Transcript
Speaker: Hey, pal.
Speaker: Well, live pals, welcome to the latest and heavily delayed episode of Hey Pal, I'm Coachable.
Speaker: Thank you very much for everyone's patience this week.
Speaker: It's almost like the old days of being a wrestling fan here in Australia.
Speaker: It's like, oh, cool, lovely episode of Survivor Series you've got there.
Speaker: I wonder if The Rock joins up with Mr. McMahon.
Speaker: I don't know, I don't have the interwebs, so...
Speaker: No, really grateful.
Speaker: Obviously, this week was cake week for me, so things got a little bit tied up obligation-wise with the family and catching up with a few people.
Speaker: So a little bit of a delay here on the episode.
Speaker: So thanks again for your patience, and thanks for welcoming me into your earbuds.
Speaker: You know, it's great to be part of your weekly podcast rotation even.
Speaker: So I said rotation, but that only happens...
Speaker: once every 365 days might have coined a phrase might be a useless phrase definitely a useless phrase definitely didn't coin a phrase um so today's uh guest which ironically is someone who's probably not going to be loving the fact that i ate a lot of cake and uh ice cream sundaes is brett pizzicus he's from progress 365 he's a he's a nutritional and fitness coach he does things in person and also online and and you'll hear from the interview coming up uh
Speaker: just a wide range of clientele he has.
Speaker: He doesn't obviously go into too much detail for obvious reasons, but he's got world-class athletes.
Speaker: He's got average Joes like myself, even though I'm terrible at dodgeball.
Speaker: And he's just a fountain of knowledge.
Speaker: So a really insightful chat about how important it is, all the nutritional aspects and how important coaching is in that realm.
Speaker: And well,
Speaker: The show is called Hey Pal, I'm Coachable.
Speaker: So it seemed appropriate we got a coach on board again.
Speaker: So we also did record this a little bit earlier in the week.
Speaker: So we do make mention of Brett's alter ego, Marcus Pitts, an EPW Perth wrestler.
Speaker: We talk a little bit about his upcoming show.
Speaker: Well, depending on when you listen to this, it might not be upcoming anymore.
Speaker: But if you do happen to listen to this today when the episode is dropped and uploaded, it is happening tonight, Saturday 28th of October.
Speaker: Yes, dating a podcast, which you shouldn't do, in 2023, just in case you've dug this up on an old Zune or something like that in the year 3000.
Speaker: But...
Speaker: Yeah, if you do like some quality pro wrestling, Brett's alter ego is the main event, I believe.
Speaker: Or this is the one that I've seen main eventing all the promotions for it.
Speaker: It's certainly the match, well, one of the top two I'm most looking forward to.
Speaker: So look at EPWPerth.com for all that ticket information.
Speaker: If you are...
Speaker: here in Perth, listening to this right now and haven't got any plans for this evening.
Speaker: If you're on the east coast of Australia and you've got no plans for this evening, well, start looking up airfares and come on over, you know, more the merrier.
Speaker: If you're maybe listening in from anywhere else in the world, maybe, you know, jump in the time machine and come on down.
Speaker: It'll be a good time.
Speaker: But I digress.
Speaker: Let's not waste what we have now.
Speaker: Let's not think about good times in the future.
Speaker: Let's talk about good times right now.
Speaker: And the good times are about to begin with this interview from Progress 365's Brett Pitsikas.
Speaker: Well, our guest this week, I alluded to it last week, but he's someone who's really important to me.
Speaker: And yeah, I mean that as a friend, but also because ever since I came back from my couple of month jaunt in England this year, I came back a little, a little bit festively plump.
Speaker: And this man has helped me help guide me on the straight and narrow since he's an absolute whirlwind of a nutritional coach and
Speaker: But a lot of people will know him from his wrestling background as well as I turn into Elmer Fudd, known as Marcus Pitt in EPW Perth and across Australia and the world.
Speaker: But today he's taken off the wrestling attire.
Speaker: He's got the Liverpool shirt on, I'm sure.
Speaker: And he is my very friendly, great nutritional coach, Brett Pitsikas from Progress 365.
Speaker: Brett, hey, pal.
Speaker: Hey, mate, how are you doing?
Speaker: I'm doing well.
Speaker: Thanks, mate.
Speaker: Thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker: I know we were just talking about it before we started recording.
Speaker: We're both tremendously time poor human beings.
Speaker: So I appreciate the time that you're going to spend with us here and just sort of, I think,
Speaker: Having you as a guest today is really along what the spirit of the show is about in terms of, you know, being coached into things.
Speaker: But I just wanted to, and I didn't give you this in the prep notes, so it's always good to shock your guests right off.
Speaker: But I just want to throw a question at you here.
Speaker: You know, the name of the show is Hey Pal, I'm Coachable.
Speaker: Do you have any idea where that name might have come from?
Speaker: Oh, gee, don't call me.
Speaker: It's courtesy of my infamous coaching introductions when I check in with my clients on a Monday and Thursday, would it be?
Speaker: There might be an element to that because...
Speaker: Last week on the show, we had Jacinta Govind, who's an absolute gun basketball commentator over in the NBL One East.
Speaker: And we were talking about, we recorded a podcast prior to the Nationals.
Speaker: And as we were recording, I could see my notifications come up on our Slack chat.
Speaker: And one of the things that Brett is very famous for is he's a voice memo guy.
Speaker: And what would happen is because I couldn't listen to it straight away because I was in the middle of recording, it does a transcript.
Speaker: And so I make bread here like to say, sure thing, pal, does that make sense, pal?
Speaker: Is that good, pal?
Speaker: It was transcripting or transcribing that word to say power.
Speaker: So after we stopped recording, I'm just like, what the heck does this mean?
Speaker: I was like saying to the other guys, hey, power, rest in power.
Speaker: What is this power?
Speaker: And then listening to it, it was power.
Speaker: So the running joke with especially Squint and myself has been like, hey, power, hey, power.
Speaker: And that's the origin of the show.
Speaker: It's only taken us seven episodes to share that.
Speaker: I love it, man.
Speaker: I love it.
Speaker: It's something that is absolutely used these days.
Speaker: I'm sure it's people showing the love, but my oh my, do I get taken the piss out of when it comes to my endearing use of power, that's for sure.
Speaker: Well, you certainly do.
Speaker: But one thing that we don't take the mickey out of is how good of a coach you are and obviously your wrestling background.
Speaker: For those who are big wrestling fans and here to listen to our Marcus Pitt retrospective, we won't get that, but we will dive into it because I'm really excited by the nutritional side of things and some of the things that you've passed on to me in the years we've known each other.
Speaker: But
Speaker: This is a sports podcast, so I'm going to delve into the Wayback Machine for a little bit here.
Speaker: I'm going to ask you about your fandoms, you know, growing up, whether it's sports, teams, athletes, wrestlers, giving you a background, what sort of, you know, teams and people caught your eye from a young age?
Speaker: I genuinely feel as if there's only three, there's three things that come to mind, right?
Speaker: So I do remember, I think it was when I was about, I want to say it was when I was about nine years old and I've turned on the TV and
Speaker: And all of a sudden there was this football team for those who don't really sort of grasp the fact that football in Australia is soccer.
Speaker: So I'm talking about real football, not AFL.
Speaker: Apologies to the AFL fans out there.
Speaker: You can't help but be a bad guy.
Speaker: He's already just turning the screws there.
Speaker: Terrible, terrible, terrible human being.
Speaker: So I'm looking at this football team as like an eight, nine-year-old and I'm like,
Speaker: Wow, like really cool red shirts.
Speaker: Red was always my favourite colour, but that wasn't what caught my eye.
Speaker: It was the fact that this football team were called Liverpool and I've seen it on the TV and I've turned around to my mum and gone, mum, mum, mum, look, look, look.
Speaker: This on TV, their name, their name is the same as the street address that we live in.
Speaker: Oh, wow.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: For those playing at home, you know, without giving you the suburb of my parents' house, our street name was Liverpool Place.
Speaker: So, you know, of course, as an eight, nine-year-old kid, you know, knowing my address and then seeing this football team on the screen, I was just, my mind was just like,
Speaker: It was just blowing.
Speaker: And genuinely, from day dot, I have been an absolute diehard Liverpool supporter.
Speaker: There's no bandwagons involved.
Speaker: There was no looking into their trophy cabinet at an eight or nine-year-old.
Speaker: I had no idea about any of their history.
Speaker: It was just that simple fact they got me stuck into Liverpool as a football club.
Speaker: Just be glad that you didn't grow up on Everton Street.
Speaker: Just be very glad about that.
Speaker: Very, very glad about that, my friend.
Speaker: And then I think the other real infamous, I guess, or like moment that's very, very significant in my fandom of sports is I want to say around the same age, when I was about eight or nine,
Speaker: My mum and dad bought me a basketball ring, right?
Speaker: And it was one of the old fiberglass rings.
Speaker: Dad being like a builder, he's, you know, installed this big basketball ring out the front of our house because we had a really, really big driveway.
Speaker: So he's cemented this big old basketball hoop into the ground.
Speaker: It was absolutely fantastic.
Speaker: And lo and behold, the backboard of the basketball ring was a Chicago Bull.
Speaker: So it was literally just the Bull.
