The Unf*ck Your Fitness Podcast

160. Unf*cking Your Fitness: Breaking Myths, Building Confidence, and Transforming Your Long-Term Health with V Shred Co-founder Vince Sant

• Kristy Castillo

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I’m very honored to welcome Vince Sant onto the podcast today!


Vince Sant is the co-founder of V Shred, the well-known online health & fitness brand that has helped more than 5 million people get in shape, and achieve life-changing results. He’s also the founder of Sculpt Nation, and host of the V Shred: Better Body, Better Life podcast.


In today’s episode, Vince and I discuss the evolution of fitness culture (we both started around what we like to call the ‘golden age’ of fitness), and fitness myths, such as ‘lifting heavy will make women big and bulky’. 


We also dive into the importance of finding the right type of workouts geared to YOUR goals, why resistance training matters for your long-term health (especially for women), how crucial the first 30 days are on your fitness journey, setting big goals and taking up space in the gym (and your life), and more.


Vince is someone I’ve admired for a long time in the fitness space; this was such a fun, inspiring, and no BS conversation with sooo many amazing takeaways. I KNOW it will motivate you + be super impactful for you on your fitness journey!!


In today’s episode, we cover:

  • Vince’s journey of going ‘all in’ with V Shred + how the fitness space has evolved in the last decade
  • Pursuing fitness for more than just the ‘vanity’ aspect 
  • Figuring out what types of workouts you actually enjoy + finding a balanced regimen that works for YOU
  • Why resistance training is a non-negotiable if you want to build muscle
  • Focusing on your actions vs. the outcome
  • Why the first 30 days on your fitness journey can be ‘make or break’ + removing expectations when you ARE first starting out
  • Gaining confidence + self-awareness on your fitness journey
  • Having big goals & taking up space
  • 2 key reminders for ladies in the gym
  • Breaking down muscle vs. fat composition


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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Un-Fuck-Your-Fitness Podcast. I am your host, Christy Castillo, and I'm here to give you real talk and cut the BS so you can actually enjoy building a body you love. I'm a personal trainer obsessed with giving you simple action steps to take you from feeling stuck to feeling sexy. Let's go.

Speaker 2:

Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to today's episode. I'm so excited for today's episode. I had an interview with my guest.

Speaker 2:

His name is Vince Sant. He is the co-founder of V Shred, which is a fitness program. It's so big I hate to say that it's even just a fitness program. It's amazing. It was basically Beachbody, bodybuildingcom and V Shred were kind of the three programs programs, the three entities and they were like entities in my brain that really sparked my love for lifting and fitness and kind of figuring all this out. So I it's some B Shred is something that I've known about. Vince it's someone who I've known about for years and years and years. So to have him on the podcast is just absolutely amazing. He again is the co-founder of Be Shred. He's the host of the Be Shred podcast. It's called Better Body, better Life podcast. So go check that out because it's very bite-sized episodes. It's a lot of real talk and very digestible, just like the podcast you're listening to, if I do say so myself. So it's absolutely amazing. But V Shred has a lot of different options too, so go check that out.

Speaker 2:

If you've not seen a V Shred advertisement, I don't know. I don't know where you've been, because I get them all the time and I have for years. But we talk in this episode about honestly, we just unfuck fitness. And it was such a good conversation. You're going to love it. I'm so excited to bring it to you. It's a lot of real life, down to earth talk.

Speaker 2:

And one reason I was so excited to talk to him about just about anything, just and see where the conversation went, was because he's been in the industry so long and we even mentioned he mentions kind of like the golden years, the good years of fitness, before everyone was an influencer and before social media. If you remember that time it's just like when it was just bodybuildingcom, basically V, shred and Beachbody. Things were simple and it was like you either. You know there were programs like things were different. There wasn't all the supplements and all the trainers and it was really cool to get his perspective. And I knew it would be so cool because he's coached so many people. Their Fat Loss Extreme program has been done by over 5.1 million people.

Speaker 2:

So the amount of people that he's helped, the amount of programs that he's built, the amount of education that he has and the amount of education that he's gotten just from coaching people is just it's unmatched to be in the industry that long. You just you have to know your shit and it has to be applicable. And he just the amount of growth that I knew that he had experienced, because you can't be in the industry that long without just learning so much about yourself and fitness and other people. So it was an amazing conversation. I hope you enjoy it so much and I'm going to stop yakking so you can listen to it. I hope you love it All. Right, hi Vince, thanks for jumping on with me and us I guess all of us today.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, thank you for having me.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we were chatting a little bit about how busy your weeks have been. So I love that we can just have a little dose of reality, because we're all busy and just trying to unfuck fitness, fit it all in, figure out how to live life and adopt the dogs and while staying fit and active. But so I'm super pumped. I just a little transparency have. I've not been following you like on social media for the longest time, but I've known who you are for the longest time so I'm really excited. I listened to your podcast. I've heard you on other podcasts and stuff. So just it's funny when I listen to you talk about how you started V Shred, co-founded V Shred, kind of back in the Beachbody day when there was kind of you know before it is what it is now, I guess, and I can still relate to that because that's kind of how I started was with Beachbody and things were just a lot different.

