was no full-time personal trainers back then so i had to look to the us and see kind of look at like wow wow this you know they're doing a well because yeah and i even remember i joined my when my when i worked for my brother I said, hey, put part of my paycheck towards this, it's called TIC, it was called Trainer's Inner Circle, which is like this mentorship thing, it was about 300 bucks a month, I think it was from Pat Rigby.
00:20:33
Speaker
And it was like, all right, man, like you decide where your money goes. you know and And it was, but you know but it was the other lesson of like, the mentorship, because what I was doing is getting insight from people that were doing well in the US as trainers, what they were doing, how they were thinking, strategy, so on and so forth, that I started implementing it in Slovenia. And, you know, that shortly after is when we opened up our first gym, which is to this day now, almost 20 years later, you know, not only running though like we are the gold standard you know for training in the country. so um yeah That was a little longer story, but I do feel like... you know i've I was just reading um Dan Hurley's book. I read a lot this morning.
00:21:13
Speaker
you know You don't say. Yeah, it it might seem that way. It's not just for the backdrop. but um But the reason... like you know You read the story and you're like, going wow, how did he... ni know You probably, if you if you don't know his story, you go,
00:21:27
Speaker
Okay, a UConn coach that's super successful and he turned down, you know, I don't know, 50, 60 million from the Lakers whatever it was. But when you read through the whole story, it gives you so much more insight on the challenges you went through, the struggles you've gone through, the decisions you made and why. You know, and and that's why I like to share like story. I mean, we could probably talk a week long just on on the stories, but I think it matters, you know, because I talked to so many coaches today that honestly, it's unfortunate. I've seen really good coaches lead industry, you know, because usually it's a money and security thing.
00:22:00
Speaker
Right. And I've seen, you know, people maybe make a good chunk of money that shouldn't maybe be in the street coaching wise. Right. Yeah. For the wrong reasons, if that makes sense. Right. So I think context, stories, struggles, the lessons and wisdom and insights from that like are really powerful. And that's why I try to weave it together and not just be like, you know, here's the answer.
00:22:22
Speaker
No, but
Emotional Intelligence in Coaching
00:22:23
Speaker
I mean, that that is important because that it it creates and helps people understand your ethos of here's why you should listen to me versus just a ah good looking person on social media. Correct. Yes. Yeah, there's there's more to it usually.
00:22:38
Speaker
Yeah. with And then, I mean, taking that ownership, being the coach and a leader, and then valuing still the coaches that allowed you the opportunity to succeed and taking that effective responsibility as coach, that's even rare to this day. They just a have a transactional relationship to get more clients, to get more and more, versus a transformational connection to people.
00:23:06
Speaker
And I feel like that's part of your mission as a coach is to maintain growth transformational as you still grow a business and teach people that. This is a good point point. You said, you know, transactional versus transformational. I think most people have heard that, hopefully.
00:23:22
Speaker
But um I think this will be relevant. So me and my my business partner in the consulting side, my consulting business called Build to Last, his name is Andy McCloy. He has an extremely successful gym in Huntsville, Alabama. He's had it for over 20 years.
00:23:37
Speaker
And we have like this compass of, you know, these five kind of guiding values, you know, for gym owners. And the reason I'm going to say this is because This is what I believe in so strongly. you know our Our five are, number one is coaching first. And I'll explain it in a second.
00:23:53
Speaker
Number two is unreasonable service. Number three is operational excellence. Number four is educate the marketplace and show proof. And number five is personal leadership. And you know coaching first is the fact that like any you know if you're a solopreneur or if you're a gym owner,
00:24:12
Speaker
or if you're you know the head of sports performance, whatever it is, that right? Like coaching is first. That is the master skill. It's the foundation of it all. like What I've seen, you know, in some, and by the way, there's so many amazing coaches. so i want to shine a light on that first.
00:24:28
Speaker
I don't want to be the person that's, um, you see a lot of this, right? Like pointing fingers, talking shit about each other, you know, other people and stuff like that. Like, um, so i want to shine a light on like, there's, there's an incredible amount of amazing coaches changing lives left and right. Right.
00:24:44
Speaker
What I don't like seeing and enjoy seeing is, um where coaching just takes such a backseat and it becomes, and by the way, I think marketing and sales is really important, right?
00:24:55
Speaker
I think obviously like operational excellence. I mean, we we talk about that stuff, but at the core of it all is like this desire because i like you you need what's called GWC and anything to be good at it, right? g do you get it?
00:25:10
Speaker
do you want it? C, do you have the capacity for it, right? it's It's how I look at hiring and upgrading and, you know, even with with coaching clients, like, do you get it do you understand it, right?
00:25:20
Speaker
Do you want it? If you don't want it, like it's, I mean, there's nothing I can help you with, right? Like you have to have a certain amount of want there. and in Capacity for it. right it's Capacity means, I don't know, if someone goes like, hey, I want to be a Hirox champion. I have three kids, I work 12 hours a day, but I don't think you have the capacity for it right now.
00:25:40
Speaker
right What you have the capacity for? or Or like, I work two jobs, but I to also do 50 hours a week of personal training. and you don't have the capacity for it. right so there' there's There's that aspect of it that like you you have to get it and you have to want it, right? Like to be
Luka’s Fitness Programs and Growth
00:25:55
Speaker
a great coach, which means that there's, you know, I talked with Mike Robertson about this one, like the three things that every coach needs like these is you got to be hardworking.
00:26:04
Speaker
I mean, I don't care what, you know, what what profession you're in, you got to be hardworking, but in in training, for sure, hardworking, you got to be curious, right? And that's kind of like the one at part that like, you always got to be curious about how to get better understanding your client a little bit more right like you have to and you have that's a lifelong value versus like a period of time and you got to be client-centric right so the care component i mean look no this is what i'm saying like 21 years ago i wasn't sitting there going like oh you know like i can make millions of dollars in training now you can now you you can actually do that but but back then it wasn't like you didn't choose and i don't think anybody today chooses the profession because
00:26:42
Speaker
you know, it you can make more money in it than other professions, right? Like if if your main thing is making a lot of money, you go into sales, you know, fastest way to make money, right? Like finances. I mean, there's a lot of options. Honestly, like, hey, become an electrician right now.
00:26:57
Speaker
You know what I mean? Like you'll make... I mean, you'll make six figures like in a blink of an eye. Now, obviously, look, you've got to be good electrician. You got to go you learn, learn your craft. But my point being is, right, like it's not a money grab.
00:27:10
Speaker
Right. um So yeah so there's this desire there. I think that people in the coaching industry are are have quite a lot of similarities and people in the restaurant industry. And um a huge, i would say, kind of distant mentor for me has been Danny Meyer, who's, you know,
00:27:27
Speaker
one of the most famous restaurants of our time. Started a Shake Shack also. That's why people might know. Like, they might not know the 23 James Beard restaurants, but, like, they'll know Shake Shack, right, it which is a billion-dollar, multi-billion-dollar company. But he wrote a book called Setting the Table, which is phenomenal. I tell every coach to read it. okay um and But the the thing there, he calls it this – He called it calls it a light in hospitality, and he calls, he he names something the service reflex, right And the service reflex is like, i don't know, like my reflex, if my phone fell over, it like I'm gonna catch my phone.
00:27:59
Speaker
I think great coaches, you know, have a service reflex. Like I want to serve you, right? Like, and and by the way, sometimes to detriment, right? And you gotta you gotta learn about boundaries. Like I've made all those mistakes in my career, but there is this thing where like, I do have a natural tendency to wanna help people, right?
00:28:17
Speaker
It's like, you're struggling with this, that, like I, my natural thing is to be to gravitate towards that and help, right? And that is that transformational versus transactional thing that you mentioned. So so if you, if that first part of the compass, coaching first,
00:28:32
Speaker
And the second one, which is unreasonable service. Like, hey, how do you make people feel good, right? like yeah Because, you know, you've heard it by the first place place I heard it from was Mike Balls. Like, nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.
00:28:45
Speaker
Once they know how much you care, then they care about how much you know, right? Yeah. So so you can be really smart with training, like, you know, technically on point, know your shit, but people don't like to be around you.
00:28:56
Speaker
right you're not You're not nice to be around. you're not like you know People are not like, oh, man, I want to go back because that person's a good good coach. He's caring and stuff like that. right And you're not going to keep clients even though you know your stuff. So those two, coaching first, getting results,
00:29:11
Speaker
and unreasonable service so their experience is good is the foundation of any training business. It's like it's fucking it, right? and it yeah And you can never leave it.
00:29:22
Speaker
And I see so much of stuff today that's like good hook, good offer, you know, like market is on point, i'm you know, content genius, make things go viral, da-da-da-da.
00:29:34
Speaker
But once people go train with you, if you don't have those two, You're not going to make it. You know what mean? not long term. Time out. I get two a half. This one's all about training.
00:29:45
Speaker
Talking about my old bull strength conditioning program that I have available on Train Heroic. This is Training with Wisdom. It's the program that I am following. I understand
Impact of Coaching Beyond Physical Health
00:29:56
Speaker
who you are You don't have a lot of time.
00:29:58
Speaker
You're a busy leader and you're beat up from years of athletics, years of training. Here in this program, we target hips, ankles, knee, back health with the barbell. We have fun variations of the squat and the programs, sexy Fridays, bodybuilding. It is an amazing time.