Speaker: And so as being a kid who wanted to understand anything and everything that was going on around him,
Speaker: You know, I asked my mum and dad what the bull was.
Speaker: And they were like, oh, it's a Chicago bull.
Speaker: We think it's a basketball team.
Speaker: So, you know, I didn't think too much of it, but as I was like, you know, like growing up, I would see, you know, people talk about this Chicago Bulls team and then I would see it on the TV and then I would hear about this basketball player called Michael Jordan.
Speaker: And then, of course, like the love affair started for MJ and the Bulls.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Not something that kind of like...
Speaker: lasted much beyond MJ actively playing as a basketball player.
Speaker: So, you know, I followed him during his Chicago Bulls era and then, you know, obviously pretty devastated once he retired and moved on to baseball.
Speaker: Thankfully, that was short-lived.
Speaker: And, of course, being the MJ fan that I was, got heavily underrated
Speaker: heavily invested in the Washington Wizards.
Speaker: I want to say I had seven or eight different Washington Wizards jerseys.
Speaker: I want to say maybe like four of the blue color, four of the white color.
Speaker: I think during that period where MJ was playing for the Wizards power, I was genuinely wearing a Washington Wizards singlet every single day of the year.
Speaker: It was insane.
Speaker: That's crazy.
Speaker: I didn't know you were that big of an MJ fan, but I mean, it's one of those things.
Speaker: It's so, as, as a fellow Chicago Bulls fan, or at least a Michael Jordan fan, it was one of those things that once he retired, it's like, great.
Speaker: Now we've become a t-shirt company because for so long, the Bulls only cared about selling 23 jerseys that we kind of lost our way.
Speaker: And then,
Speaker: you know, a couple of decades later, D Rose does his knee and yeah, we are still working, clawing to try and get back to actual on-court relevance.
Speaker: But the other thing that's really important in your background before, you know, we launch into Progress 365 and what you do there is the wrestling career of yours.
Speaker: You've been doing that quite a while now at a very, very high level.
Speaker: One of the best in the land and one of them, and I'm, you know, again, another compliment without notice, but one of the most underrated talents in the world for mine, but
Speaker: This is really important in terms of how you've got into, you know, that nutritional side of things and, you know, looking after your body.
Speaker: So tell us a bit about how you got into wrestling, you know, whether or not that's as a fan, but, you know, importantly as well through EPW Perth and actually getting into the old squared circle.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So genuinely the first ever time that I saw anything to do with pro wrestling was, you know, I was,
Speaker: I'm not going to lie.
Speaker: I was definitely fortunate as a kid.
Speaker: Mum and dad could afford some pretty cool things, such as we had the internet really early on, and we also have been huge supporters of the old Fox cell here in Australia.
Speaker: So mum and dad had Fox cell from a very, very early period.
Speaker: I think I was only 10 when we had Fox cell then.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I remember turning on the TV one time, and this was when I was 10 years old, so 1997, and all I remember is Shawn Michaels standing in the middle of the Hell in a Cell.
Speaker: Oh, sorry.
Speaker: Well, flat on his back in the middle of the Hell in a Cell.
Speaker: Undertaker had just beat him in their Hell in a Cell match.
Speaker: And just the moment that stood out to me was Kane's music hitting, him walking down to the ring, ripping the Hell in a Cell door off its hinges and then tombstoning The Undertaker.
Speaker: And from that very moment, I was, I was sold.
Speaker: That's the first thing you saw?
Speaker: That's the very first thing I ever saw of pro wrestling man was literally Kane's debut in WWE.
Speaker: That's insane.
Speaker: What a moment to come in on.
Speaker: Oh, man.
Speaker: And I've stumbled across it here.
Speaker: I've literally turned on the TV.
Speaker: And as a 10-year-old, I remember it being like 9.30, 10 o'clock at night.
Speaker: and I've just seen just this part like play out and I was just my mind I know I've obviously said this prior already in this podcast but my mind was just blown I was just I was so taken back by what I was seeing I was like
Speaker: holy shit, what is this?
Speaker: What on earth is this?
Speaker: And how do I continue to be able to see this going forward?
Speaker: So that is the moment when my love affair for pro wrestling began, pal.
Speaker: And then, you know, like as a kid and as anybody that knows me, I'm a very out there individual.
Speaker: I'm certainly in, you know, a very outgoing person, very loud, very, you know,
Speaker: you know, quite hyperactive, very excitable.
Speaker: I just like to talk.
Speaker: I like to, I like to interact with individuals.
Speaker: Hence being a voice memo fellow.
Speaker: Like I sitting there and typing something out, just, I'm just like, Oh, this is boring.
Speaker: Or you're walking in London or you're walking in London and getting abused for talking on the phone.
Speaker: And the reason being because I was too damn loud, of course.
Speaker: But, you know, like, so as a young kid, I was always hugely into drama, always into acting, absolutely loved it.
Speaker: And I think, I guess, as I got older, I was very, very one-eyed about always wanting to become an actor.
Speaker: And I always, always had this love affair of pro wrestling.
Speaker: So as both of those passions grew, as I was getting older, I was starting to become more and more interested in wrestling.
Speaker: these massive physiques that these pro wrestlers had back in the day.
Speaker: And, you know, like, you know, to be honest, the one physique that always sort of like stood out for me was, funnily enough, was Triple H's physique.
Speaker: Just such an incredible physique.
Speaker: So as time went on and I was acting and I was so invested in that, but I was starting to get this real interest in lifting weights, Triple H brings out a book.
Speaker: And, you know, it's genuinely...
Speaker: my encyclopedia and i literally still have it to this day but uh oh is that the uh oh he did a bodybuilding book the yeah he did yeah he did a bodybuilding book wait okay can i just can i just quickly pause here because i'm not sure if you listen to this podcast but there's a podcast called the attitude era podcast and he's these three lads from england who review all the old attitude era pod uh events so for those playing at home attitude era for wrestling's
Speaker: seen as largely the boom period, although there could be an argument made for right now just in terms of the amount of money in wrestling, but around about 1997 to 2001.
Speaker: And so they do this, they actually do an episode about that book.
Speaker: And all I can think about is the diet that Triple H goes through in that book.
Speaker: And they tried to replicate it as someone who doesn't bodybuild.
Speaker: And the guy was sick for weeks.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: But like, because he eats a lot.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, man.
Speaker: I mean, you know, understandable, right?
Speaker: I guess like Triple H being a guy who was like 6'4", like 265 pounds or whatever, he was an animal.
Speaker: He was...
Speaker: So big, so big.
Speaker: And so, yeah, so I got this book and literally that's what started me lifting weights.
Speaker: I literally sort of like, you know, my mom and dad bought me like two adjustable dumbbells and just like a simple straight bar.
Speaker: And I just started, you know, like lifting weights, not knowing what I was doing.
Speaker: reading Triple H's book, just, you know, reading it because I thought it was cool because he was so jacked and looking at the pictures and, you know, still continuing to have, of course, this love affair with pro wrestling and these, you know, incredible physiques, but not being able to remove myself from that acting world.
Speaker: And I think it was around when I was 17 and
Speaker: And my mum the previous year had had cancer.
Speaker: So she was going through, you know, treatment, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker: And I was getting to a point where I, you know, she was still quite sick, but I had gotten the grades good enough to go to a WAPA.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: But I actually decided not to just because of the amount of distractions and stuff that I had going on.
Speaker: And,
Speaker: At that time, you know, I was going through that point like where, you know, I'd already joined up at a gym and I was lifting weights up all the time.
Speaker: And, you know, I was training with one of my parents' friends, a guy who was like a former Mr. Australia.
Speaker: So I was really getting invested in training.
Speaker: And after sort of like choosing not to go to WAPA, I...
Speaker: I was getting so heavily involved into watching wrestling that I decided that a lot of my like year 12 friends at school, a lot of them were really loving wrestling too.
Speaker: And I was like, you know what?
Speaker: Let's start like a backyard wrestling federation.
Speaker: And we were going to call it BBW.
Speaker: So Balladjura Backyard Wrestling.
Speaker: That was the name of it.
Speaker: And so all we had done was we started sort of like trying to organize, you know, started trying to organize like, you know, cards and how we were going to build a ring and how we're going to build a stage, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker: And I reckon we maybe...
Speaker: We're heavily invested in it for about four weeks.
Speaker: And then four of the guys came to me at the same time.
Speaker: I'm like, dude, you're so invested in this whole process.
Speaker: We're really not.
Speaker: We're interested in other things.
Speaker: Like one of my mates was fantastic at cricket.
Speaker: I know another guy was playing AFL at the time and was potentially getting an opportunity at waffle, like waffle and stuff.
Speaker: So they were like, you know,
Speaker: We don't know if you've ever heard of this company, but there's this company in Perth called EPW.
Speaker: They're a Perth wrestling company.
Speaker: Have you ever heard of them?
Speaker: And I was like, no.
Speaker: I have no idea what you're talking about.
Speaker: And so they've sent me these details.
Speaker: Because I'm not going to lie.
Speaker: I was horrible back in the day for actually getting on the internet and using it to research things.
Speaker: Terrible at it.
Speaker: terrible like all i used the internet for was msn messenger you know that was the shit yes like that is all right yeah that's it msn was it that was yeah it was happening yeah and all i remember is like you know just those those infamous noises that msn messenger like ah they're just
Speaker: Oh my goodness.