Speaker 3:

So it's really watch your journey, listen kind, of see all the things.

Speaker 2:

Okay, watch your journey, listen, kind of see all the things and then the natural, I think, progression of just how I feel in fitness and how it's been and you know I don't all that, it's just it's very real to kind of hear you talk about it. So I would love to know. I know I'm 43. And a woman I don't know exactly how old you are and a man will get into that, so I know it's very different, but also it's just kind of cool to hear. So tell me, tell us a little bit about yourself. You know, the journey hit the parts that matter and we'll get a good start.

Speaker 3:

I've been traveling and just adopted a new dog and had problems with the place I'm at right now in Vegas, and so we've been trying to get this going, so I'm glad we finally could.

Speaker 3:

But my name is Vince, I'm 31 years old, I live in Las Vegas, I'm one of the co-founders of V Shred and then our supplement line as well.

Speaker 3:

Sculpt Nation Started the company back in 2015, which, like you said, was back in like the Beachbody bodybuildingcom days, which was kind of like the golden age of fitness in my opinion, just because I feel like now everybody has a fitness brand and everybody's an online trainer and everybody has a supplement company or they're repping some supplement company in their bio and pushing something and getting paid for it and probably don't even take them. But I mean, I still love the fitness industry. We started this just as four partners who wanted to help some guys. Originally it was to help some guys get in shape, and that has drastically changed and originally we kind of just wanted to have a business with like I was best friends with my partners and still best friends with two of them, and we just wanted to kind of have a business like a little side hobby where we could help some people get in shape, kind of like us, because we're all five years apart and so I'm 31, 36, 41, 46.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 3:

And so we wanted to help guys like us get in shape, feel good, be confident, and then we also wanted to be able to pay rent with that money, you know. And for the first couple of years that's kind of what it was Although we didn't make any money the first two years, I should say but we had, we had a, we had a vision, and then we kind of started getting a little bit of traction and it kind of blew up much faster than and much bigger than we thought it would ever be. And that's when we realized, hey, we really have something here. Um, and we all have, like, I think we all kind of meshed because we all had big dreams and we had these big visions and we kind of didn't fit in and the normal group of like the normal circles that are running around we all met in LA and people in LA just aren't it, and so, like that, I think that's why we kind of got to how we were drawn to each other. And once we saw that we had something that could really make an impact, we were like all right, we got to go all in on this, Because at the time we were all working other jobs.

Speaker 3:

I was a fashion model in LA. That's why I moved there and that was going pretty good. I just didn't love the industry because it's kind of gross. Two of them were in affiliate marketing, had businesses before. Another one was managing a club and also like a club and also was like a coder, also was a real estate agent. So everybody had their own things going on. But when we saw this start to work, we were like, hey, if we want this to be something, we gotta, we gotta go all in, we gotta, we gotta put all our eggs in this basket and we can't really have plan B. And so that's what we did. Um, I got rid of my modeling agencies. I was with like four different agencies. They all ended their businesses, quit their jobs and we went all in.

Speaker 1:

Wow.

Speaker 3:

And yeah, it's been amazing. And what's funny is, when I started talking about this, I said that we originally just wanted to help guys like us get in shape, and that has drastically changed and now we are probably 70% women and we are primarily 45 plus women.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 3:

And so we do not help the demographic that we started out helping, but we found that like that's kind of the demographic that I think kind of needs the most help, because that's when women's bodies start changing and it can get really confusing and I think there's a lot of information. It's like how we just mentioned, the fitness industry has changed a lot and there's a ton of influencers and there's a ton of online trainers, but I feel like they're all making this like bodybuilding style content. That, or especially women there's women making these like bodybuilding style content getting big butts and like, and also like. A lot of it's unrealistic and my mom's not interested in that. My mom's not watching that. My mom doesn't relate to that.