00:30:16
Speaker
It will keep you engaged, it will keep you involved, and keep you on a wise program that keeps you coming back for more instead of digging you a hole you can't come out of that affects life outside training.
00:30:29
Speaker
Come check us out for seven-day free trial in the Old Bull program, a link in the show notes, or if you're watching on YouTube, just click right here. All right, and now back to the show.
00:30:40
Speaker
Ready, ready, and break. so So I think this is a really important aspect of it is that like you have this almost addictive fulfillment. You know, I will say like, hey, if i if I'm addicted to something, might as well be addicted to something positive, like helping people transform, right? And yeah and getting like these extremely good highs from seeing people change. And again, that that's not just like fat loss, weight loss, that's like everything, it's confidence, it's you know being better on the field, it's seeing somebody that has literally you know gone from being more of a victim to more of a victor and like grabbing control of their life. right like
00:31:17
Speaker
And these these long-term changes, all the like, look, i can get i've I've trained you know, elite elite athletes, I've trained movie stars and, you know, you get eight to nine weeks to do something and it's like, it's cool, right?
00:31:28
Speaker
But life changing shit is like, hey, two years after I trained you, like your life is completely different. yeah You know mean? Like it's, I always said I really would want to do, it's impossible to do, you know, a true study on this now, but you know, I've trained, i don't know.
00:31:42
Speaker
I mean, thousands of people, right? Because I've also trained a lot of teams, pro sports teams, high school teams, stuff like that. But what's the average salary increase being during the time that somebody's been training at Vigor? You know, and I have um a lot of clients that have trained with me and us for like I mean, 17 years, 18 years, you know, we have a dinner in couple of weeks coming up just for all the clients that have been here for over 10 years. And it's like, it's a lot of people, you know, it's going to be an expensive dinner. But but and and I love it. Right. But my point is like off the top of my head, those people that I know there, it's not just like their bodies transformed and they look, feel, perform better.
00:32:21
Speaker
like their careers and their lives have improved. Like they they make, you know, i'm not and I'm not exaggerating. I'll tell you like three clients off the top of my head. I'm like, yeah, they make like five to 10 times more than when they started here, right?
00:32:32
Speaker
Because I think that when you have, when you feel good, when you look good, when you perform good, like when you're confident in yourself, when you have vigor, which is part of a reason to name, which is life energy, right?
00:32:44
Speaker
Like it trickles into every part of your life, right? Your relationships, your work, you have, again, you have more focus, you have more energy, have more everything. and And so at that part, you know, seeing and being a part of, you know, being a Sherpa in these people's, you know, climb to their Everest, man, I, you know, it's 21 years. I was just telling one of my coaches that's a newer coach. And I was like,
00:33:06
Speaker
you know, client comes up to me, tells me like something that's that's like, Luca, man, I'm down this much. I feel the best ever felt, man. Like I'm so glad I got came to vigor. I want to cry, you know, like 21 years later, it's not, it's it's not like, oh yeah, well i heard that a thousand times before. It's like, I'm not moved by I'm still just as moved by it. Right. Like, and to me, that that's the thing. Like if you have that,
00:33:26
Speaker
you probably got that, like I would say, servant leadership, that service reflex that I think is very important. And I know I've shared this on a lot of shows, but like i I'll repeat myself, you know, a la Gary Vee is like things that are important. Repeat them a million times over. Hopefully they get embedded in people's minds.
00:33:43
Speaker
And but I'll give this to, you know, Danny Meyer coined this term, the 51 percenters. Have you ever heard of that term? The 51? Explain. Calls it 51ers, right? So He basically breaks it down like this, right? If there's 100% or 100 points you know to being phenomenal at a thing, you know and and again, in the service industry but or or in the coaching industry, 49%, 49 points out of those 100 is everything like the technical expertise of it. So if you look at coaching, program design, assessments, biomechanics, kinesiology, um you know
00:34:18
Speaker
Vectors of force production. I mean, we go you know, even coaching cues, all these different things, right? Very important, by the way. Right? Important. Okay? But 51 is the other things. yeah And he... Actually, I'm going to pull this up so don't I don't um mess it up. But let's see.
00:34:36
Speaker
So it's it's emotional skills. Okay? And there's five to six. Okay. Very interesting. So that's the 51. And I'm going to share it. I'm going to read them out because I think they're going to...
00:34:48
Speaker
resonate. First one, kindness and optimism. Okay. It calls it optimistic warmth. A genuine desire to make people feel better with a hopeful outlook. It's kind of like, you know, folks that like that, have the glass is always half full.
00:35:02
Speaker
And I know you've probably met people that are like, man, they'll find a you know they'll find a problem for every solution. Always. Plenty of those. Right. Cynical. like right Those people won't well. Parents of athletes. Oh, yeah. Helicopter parents left them right.
00:35:15
Speaker
So kindness and optimism is one of the emotional skills. Then you got curious intelligence, an insatiable desire to learn for learning's sake, seeking opportunities to grow daily. And again, like the the the the people, you know, and I've met so many of the greatest coaches and stood on the shoulders of giants, right? And what the thing that recognized pretty soon was that like these people are the absolute best at their craft, say, I don't know a lot. Yeah. Right? like I don't know, like I'm to figure that out, I'm looking into it. like right like Versus the insecure people, like oh it's you see a lot of that online. right like It's just black and white, this is what it is, the study said, blah, blah, blah.
00:35:51
Speaker
And so those people that are naturally curious and have that curious intelligence, that's another one of those 51% emotional skills. Then you've great work ethic. I mentioned that earlier. A natural drive to do a thing as well as it possibly can be done. I'm going to repeat that.
00:36:07
Speaker
to do a thing, to have a desire to do the thing as well as it can be done. Right? And look, I do this all the time with with mental mentees, with our coaches and everything else and go like, okay, is there a way that you could have like on a scale of one to 10, 10 being like, there's no way on this earth you could have done that. But like you put you put in your the most preparation, the most effort, the most focus, the most deliberate practice, where do you think that was?
00:36:36
Speaker
You know, and the thing is, it's like some people will bullshit and be like, oh, like nine, you know, but most a lot of them will be like, well, damn, like if you say it like that, like a six. Yeah. And it's like, do you think you could make it an eight or not? Like, yeah.
00:36:49
Speaker
Okay. What would get you to an eight or nine? Right? Because we have to unravel this. Like if you operated a six, Like how the hell are you going exceptional? You want exceptional results and status and money and da da da, but you're showing up and doing things not as well as they could possibly be done.
00:37:05
Speaker
And by the way, you know, Sometimes like coaches will do the things that like they really kind of like like doing as well as it can be done. But things that are necessary, you know, but're like, well, shit, don't want to take out the trash and I don't want do this and I don't really want to do that. or But I'm like, but this is all part of you becoming, you know, great. It's all part of you, like learning how to do anything that you're supposed to do well.
00:37:31
Speaker
Right. um I don't know if you want to stop me because I got the list so we can we can revisit and go back. We'll we'll go back. Let's keep it rolling while we're knocking these. oh Empathy, awareness of care for and connection to how others feel, how your actions impact them.
00:37:46
Speaker
I think the second one. i think everybody's like kind of gets empathy, like, oh, how others feel, but how your actions impact. Exactly. In social awareness, social awareness, because it's like I would say like people bring up client management. or How do we manage our clients? im like, well, self management comes before client management, right?
00:38:08
Speaker
Because if you can't manage yourself, you're actually going to be able to recognize, right, what a client needs and and also how you affect them. Like, I always tell people like, man, make sure you don't bring the weather in with you, right?
00:38:20
Speaker
That's like, oh, what does that mean? But it's like, man, like you you're bringing the clouds and the storms in with you, man. Like the moment you step foot in this gym. And by the way, like I'm not discounting the hardships in your life, right? And I try to be a good,
00:38:34
Speaker
mentor and and and shoulder lean on an ear but i'm like but not during coaching because it's got to be the best part of our clients day right they have all of these problems that they got like we should not inundate them with our own no but but here but our team we should be support group for each other outside of this or afterwards but you know what happens a lot of times is like and it's natural it's a natural human tendency right like that you want to be comforted and sometimes what people do is they like to share their problems so that other people kind of attach to them so it's like oh my cat dad i'm so down this has happened that's happened this has happened you know and guess what clients will be empathetic because they care right like oh i'm so sorry but the problem is is like now you feel better they're making you feel better but their session's not good yeah you know and then that's the person that ends up leaving and they don't tell you that they don't go like well i left because i wasn't you know
00:39:26
Speaker
getting focused on and cared on. It's just one of those decisions that's more subconscious a lot of times, right? But like our role
Continual Learning for Coaches
00:39:32
Speaker
should be like that we realize how, you know, reading body language, like, hey, how are you feeling?
00:39:37
Speaker
What's going on? Hey, tell me about what's on your mind, you know? And then there's a whole coaching habit and all this stuff that we could go into. But my point is, this is an emotional skill, right? That's very, very necessary. From there, self-awareness. Those two go together, right? Like understanding your own weather report,
00:39:51
Speaker
and how your emotional state affects the team and guests. Man, that's so important. like do you you know There's folks that, like and by the way, like I had a really, really, really really rough 2024 and Very, very challenging.