Speaker: Status updates were updating your name in MSN with a song title or just like how you were feeling.
Speaker: That was MSN messenger crawled so that Facebook could run.
Speaker: Oh, dude, the best.
Speaker: Just genuinely my life.
Speaker: And I've wasted so many years of being able to actually research on the internet and look at things that I like because I was so invested in my MSN chats.
Speaker: So the lads have sent through this link.
Speaker: And I have simply just gone, you know what, screw it.
Speaker: I'm going to contact them and ask them how I can like potentially join their school.
Speaker: So I remember messaging them in 2004, so the end of my year 12 year.
Speaker: And they didn't get back to me.
Speaker: And like for a long time, like I'm talking a long time.
Speaker: I don't think I heard back from them until three quarters of the way through 2005.
Speaker: So we're talking, you know, nearly 10 months.
Speaker: And so they finally reached out and they said, hey, look, listen, you know, we received your email.
Speaker: We know you're interested in potentially trying out.
Speaker: We're holding a school tryout.
Speaker: It goes for two days.
Speaker: Come along.
Speaker: If you want to attend, by all means.
Speaker: Still to this day, pal, those two days of that wrestling tryout, probably...
Speaker: From a physical perspective, and I'm an individual who has had, you know, Orlando, Florida tryouts with the WWE.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: I would still put those two days down as being the two most physically, well, the two most physically, like, grueling days of my entire life.
Speaker: They were incredibly insane because I was stupid enough to do one of those as well.
Speaker: Obviously it worked out for you much better than it did me, but those two days I didn't really, I don't think I even knew what the word cardio was until that.
Speaker: And then I certainly had it imprinted on my brain.
Speaker: Those were intense and it has changed a bit for the better in a lot of ways.
Speaker: But there's, there's, you know, obviously something to be said for, you know, putting the hard yards, paying your dues and that sort of thing.
Speaker: And you certainly had to earn it back then.
Speaker: Mate, I mean, you know, the tryouts started with 20 individuals.
Speaker: And by the end of day two, there were two people left.
Speaker: And that was it.
Speaker: So, yeah, it's...
Speaker: It was certainly an experience.
Speaker: And as hard as they pushed me and as much as they tried to deter me from wanting to continue down that professional wrestling path, it just honestly, it just fueled my passion even further, pal.
Speaker: And that was when I genuinely jumped into the pro wrestling world with two feet.
Speaker: when they finally accepted me into the school and I commenced my training with them in November of 2005.
Speaker: So you started in 2005.
Speaker: As I said at the beginning, we're not going to go through the full ins and outs because genuinely that could be another podcast that I'd love to do with you down the track.
Speaker: But because you've done so much already in just, you know, this point of your career from a wrestling point of view.
Speaker: So I'm going to rein it back a little bit here and just talk about
Speaker: now we fast forwarded some time and you, you are Marcus Pitt, you are, you know, you're top of the pops and, you know, you've got a burgeoning career.
Speaker: So we'll, we'll save the origin story for another day further.
Speaker: But what, what do you find the biggest challenges now with being a wrestler in terms of being so dedicated to,
Speaker: I don't want to say that art form because it bugs me when companies say performer instead of wrestler, but it is an art form.
Speaker: It's a very physical art form.
Speaker: What's the biggest challenge of being a wrestler and having so much else going on in your life when it's not your full-time job?
Speaker: Yeah, no, you're bang on.
Speaker: You know, there is a lot going on in my life on a day-to-day or a week-to-week basis.
Speaker: And I guess I was very fortunate enough to get a lot of opportunities in pro wrestling.
Speaker: You know, tryouts with WWE, wrestling tours with New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Speaker: I've done a lot of really, really cool stuff.
Speaker: I feel like now, though, I'm at a place where my absolute priority is still.
Speaker: And I guess especially now, because I get to share a lot of my pro wrestling career with my best friend.
Speaker: A lot of people knowing Damien Slater, I'm sure.
Speaker: But I think, you know, my investment into pro wrestling nowadays is still wanting to be the very best, still wanting to perform at that type of a higher level.
Speaker: But I have very, you know, intentionally and, you know, with, with,
Speaker: I've made the decision to, you know, not focus on trying to have a career as a professional wrestler because I am now, I'm a father of two.
Speaker: I, you know, am a married man as, you know, having two children would potentially refer to.
Speaker: And I also am now a sportsman.
Speaker: small business owner running Progress 365.
Speaker: So there is a lot that goes into my day-to-day.
Speaker: But I think, you know, I guess at the end of the day, pal, like,
Speaker: My life wouldn't work without, you know, the close-knit group that I have around me being my wife, Cleo, who is absolutely my biggest supporter and somebody who can- An African legend.
Speaker: Like the way better half of the relationship and you know how much I love you.
Speaker: 110% the way better half of the relationship, let's be honest.
Speaker: But I think without her, without the support that she offers me and, you know, just without her assistance on a day-to-day life, there's no way I would be able to be an individual who...
Speaker: juggles a passion such as pro wrestling with the intensity that I do, as well as navigate being a full-time dad and a full-time coach running Progress 365.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: And that support network, no matter what you do is so important.
Speaker: And, you know, we joke about it, but we are so time poor, but like that balance, that, that, that support allows you to, you know, fully invest when you're doing the wrestling thing in that passion of yours, fully invest when you're coaching with people and fully invest,
Speaker: more importantly, when you've got that family time for sure.
Speaker: Like, so without, without that support network for anyone in any line of work, it's, you know, it makes it a lot tougher, but you'd mentioned Progress 365 before we get into the small business side of things.
Speaker: Now to me, and I know that, you know, without speaking out of school here, you've probably not felt the same way, but I think you've always been a man who's been in shape and, you know, you know, solid unit can lift you, you're strong and things like that.
Speaker: But,
Speaker: So these days, you are looking like a golden Greek god.
Speaker: Was there a personal moment where you really thought about you had to dial into that, so your own nutritional needs, or there was a mindset shift there?
Speaker: 100% about it, and I can definitely pinpoint that for sure.
Speaker: It's probably a little bit long-winded as well, and it may take a bit of time, but actually it's very, very important.
Speaker: I'm George Lazenby.
Speaker: I've got all the time in the world, mate.
Speaker: So in 2012, pal, you know, like I guess I had started lifting, as I mentioned, probably around, I want to say when I was about 14, 15.
Speaker: And like I said, nothing too aggressively, just sort of like moving dumbbells around, like understanding what like a bicep curl was, understanding what a shoulder press was and all of these types of very, very basic movements.
Speaker: And it wasn't until I started going to the gym that
Speaker: with my parents' friend, the guy who was a former Mr. Australia that I started to understand exercises and training a little bit more so.
Speaker: But
Speaker: something that I had never really given a lot of thought to was the nutrition side of things.
Speaker: I'd always understood that I needed to eat a lot of protein, um, just from things that I had sort of read, good old triple H's approach to a better body.
Speaker: So much chicken breast, so much chicken breast.
Speaker: Oh, so much, man.
Speaker: I think all my meals were, it was like chicken breast and broccoli, chicken breast and broccoli.
Speaker: Oh my goodness.
Speaker: And, uh,
Speaker: I, you know, I guess I went through some, like, I guess, some really hard times in life.
Speaker: And I kind of pinpoint that from 2010 to 2012, where...
Speaker: I, myself and Cleo first got together in 2009 and, you know, you know, had a great relationship.
Speaker: But, you know, for those who don't know, Cleo is a little bit older than I am.
Speaker: And I think by about...
Speaker: By about 2012, she was kind of at a very different point in her life than where I was at.
Speaker: And she was wanting a family.
Speaker: She was wanting to settle down.
Speaker: And I was at a period where I was very young still.
Speaker: I still hadn't fully embarked on chasing the wrestling dream.
Speaker: And I kind of didn't want somebody else dictating what I did with my life.
Speaker: So we actually went our own separate ways.
Speaker: And from there, I actually went down a very, very dark path in 2012, where it was kind of like brought to my attention that I was dealing with some pretty severe depression.
Speaker: And I was lost for a very large chunk of 2012 to 2015.
Speaker: You know, I didn't really have a good grasp on my life.
Speaker: I was in a position where I really wasn't looking at nutrition or food in general as something to fuel my body in a productive manner.
Speaker: I was looking at food to provide me with a very, very quick
Speaker: dopamine hit.
Speaker: A lot of people may be asking what dopamine is, but dopamine is essentially, just think of it as the old happiness hormone.
Speaker: It'll spike levels of dopamine in our body.
Speaker: So
Speaker: Typically, a lot of people can get that dopamine effect or that hit in their bodies from a number of ways, things that people tend to genuinely enjoy, things that genuinely make people happy.
Speaker: And I was in such a dark period of time, the only thing that would kind of make me happy was
Speaker: these foods power where which were like really calorically dense really sort of like um really sort of fatty salty like highly sugared foods etc um and they were tasty super super tasty honestly Val I can remember sitting on the couch every single night not just talking like
Speaker: a couple of times a week, every single night, having two large pepperoni pizzas and two 1.25 liters of Coke every single day.
Speaker: Because that was the only point in my day where I was happy for maybe five to 10 minutes.