Speaker 3:

My mom just wants to know how to lose 20, 30 pounds and get her hormones corrected and feel good in her body and increase how long she's going to live so that she can be around for her grandchildren. My sister just had a child two weeks ago. I'm a new uncle and so my mom wants to be. Thank you, my mom wants to be around for that. I'm going to have kids in a couple of years and so the interest of why people want to get healthy, why people want to get in shape changes as they get older, and I love that, because that way it's not just about vanity. I think there's always going to be a piece of it where it's about vanity, and that's okay. Like I like being in shape, because I like looking good too, but I also want to be healthy, I also want to feel good, you know, and so I like working with people like that, and so that's a little bit of an intro. Hopefully that checks the boxes.

Speaker 2:

Awesome, that was a really good intro. That makes my brain go in so many different directions. I love that you kind of talked about the golden years, I think is how you put it. I've never, like I kind of heard it put that way. But you're right, like that I went gradually from Beachbody to bodybuildingcom and like just it's so funny like you just like when you say that, I'm like that is exactly what I did, like that was just how you did it, that was what was yeah, that's, that's what everybody did.

Speaker 2:

There wasn't a competition no, and there wasn't much else out there, I think. I just googled what else is there without videos or something, and it was bodybuildingcom.

Speaker 3:

It was always bodybuildingcom, always, that was it.

Speaker 2:

Loved it, like I guess I learned a lot from it. And there wasn't so much. There wasn't. Social media there wasn't. Yeah, there was. Obviously there wasn't so much. So it was just like you did this and yeah, it's definitely a lot. And I think starting this podcast that was my mission was to sum up everything that I've gone through and like those I started when my son was born, so 16 years ago is kind of when I was getting in shapes that's a long fucking time to be, you know, doing this and kind of essentially, yeah, working out my body. And now in my forties, I'm like what is happening to my body? But it's like I get to know it and then I'm like, oh no, we don't know her. So it's, it's a lot. And I think, yeah, starting this podcast, I just wanted to be real and like break down all of the stuff that's out there, like you don't have to try to grow your butt, you don't have to follow it.

Speaker 3:

Simplify it, prioritize, understand what's actually important.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think as we age, like you were saying, that matter. Of course you, I think we all start and there is that vanity aspect, but you can't be going for the vanity aspect. It has to become about more than that and really be applicable. So, yeah, you touched on all that so well and I appreciate the authenticity of even your own journey of coaching going like you start for one reason it evolves, it evolves, evolves. It's kind of the same thing for fitness. Honestly, you start working out for one reason and it all just yeah.

Speaker 3:

So my training now is completely different than when I first started working out, and I was a kid when I first, I was 15 years old. When I 14 years old when I first started working out, so it was 17 years ago and obviously, when you first start working out, it's like you're doing everything wrong and and and, like you said, back then there was like there was barely internet, you know, and so it's like you go online, there's some, there's some bodybuildingcom articles that you can go read, but they're just selling you their own products, which is why they did so well, and so, like you don't, and so I'm, I'm buying these 50 pound bags of protein. That tastes like total crap, and I'm trying to work out but I'm not doing anything right. And then it changed. And then, for the last, probably up until probably two years ago, I just did like bodybuilding splits, and that's how I always stayed sub 10% body fat and always stayed in really good shape.

Speaker 3:

But I realized that my body wasn't strained for anything other than just locking myself into one position and pushing weight in this one direction and looking good. My joints ache. I couldn't play any kind of sport. I wasn't mobile at all. My body was just had been. I spent 10 years just basically locking down everything so that I could get into a bench press, locking down everything so that I could get into one stiff squat. And over the past two, three years now that's changed pretty drastically and I've enjoyed that, that process of changing it yeah, that's interesting.

Speaker 2:

I like that you touched on that too. We can kind of talk about that for a minute, because I think there is this notion of you know only one way of working out. Honestly. It's kind of that you know you have to. I think there's. There's a lot of different things that people say, but kind of the general gist of what my clients come to me and I'm primarily coaching women as well, but so we can kind of touch on this from a man and woman angle. But I mean, I'm married. I see my husband lifting and lifting and lifting and same for me and I love lifting, like I really do enjoy it. But also I'm like I can't, my back hurts, like I'm not flexible and, yeah, my joints hurt. I have clients all the time and like my elbows hurt, my knees hurt, everything hurts. Am I even? Am I even healthy? Am I even in shape? I can't run a mile, but I can. You know what I mean.

Speaker 3:

I look like I can.

Speaker 2:

Yes, exactly Like you look. I think when I looked, looked, you know people be like, oh my God, your body, you're so muscular and like, yeah, like, but I couldn't do anything else and it was like so narrow minded. But I think that's kind of evolving to in my world anyway, where what I follow maybe that's because I'm getting older and like this demographic that I'm coaching is like, yeah, there is more than just lifting. It is nice to run, it is nice to do flexibility and mobility and kind of morph that. So what are your thoughts?