00:40:07
Speaker
like probably something most challenging a year in my life and You know, people later found out some of the things that happened in my life and they were like, but you were running, like you came in and you ran class and you were just like upbeat talking to everybody. and I'm like, because that's my job, my vocation. My vocation is to like lift you up, right?
00:40:27
Speaker
Not for you to lift me up. And and I think that's the, it's kind of, you know, I trained one of top surgeons, vascular surgeons in the nation, right? and we talk and he's like man i have to be completely stoic like i get kids that have shot chopped up and it's like i have to operate and i just have to be zoned in and it's have to leave my emotions in a sense right like ah in a way of like the those those emotions that would make me not be a great surgeon and then what happens is like if start being uh nervous and anxious and everybody in the in OR sees it and yeah they follow suit.
00:41:00
Speaker
Right. And so to me, I'm like, well, look, I don't want to make it like we're so're we're we're doing surgery, but the philosophy is the same. Right. Like where it's just if we're a B, if we're focused on coaching, if we're, you know, we make their experience better and then it compounds and that's how we get a great result from them. Right. so Self-awareness is key. And then integrity. That's the last one.
00:41:20
Speaker
The judgment to do the right thing even when no one's watching or when it's not in your self-interest. Or what my dad would say, do what's right is right, what's wrong is wrong. So doing the right thing when it's really hard is still the right thing. And that's integrity. And that's hard, man, because, again, when you're going through stuff and you know Take the industry, like you're you're just coming up, you're not making maybe the money that you want to make, you work long hours, you you know you're tired, you're this, you're that. it's like It's easy to go, you know I'm going to cut this corner or I'm going to,
00:41:55
Speaker
put more hours on my paycheck, or whatever. like You could go through a lot of different things, but that's not right. And all of those things become your identity. Now, those emotional skills that I just shared, you know to go back to the 4951, why it's called the 51ers, because I can teach somebody that's at a zero of technical expertise.
00:42:17
Speaker
everything they need to know to be a great coach. Right? I cannot take somebody that's a two out of 10 on emotional skills to an eight out of 10. Yeah. Cannot.
00:42:27
Speaker
Right? Can you move that needle? Yeah. But it's like it takes too long. Honestly, it's like you don't have enough time as a as a you know restaurant owner or gym owner yeah as an owner of the business to invest in them to then make those changes and at this stage in their life correct and they're exactly because most of those like i believe in change so i don't want to say that they can't change but it's extremely hard yeah and for for somebody that's like um so i'm hiring 51 percenters Yeah.
00:42:53
Speaker
Even if they're not great on a 49%. Right. And like historically, for example, a lot of our coaches, our best coaches were like, they were a client, had an incredible transformation, fell in love with fitness, interned here, I coach, coach, coach, coach them, put them through search, do all this, you know, and they become great coaches. Right. Right.
00:43:11
Speaker
So, um and again, by the way, I also am a big, you know, Because some people will hear that and be like, well, don't you care about the the the knowledge and expertise? I'm like, ah if you ask anybody that knows me, I care more about that probably than just about anybody.
00:43:26
Speaker
Right. But I'm super adamant to go like, learn this, learn this, learn this. And you know, we do more continuing education here at this gym, I think that maybe any gym in the country. And I have like, have receipts, you know, like I don't just throw that out there. um So the education here is extremely strong, right? And if I see a coach that's like, and by the way, know, one of the benefits of being a coach here is like, for example, I'll give you the next four months, right? Like we got end of this month, we got Dr. Justin Farnsworth programming around pain, two day seminar.
00:43:56
Speaker
oh Then we have ah March. i'm I'm doing a super coach seminar, which is like we got, you know, Joel Jameson, Mike Robertson, Andy McCloy, Cody McBroom, Lee Boyce is probably coming down. we might have Martin Rooney come out. Oh, like just one day. Martin's awesome. That's my guy. That's guy. We have... ah That's March. April, we have, I got a one day in staff with Lee Taft.
00:44:17
Speaker
All right. In May, we have the new Barbell Rehab sports but Sports Performance Specialist, right? Which is certification, which is a new one that they've come out with, right? Okay. So
Youth Athlete Coaching and Foundational Skills
00:44:28
Speaker
we live, and then i I do a huge summit every two years, the Divinity Round Summit, which is in November this year.
00:44:34
Speaker
So we have like 11 things right now. In Seattle area? In Seattle, okay yeah. Okay. So we have ah like 11 things already scheduled for this year. Now, like there's a lot of gyms that won't like in the history of their existence, won't have 11 seminars and certifications like we do that per year. Right. Like now, the reason I say that I say that to say our team doesn't have to pay for anything.
00:44:55
Speaker
Right. Like that's tens of thousands of dollars of education right there. But like if I see you not showing up for that stuff and you don't have a high level of expertise. Now, if you if you on through a lot of stuff like I'm not like, hey, you got to be at all 11, it's mandatory.
00:45:09
Speaker
But if you're a coach that's like, man, I want to be great. I want to be great. but And we got four events and you don't show up to any events but you show up to one of four. That's telling me a lot, right? That means, you know, that curious intelligence that we talked about in the 51ers is not present.
00:45:22
Speaker
Time out. Text here at Train Heroic headquarters meeting with the team to talk about the coaching experience that I'm able to provide for my athletes. So if you're a coach and want to put your program out there on an app that athletes actually enjoy using, Train Heroics for you. I've been using it since 2014. delivering literally over tens of thousands thousands of workouts to athletes.
00:45:45
Speaker
And Train Heroic allows me to provide the unique coaching experience that I want to. Uploading video, providing coaching feedback, directions, and building a community. That's why I love Train Heroic. And if you want to take your athletes where they can't take themselves, that they want to go, head to trainheroic.com slash captains and check out how you can deliver programming to them.
00:46:07
Speaker
And now, back to the show. Ready, ready, and ready.
00:46:12
Speaker
yeah So, you know again, like i believe in that 49, but if you have that GWC and you want it, right yeah you're going to go and learn. and And there's no excuse for because a lot of time the excuse is like, oh my God, like time and money and you know I can't pay for it. and say Well, here at Vigor,
00:46:30
Speaker
Like I've created a platform where like you can learn at speeds and that doesn't even count in staffs that we have. It's not like me coaching you to be better coach, our onboarding systems, my like every mentorship. yeah They get all the stuff that I've ever created in courses as onboarding. And, you know, my point being is like, so if you want it, you're going to get reps, going to get guidance, you need mentorship.
00:46:51
Speaker
But man, if you don't have that 50-warner, it's gonna be hard. right like If you're a person that's not curious about people, cares about people, is hard worker. you know like By the way, I went through a lot of that having mentors where like, hey, you know one of my things was I would interrupt people quite a bit.
00:47:08
Speaker
right And they' like, you gotta work on it. And I worked on it. like I started creating a rule where somebody talks, I don't answer or say anything back for five seconds after they finish.
00:47:19
Speaker
Very difficult. It was very difficult for me to do that, right? So it's like, you talk, you finish.
00:47:27
Speaker
and And then I'm going to say something. It was like internally I was getting... But I practiced it enough. yeah And it made me become... So I started listening, right? Not just like like actually actively listening, right? Being able to repeat the things that people said back.
00:47:41
Speaker
So it sounds like to me that you're struggling with... the Yeah, you know, and obviously that's like a coaching thing, right? Where... motivational interview. but yeah was nice to say Exactly. You repeat it back to them so they're like, man, you're listening.
00:47:52
Speaker
Right? and And these are all skills, like again, that you can build, but you have to be curious. You have to have empathy. You have to want to get better. You have to be hardworking. Right? Yeah. And if if I don't see that, like if I was going to open up a restaurant next week,
00:48:07
Speaker
You know, ah same thing, any service based industry, I would look for the 51 or part. um And I think it's critical. And a lot of times I think that's missing and people don't look for it.
00:48:19
Speaker
Yes, so a few things on that. One, completely agree it's easier to train the 51% because they got the intangibles. Why I like working with high school population is they're not getting those intangibles.
00:48:33
Speaker
So i anchor a lot of my athlete education within social emotional leadership, which you're going experience with a little one. And it's it big milestones, four, seven, and 11 years old.
00:48:46
Speaker
And then based off conversations with these teenagers, and meeting their families, their parents, or putting them through conditioning, see where they default to, what's their reaction, their body language, behavior. Are they jumping on their teammate when something goes wrong or blaming somebody?
00:49:02
Speaker
Then I just target specific self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship building, and then responsible decision making. Ultimately, like when my guys are maybe 5% go on to play college ball.
00:49:17
Speaker
The rest just go off. seat to Yeah, that's such a great point. So that responsible decision making that's on and off the field and aim to help make that connection for them. So, ah yeah, and then help to hand off 51 percenters to whoever's hiring these dudes and then help them build the competency in the 49, whatever it is. Yeah. and And see, this is the thing, right? Like when you understand that, especially with youth, right? um I mean, I think it's I think we're doing with adults too. It's just that like you're you're just fighting so much yeah nature and nurture at that point in time, right?