Speaker: And then post-consuming that food, just due to how that would make me feel because I was so full.
Speaker: I felt disgusting.
Speaker: My body felt like,
Speaker: shit i would then go into that depressed that depressive state and just feel horrible about life all again and you know of course you know during that period of time i was you know seeing counselors i was being uh mentored by um a psychologist i was on antidepressants um i was navigating like a really difficult difficult time in my life um
Speaker: And I remember meeting somebody in 2012, and that individual was good old Mikey Broderick.
Speaker: Ah, yes.
Speaker: For those of you that don't know Mikey Broderick, he was a professional wrestler who based himself in Canberra, where he lived.
Speaker: He now resides in Perth, Western Australia.
Speaker: He is a fully-fledged member of the EPW roster now.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And when this drops, you guys will be wrestling against each other.
Speaker: So this drops during the week.
Speaker: So there's three days in three days time, but sorry to just for those who know, who may not know.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You guys are actually, you know, good friends who are going to be smashing the crap out of each other.
Speaker: But yeah.
Speaker: So you met, met Mikey.
Speaker: So I met Mikey and I was just so, of course, because, you know, I had this love for the gym and I had this like absolute, you know,
Speaker: burning desire to become a professional wrestler.
Speaker: That is what I wanted to do as a job for a career.
Speaker: It was my dream job now.
Speaker: And I just, you know, I had this real fascination with Mikey Broderick or, you know, as weird as that sounds for me to say, his shoot name or his real name is Kane.
Speaker: I just had this fascination with Kane's physique.
Speaker: He was just an absolute monster.
Speaker: And I remember because I was doing a lot of travel in that time between 2012 and 2015.
Speaker: I was doing a lot of interstate wrestling shows, working in Sydney and Melbourne, Adelaide, et cetera.
Speaker: And I was doing a lot of Wrestle Class shows.
Speaker: And Kane was also working these shows.
Speaker: And I would just like corner him for hours and hours and hours and ask him about his nutrition and, you know, like what his sort of like training split and schedule was, like how he went about his like, you know, overarching like fitness goals, how he was executing things, et cetera.
Speaker: And it wasn't until 2015.
Speaker: So it's been a long period of time where I was kind of like,
Speaker: I'd gotten to a point where, you know, I was doing a lot better in life.
Speaker: Myself and Cleo were, you know, together again.
Speaker: We like really sort of like gotten ourselves back on track and we're in a really, really good position with our relationship.
Speaker: And I'd actually just come off of antidepressants for the first time in three years.
Speaker: And I reached out to Kane and I said, pal, I'm so sick and tired of spinning my wheels.
Speaker: I am so sick and tired of feeling as if I'm like overweight.
Speaker: I'm fat.
Speaker: I'm not getting anywhere with my training and nutrition goals.
Speaker: Like, please, I need your help.
Speaker: And I remember that in 2015 was the very, very first time where I learned about macros.
Speaker: so anybody that's wondering what macros is if you ever hear about macros or macronutrients that is some that that is an individual referring to proteins carbohydrates and fats so they are your three main macronutrients um and i remember kane giving me this breakdown of uh
Speaker: three macronutrients being the proteins, the fats and the carbs that I needed to consume on a day-to-day basis.
Speaker: He taught me how to use my fitness pal.
Speaker: And then things went from there.
Speaker: And that was genuinely the first time where, you know, like three to five months later, I looked at my physique and I was like,
Speaker: wow like i look like a professional wrestler yeah yeah and i mean as i said you would like in in our minds and obviously everyone has their own um you know feelings towards their own body and that's an important thing to recognize as well so someone might from afar look like the most rippling physique you've ever seen and they might still be having their their issue so
Speaker: I don't think it's ever fair to sort of, you know, if someone has that concern and go, oh, geez, I feel this, I feel that.
Speaker: So someone to cut them down, which is a little bit of a sidetrack there.
Speaker: But it's just crazy to think that, you know, you had those feelings and I appreciate you sharing them to not just everyone listening, but it's a pretty raw thing to share out loud.
Speaker: So do appreciate that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so then what it has worked again from the outside looking in, there was a visible transformation there, which really shows the benefit of how much you dialed in and change that approach and attitude to it.
Speaker: And it's one of those lucky things about being a professional wrestling.
Speaker: You're out in your jocks every show.
Speaker: So people can see if there's been some changes to your body.
Speaker: But of course, some wrestlers might get mad.
Speaker: I call them jocks, but they're jocks, guys.
Speaker: Sorry, they're not trunks.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But so you've started to take that, I guess, ownership and change of approach for yourself.
Speaker: And again, I want to just fast forward a little bit just to talk about them, what you looked at in terms of why you decided to turn that knowledge personally and how successful it was for yourself into then coaching others, you know, because, you know,
Speaker: There's a whole wide range of clientele that you, you know, you do, you coach to, and by no means not wanting you to break any of those confidences at all.
Speaker: But, you know, you've got world-class athletes, you've got average Joes like myself.
Speaker: So you've got a, you know, I guess a client base that touches a lot of different areas and people.
Speaker: So what was your driver for wanting to do that and turn that knowledge into coaching others?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So anybody that knows Kane will, of course, have heard him absolutely take the piss out of me when it comes to how fascinated and how obsessed I got with macronutrients at the time, right?
Speaker: So he's welcomed me into this world into 2015.
Speaker: And I just took the ball and ran with it.
Speaker: And I remember Cain giving me so many sort of like individuals who were professionals in this realm, in this like training and nutrition realm.
Speaker: And the wonderful thing about the individuals that Cain put me onto
Speaker: where they were all these individuals who actually used scientific principles when it relates to training and nutrition.
Speaker: So all of the information, everything that I was digesting had actually been studied from a scientific perspective.
Speaker: So there was no filters on this information.
Speaker: There was no bullshit.
Speaker: It was...
Speaker: This is the hard facts.
Speaker: This is what we have seen in these studies, in these specific studies that we have done with this demographic of people, with this demographic of people, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker: And I just got so invested with individuals like Mike Istratel, Jared Feather, individuals from Renaissance periodization, anybody who's looking to
Speaker: sort of like
Speaker: get a bit of an introduction into the scientifically backed training and nutrition realm.
Speaker: They are an amazing company to start with.
Speaker: They're full of amazing information.
Speaker: And so I guess like, I just got this real fascination with it.
Speaker: And I just took a deep dive and, you know, at times over that 2016, 17, 18, 19 period, um,
Speaker: I definitely did some unhealthy things when it came to my nutrition.
Speaker: I was probably a little bit too aggressive with my fat loss phases at times.
Speaker: I probably then went the other way with my massing phases.
Speaker: But it was all kind of like me just trying to experiment.
Speaker: with different things, you know, like take a lot of these studies, take a lot of this information, this literature and apply it to myself.
Speaker: And, you know, of course I got heavily invested in it.
Speaker: I, you know, prior to this as well, like rewinding a little bit, I think it was in 2007,
Speaker: I'd already had my certificate three and my certificate four in fitness.
Speaker: I had my certificate four in sport development.
Speaker: So I'd already done a lot of study when it came to fitness.
Speaker: But what they teach you in those cert three and cert fours, especially in those like quick fix courses now where they, you know, take you through these certificates in any like, you know, eight to 12 weeks.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: they don't really, you know, like teach you the ins and outs of training and nutrition.
Speaker: And from no way, shape or form do they present that from a scientific based literature.
Speaker: So, you know, it's very much just that, hey, come and get a qualification.
Speaker: So, you know, jumping forward again, I just like really got invested into like, you know, this whole,
Speaker: training in nutrition realm and um i think as well i think just due to the fact the job that i have had since 2011 i worked for the department of community so um disability services commission so i worked with a lot of individuals who had um you know like
Speaker: predominantly um behavioral disabilities um and so I guess I've always had a knack for wanting to help individuals you know if we're talking about those specific individuals a they are individuals I think who are craving to be a part of
Speaker: a community they are individuals who want to feel as if they are being accepted by society they don't want to feel um they don't want to feel out of place they want to feel like everybody else so i think i always had that knack for just wanting to help people um and you know when we talk about training and nutrition um
Speaker: that is a realm power where a lot of individuals are wanting to better themselves through their training and nutrition.
Speaker: You've got such an array of people who, you know, like, let's talk about like, for example, Jen pop a where you've got, you know, like an individual who just wants to improve their body composition.
Speaker: So a lot of the time, a lot of people will reach out to me who are wanting to like drop a bit of weight and lose some weight or,
Speaker: You may see some individuals who want to improve their body composition.
Speaker: So they may look at more so trying to dial in their training.
Speaker: But then due to the fact that I've really taken a deep dive into the weeds of, you know, how training and nutrition works, you know, things such as like nutrient timing, which a lot of athletes who are potentially listening to the podcast would understand that that nutrient timing is dialing in your nutrition and
Speaker: around your training, et cetera, very much so sort of like directing that towards, you know, like athletes and people who, you know, have training performance outcomes that they need to adhere to or meet those, you know, set requirements for.
Speaker: I think because I have such a broad range of wanting to help just individuals in general feel better about themselves, you know, reach their overarching training and nutrition goals and then,
Speaker: knowing that I've, you know, I've been in the place that I am in pro wrestling where I have been around world-class athletes.