Speaker 2:

Kind of had that on my list anyway to chat with you about, on fitting in, you know, and maybe you can just talk about your own journey at this and it kind of morphs. I think we all kind of put that together in our heads but thinking that there's one way, like I have to lift weights to look a certain way. But then also, how do you fit that into your life? And how do you, if you don't enjoy lifting weights, how do you do it every day, or should you even do it every day?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so that's a two-part question, because I think first you should start with talking about what interests you, because that's our main thing at VShred is like we don't. Like you said, there's no one size fits all plan.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

We have our staple programs that like, if somebody comes to us and they don't want to spend a lot of money on working with a coach, then we have like our basic, like $50 programs that like, obviously you can't customize a program for $50, you know, if they come to us. We have, like our, our staples that we go to, which is generally, when we design these programs, we wanted to figure out like what was the what we call minimum effective dose? It's like what is the like max results that somebody can get with the least amount of effort put in, and so we lean towards like HIIT workouts, carb cycling, flexible dieting, and then like mixing and resistance training. That's what we lean towards. And like our, our I don't want to call them one size fits all programs, but there's like digital staple programs and then obviously you can get customized down the road. But you have to figure out, like what you enjoy doing, like if, if you do enjoy lifting weights, then amazing, because like lifting weights is the quickest way somebody is going to look better, like that's. That's just how it goes. You know people are like what's the best workout to burn fat? It's like lifting weights. What's the best workout to build muscle. Also, lifting weights. What's the best workout to lose weight? Lifting weights because of your metabolic health. But if you don't like lifting weights and we have tons of women that work with us who don't like lifting weights because they're either scared that they're going to get big and bulky, or they don't like going to the gym because they're intimidated by the gym, or they can't afford a gym, or they live far from a gym, or whatever it might be, or they got young kids and they don't have time to go to the gym then okay, there's types of home workouts that we can get towards, that we can work with, and so, like, that's where the HIIT workouts come into play and that's where most of our like I said programs, that's what most of them lean towards. And so I'd say step one is figure out like what do you enjoy? What type of workouts do you enjoy? And if you don't know, if you're like I don't like work, now it's like, okay, well, that's not an answer, that's not a solution. Okay, we need to figure out what you kind of like. Like, do you? Yeah, so go try stuff. And it's like, well, I don't know what it's like. Okay, have you played pickleball? No, okay, go play pickleball, see if you like it.

Speaker 3:

Have you tried running? Well, I ran when I was a kid and I hated it. Have you tried it since you were an adult? Because I hated it when I was a kid too, and I think it's one of the best things for my mental health now. So go try it.

Speaker 3:

Do you like riding a bike? I don't know, go try it. Do you like swimming? I don't know, go try it, you know. Do you like Pilates? Do you like bar? Do you like dance yoga? Like yoga or dance cardio, or there's so many things F45, there's so many things f45, orange theory, there's that's, and so like.

Speaker 3:

We talked about how, like back in the day, the golden age of fitness, there wasn't all this stuff. Now there is. There's no excuse. There's going to be something that you kind of like you might not love it at first, because whenever you first start something, it's hard and you're nervous and you're around a bunch of other. If it's in a group setting, you're around a bunch of other people who have been doing this for a while and they're pretty good and they know everybody, and you're the outcast and you don't know anybody and you don't feel confident in your skin right now. That's okay, just show up.

Speaker 3:

And then, after a while, you're going to understand it a little bit better, because what people usually find is that they don't like something at first and then, once they start getting good at it, magically they start liking it. And so give yourself time to get good at it. You know, I think first step is figure out something that you enjoy doing, and so some most people are going to have an idea of what they enjoy doing. If I asked my mom if she likes doing yoga or lifting more, she's going to have an answer for me Okay, go do it or try both, and then from there, figure out a regimen and figure out how much time you can dedicate to this a week. And I think that's huge, and you got to be realistic about it, because if you say that, okay, I'm going to go to the gym, I'm going to work out five days a week, it's like, okay, good, but are you?

Speaker 3:

Like next week. Are you Like you might this week because it's new, it's fun, it's you're excited to start? You know, after three or four weeks are you still going to do that five days a week, or is three or four days a week more realistic for you? And is mixing up the type of workout more realistic for you? I think, figuring out what you enjoy doing? And then, yeah, going back to the weightlifting part of things.

Speaker 3:

I think everybody should resistance training in their regimen, at least some. And it doesn't mean that you have to go to the gym still. You can still do body weight workouts at home. You can buy a set of adjustable dumbbells, you can get a weighted vest and do like there's so many different options that you can do invest and do like there's there's so many different options that you can do. But resistance training is going to improve somebody's metabolic health the most of anything.