00:49:50
Speaker
um But I will say this, even with adults, right? Like if they have the GWC in there, they they want to get better and they're open to it. theyre they're They're leaning in courageously to deal with their stuff. They'll overcome, right? But with kids, it's like,
00:50:03
Speaker
you have such, you have just such a bigger influence because of neuroplasticity, right? It's like you're
Advanced Coaching Strategies
00:50:08
Speaker
in these development stages where you can be impacted. And again, like I believe that subconsciously is part of what led me into coaching, right? Is that like, there were coaches that influenced my life, changed my life because who knows where I'd be. I know it wouldn't be a good place, you know, and to to go like, man, like,
00:50:24
Speaker
you know, you can do that. And by the way, it's like they say, right? You won't know if you did a great job as a parent until your kids are older, right? Like, um so it's like you, do but the but the work that you do in those developmental stages, to me, it's like when you work with kids athletes and you see them two days a week, three days a week, maybe four days a week,
00:50:43
Speaker
the amount of like, you know, those feedback loops that you have that you can become a figure, a peer in their life that they really listen to and respect. Yeah, it can alter their life. I mean, it it's undeniable, right? Like, and it's like, I've, i've you know, i've taken jobs slash positions of Bellevue High School basketball team, like certainly not for the money, you know? um And it's like some years you're you know you spend more money on gas than you get paid from the booster club. Right. But like, um but it was that like to me, it's like, okay, off season, I'm gonna see him three days a week, you know, in season two, if I go to Game Street and like, I have this opportunity now for, I mean, I was there, think three, three years, right. they like
00:51:22
Speaker
to to make a dent, you know, like how they how they how they behave, how they but think, you know, how they what they believe. yeah And I think that's there's a power to that. So some questions within that experience of taking you back there.
00:51:34
Speaker
One, what was your first instinct when a dude rebelled? When he didn't he didn't believe your cue, your direction? Did you have any guys like push back that they needed your support? It was almost like they trusted you so much, they were fighting back against you. Man, this one's complex, and here's why. Because um different personalities. you know like and And by the way, this is why...
00:51:58
Speaker
I think coaching is the master skill. Like I believe I've become extremely good at it and I've forgotten more than many people know. And yet I feel dumb with as fuck, you know, like' like, I feel like, you know, there's so much more to learn. I can be so much better at this. You know, every day I wake up and I'm trying to be better. And I preface this because, um, when you, when you're starting off, you know, most coaches are really, really kind of, um,
00:52:23
Speaker
overwhelmed, and then they learn a little something and then sometimes you get kind of like the cognitive dissonance where you're like, ha, yeah, I know this. yeah Right? and And it's like, hopefully you continue to go to and to to to go like, don't really, I know a lot, but I really don't know much, right? Like you kind of want to live there.
00:52:36
Speaker
So this to say, how you respond to, and I'll give you real examples, right? Superstar on the team. And, you know, coach, this hurts, you know, like I'm not gonna, I'm not doing my strength training today.
00:52:51
Speaker
Oh, interesting. I'm like, well, but strength training helps with what you're telling me that it's hurting. You know, we can do isometrics and you know, and as DJ, like you feel better, you know, hold up but you're practicing afterwards, right? I'm going to call Coach Kelly, right?
00:53:03
Speaker
Oh, but i got I got to Coach Kelly. went Okay, let me call Coach Kelly, right? Now, here's the thing. At the end of that, like for some people that are always the center of attention, I just stopped paying attention to Right. And it's like literally like they don't exist. And that becomes the thing that like this is why you have to understand, like, you know, kind of avatars and psychology and stuff like that. Right.
00:53:28
Speaker
Whereas like what will be really helpful to a kid that's never seen like i'm actually spending time with them. Right. Yeah. And I'm like, hey, man, great. Like shining a light on, right? that This person has constant editor in their head.
00:53:38
Speaker
You know, they're they're like, oh, man, I'm not good enough. So I'm going to do a lot of wins with that person, right? Like, yeah hey, great job keeping that back straight when you're over-garants. There's a term, I can't recall it right now, and it's a natural default instinct for many coaches to then just gravitate towards the start and then leave a lunch behind.
00:53:56
Speaker
So then you flip that instinctively on its head. to try to get this guy's buy-in by you know not turning your back on him, but dedicating more time to the dudes that need need the training. And also, you know, like, look, there's, by the way, there's this is so much to unpack. This could be hours and hours of just one podcast on this topic, right? Because it's like, you know, the star,
00:54:16
Speaker
Does it like if you, you know, it's disrespectful if in front of the whole group, like you you tell them like, hey man, you're you're sucking, this doesn't look good, whatever, right? So it's at the end, you pull them to the side and you have a conversation. And it's like, again, respectful, like, hey, look, like, man, you do this great, but You could be better here. i just want to make sure like also like people look up to you. Like you got to be the leader. You got to show up with the effort because otherwise like I'm like, hey man, i I feel like you want to win, right? Like you want us to, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, cool.
00:54:42
Speaker
All right. Can you see how it could be positive and for you to be like leading with effort and like also like like raising people up. Hey, the, you know, the kid that's the last on the team, like, hey, cheer for him, like clap him on because he's going to bring everybody up.
00:54:56
Speaker
And like, that's a leadership position, right? Like, and again, like you have to earn the buy-in. No, that's the other thing too. And and this is where we'll talk about like the personal leadership side. Like, you know, why would I listen to you? You know what mean? Like this is this is challenging. And in some of it is like, do you, you know, walk the walk? You know, do you practice what you preach? Do you have a certain like ah does your audio match your video? Am I asking you to do things that I don't do myself? Right.
00:55:22
Speaker
I'm asking be on time, but you're not on time. You know mean? Like I'm asking you to be, you know, pro and prepared and you're not like so it starts there. Like that's the self management part that we talked about earlier. Right. And then I would highly encourage, you know, oh, my God, there's so many books to, you know, but Brett Bartholomew, great friend of mine. yeah. He's a boy. Yeah, he's great. Conscious Coaching, right? Like, you know, read through that book actually gives a lot of scenarios of, like, the different avatars and stuff like that.
00:55:46
Speaker
um But by the way, you know, like, this is this is the, if you want to be an elite coach, and i promise you I'll come back to this topic, but this is a conversation i had with one of my coaches. And she was like, oh, yeah, like, I just got to do this, this, this.
00:56:03
Speaker
And I was like, okay, well, let me stop you there. I'm go to give you an analogy. You go to LF Fitness sometimes, times right? Yep. Okay, cool. People play basketball, right? Yeah, all the time. Okay. They play, so Saturday you're there, you're doing your thing, people are playing basketball.
00:56:17
Speaker
Cool. Now, did you watch the Lakers yesterday? Does Luka Doncic play basketball? Yep. Okay, cool. They're both playing basketball. Now, one person's probably sprained in his ankle a couple of times on a Saturday, makes no money, like and another person makes 100 million, right? yeah But they're both playing basketball.
00:56:33
Speaker
Yeah, it's the same with coaching, right? What you're what you're saying is like, that's a low tier of coaching. I wouldn't call coaching. It's like, training slash overseeing a class, turning up the music and yelling, right?
00:56:47
Speaker
That's a low tier. Like coaching, elite coaching, just like elite basketball. There's so many nuances. Like there's, you don't know what you don't know to such a level that it all seems pretty simple to you, right?
00:56:58
Speaker
And when you become a master at it, you know, it's like, you're great at it. And it seems simple. It's just like you would have like, man, like he makes it look so easy. Yes. Yes, he does, you know mean? Because he's done that one a million times with deliberate practice, training for decades, whatever it may be.
00:57:13
Speaker
So like I encourage people, like if you are an elite coach, you will do very well. and it's you know like and And by the way, yes, you do not ah you have to know to market and sell. and you know But the foundation, notice, we're always going back to coaching first, because if you have an elite skill,
00:57:29
Speaker
you'll be able to do things other can't do. You'll be able to this make a distinct difference in how you coach this kid versus that kid, right? You'll be able to like get this person to buy in even though they're completely different than that person, which means that, you know, you have to, number one, understand, yeah be curious enough, care enough, then you have to have the skills. Because even if you care and you understand,
00:57:52
Speaker
What if you don't have the skills, right the strategy, what to say, when to say it? And that is all the toolbox of coaching. And I think me and Brett did a pod actually that we're talking about what are the three buckets of of coaching right that they show up. like This is literally the the um the breakdown of coaching is three things. One is technical expertise, you know going back to all the stuff, like the program design, understanding biomechanics, so on forth.
00:58:17
Speaker
Then its second is problem solving. And like problem solving is interesting because You can't really get good at problem solving, I guess you do the reps. like you could act like Here's 15 different books, you know you went to school, you went this, that, the other, great.
00:58:31
Speaker
Alright, now go, we got a couple of newer clients the last couple of months. One's car accident years ago, they said you'll never walk again. He's kind of walking on support crutches.
00:58:45
Speaker
It's like, hey, I've ran through physical therapy, man. I want to trim, right? But it's like if you never, you read all the textbooks and stuff like that. Okay, cool. How are you going to problem solve? they going to lift the thing? Right. Certain things don't fire normal.