Speaker: I class myself as a world-class athlete, knowing how to optimally, optimally, um, you know, uh,
Speaker: approach my nutrition so it then caters towards my training I think a lot of other elite athletes particularly in the industry of professional wrestling have then sort of been able to go hey wow this you know look at this guy like he's a pro wrestler he looks like that he's got two kids he's running a full-time business he must know like something that we kind of don't and I think I just have
Speaker: I guess I've got like just such a broad range.
Speaker: I've never been a coach, especially as I say, like I've always had this passion to want to help people.
Speaker: And I think for me, because I have such a passion of wanting to help individuals, that then doesn't box me to a particular demographic.
Speaker: I just want to help everyone.
Speaker: Like I'm that type of person, but due to the fact that I want to help everyone, pal, I need to have this ability to,
Speaker: to be able to prioritize somebody's training and nutrition on multiple levels.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I guess it ties into one of the, one of the questions I had regards to as a coach, what do you find the biggest challenges are in terms of, I guess, trying to get the best out of your clients and trying to get them to that point where I guess mentally,
Speaker: they're the ones who want to be a bit more proactive about it.
Speaker: You know, you don't want them as much as, you know, you want to help everyone, which is a great trait to have.
Speaker: You don't want them to always have to rely on you as the crutch, if that makes sense.
Speaker: So what's the biggest challenges you find as a coach?
Speaker: I think, I mean, I think you kind of like hit the nail on the head.
Speaker: I think the biggest challenge for myself as a coach is the, the variety of individuals that I work with.
Speaker: So I,
Speaker: I'm working with people who have genuinely
Speaker: never stepped foot in a gym, never ever, you know, like really understood what a protein or a fat or a carb is.
Speaker: And then on the other hand, I've got individuals and he absolutely won't mind me saying this whatsoever, but I work with somebody like WWE superstar, Rich Holland, who is an elite athlete who is on a, on a week to week basis working in front of,
Speaker: millions and millions of people because he works for the biggest wrestling promotion in the entire world yeah so it's the i think the biggest thing as a coach my my um i guess biggest hurdle to to work around or navigate with an individual is understanding that they don't need to
Speaker: train or dial in their nutrition like Ridge Holland does.
Speaker: They need to navigate their training and their nutrition around their current understanding of it.
Speaker: You want to approach every individual's goals based around their position.
Speaker: I guess for an individual who is
Speaker: first coming into the gym, all we want to do, pal, you know, we want to make them comfortable.
Speaker: You know, the gym can be a very, very scary place to be.
Speaker: So it's having that back and forth conversation.
Speaker: I think a lot of coaches out there, pal,
Speaker: The biggest issue with the training and nutrition realm, especially for myself as a coach, is the amount of fallacy that is around the fitness world.
Speaker: There are just so many fallacies out there.
Speaker: There's so many misconceptions.
Speaker: There is so much misinformation that plagues this industry that I am just so passionate about.
Speaker: And a lot of the time, it's actually trying to educate individuals around, you know, training and nutrition.
Speaker: Or it's trying to steer them away from this horrible information that's been relayed to them in the past.
Speaker: And I think like it's working with an individual's like, you know, their platform.
Speaker: You've got to cater your approach to them because there's nothing worse than overwhelming somebody who has never, ever been into a gym.
Speaker: who has never, ever navigated nutrition before.
Speaker: However, I can't then take that approach to somebody like an elite athlete, like a Rich Holland.
Speaker: He wants to know what is going to work for him.
Speaker: How many times a week does he need to be in the gym?
Speaker: You know, like what exercises are going to prioritize, especially for an individual like himself who has had some difficulties like surrounding like his quads, et cetera.
Speaker: He's had some like pretty severe injuries in the past.
Speaker: You know, he's really wanted to prioritize his legs.
Speaker: And the schedule.
Speaker: And the schedule that someone like him has.
Speaker: Correct.
Speaker: Correct.
Speaker: Just in travel.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Correct.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: And so then he, you know, but he's saying to me, Brett, how do I get the most out of my legs?
Speaker: Like, how do we dial this in?
Speaker: Like, I need to improve the, you know, like the amount of muscle tissue I have around my legs.
Speaker: I need to improve the strength through my knees.
Speaker: Like, I want to be confident with my training.
Speaker: How do we do that?
Speaker: That's a very, very niche thing compared to somebody who is never, ever in their life, A,
Speaker: put 20 kilos on their back and try to take that 20 kilos and navigate it through a squat.
Speaker: And so it's like, I'm working with such a huge demographic.
Speaker: And so,
Speaker: you need to, as a coach, understand that, you know what, bud?
Speaker: Like, not everybody understands, you know, the lingo and stuff.
Speaker: Like, some of the things I say are, like, you know, mechanical efficiency, like movement patterns, like biomechanics, bloody, you know, lengthening, contracted, shortened, extension.
Speaker: Like, it's just, like, all these words that, like,
Speaker: I could throw at someone and they'd be like, dude, what are you talking about?
Speaker: Like, what are you talking about?
Speaker: As a coach who, who trained such a large demographic that genuinely is like a genuine beginner to an elite athlete as the coach, you have to come down to their level.
Speaker: You need to,
Speaker: approach things from a way that allows them to be comfortable and allows them to go yeah cool like I can do that like that sounds great to me like yeah I can absolutely go into the gym two times per week over a seven-day period and I can totally like do those exercises you know that that that's great like I can do that
Speaker: Or you've got some coaches out there that'll go to this beginner who has never lifted a weight in their life.
Speaker: You're going to go into the gym and you're going to do six days a week and you're going to do a push-pull legs program.
Speaker: And, you know, I want this...
Speaker: outrageous.
Speaker: Like absolutely insanity, like just insanity.
Speaker: So I think the biggest take home for me is especially to like upcoming coaches and stuff out there as well is stop.
Speaker: Like I have so much information in this brain of mine.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: And it starts from complete beginners, like absolute newbies, pal, up to elite athletes.
Speaker: At the end of the day, I have to understand my audience and commence at their level.
Speaker: That's it.
Speaker: Tailoring it and that communication is so, so vital.
Speaker: And for our listeners here, if you're just trying to visualize the spectrum of clients that Brett works with, you've got your world-class athletes like WWE superstar Ridge Holland.
Speaker: And then on the other end is, you know, world-class jackasses like myself.
Speaker: So there's a big spectrum that you've got there.
Speaker: You're trying to picture those sort of two different character profiles he's put out there.
Speaker: But one of the things that must be so good about being a coach is just seeing that improvement and just seeing how someone does take to your advice and how you've communicated it to them.
Speaker: What would you say the most rewarding aspects of coaching are?
Speaker: And if there's any sort of highlights that you can or would like to share?
Speaker: Oh, dude, dude.
Speaker: I just think,
Speaker: Honestly, there are so many things.
Speaker: There are so, so many things that I get so much out of when it comes to a lot of my clients.
Speaker: You know, like one that just occurred just as recently as, oh, no, Thursday.
Speaker: One of my clients, pal, has genuinely been in a position where she has been aiming to crack a particular weight, a particular weight power, and she just has not been able to do so.
Speaker: for two and a half years.
Speaker: And so, you know, to be a little bit more transparent with what I'm getting at, this particular individual is in a fat loss phase.
Speaker: So is looking to lose weight.
Speaker: And, man, I got her check-in on Thursday morning.
Speaker: And she had finally cracked this particular weight.
Speaker: And I was like, I was so jigged up, man.
Speaker: I was just like, damn, like I have been working with this girl for such a long time, bud.
Speaker: And she has finally sort of like hit this like absolute landmark of a goal.
Speaker: But the beautiful thing about it was I've worked with her a lot.
Speaker: over the last sort of couple of years.
Speaker: And it's only recently that she's come back to me.
Speaker: And one of the amazing things that she has done, and to be honest, it's not even, it's not the weight that she's lost.
Speaker: It's the fact that she just has had this time around, this uncanny ability to
Speaker: you know, take a lot of the information, a lot of the advice, a lot of the, I guess the teachings that I've been presenting her with.
Speaker: And she has genuinely improved her relationship with food power.
Speaker: And,
Speaker: I cannot tell you how, I guess, fulfilled that makes me as a coach.
Speaker: I don't care if she'd lost 30, 40, 50 kilos.
Speaker: What matters to me is the fact that she has been able to develop this, like, better relationship with food.
Speaker: And it's a beautiful thing, pal, because one day when she goes –
Speaker: you know what Brett, like, thank you so much.
Speaker: I have, I've learned so much under your learning tree or whatever it is that she ends up saying.
Speaker: And, and she feels like it's time to step away from that coaching process.
Speaker: I just have this amazing confidence instilled within me now that she's going to go away and she's just got this,
Speaker: foundation that she's been able to build she's got this better relationship with food and that that in itself is something that she's going to be able to carry on with her not just net for the next like three months or six months a but potentially power for the rest of her life you know what i mean it's just like um on the opposite hand
Speaker: When you have individuals who are just kicking all of these goals in the gym, and it can be as simple as somebody, but for example, recently, I remember programming him, right?
Speaker: For example, a high bar barbell squat over a year ago.
Speaker: And I remember us doing it and he was just like, man, I feel like such an idiot.
Speaker: Like, I don't want to do this in front of people.