Speaker 3:

Like I think cardio is good for cardiovascular health, um, but it's not going to do much for your metabolic health, because the second I get you, especially if you're trying to like actually lose weight and see a lower number on that scale, cardio is not the answer. Like I don't. I don't do cardio to look good. I do cardio to kind of feel good, um, but also because I do like I do races and so, like I do, I like I'm training for a half iron man right now and so if I wasn't training for that I wouldn't do it as much as I do it.

Speaker 3:

And, to be completely honest with you, I looked way better before I did all this cardio, but I didn't feel better and so, like you got to find that balance and so, and then the other thing is like, hey, if you like running, like people always ask me this because, like you said, in the very beginning, you were like I haven't followed you, but I've known who you are. That's most people who approach me. You know they see our we, we, we run more ads than anybody, and so they've seen me but they don't know, me, you know.

Speaker 3:

And then they see that like I'm running or I'm riding the bike for an hour or I'm swimming for an hour and they're like, don't you always say that you don't have to do cardio to get in shape? And I'm like, yeah, I do say that a lot and I mean it. And, and before I trained triathlons, before I did triathlons, I didn't do cardio for probably 10 years of my life. Yeah, and I was in phenomenal shape. Like you'd look at me and be like, holy hell, like that guy has got to be on steroids, Because like that's all I did is all I did was lift.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

But I'd have shoulder pain, I'd have elbow pain, I'd have knee pain and then, yeah, like you said, the second I would like go play a game of football with my friends or do anything active I was, yeah. So here's this guy who looks like he works out for a living and I did kind of work out for a living and he's just not in good shape and I hated that yeah.

Speaker 3:

And I kind of changed like interests, like types of type of training because of that. Because, like For me personally and we don't have to spend much time on this I lifted for 10, 15 years and I got to a point where I wasn't going to drastically improve more. I got to a place where, like, unless I started like taking stuff and so unless I like started juicing, I wasn't going to lift drastically more. On the second, on like a power lifting program which I was not interested in, I wasn't going to get significantly bigger, I wasn't going to get hardly any leaner. And so I got to this place where, like, I'm doing the same thing constantly for 15 years, just to look the same, that I've always looked, which I loved, how I looked.

Speaker 3:

But I'm somebody that likes to see progress, you know, and I wasn't seeing progress, I was, I was, it was a sailmate. That's when I my mom actually asked me if I wanted to do the turkey trot one Thanksgiving a couple of years ago and I was like, sure, why not? And then I like trained for it and I, when I first started running, my miles were at like 10 and a half minute miles and I was just like so out of shape. And then by the time the turkey trout got around, I think I ran the five miles in like 42 minutes, which is like sub nine minute miles, five miles in a row and I was like, wow, that's cool. I saw my work pay off, you know. And then that's when this triathlon endurance journey started and I've done two Olympic triathlons, ran a marathon, have a first Ironman coming up this year now and I've just been watching myself progress and that's been addicting, because that's where I got into fitness in the first place.

Speaker 3:

I was like I'm seeing myself get bigger, I'm seeing the weights go up, I'm seeing myself get leaner, and then all of a sudden, it stopped. But you got to find what drives you. You know, like I have multiple different whys and I think that's a huge thing for people to have. It's like you said. It's like, yeah, vanity is always going to be a piece of it, but there's a lot of other things that start becoming a part of the picture as you get a little bit older and as your hormones start changing and as you start having your kids get older and they start having kids, and now you're looking at becoming a grandma or grandpa and you want to be around. And now, all of a sudden, you're focused on living longer. You're focused on longevity rather than looking good, and so it comes down to what you want to do.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's good advice. I think that's good. I think a lot of people go about it the other way. As far as just finding a program I want to lose weight, I'm going to do this program they don't really think about what they like, what they want, how do they want to live, does it fit into their life? It's done kind of backwards. So I think it's good for people to hear people like you, people like me, saying yeah, I started this way, I changed, kind of fitting it in and kind of real, real time.

Speaker 3:

Go ahead. I was going gonna say, and during that lifting phase of my life, if you would have told me that in 10 years I would be doing triathlons, I'd be running for two hours. I'd be like you're crazy, like I'm never doing that. That's horrible. I hated it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, were you never a runner.

Speaker 3:

Well, okay, I ran cross country in high school because I was too skinny to play football. Okay, I grew up playing football and then I got to high school and I was tiny, like I'm a big dude now, like I'm six to 200 now, but when I got to high school I was like five, five, 88 pounds. I wrestled the lightest weight class in 8th grade that you could like. I was little, little. And I got to high school and I was like I'm not. I was like I started like I went to like the first practice and I was like I'm getting destroyed, like this hurt, like everybody's big and I'm not. So I quit and I was like what's a non contact sport I can play, because I was actually I wanted to play volleyball and I did, and I was like what's a non-contact sport I can play? Because I was actually I wanted to play volleyball and I did, and I was really good at volleyball because I actually got taller in high school.