00:58:57
Speaker
Patterns are off. Like you're problem solving on the spot. Let's try this. Let's do that. how What do you feel right there? So there's the the the physiological aspect and there's psychological aspect, right? Like pushing them, pulling back when you need to. yeah You got to get reps, right? So you got to get a fuck ton of reps and you got to train as many different people as possible to get good at it. I think that's why, you know, you have to be a great generalist before you can be a great specialist, right?
00:59:20
Speaker
So bucket two. So we got technical expertise. We got problem solving, which which has a, you know, the subcategories of problem solving are huge. And then number three is communication. yeah And communication has a ah you know, listening is part of communication, right? And I'll give you just some resources that like I have my team go through, meaning We've got, I mean, look, this is kind of like one-on-one basics, but how to influence and influence people. i'm like, yo, everybody's got to read that. And even if you think it's corny, I don't care. Like read that, right?
00:59:48
Speaker
Then you got co-active coaching, great book. Okay. Then you have motivational interviewing and nutrition and fitness. I do like both. i've I've gone through courses and everything for both, meaning like the the clinical one, but in nutrition and fitness is a lot more relevant to that.
01:00:05
Speaker
right another one crucial conversations yeah incredible book another one the coaching habit right so those are kind of like the baseline ones that i like to give people because it starts helping you build some skills in the field of communication right now there's plenty more if anybody wants more hit me up but the the premise of it is you have like you know i know a lot of people that technical expertise is on point Communication is shit, right?
01:00:31
Speaker
Or what you're seeing today a lot of is that people are not getting a lot of reps in, right? Because it's, well, I'm gonna do little bit of online. I want to do little bit this, little that, little bit this. And it's like, well, if I look at,
01:00:43
Speaker
the competition, like my first seven, eight years, I was coaching probably 50 hours per week coaching, not working, working more than a lot more than that, but like coaching people. Right. Yeah. So that my reps in the first two, three, four, five years were absurd.
01:00:57
Speaker
Right. And I did, a um, not long ago when Seattle Equinox open, I, I went in, I do a lot of, you know, I've done in staffs for, for a lifetime for Equinox for just about everybody. And,
01:01:08
Speaker
you know they're telling me how they have to lower their full-time coach position now is only 22 hours. Interesting. Yes, exactly. And and I said, you know i asked the manager, well, what's the deal? It's like, man, people don't want to work. People don't want to coach that much. Now, let me let me give you an example of like, I'm not i'm not here to be like, do what I did. i think that's, you know, most people won't survive that. It's like a burnout. But the other side of it is, if you're coaching 15 hours a week and I'm coaching 45, right?
01:01:35
Speaker
right and I'm showing up and I'm fired up and I'm like, I'm trying to help people. You know, year one, I'm 3Xing you. Year two, it's like nine. You you know, it's like, it's compounded. Like by year three, I'm like in a different universe of experience of that bucket of problem solving.
01:01:53
Speaker
You know, again, like I've coached, when I gave that example of one of our clients now, like, I mean, I've coached just anything that you can imagine. i dad I'm not going to say everything, but man, it's like close to it.
01:02:05
Speaker
You know, the most elite Cy Young award winners, Super Bowl champions, UFC champions, to man, I have a few spine from my neck to my sacrum. Can't use my legs. Don't have legs. don't You know, like you, I mean, just you name it.
01:02:18
Speaker
I've coached it. Right. And a lot of times would walk into it like prepared and still like, oh, shit. Right. You have to do like and you tell the person like, hey, like, you know, I've come prepared for this, that, the other, but we're going to to problem solve. Like I haven't experienced this before, but we're going get better. you know, like and you work. And by the way, I go home and I read stuff and i read articles and I call some other smart coaches that had experience in that and I come back and I'm better.
01:02:43
Speaker
Right. Because I give a shit. Right. Because I want to be great. So I prepare. I go out and I find answers. I come back. They know I'm busting my ass to like help them out. They buy in and then together we fucking like, you know, get to their Everest. Right. So and that's that's the game. That's the mission.
01:02:59
Speaker
And to to this day, like, you know, this past two through weeks, like I and like I still take on quite a few clients. I just have a very kind of locked in schedule and really busy book schedule.
01:03:12
Speaker
But it's like, oh, like. you know, superstar soccer player, right? Like a guy owns his own financial firm, right? Somebody that's on, you know, super high up executive, but it's taking a sabbatical wants to turn his life around to, you know, NFL guys with big, like you name it. Right.
01:03:27
Speaker
And it's like, same thing. A lot of times I don't have the answer, you know, and I'm, I'm going home, I'm studying, I'm reading, I'm calling people. I come with a better plan. But I have to have that curiosity and hard work that I said earlier that every coach needs. I got to be client centric. I got to. Hey, what do you like? Oh, you don't like this exercise? Why not, man? Because I hurt myself under another coach doing this exercise. Damn, that sucks. right. Well, great. Like, here's three other exercises we can do. Which one do you to Autonomy.
01:03:54
Speaker
Right. Like coaching is a never ending, you know, kind of field of getting better for you as a coach. Yeah. And as you do, you have the ability to help more people and help those people more.
01:04:07
Speaker
Right. And I think that's what makes it so cool because there's so many buckets. Right. Of think like your toolbox as a coach is like, holy shit, you know, to a degree that. A lot of people never, you know, i i'm I'm like, man, should better marketing.
01:04:22
Speaker
And I was like, ah, but I'm a coach. I'm like, okay. Are you going to tell me like the skills of marketing help you with coaching people? Like, what mean? I said, what is marketing? It's persuasion. It's influence. Right. So it's sales.
01:04:34
Speaker
Words, visuals, hooks, you know like the what what you say, it's all psychology. Are you going to tell me if you don't get better at psychology, meaning the problems that your clients have, that you're going to be better at coaching? Absolutely you will. right What
Role of Storytelling in Coaching
01:04:47
Speaker
about speaking?
01:04:48
Speaker
Complimentary skill. right and and This is another thing that that I'm um'm super adamant about. Let's say, you know and I'm a training geek, right so you want to talk sets, reps, schemes, and we'll we'll go for forever. right But there's a certain period of time like when you your learning goes like this, you know, and then it kind of starts tapering off it's like the law diminishing returns, right?
01:05:10
Speaker
You can still keep getting better, but it's just not going to give you that much more. Now, I'm not arguing to not continue to get better at that stuff, for example, right, training per se. But 1 plus 1 equals 3 when you add a complementary skill. So for example, if you're great at speaking, right storytelling is another one.
01:05:29
Speaker
big You're a coach and you're great at storytelling. It's going to enhance your coaching at a certain point in time significantly more than if you get better at the training stuff. right
Striving for Improvement Despite Challenges
01:05:38
Speaker
again being good on camera being good on stage the writing if you're a great writer that's going to really help you why because you can write better text you can write better emails you can write better copy you can write better articles blogs all those things influence people right so it's like hey what's one plus one plus one plus one it equals 30 because it's complementary what are those skills and coaching that you need and i shared some of them that i believe right like so to me it's like
01:06:03
Speaker
It's a never-ending, like when when people are just like, yeah, like i've um um um I've got there. I know that. Like I know that. who I know that it's game over, right? Your brain doesn't keep seeking out, right? And so, I don't know, like I, you know, I get pumped out. Like I was just telling you before we even kind of pressed record. the I've had a rough time sleep for the last three weeks because my daughter. So my my my sleep is on the low. But you get me talking about coaching, I get fired up about it. I get excited about it because there's this kind of this constant drive like, man, I know I can get better. but And when I get better, I'll be better for my clients. Yes. And that's cool.
01:06:39
Speaker
And I want to highlight seeing that potential. So
Helping Clients Overcome Self-Doubt
01:06:43
Speaker
you've worked with so many people. When you meet somebody, let's just call it at level one, Meeting with them, talking with them, seeing that they're in line, they want it, you know they have the potential to get to level 10.
01:06:57
Speaker
My question is is, maybe it was going back to the high schoolers or somebody gets referred to you, they're missing that want it or there's just so much self-doubt in there. How do you start to help them understand that 10 is a possibility?
01:07:12
Speaker
when the doubt is there. I gotta, here's the thing, two things. I'm gonna believe, you know, actually Martin taught me this and I'll tell a story. Like I've known Martin for like, man, 18, 19 years. wow crazy crazy story i met martin too i think there's context to that i was at a ryan lee's boot camp for anybody that hasn't been in industry for a long time they won't know ryan lee was like the original fitness marketer and like back in ryan lee boot camp one and two like every name that you know was there like meaning meaning like who's like eric cressy and you know like just everybody's there right but so it was in connecticut and i was like right i'm gonna go to the francos i'm gonna go to zach of an esha's gym and i'm gonna
01:07:49
Speaker
I'm gonna go to Parisi because it's there. And I was like, a i don't know how many hour drive, but I was like, man, I gotta go meet Martin Rooney. didn't have an appointment. So i walk in, I'm like, I'm here to meet Martin. And the lady's like, who are you? Martin's busy. So I gave him my card. Back then it was whole sort performance, It wasn't big round.