Speaker: Like, I'm just really uncomfortable with this exercise.
Speaker: It makes me feel crappy.
Speaker: Like, I feel like my tummy is getting in the way.
Speaker: I just don't want to do this.
Speaker: I don't like it.
Speaker: And I was like, totally cool, man.
Speaker: Totally cool.
Speaker: Like, let's remove that from your program.
Speaker: Let's maybe put something in there that you're a little bit more comfortable with.
Speaker: And let's build on that.
Speaker: And then, you know, he started to have some like real momentum and stuff in the gym.
Speaker: And, you know, there were times where I was like, hey...
Speaker: how would you feel if we maybe programmed something like, you know, just like a body weight squat and, you know, we, you know, we set you up like this and we just work on that and you can kind of like do it in the corner of the gym.
Speaker: How would you feel?
Speaker: Oh yeah, that sounds cool.
Speaker: That wouldn't be bad.
Speaker: And we've just sort of been able to add little additional layers here and there.
Speaker: And but a year later,
Speaker: This guy is genuinely frothing at the mouth, pal, wanting to get to his first training session of the week because he knows that he is going to get the opportunity to do a high bar barbell swap.
Speaker: And it's like we've instilled so much confidence in this individual in his ability to execute this particular exercise so confidently that he now just wants to get out amongst it in the gym.
Speaker: It doesn't matter if it's busy.
Speaker: It doesn't matter if it's quiet.
Speaker: He just wants to get stuck into it because it's now one of his favorite exercises.
Speaker: I think it's just seeing like that personal growth bud that individuals go on in this journey and
Speaker: And, you know, look, man, like the fat loss is great.
Speaker: And, you know, seeing them hit PBs, et cetera, in the gym is wonderful.
Speaker: But man and manpower, like hearing, it's hearing individuals' feedback about how happy they are with their efforts, how over the moon they are with their results, how much confidence they've gained as an individual.
Speaker: Those are the wins that I love.
Speaker: Another thing that just makes me so happy is when an individual tells me that they love themselves more.
Speaker: It's just like,
Speaker: fuck man like what a gift um that this person has had bestowed upon them like being able to have more self-love and it's just like dude like I know you know I know that's a bit of a hippity-whippity thing to to say not wanting to offend anyone but you know like man self-love is so important like there's nothing there's nothing I think better than
Speaker: being able to like live in a body on a day-to-day basis that you're comfortable in, that you love.
Speaker: Like it just, I think it has so many other compounding effects from a real positive on so many other aspects of life.
Speaker: Yeah, that's it.
Speaker: And it's a comfort thing as well.
Speaker: And you mentioned people have varying goals.
Speaker: Sometimes it's a number, sometimes it's this, it's that, but at the end of the day, it's being comfortable and it's a really important point you make then.
Speaker: And it's great to see like what you get out of those people achieving their different types of goals, whether it is the number, whether it is a particular exercise, you know, there's just so much that,
Speaker: people improve and can take out of when they do get that, that progress towards the bigger goals.
Speaker: Of course.
Speaker: One thing I've been wanting to ask you a little bit more about, not just today, but I guess in the conversations we've had as, as client to coach and friend to friend, I would like to think that we're friends outside of being clients, but of course, but do you have a coach yourself and sort of, if you do what, what's their strengths and how important is it to have a coach?
Speaker: I think E, right?
Speaker: So I actually have had a coach back and forth for quite a long time since 2017.
Speaker: I did actually mention him on earlier in the podcast.
Speaker: His name is Jared Feather.
Speaker: He works for Renaissance Periodization and I've been working with him back and forth over the years, on and off since 2017.
Speaker: So six years now.
Speaker: And the amazing thing about Jared in general, and I think just the wonderful thing about having a coach in general is what a coach can do for an individual is they have an objective eye.
Speaker: You know, they can take the data, they can take the situation, the scenario that is occurring, and they can...
Speaker: you know, review it, they can analyze it, they can evaluate it in real time without that subjectivity.
Speaker: Like there's no subjective eye here, there is no emotional investment
Speaker: in someone's goals, results, et cetera.
Speaker: Because what a coach is doing, pal, is especially with clientele, and like, you know, I heavily push this and promote this with all of my clients, but holy shit, man, like be as interactive, be as like, communicate with me as much as possible.
Speaker: Because the more that you give me, the more that I can give back as a coach.
Speaker: Because I just have a lot more to work with.
Speaker: So in that regard, I think, you know, it's the same for myself, Eli.
Speaker: A lot of the times...
Speaker: You know, I'm so emotional about my own physique, about my own goals, about my own nutrition, about my own training, bud, that a lot of that time being so emotionally invested in that process, being so subjective, that sometimes power allows me or has me making the wrong calls or the wrong decisions for myself.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because...
Speaker: I maybe sort of get so emotional about particular things when it comes to my overarching training and nutrition goals that I can't sometimes objectively work out what is actually best for me.
Speaker: Whereas Jared is,
Speaker: He has so much experience as a coach.
Speaker: And, of course, I'm not saying that I don't have a lot of experience as a coach because, as we've discussed, I have such a varying degree of individuals that I work with.
Speaker: But Jared has those same sort of, like, experiences.
Speaker: He is an elite coach.
Speaker: He works with a lot of IFBB or WBF.
Speaker: pros from like a bodybuilding perspective and of course myself and as an individual having a large passion surrounding bodybuilding a lot of the times I don't know what is best for me a lot of the times I could be holding back and going
Speaker: ah well you know this particular exercise it gave me a great pump like i was feeling really good after those three sets of bicep curls next week because that felt so great i'm just going to do the same thing i'm going to do three sets again of those bicep curls but perhaps jared would look at that he'd gather my feedback and he'd go
Speaker: But why are you only going to do three sets?
Speaker: I understand that your intensity may increase next week, but if these three sets were so good and your form and technique was fantastic, why don't we maybe do four sets?
Speaker: And for me, myself, I might've gone, well,
Speaker: last week felt great.
Speaker: I did three sets.
Speaker: I got a good pump.
Speaker: My former technique was excellent.
Speaker: Why wouldn't I just repeat the process and do it a little bit harder?
Speaker: And it's like, I may bottle myself into only doing a specific amount of work, whereas Jared may go, well, have you tried a little bit of a higher volume with this exercise?
Speaker: And sorry, when I say higher volume, have you tried maybe doing a fourth set of this bicep exercise?
Speaker: And then
Speaker: I'm going, well, no.
Speaker: And he goes, well, why not?
Speaker: So he has that ability to go, well, objectively speaking, if you're working within these parameters that you've just discussed with me, I don't see there being any issue with you adding a horse set.
Speaker: And you don't know being me as the client eat,
Speaker: You don't know whether that fourth set is going to be hugely productive or yeah, sure.
Speaker: Maybe you will be on the money and you may say, oh, well, you know what?
Speaker: That fourth set was maybe a little bit unproductive.
Speaker: How would I know if I didn't actually attempt it in the first place?
Speaker: Whereas if it was left up to me, like I've just mentioned there,
Speaker: If I've got, if I've lined up all those things and gone, nah, that was great.
Speaker: I'm just going to do the same thing next week.
Speaker: Jared might go, no, you're not.
Speaker: You're going to do a fourth set next week.
Speaker: So I think the amazing thing about a coach now is, you know, for myself,
Speaker: especially with check-ins, I can get a really amazing understanding of one of my clients because a lot of the time, as you would know yourself, E, I am so hands-on with my clientele.
Speaker: So a lot of the times I understand what they're navigating.
Speaker: I think I build up these really great client coaching relationships that a lot of my clientele
Speaker: feel very comfortable being open and honest and transparent with me because I'm not judgy and I'm not somebody who starts like pointing the finger and going, no, no, no, you're a failure.
Speaker: You're doing it wrong.
Speaker: Like I'm a real empath, you know, like I'm very, very empathetic towards my clientele.
Speaker: But the awesome thing I think is that even though they may be presenting me this check-in with a lot of emotion, a lot of like,
Speaker: subjectivity, I can then take a lot of what they're saying and go, well, hey, if I actually did this really great, however, maybe next week, if you potentially tried this, this, and this, you actually may get a better result here.
Speaker: And they're not thinking about that because all they are solely thinking about is what wasn't done here or all they're potentially thinking about is, well, that worked great, so I'll just continue doing that.
Speaker: Whereas I have all of this data in front of me.
Speaker: It's the same with my own coach.
Speaker: He has all of this data in front of him.
Speaker: He's getting my check-ins.
Speaker: He's looking at my spreadsheet, like my training and how I'm progressing there.
Speaker: He's got all of this data.
Speaker: He's got my check-in and he can absolutely review that from an objective point of view.
Speaker: Whereas us as individuals, and it's the same as every individual, we all have emotional attachments to ourselves.
Speaker: We have an emotional attachment to our own bodies, to our own behaviors, to the way that it's just in general power that we navigate life.
Speaker: And I think having a coach, even myself, a coach having a coach,
Speaker: I am able to, you know, still check in like any one of my other clients does, but I get that objectivity from, you know, an external, you know, point of view.
Speaker: Whereas, you know, like a lot of people navigating their own journey, a lot of the times they don't have that ability to be objective about what needs to potentially be done, if that makes sense.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: And then for fear of sounding like an infomercial, obviously, people who know me and follow along on the 37 social media accounts I've got know that the last few weeks have been pretty tough personally and your advice and guidance and the way that you've just...