Speaker 3:

But, yeah, I ran cross country in high school. Didn't do it because I loved it, did it because I wanted varsity letters and I was fast. I ran cross country. I was decent, not great. There was seven guys on varsity and I did just enough to be number seven so that I could get that varsity letter. And then, after high school, never ran. Wow, yeah, hated it. And then, yeah, picked it up probably two, three years ago, um, and haven't looked back.

Speaker 2:

I do like running. I ran cross country as well and then ran. After my first try, like after having my first baby, I tried to like run myself back into shape and like run myself to muscles Like I'm going to. I tried to run myself back into shape and run myself to muscles. I want to look like that person on bodybuildingcom or whatever. I'll just go home. And I didn't know what the fuck I was doing.

Speaker 3:

It is nice, though. Once you do find that form of exercise that you enjoy, it's so nice, and people have this like misunderstanding that they're just going to hate all forms of exercise, and I saw a video the other day that like kind of perfectly illustrates it. It's like it was like I'm not on TikTok. It was like a reel on Instagram where it was like me before a run and it was somebody like dragging their ass, like trying to like get their shoes on and trying to get out the door, and then they get back from their run and they're all happy and they're all energetic and they're all feeling good and that's like that's the endorphins that are that are fueling you, you know, and so I think people are just too hesitant to try something that they think they're not going to like.

Speaker 2:

And they might have found out that they do, or if you're not good at something or you don't think you'll be good at something. A lot of times we're setting our, which same for me and my form was atrocious. I worked out from home, thank God, but it was. We've lived kind of far from a gym anyway. No-transcript enjoy it. So I don't do that very often, but yeah, I think I think figuring out what you enjoy is definitely part of it, which kind of leads into my next well, one thing I want to say is I think that's an important note to understand for people is hey, it's okay to not enjoy stuff like you tried it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that doesn't mean you have to keep doing it, just go try something else what are your thoughts on this?

Speaker 2:

if you don't, if someone doesn't, because I I talk a lot of. I don't say I talk a lot of shit on here, but I do get straight to the point where I'm like okay, yeah, if you do want to unfuck your fitness, so it's got to have some of it if you do want to. This is not where I was going, but thanks for bringing this up. If you do want to build muscle but you don't like lifting weights too bad right, like you have to do it yeah, I think there's.

Speaker 3:

I think that's probably the only form of exercise that is a non-negotiable for me.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, agreed.

Speaker 3:

If you don't like running, you don't really need to run. If you don't like biking, you don't really need to bike. If you don't like doing F45, you don't really need to do F45. Resistance training is the one non-negotiable that I tell people. Hey, try to get a minimum of three lifting sessions a week. You can get pretty damn good results working out resistance training three days a week, as long as you're pushing yourself. And a very easy structure is just lower body, upper body, full body and you're hitting every muscle group twice a week. As long as you're pushing yourself.

Speaker 3:

And, ladies, I'm talking directly to you with this lifting heavier weights than you think you should be. There's way too many times I see girls in the gym who just have to grab the 15 pound dumbbells, the 10 pound dumbbells, and they're doing shoulder press with it when they could be doing 30s. And I'm like you're not doing anything for yourself right now, nothing Like you think you're toning anything for yourself right now, nothing Like you think you're toning, you're not. You're not doing any. You're wasting your time. Right now. You're not going to get in shape from pushing five 10 pound dumbbells, unless, that is, unless you're like really beginner and that is challenging you. That's one thing. If you've been doing that for a couple months now and you're just not going up because you're scared you're going to get big and bulky, you're not going to get big and bulky. Your body does not have the hormones to get big and bulky.

Speaker 3:

I tried to get big and bulky for 10 years and I got 15 times more testosterone than any woman listening to this, so it's not going to happen. So, yeah, I think you're right. The resistance training is the only non-negotiable. It doesn't mean you have to live in the gym. It doesn't even mean you have to go to the gym. You can get an adjustable set of dumbbells at home, or two or three sets of dumbbells at home, and you can get a great workout. Some of the best workouts I've ever gotten were the ones where I was either short on time or I had very little equipment.

Speaker 3:

I had to get creative and I had to push myself and I was more focused during that. Yeah, I think resistance training is that non-negotiable. Everything else you can kind of find substitutes for.