01:08:05
Speaker
And um she goes, gives the card, Martin comes down and he's the nicest ever. You know, he's like, It's like, it's pleasure to meet you, man. Like, where are you come from? You know, I'd tell him, I'm from Slovenia. Like, I'm a trainer here in the States. I live in Seattle. You know, i went to this, Ryan Lee Boot Camp. I wanted to, like, man, I watched all your videos and all your stuff and read all your books and the Parisi Speed School stuff. And, know,
01:08:25
Speaker
And he's like, man, you know, I got probably 15 to 20 minutes and then, you know, Bill's going come in and do We ended up talking for five to six hours. Sounds about right. And yeah, and it's and it's and it's like, I'm just sharing all the stuff I learned at Ryan Lee. I'm like, you got to admire You got to do more YouTube videos. I'm telling you. like And he takes my car. It's crazy. Like a decade later, he's doing a TFW.
01:08:45
Speaker
I eventually ended up actually leading the business division in TFW. Like he's like... one of my closest friends and and love him to death. And he does this presentation I didn't even know and he's like doing his pre-zone, he's like,
01:08:56
Speaker
you know, a decade plus ago, this kid comes into our gym. yeah And he still has, he was like, they're cleaning up their place in in Jersey when they moved to south North Carolina, and he still had my business card. it It was out super cool. and um But to to go back to, you know, Martin's been a huge influence on me, but I said, man, how do you get like these guys to like, you're having constantly the fastest guys in the combine, you know, and they aren't big names and this, that, the other.
01:09:19
Speaker
And he's like, and it was, you know, it it might have seem to somebody to be a corny answer, but he's like, I always talked and believe like I would, it's like my whole, you know, and and in sales, they say like, transfer certainty over across the bridge.
01:09:36
Speaker
Right now, like that sounds like kind of an ether. I can, I can get more strategic on that, but meaning like, I have certainty that I can help you become faster. Now, maybe, maybe I can't convince you right now that like you're a two and we're going to take you a 10. Right.
01:09:51
Speaker
But maybe I can convince you like you can get to five, right? For right now. But I like, so you have to trust me and they like my certain, like imagine if I'm like, I don't know, man, like, we you know I don't know if we can get you better.
01:10:02
Speaker
You'd be like, what the fuck, right? Like you would, but if I'm like, absolutely. But now here's the thing. You gotta do these things and these things. exist You can do it. You can do it. like right like I'm gonna instill that belief. I'm gonna believe and instill that belief.
01:10:14
Speaker
The moment that you start believing, even a little bit more, your behavior changes. Our beliefs
Building Confidence Through Competence
01:10:19
Speaker
drive our behaviors. And you can look up the studies, right? like They did this big study on kids that like didn't believe they were good at math.
01:10:26
Speaker
right yeah Well, they didn't believe they were math, so guess what they didn't do? They didn't study math. So of course they weren't good at math, right? Or the the the one where they came into a class, they messed up, like, you know, the the kids that were actually not smart on paper, they gave the teacher the the opposite, like basically great or like these are genius kids yeah and the kids that were actually pretty high ranking, like grade wise, they told them that they sucked.
01:10:51
Speaker
And so the teachers basically treated them this way, right? They treated the kids that didn't have good grades, but thought they had great grades as smart. Well, those kids excelled. The kids that actually did have really good grades, they treated them like ah like they were dumb and their grades dropped.
01:11:06
Speaker
See, that is belief, right? so So there is this part of like, I believe, like, I mean, I am... Now, let's let's also break down this. How do you believe, right, as a coach,
01:11:18
Speaker
Well, ah i gotta I have to live it. Like performance changed my life, right? Then I have to have the skills. Actually, this is the formula. i gave this, we had a big end staff to start the year with our team. And I was like, the formula for confidence, right?
01:11:33
Speaker
great Number one is competence. So if I improve my skills, meaning I'm practicing my skills, like I'm going to get more confident, right? Like if if I have a sucky left-handed shot in the basketball, right? Like, and I go in on the basketball court every day for an hour and I just practice my left-handed shot.
01:11:47
Speaker
I mean, even three weeks later, I'll be more confident, right? I won't be as sucky, okay? So that means that like the more I like study training, study coaching, practice it, right problem solve, get reps in, the more confidence I'm gonna build So that's number one.
01:12:04
Speaker
Number two, it's going to be proof. So even if I help two people transform and like lose 30 pounds, I got proof. If I do my Hawking Dynamics like force plays,
01:12:17
Speaker
And in eight weeks, I'm like, oh, RSI is up, vertical is up, this proof. and So the more proof that I build, which means I need to get reps in, right? I'm going to have more confidence. Then there's also the factor of like courage, you know, like, man, you if I can do hard things, I'll have like more confidence.
01:12:34
Speaker
Like that's every day. Let me go speak on stage. Let me turn on the camera. Let me try a thing I haven't tried before. Right. You got to have courage. But I also think that there's borrowed, you know, borrowed belief. Right. And to me, that's like I told team, hey, listen, if you don't know something, that's cool. But like I do.
01:12:51
Speaker
Hey, let me I'm not sure. you know, we just had a client that said this was the feedback for one of our coaches. She's like, hey, I really like that they're they're humble and they say, i don't know a lot. They go ask questions and they don't pretend they know, but like, and I was like, that's great because by the way, you have to be certain, but you have to be okay with being like, you know, I can go with certainty. Like, you know what? I'm not quite sure about that, but I'll find out.
01:13:13
Speaker
But I say that with certainty, right? right And so borrowed belief to me is like, um, being able to call people, you know, like I'll call Stu McMillan about speed stuff where I was just, had Derek Hansel on the pod, but I'm like, hey man, like how would you do this, you know, O-line off season, you know, speed stuff? Like, here's what I'm thinking. what do you think? You know, and we're going back and forth. Well, that's borrowed belief. Like, well, shit, that's one of the best guys in the world for for speed training.
01:13:38
Speaker
And like, we're on point. Plus he showed me some stuff, you know, like, hey, when I had to, you know, before he was signing award winner, same thing call eric like hey what would you do here but what are you doing so borrowed belief like inside like here at vigor and you get borrowed belief from the whole team like you can come to me by the way our resources like i can get anybody on the phone in the world to to help out right like so there's there's that too so all of those things can give you confidence right so now i can then transfer this certainty this belief to the client okay the other part is
01:14:10
Speaker
proof for them. Okay. So if I can show, I mean, this is why I don't care if it's an elite athlete or if it's, you know, Susie Sue that's a teacher, i can, you know, even think about how I can create a win within that session. Because sometimes, like, for example, somebody wants weight loss, I don't know, it might take weeks, months to get some significant moving of of the weight to where they're like, well, I can see it, right?
01:14:33
Speaker
They'll probably feel it before they see it. But what can i do in a session? Well, let's say that they're like, man, my lats, my shoulders always hurt. And we do foam roll the lats, foam roll the pecs, posterior shoulder.
01:14:45
Speaker
And then we do some breathing drills. And it's like, I take a picture where they're you know their their hand is here. We do the drill then it's here. Right? well that's a result yeah they're like damn so i'm i'm building in wins right and it's and it's proof that i can help you so that you start believing you know same thing with form i show you form and you're in better form hey last week we were doing a 35 pound kettlebell with the goblet squad this week already 45 minutes is awesome building and wins for the athlete by the way tell me that like i can't you know i think about like when guys go out for the combine
01:15:19
Speaker
Combine prep is like, you're going to improve performance, but a lot of it is like, man, you're set up for the 40 yard is like, let's get your foot here, let's get your hand here. Right? Like, oh man, you're jumping too far away for your vertical, like you're losing two inches.
01:15:32
Speaker
So I can get results fast and I can instill that belief. And once that belief is there, it's kind of like, they're they're like, shit. This guy's getting like, man, he knows his shit. yeah right i'm I'm a big educator. I believe in education lot. Now, again, this is very, very individual. Some people are like, i don't give a shit. Just tell me what to do. I'll do it.
01:15:51
Speaker
A lot of people are like, hey, why'd you do this? Why'd you do this? what no um And even like in the psychology of sales, there's like these different avatars, right? Where some people just want to follow the crowd. Some are very like A-type, like I want the best.
01:16:04
Speaker
And if you can recognize that, you can communicate to them in different ways. Well, coaching is the same way, right? Like, like hey, this is what the, hey, all our top elite athletes do this thing, right? And they're like, well, I'm fucking elite.
01:16:15
Speaker
I'm going to get a chef too. Cool, right? You know what I mean? Like, so, or somebody that follows the crowd is like, well, the most popular thing here at Vigor is, you know, dot, dot, dot, right? So there's a huge psychology in there. I think that if you can, one, again, instill belief, and so build your own belief,
01:16:31
Speaker
because you do the thing and you've done the thing. And then you can start, like i would say transferring that certainty and then we can and you can show clients wins. And by the way, you know because now imagine if they were a two and they're like, man, I believe I can get to five. But you got them to a five in amount of time that they're like, whoa, hold on.
01:16:51
Speaker
shit, maybe, what if I can't be a 7, 8? You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. That's literally how this works, right? Like, we're just we're just filling the bucket. Like, this is another analogy that I've shared before that I think is really powerful for anybody, right?
01:17:03
Speaker
um You ever heard of, like, the filling the self-esteem bucket? No. eson debits so said I think that most people to come see us, maybe not, you know, elite athletes, but even, man, I've even dealt with elite athletes to have like insecurities and belief issues. Right.