Speaker: I guess, eloquently explained it there has been really helpful for some of those check-ins of mine that haven't been the way that they had been going before.
Speaker: And so I can absolutely attest to what you've just said.
Speaker: As we look to go home here, I just wanted to, I guess, look at your advice.
Speaker: for someone who is looking to make those sorts of nutritional changes or be more dialed in for someone about to start that journey or, or look into that to sort of, you know, make that change in their lifestyle.
Speaker: What would be your advice for someone looking to dive in?
Speaker: So my advice, Eve, first and foremost, with an individual who is really just wanting to get started with nutrition is, number one, don't overwhelm yourself.
Speaker: You are absolutely never, ever going to be successful trying to put everything on your plate all at once because it is far too much of a balancing act.
Speaker: And trust me when I say you're never going to be able to balance all of those things all at once.
Speaker: It will become far too overwhelming and you will absolutely throw it all in before you even get to a point where you're seeing things
Speaker: like, you know, a really like significant amount of result because it all just becomes too hard basket too fast.
Speaker: So my suggestion is ease yourself in, like look at things that,
Speaker: that you can potentially improve on a day-to-day basis that you may not have been doing before.
Speaker: So let's start, for example, and I'll put my hand up now and I will admit this over and over until I'm blue in the face.
Speaker: You can ask my wife.
Speaker: It's something we discuss all the time.
Speaker: But if I did not have a...
Speaker: physical water bottle in front of me that i fill up at the beginning of every single day and by the end of the day i have to finish that bottle without like i'm and i'm i'm being wanting to be transparent with everybody here if i didn't have that measure of this is how much i need to drink today i probably would
Speaker: drink two to three of these a day.
Speaker: And I would probably just rely on the coffees.
Speaker: And anybody that knows me very well knows that I am very invested when it comes to coffee.
Speaker: That's another podcast, right?
Speaker: That's another two hours.
Speaker: That is another two hours.
Speaker: So I would genuinely be living off coffee and a couple of cans of Coke, no sugar as my only fluid intake for the day.
Speaker: So immediately there, if you were an individual in my spot, I would be like, you know what?
Speaker: I could probably do with improving...
Speaker: how I navigate hydrating my body on a day-to-day basis.
Speaker: And you know what, you know what you wouldn't do?
Speaker: You wouldn't go out.
Speaker: You wouldn't grab a three liter bottle of water or one of those big old three liter things.
Speaker: You would just start small.
Speaker: Fill up a water bottle that is a litre in size and aim to drink that throughout your entire day.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: If you can do that one day, the next day,
Speaker: Try and repeat the same process and look to do that day after day after day.
Speaker: Try to start seeing that as part of your routine.
Speaker: And we all know that for something to become a habit, it has to be done for a long period of time consistently.
Speaker: So the only thing that is going to allow you to ingrain that habit is
Speaker: is E this motivation of wanting to improve your nutrition, right?
Speaker: Because that's what we're talking about right now.
Speaker: We're wanting to improve our eating behaviors.
Speaker: We're wanting to improve our nutrition, et cetera.
Speaker: So for an individual that is,
Speaker: taking their first dive, look at something as small as how you hydrate your body on a day-to-day basis.
Speaker: And if you are genuinely not drinking enough water or you're not drinking water in general, like myself,
Speaker: And I'm genuinely an individual who only drinks a liter and a half of water a day.
Speaker: However, a liter and a half of water a day to be very transparent, very open and honest being the oversharer that I am, that has me peeing pretty clear multiple times a day.
Speaker: So for my body,
Speaker: Clearly, I am consuming enough water to be adequately hydrated.
Speaker: So that would be my first sort of suggestion.
Speaker: You know, that that that liter of water is something that you can improve on.
Speaker: And then you sort of like measure that.
Speaker: Is that liter of water starting to have you peeing regularly multiple times a day?
Speaker: where again, being the oversharer that I am, is your P slightly like that tinge of yellow or is it like fairly clear?
Speaker: And if it's not still, maybe we need to slightly increase the amount of water that we're having.
Speaker: So maybe we go from a litre of water
Speaker: to a litre and a half of water.
Speaker: So we're looking to finish that litre of water and then we're looking to halfway fill our bottle and start consuming that.
Speaker: But we're not sort of like throwing these outrageous sort of like hurdles in front of us and going, holy shit, I need to drink this three litre bottle of water before I go to bed tonight.
Speaker: going from an individual who's drinking three of these bad boys a day, three of these Coke, no sugars a day, and having not drank water in general.
Speaker: You know, let's equate it, like three cans of Coke, no sugar, they're 375 mils.
Speaker: Like you're talking only over a litre of liquid just in these alone.
Speaker: So if your body's not used to drinking three litres of liquid a day,
Speaker: Why are you buying a three-litre bottle of water and trying to consume that on a day-to-day basis?
Speaker: It's just, it's not realistic.
Speaker: So I think my big thing for so many individuals that are starting to
Speaker: Navigate that sort of like the improvement of one's nutrition is like being realistic with your starting point.
Speaker: Don't overwhelm yourself and be cautious of the amount of fallacies and misinformation that is out there.
Speaker: in the nutrition realm or in the fitness industry.
Speaker: You know, like just because you read something on the internet doesn't mean that it's like Bible, doesn't mean that it's, you know, it is, you know, like,
Speaker: it's good information like if you read something or or you think you you read something that really interests you from a nutritional standpoint just reach out to someone help message me and say hey pal i read about this when it comes to nutrition on the internet what are your thoughts on this and
Speaker: You know, like there's nothing wrong with reaching out and asking for help or just sort of like reaching out and trying to improve your education around this particular matter.
Speaker: Like it's a very simple question and it can lead to a very, very productive conversation with somebody who, you know,
Speaker: it's their job to be presenting information that is relevant that is well educated that is studied from a scientific perspective um we're giving like real world real well studied advice um but yeah ultimately i just think too many people pal jump in
Speaker: And like, you know, they jump in the deep end and they go hard from the get-go.
Speaker: And that sort of approach, I just don't feel, allows people to really work on improving things.
Speaker: One small step at a time, E. I think people sort of like are aiming to jump straight to the very top of that like hedonic staircase, if that makes sense.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You've got to start at the bottom step and just...
Speaker: gradually and progressively taking the next step and then the next step and then the next step in front of you, pal.
Speaker: And then when you can do that consistently over a long period of time, yeah, sure, pal.
Speaker: Like people get so invested and they get so invested
Speaker: you know like they get so stuck or so focused on their own personal journey that sometimes they're so focused on taking that next step that they forget to take a step back and look at their progression in their journey because you may be so focused on like climbing that staircase but
Speaker: And you may feel like something is still just so far away.
Speaker: But then these individuals are taking this step back and going, oh, holy shit.
Speaker: I'm like three ways of, you know, three quarters of the way up this staircase.
Speaker: You know, I'm drinking like two liters of water on a day-to-day basis.
Speaker: And I'm doing that like subconsciously.
Speaker: I'm not even thinking about it anymore.
Speaker: You know, I'm now having like,
Speaker: you know, four to six cups of veggies with, you know, things such as like my lunches and my dinners on a day-to-day basis.
Speaker: So I'm getting a fantastic like amount of vegetables into my day-to-day nutrition.
Speaker: I'm having two to three pieces of fruit a day.
Speaker: Like they're just starting to ingrain all of these really good fruits
Speaker: behaviors and habits and they're now doing it subconsciously but they've done so
Speaker: with a very, very step-by-step-by-step sort of like, you know, approach.
Speaker: Instead of trying to do all of those things all at once, it becomes so overwhelming and it becomes so... It becomes so overwhelming and so... Just too much that they go, fuck, I can't do this.
Speaker: This is just...
Speaker: But this is just too much to handle.
Speaker: So it absolutely is the repeat offender thing that I see all the time is people get so excited about this potential journey, but they jump in too quickly, if that makes sense.
Speaker: yeah absolutely um mindful of our time because we have time poor terrible people um i just asked you what sort of your your future goals whether that is with your coaching probably um or just your personally what's what's next for for brett it still feels weird to call it that by the way it's interesting hey um
Speaker: You know, like, I even think about it and stuff all the time.
Speaker: Of course, like, you know, my...
Speaker: I think one of my number one goals with progress is absolutely, and I know I've mentioned it many, many times so far on the podcast, but one of my biggest goals is really trying to, and not remove, because that is in no way, shape or form a realistic goal to have, but it is to mitigate as much as possible the amount of fallacies that
Speaker: the misinformation, the misconceptions that surround the training and nutrition realm, the fitness industry, because I bloody love the industry that I work in power.
Speaker: I am so passionate and I am just so, I'm always so amped up about training and nutrition.
Speaker: I love it, bud.
Speaker: I love it.
Speaker: But it makes me so sad and it makes me just want to,
Speaker: just for lack of a better word, pal, just like tear my hair out when I see all these cookie cutter coaches online and the, you know, their whole thing,
Speaker: their take on the industry or their way of, you know, like enticing all of these individuals to come and be coached by them is by employing this one size fits all approach that absolutely works because it's worked for these hundred other people, you know, in the past.