Speaker 2:

Love that. Thanks for agreeing with me. I appreciate that. I think, too, like focusing on and you've taught. I know you've talked about this, but, while I shouldn't say I know, but I assume focusing more on like the act of it rather than the outcome of it, making in terms of making it a lifestyle, making it something that you're doing, I think, instead of saying I did this one workout or I worked out for two weeks and I didn't see any results, meaning I didn't see any weight loss basically because you're going to see so many other results, focusing more on the actions daily, the habits, the feeling, the workout, again finding something that you like instead of am I losing weight? Am I? You know what is the ultimate? Because I'm sure you ran a lot of training miles when you didn't feel like there was progress, but you kept going.

Speaker 2:

You know because you had to if you quit I mean, the only way we lose is to quit so let's talk about that for a minute and just kind of how you encourage your clients or even yourself, as far as not focusing so much on the outcome.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, no, it's huge and I think, as you like where I'm at now, I can do that a lot easier. It's somebody in the beginning that really struggles with this. Like I know I'm not going to progress weekly with this. I know I'm not going to progress weekly. I might not progress monthly. Especially when I was lifting weights I wasn't progressing monthly. Right now I still consider myself a beginner triathlete. If I even consider myself a triathlete, I'm slow compared to good people. If I'm not progressing monthly, if I'm doing everything that I should be doing and I'm not progressing monthly which is another part of this conversation you got to be doing everything that you're supposed to be doing. If you're not, don't expect to progress.

Speaker 3:

If I'm doing everything that I'm supposed to be doing monthly and I'm not progressing at this stage in year two of my triathlon journey. Then I'm pretty bummed. To be completely honest, with my lifting I was not progressing monthly but, like right now, I don't progress weekly and then sometimes I'll get an injury, I'll get a sickness and I know that I'm going to backslide far and it's not going to be far and I know there's about to be a little bit of a journey ahead of me just to get back to where I was, which sucks, but that's part of the journey. But I think for people starting out it's super important to manage expectations, and I even say that it's really about removing expectations for the first 30 days, and I think that's one of the things that I talk about a lot.

Speaker 3:

The first 30 days are make or break for a lot of people. There's been studies done that, especially around New Year's. It's like 86% of people quit before week three. That's crazy, wow. And then there's also been studies done on habit formation and talking about how long it takes somebody to break an old habit and build a new habit, and there's been a bunch of different conclusions on, like, the number of days, like there's no set in stone. It takes 36 days to build a new habit. You know for everybody. Some say it's 21 days, some say it's 48 days, some say it's 21 days to kill a habit and then 21 days to build a new one in its place. But what's important to understand is that all of them add a number, so all of them have a certain amount of time until you do build a new habit.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

And so what that tells me is hey, or what it should tell everybody listening is hey. If I just do this long enough, eventually it becomes easier.

Speaker 2:

I like that.

Speaker 3:

You know, yeah, and a lot of the studies have been done around that 21-day mark. That's why we always say in my company like, hey, the first three weeks make or break you. And think back to any time you've ever done anything. That first week is actually kind of easy because you're excited about it. Yeah, the second week, not so easy, you're like, okay, I'm too early for results and I'm still a little excited, but this is getting harder. The third week, that's when everything gets rough, because it's still sometimes too early for, like, real noticeable results. Man, this is a lot of work.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

And that's when people quit. And the reason people usually quit right then is because it's a lot of work for minimal results and that minimal results is not what they were expecting. They were expecting to lose five pounds, they were expecting to lose 10 pounds. They were expecting to fit into this, this pair of jeans that they were barely too big for, and they don't yet, you know. And so people go into it with these expectations of quick results and they completely forget about just the process that they need to follow. Because there's obviously the super cliche quote of trust the process. But it's the most true thing ever. If you're doing something, that's bad for you, that's one thing. If you're doing a bunch of cardio, you're not lifting weights, you're starving yourself, you're not eating carbs. Okay, we got back up here.

Speaker 2:

We're got back up here.

Speaker 3:

That's not going to get you results ever. Yeah, okay, but if you have a good coach or you're following a program from a good brand and you're doing what it says you should be doing, my best recommendation is just for the first 30 days, focus on the day, that's it. Don't worry about what the scale says, don't even look in the mirror and for women that's tough because you got to put on makeup or whatever but don't be looking for results in the first 30 days. All you need to focus on is the habits that you're trying to form, the lifestyle changes you're trying to make. And if you do that for 30 days, the next 30 days is going to be easier. And all of a sudden you're going to look up and you'll have done this for 30 days without worrying about the results. But you'll look up after 30 days and you'll have some results.