01:17:17
Speaker
um But just in general, people, you know, people, most people are not very, very sure and i'm confident. Right. And I think it's part of the reason why, like we're in January right now. What happens in January? Right. Like Year's resolutions by Fed, like 80 percent of people have have dropped off.
01:17:34
Speaker
And you know somebody said many years ago, like, Luca, why do you think that is? And to be honest, like i I kind of borrowed this, how this is said from a past mentor. His name was Dax Moyer. And it's like this.
01:17:47
Speaker
When you say that you'll do a thing, not like not me saying it to you, me saying it to myself, right? Damn it. This year is going be different. going work out five days a week. I'm going to do but bit but you know i'm gonna do all these things.
01:18:01
Speaker
And then so then you wake up and you're like, oh my god I'm tired. The kids kept me up. fucking it You don't do it. Boom. You said you're gonna do it. You didn't do it. You get a debit in your self-esteem bank account.
01:18:13
Speaker
Right? And the thing about that is like when you get enough debt, like bankrupt and self-esteem, and once you become bankrupt and self-esteem, now you don't believe anything that you're saying. It's not even about what I tell you. It's about what I tell myself.
01:18:25
Speaker
So then the question becomes like, well, how can I rebuild that? If I'm bankrupt, how do I rebuild it? And the mistake people make is that they go, you know, New Year's resolution, fuck it. Hardcore diet, this, that, the other, you know, let's go. I'm going to change it.
01:18:42
Speaker
Like, they're so bankrupt, it's too much. Like, yeah it's too it's too big of a task. You can't, you know, you don't have the DWC. You definitely don't have the C. You don't have the capacity to do that, right? Maybe you have the want, but you don't have the capacity. So,
01:18:55
Speaker
What is a small win that you can do? Right? And like James Clear talks about this a lot in Atomic Habits, why I think it was so successful because there's so much truth to it, which is that like, okay, well, what if I just go for a five minute walk? And I'm giving example, right? Like, hey, put put my shoes and my shorts or maybe sleep in my shorts, get up in the morning, make it easy to do and then just do five minutes. And for most people, it'll be like, it's fucking five minutes. That's not going to get me in shape. No, but like, but you'll do the thing you said you'll do.
01:19:21
Speaker
Yeah. Right? Make your breakfast the night before, scramble the eggs. All you gotta do is pour them in and like in 3 minutes you gotta to scramble and you gotta shake already, ready. Easy to do. But the thing is that day you went for a 5 minute walk and you felt good so you said fuck it, I'm gonna go for a 15 minute run, right?
01:19:37
Speaker
Check that box. I put a credit in my self esteem bank account now, right? Hey, afterwards I had that scramble and that smoothie because I was already ready. another credit.
01:19:48
Speaker
I'm starting the day with two credits. yeah I'm starting to rebuild myself a SteemBank account. And like wins
Using Gaming Analogies in Coaching
01:19:54
Speaker
are basically a slippery slope to more wins. Right. And so this is this is very, very important because and I just did a pod that actually didn't come out yet, but it I was um and I'll relay this because I these things I think matter so much. Notice like it's you can't untether psychology and physiology. You can't. matter Matter of fact, they're like training is bio-psycho-social.
01:20:15
Speaker
and all of it's like so Biology, psychology, physiio and and ah sorry and the social aspect of it, right all affect it. So we have to like understand like how do we keep getting wins? And by the way, for somebody, I can give them a lot more to do. They have a much more self-esteem. They can take on bigger tasks. yeah But that person that went for a five-minute walk you know and in two months,
01:20:38
Speaker
they're doing strength training three days a week, right? yeah Because they've built up, they're like they're on ah they're on ah on a winning streak and they built up that self-esteem bank account again, little by little. And then you can take then you can take bigger bites because you have bigger confidence, right?
01:20:52
Speaker
And I learned this from the gaming industry, which I don't play video games at all anymore, but like back in college, I used to a lot. and But I studied like what what the gaming industry does, because their mission is for you to play the game.
01:21:05
Speaker
That's their number one thing. Like you have to keep playing the game, right? So what what great gaming companies do is that like when you start, it's like hard enough, but not too hard, right? Like level one, okay? And like level one is essentially Look man, like I'm getting a little frustrated, but I do what I do what I do, I beat the boss.
01:21:25
Speaker
right Go to level two, it's so a little bit harder. right You get to level 45, 50, whatever the hell it is. right like You've now built your skills up. like You've been little by little building up that self-esteem bank account. right like Same thing with your skills. You have more confidence.
01:21:39
Speaker
you know you get beat Maybe you get beat a bunch of times in level 38, but man, you've been doing it. Your skills are at a higher level. hey I think in fitness and performance and you know and body transformations and everything that goes into them.
01:21:52
Speaker
I think most of the time people get dropped into like level 48 and 50 and whatever, right? And then there's a massive... if Just like if I dropped you into level 48 of a game, you'd just be frustrated. And I'll tell you an example what I like. I got pretty good at Halo because I played it with my my roommates in college. i always liked playing video games in person because we'd fight and break shit, right? Yeah, go through that.
01:22:14
Speaker
yeah but but But then you'd go online and play guys that are doing that shit all day. right So to me, and I was like, man, I'm beating all these guys like in my my college dorm, I'm crushing my whole team.
01:22:25
Speaker
And then you'd go, and it's essentially what you did is I dropped myself into level 58, right? yeah And they were whooping my ass. And but by the way, you play five games and like, you know, after five games, you're yelling at everybody, going kill them. But like, and you just destroy the game because you're too frustrated.
01:22:42
Speaker
And to me, that's that's literally like fitness, right? Because it's like social media, do this thing, do that thing, thatdada-da right? like and And essentially it's like it's too challenging. right And then you quit.
01:22:53
Speaker
And then you start believing that like it's not for you or you or like like you you just don't have it, it's genetics, it's whatever. right yeah you You tell a story around i like you can't succeed.
01:23:04
Speaker
But you you just have the wrong strategy. You have the wrong you have the wrong point A on the GPS. you know yeah Which is what is your starting point. And it's different for everybody else. you know And so some people's level one is other people's level 58.
01:23:17
Speaker
it's like So you just have to like understand that. And like
Changing Narratives for Mental Resilience
01:23:20
Speaker
that's why I think coaching, being extremely good at breaking down skills into practices, being great at regressions. right like Everybody wants to be great at progressions.
01:23:30
Speaker
but get better at regressions, right? Because the regression might be the progression. and And framing it, not negatively. So even using it education, if a math teacher says, oh, you can do this one, it's really easy, and it doesn't click up here for the kid, they're like, well, if this is really easy, I don't get it, I'm not smart.
01:23:49
Speaker
So a coach can make that same mistake. and Exactly, and the thing is, sorry, I just have to send this one out real quick, but think about like, The way i say story, right? you you claim and And both kind of work handin hand in hand.
01:24:03
Speaker
You know, most of people's lives go in a certain trajectory because of the way they tell their story. Right. And again, up you know, what was super powerful? Like, it's still crazy to me that people shit on Tony Robbins when the guy is like the most successful basically life slash performance coach of all time.
01:24:21
Speaker
um And, you know, like the Awaken the Giant Within was a monumentally life changing book for me. Right. um And but here's here's why I say this. He said something a long time ago that I thought about. Same thing, I brought it up to my team. And i was like, there's these three things that like completely control your life, essentially. like it These three things will determine how your day goes, how your life goes. right Number one is what you focus on.
01:24:49
Speaker
And if you think about focus, and if i like we sit here and I started asking you about Tell me like the most painful thing in your life that happened, you know, traumatic so on and so forth. And you start talking about it.
01:25:01
Speaker
Oh, tell me more. How did that make you feel? Like the moment that your focus goes there, you're gonna have a set of feelings and emotions. Probably, i mean, very negative, right? Like that you're gonna be feeling.
01:25:13
Speaker
Then I'm like, all right, let's stop. let's reframe, cool, hey tell me about your your kid, you know, and you're like, oh man, it's a love, right, like all of a sudden my focus changes, like I might be tearing up, I'm like, the love I feel, like all, but in like an instance of seconds,
01:25:29
Speaker
I felt my my life experience was completely different just because of the focus I gave. yeah And I'm telling this to my team, I'm like, this matters for you, this matters for how we coach our clients. like The focus that we get them, like the things that we get focus on, that gets them present.
01:25:44
Speaker
But it also makes them feel an emotion. right Now, the second part is what meaning do we give this? So it's focused that we're there. And like I gave an example of Dez on my team, who's kind of my executive assistant. She's also known. Like imagine that like Dez goes like, hey, Luca, you said that you're going to do this for the team and you didn't do it. You didn't follow through on it, right?
01:26:05
Speaker
I can give a meaning to that. like So now i'm focusing on that. And it's like, what's the meaning I give it? Man, what a bitch. going to call me out in front of the whole team? right Disrespect.
01:26:16
Speaker
Like, man, like you're fired. Whatever, right? like I can't. like You're not on my team. like youre You don't care about me. Or I could go and give it meaning and go like, damn, you're absolutely right.
01:26:27
Speaker
Like, I want to be a man of my word. I want to follow through. Hey, thanks for bringing that up. Like, appreciate you keeping me accountable. Could you help me by like just doing an extra reminder, you know, like 24 hours out before I have to deliver this thing that I said I'll deliver?