Speaker: And it's just this having this sort of like mindset of you've got to do it.
Speaker: It's that whole, it's my way or the highway.
Speaker: And I think I want to use progress as a platform to be able to better educate and help individuals understand, you know, like really good principles surrounding training and nutrition and utilizing said principles in a way that genuinely helps
Speaker: allows individuals to have sustainable and, and, you know, long lasting positive results when it comes to their training and nutrition goals.
Speaker: I don't want,
Speaker: my clients to be super, super successful for three to six months.
Speaker: And then in six months time, be coming back to me and going off.
Speaker: Hey Brett, like, you know, this, this, and this happened.
Speaker: And, and now I'm kind of like back to square one.
Speaker: I mean, cause you know, of course I give a shit about my clients immensely.
Speaker: But yeah,
Speaker: What is such an important part of progress is, you know, being able to ideally educate the masses in the right way.
Speaker: And just being able to remove all that horrible, horrible information that just...
Speaker: plagues the fitness industry.
Speaker: And so, like, apart from being a really good educational source, I mean, you know, like, of course, I want to continue to grow the business.
Speaker: I would love to potentially one day, pal, be able to say that, you know, I have, like, two to three coaches working under me that are under the Progress 365 banner.
Speaker: That would just...
Speaker: man, that would be a very, very cool thing to one day sort of like see play out now.
Speaker: But I guess, you know, I'm in my infancy when it comes to progress, even though Progress 365 has been something that has been a bit of a side hustle for me ever since 2019.
Speaker: It's not, it wasn't until, you know, like August 2022,
Speaker: that this became my full-time, you know, my full-time employment.
Speaker: So, you know, it's still very, very early days, bud.
Speaker: But, you know, I do have a genuine passion for wanting to help people, as I've said previously.
Speaker: And, you know, I want progress to be a platform for good education surrounding training and nutrition.
Speaker: And yeah, pal, like, you know, being able to grow the business to a degree that one day, you know, maybe you're not interviewing me.
Speaker: Like, you know, you're maybe interviewing one of my coaches who work under the banner of Progress 365.
Speaker: So, you know, there's definitely some very lofty goals in mind, pal.
Speaker: But, you know, I think in current day, bud, I am just...
Speaker: striving to genuinely give the best possible service to someone who is wanting to invest in an online coach because investing in an online coach is a very, very scary thing.
Speaker: I know to a lot of individuals because that coach isn't physically with them.
Speaker: on like a day-to-day basis or a session-to-session basis.
Speaker: So it can be a little bit scary, bud, because, you know, a lot of the onus is on my clients.
Speaker: But, you know, I think the type of service that I provide and that I, you know, present to people is a service where I am, even though from an online perspective,
Speaker: I'm a very, very hands-on coach.
Speaker: And I think that level of, I guess, commitment to my clients and stuff is what I am trying to allow Progress 365 to really stand out from the rest of the bunch.
Speaker: Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker: And obviously, you know, with firsthand experience and a lot of, I guess, informal testimonials from a lot of good mates in similar industries that we've crossed paths in, I have no doubt that you're, no pun intended, progressing down that pathway nicely.
Speaker: Lastly, Brett, before we sign off, where can we find Progress 365?
Speaker: How can people reach out to you if they want to hit you up?
Speaker: Whether or not it's to, you know, employ your services or just for advice, where can we find Progress 365?
Speaker: So, mate, my two most active social media accounts for Progress 365 would be on Instagram, where you can find me on my handle, progress.365, or on my Facebook page if you just simply search Progress 365, numbers, not letters.
Speaker: And then if anybody is potentially looking at
Speaker: for some coaching in the future, or as you said, just wanting to reach out to have a bit of a chat surrounding training and nutrition, you can, of course, contact me on both social media platforms or via my email info at progress-365.com.
Speaker: Perfect.
Speaker: I think that you are going to be hit up.
Speaker: quite heavily after this.
Speaker: Thank you so much for your time today.
Speaker: It's been a really thorough and in-depth chat and it's great, you know, to get that insight out there.
Speaker: And I think some really important advice for not only people who are already dialed in and doing some things in their own fitness and athletic ways, but.
Speaker: for guys who are maybe looking to take that first step for whatever goals they might have.
Speaker: I think there's been a lot of meat on this proverbial bone there for them to really dive into.
Speaker: So Brett, thank you so much for your time today and looking forward to my check-in tomorrow.
Speaker: Mate, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker: It's genuinely been a pleasure.
Speaker: I was excited.
Speaker: you've got no idea how chuffed I was to, you know, be reached out by yourself to appear on the podcast, mate.
Speaker: So thank you for your time.
Speaker: I really do appreciate it.
Speaker: No, not a worry at all.
Speaker: So that's it.
Speaker: That's Brett Pitsikas from Progress 365.
Speaker: Make sure you hit up those socials that he's dropped and make sure you reach out if you've got any goals or just a bit of advice because the guy, he knows his proverbial stuff.
Speaker: So again, thanks, Brett.
Speaker: Have a good day.
Speaker: Cheers, guys.
Speaker: Another fascinating interview and guest here on Hey Pal, I'm Coachable.
Speaker: And thank you to Brett for his time.
Speaker: As I mentioned before, his alter ego is doing some wrestling tonight as well.
Speaker: So hit up EPW Perth for that if you've got more information.
Speaker: But yeah, hit up Progress 365.
Speaker: I can't speak highly enough for what...
Speaker: He's done personally for myself, got myself looking a little bit less like a half-used tube of toothpaste, a little bit more slim, some work to go still, some progress to be had, if you will.
Speaker: But, yeah, no, just an absolute weapon of a human being and a weapon of a coat.
Speaker: So, definitely...
Speaker: hit him up.
Speaker: That brings us to the end of this week's episode.
Speaker: I've noticed over the last couple of weeks I could talk to my guests for hours and in most occasions I have.
Speaker: So the episodes have been running a little bit longer so I haven't really added too much to the end part here.
Speaker: So please hit me up if that's the format that you like.
Speaker: If you want to hear a bit more from myself pre and after the interviews.
Speaker: Again, as I've said a million times that these episodes are really about the guests.
Speaker: They're the
Speaker: They had a steak on just the little accoutrements on the side there.
Speaker: So if you want to hear more, you know, help me to help me or other segments, please let me know.
Speaker: Because given this was episode 007, I had a whole huge rant planned about James Bond and how Sean Connery is an absolute bang average one.
Speaker: But...
Speaker: That's a whole other kettle of fish.
Speaker: So if you want to hear more of the other segments or think maybe the interviews could use a bit more time, a bit less time, hit me up.
Speaker: I love all the feedback and I'm grateful for everything that has come through.
Speaker: Hearing from people where they listen to.
Speaker: I had a good conversation with a mate last night about how he plugs it into his ear holes during the...
Speaker: gym sessions so you know I probably couldn't think of anything worse than listening to me as you you're trying to you know do some buys and tries but you know takes all kinds and I'm appreciative for him and for everyone listening so yeah please hit me up with your feedback good bad ugly yeah we've got the Instagram of course which is hey pal I'm coachable the x
Speaker: HeyPowPod.
Speaker: And also hit me up either via DM or via email at HeyPowUnmailable at gmail.com.
Speaker: I mean, the reception so far and just the kind words and advice, it must be said, coming my way has been absolutely wonderful.
Speaker: And just like...
Speaker: You know, I don't have, you know, Patreons, merch stores and things like that.
Speaker: We are nowhere near that.
Speaker: We are building nicely, bubbling nicely, some organic growth.
Speaker: We love that.
Speaker: That's, you know, what we like to see.
Speaker: But I appreciate you just tuning in and listening.
Speaker: But it comes to that point where it's like, hey, let's keep on building.
Speaker: Let's get more people into our coachable community.
Speaker: So please, if you're enjoying what we're doing here on the show, give it a share.
Speaker: Pump it up on the socials.
Speaker: tell you, tell your mates at work, um, or tell your enemies at work, you know, um, tell anyone who, I guess you're just passing down the street, say, hey, just listening to this podcast, but, um, the best way that we can grow and get those numbers and the boffins and all the streaming places happy is to get more people listening, and, uh,
Speaker: If you can and if you feel we've earned it as well, drop us a review or a rating at any of your preferred podcast providers.
Speaker: It really does truly help.
Speaker: Also, I want to shout out as well Twitter account 30HomeGames as well.
Speaker: They shared on X some quotes from the episode last week with Squin as well.
Speaker: So, just little things like that.
Speaker: I mean, beyond appreciative.
Speaker: Absolutely loving them.
Speaker: I'm thankful for it.
Speaker: that that you know it is reaching all these different uh corners of not only in our great country here in australia and the rest of the world as well so um thank you so much and even though i just said hey we're not doing extra segments because you know it's the episodes already really really really long and uh oh i better not say really too loud uh the perth wildcats fans are a little bit triggered by that word at the moment really but um
Speaker: yeah, I've babbled on again.
Speaker: So I'm the hanging gardens of Babylon at the moment.
Speaker: So thank you very much.
Speaker: I'm going to wind it up.
Speaker: Appreciate your time.
Speaker: Appreciate your listening ship.
Speaker: So to my listening viewership, thank you so much.
Speaker: And we'll see you next week on Hey Pal, I'm Coachable.