01:26:40
Speaker
Because I didn't. And it's like, man, I feel bad. Thank you. Right? Now, same thing happened, but I gave it a different meaning. right So that's the story. That's the frame. right and i teach I teach clients that it's called positive focus.
01:26:56
Speaker
um And I think this is relevant because this is a exercise in the practice that I learned through this program called Warrior. And it was like every day... You take a thing that happened the day before, usually a negative aspect, like something negative to happen, right?
01:27:11
Speaker
We had three clients, like canceled. Fuck. Step one, what's positive about it? okay but What does your brain want to do? Like, what's positive? What's what's positive about three you losing three clients? Yeah.
01:27:26
Speaker
You got to look for it. You to seek, right? Like seek it. What's good about losing three clients? What's positive about this? Well, what's positive about it, man, like something went wrong and we can find it, right? a A complaint or a problem is a gift if we can actually resolve it, right? Yeah.
01:27:45
Speaker
That's what's positive about this, okay? So then you go like, what's the lesson? So what would you put on a t-shirt from that thing, right? And it might be like, a ah challenge is a stepping stone to a higher level.
01:27:59
Speaker
That's my t-shirt thing, right? And then, like our our I would say, our thing there would be, like how would you apply this to other areas of your life? Like your fitness. yeah right And it's like, well shit, like man keep tweaking my hamstring, right? That's the challenge. Okay, well, what do we need to do to make to to overcome this?
01:28:17
Speaker
Right? It's like, okay, it's gonna reveal something. What about relationships? Right? So it's like, but the challenge is the stepping stone to the high level. Okay, cool. So now I'm gonna apply this to my body, my finances, right? Like all these different things.
01:28:28
Speaker
Now i did that I did that for two years straight. I probably missed some days, you know, but like, let's just say that I probably did it 600 times in two years, right? right I became really good where like things would happen and the time between, you know, kind of like signal noise, I would quickly go like, man, it sucks.
01:28:48
Speaker
Okay, how can we, you know, yeah my brain would go just trying to solve the problem, right? Where most people are so, because it is, it's ah it's a mental practice. Like it's our neurology, the way it works, like, you know, what wires to get, what would fires together, wires together, right? Like, so if you go like problem and then you go,
01:29:06
Speaker
magnifying liket glass on a problem and you just keep looking at the problem, that wires. That means you become really good at finding problems, seeking out problems, seeking out everything else that's you know attached to this problem. But if you train your brain to go, what's positive about this? Yeah.
01:29:20
Speaker
Right. You're going to get something from it, a lesson, and then you're be able to act on the lesson. Now, the reason why I gave that example is because there's We understand physical weightlifting and weight room, which I'm a huge fan of. But then there's also mental weightlifting. So that's a mental weightlifting exercise. Right.
01:29:36
Speaker
And it's like both help. Right. You got to do both. Reading is mental weightlifting if you read the right stuff. Now, going
Mindset and Behavior Change in Coaching
01:29:43
Speaker
back to you. So I gave that example of meaning. Right. So what we focus on.
01:29:48
Speaker
What meaning do we give it? And then number three is like inadvertently like what action behavior do we yeah we take? But if we focus on the right things and give it the right meaning, the action we take is going to lead us forward to the identity that we want, right? like and And so that's our whole life. Like every day when you tell me like you don't feel like you don't, you know, that's why tony talks about You know ah motion creates emotion.
01:30:10
Speaker
Yeah. Like physiology, like affects our psychology and the other way around. And so this is why I think the great coaches, like they understand behavior change. They understand psychology, understand neurology. They understand environmental sciences, right? Like, like in you know, we shape our environments and our environments shape us.
01:30:28
Speaker
so you know these things So that's why like why do I get so fucking fired up about coaching, right? Because if we have a wide toolbox, the things that we can do to help people alter their lives is insane. It's monumental. It's it's incredible, right?
01:30:44
Speaker
But you can also look at it, you know again, the meaning that you give it Oh, like, you know, there's still a lot of people that think like, oh, like you're the person with the pad counting reps. Right. And it's like it's back to the basketball analogy. Oh, you're talking about the the guy that sprained his ankle like in the YMCA and can barely dribble. Right. Like he's playing basketball, but like we're not playing the same basketball.
01:31:04
Speaker
um And, you know, and i I like to encourage people to in this field to go pro. You know, Steven Pressfield has a great book called Turn Pro yeah and a War of Art, which are both must reads for everybody, short reads.
01:31:20
Speaker
And um the the reason why is this, right? Like and in to another point, I had Brad Stolberg on the show, his podcast comes out next week. I'd encourage everybody to buy his book next, day it comes out, it's called The Way of Excellence, it's phenomenal book.
01:31:34
Speaker
But one of the things we talked about is like fit, grit, quit, right? and Look, there's stuff that you'll do that you'll be like, this is not a fit for me.
01:31:46
Speaker
Quit. okay But once you've found a fit, yeah you got to have grit. And and to unfortunately, this is, you know, this is part of my mission in fitness, right? Like, i you know, we have the gym in Slovenia. I run this gym here. I coach still quite a lot because I fucking love coaching.
01:32:03
Speaker
And then I have a business in consulting, right? Built to last gym.com, which is helping gym owners grow their businesses. And then I have the local host for our business, which is education for coaches, right? Yeah. And I'm very, very fired up about it because what I've seen it like the right coaches, I want...
01:32:18
Speaker
Coaches that have that GWC that want to get better that are like, fuck yes, I want that. i want to turn pro. want to be the best coach I can possibly be. Those people will affect more lives. Like um we're talking about a thousand fold than a coach that I wouldn't even give them the title of the coach.
01:32:34
Speaker
But somebody is just like, oh, I like training or whatever, right? like So I want to equip those coaches to be as successful as possible through improving their coaching skills and their business of coaching skills. Right.
01:32:45
Speaker
And if you have that mentality and you go, fuck, man, like I want to I want to do what you're talking about and keep going to the highest level. I probably like you'll make great money. But here's the deal.
01:32:56
Speaker
Now, you know, that you got the fit. yeah It's not gonna be smooth. like it's You need grit. There's gonna fucking hard times. There's times where you work a lot, you don't make the money that you want. but like But if you are if it's the right fit, you have to have the grit to push through, keep learning, keep getting better, keep getting more proof. right like find Get mentors, be the right environments, find opportunities,
01:33:16
Speaker
And like, man, you can make an incredible career out of this. Like, you know, today you can make so much more money than back in the day when I started. But the thing is, is like, it's so fulfilling that like, I know like 21 years later, I wake up and by the way, you know, I got up at five this morning. don't know how little i slept. I woke up five times, my my daughter crying.
01:33:34
Speaker
But it's like, I'm fired up. you know like I wake up and i like i I love what I do. doesn't mean that everything, you know it that it's the the whole thing, and you know you never work a day in your life if you love what you do. Not true. you know I say majority of things that I do, i love doing. They energize me.
01:33:48
Speaker
Some things I don't love as much, but I do because I have to do them. And you know over time, you can outsource them. But you know if it's a fit. And when you know it's a fit, man, bust your ass. and like don't you know I've seen too many piach but coaches that that it was a fit and they left you know they they didn't get it through. And it's like, I'd like to give those coaches the tools and belief, you know what mean, yeah to to overcome that and then succeed.
01:34:13
Speaker
Yeah. i I want to end on that because that that that's just such a powerful statement. And I love that. You know grit is a big part of this, so which is also a good book.
01:34:24
Speaker
So, dude, Luca, thank you for your time, man, and and the energy charged up. I mean, you saw how many notes I was taking and then how many books I got to write down that I got to dive into. My bad. Amazon. Amazon's the winner. Yeah, don't don't apologize at all, man. So I'm grateful for your time, grateful for all the opportunities, and, I mean, leaving this whole industry better than you found it.
01:34:44
Speaker
So appreciate appreciate you, man. And ah handles, website and events. You got how many events coming up that people can be a part of? It's still open to others. Yeah. So we are um first of all, like most of the place, I mean, I i share stuff on Luca Hosevar is the Instagram handle.
01:35:02
Speaker
If you go to YouTube, Luca Hosevar, I have a podcast called The Vigor Life Podcast. And literally, like, when this comes out, probably a week ago, we launched a new podcast called Built to Last Gym Podcast as well. The Vigor Podcast has been around for almost eight years now. 220 episodes or so.
01:35:19
Speaker
So i would say, like, for coaches, it's, I mean, hundreds and hundreds of hours of just, like, the best coaches in the world. ah Free. YouTube channel has 2,000 videos if you... Watch one per day. You'll spend 10 years watching it. um But on those on those platforms, like basically, I share everything else. like
The Fulfillment of Grit in Coaching
01:35:36
Speaker
Where our events are you know in my bio and in in the link. We have a gym owner event coming up in Phoenix in February. We have a super coach coming up in March 21st here at Vigor. The site's not up for that yet, but I'll have all of that out for everybody to check out.
01:35:50
Speaker
Sweet. All right. That does it. The lot of info. We're out. And scene. Sweet. Thank you, dude. My pleasure. All right, talk about let her rip.
01:36:01
Speaker
That's why love this shit.