Speaker 3:

And if you go into it with that mindset where you're like I'm doing this for 30 days, don't care what happens, and you lose a pound, you're stoked about losing a pound, you're like whoa. I just did this, not expecting anything, and I just made waking up and having a healthy breakfast so much easier. I just made getting into a habit of going to the gym and lifting three days a week. So much easier. I did all these amazing things and I lost a pound.

Speaker 3:

That's a completely different mindset than going I want to lose 30 pounds in three months, so I need to lose 10 pounds this month and then you lose a pound and you're like I only lost a pound, I'm not doing this any longer, you know, and so like. It's a completely different mindset, and so that's why I talk about that first 30 days being make or break, and if you remove expectation from those first 30 days, you are setting yourself up for success, and then, if you do just focus on the things that you have to do every single day, it becomes a matter of when you lose. However, if you want to lose 100 pounds, it becomes a matter of when you lose that 100 pounds, rather than if you lose that 100 pounds.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

That's it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I really like that. It really does change. It sounds it's one of those things that sounds, I think, so ridiculous to people. But then when it starts you know, when it starts to make sense, it's like, oh, it really does make sense. But I always say it's not the sexiest thing to say or to sell, which is fine, but it's not to be like, well, in 30 days you may see results. You may not physically or results you want, but I think too obviously and my clients know this I had a girl say to me the other day she's one of my clients and she said I'm doing great, I'm drinking more water, I've got my staple foods down, I have meals on repeat that I'm used to. She's getting on a couple supplements that she needs, just really nailing things. And it's been two months and she's just feeling great physically fitting into a new skirt skirt or an older skirt. Her name's Meredith Go Meredith.

Speaker 3:

Go Meredith.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, she's doing great, and I said great. Now all we have to do is figure out how to do this forever, like all you have to do now is keep doing it forever Kind of joking, you know. And she's like yeah, it's really simple, isn't it? But it is, and like, for her it will be so simple and when.

Speaker 2:

I love when clients come to me and they're like, what I really want is to get the habits I really want, the mindset I really want to. You know they want, they don't really care about the number. Of course we do in a sense, but it's those clients that I'm like oh my God, this is going to be great because we're working on the things that matter. And, yeah, it does fit into her day now and she can do it so seamlessly and I think she's four days a week, one day at home, three days at her work gym, like it's all just panning out and she's just crushing it. So it's one of those things that I love sharing about, because, yeah, it wasn't about the end result for her at all, it was all about finding a couple of steps and that's such a hard mindset to adapt or adopt.

Speaker 3:

It's such because, like everybody's results focused, and that's okay to be results focused, like that's the other thing that I always sandwich with me, saying, hey, no expectations for 30 days. I'm always like hey, I have your goal. Like, have your goal in mind, get post-it notes, put it on your computer screen, put it on your mirror, remind yourself every fucking day what your goal is, but do not, do not get so caught up in that that you're expecting it to happen in a linear progression.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 3:

You know, because it's not going to Agreed. You know, and sometimes you're like I said. Like I said, I'll get mad if I don't progress over the span of a month. But sometimes I don't and I'm not happy about it, but that doesn't mean I'm going to quit. I don't and I'm not happy about it, but that doesn't mean I'm going to quit. That means that I'm just going to. I'm going to, I'm going to bunker down and I'm going to focus and I'll figure out why this didn't work and I'm going to make any adjustment that I need to make so that the next month the same thing doesn't happen.

Speaker 2:

Agreed and I think that's the thing too is like it's always. If it's going to be like a lifelong thing, then how are we going to adjust it to make sure that? Yeah, I don't really like these plateaus, but either I have to bust through them or I have to figure out if I'm actually doing all the things I say I'm doing. Am I following the right thing for myself? So it all matters, but certainly saying fuck it, I'm not doing this anymore is not. That's just never the answer. That for me is never the answer.

Speaker 2:

I'm just not that kind of a person. I'll always try to figure it out, always, always, always, before I'm just like give up.

Speaker 3:

But I understand that I generally think that when people do have that mindset, it's because of lack of confidence in what they're doing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

And so I think that's a big piece that people need to go into it with is understanding or truly like asking themselves hey, like, I know a lot of people who just like don't go get a program or don't go get help or don't even do any research and they just like go to the gym and they diddle-daddle around the gym and try out this machine and try out this machine and don't really push themselves and then go walk for an hour and they don't really get results and I'm like there's zero structure to that and then when they don't get results, they have zero confidence in it. They don't because they did it themselves.

Speaker 3:

They don't know jack shit about fitness and programming anything. And so it's like why would you have? It's like me, if I was trying to build a house, I don't know how to build a house. And if I was trying to build a house and after a month I have like zero progress, I'm like I can't do this. Like I'm done, I'm done trying. But if I had a day-by-day program on how to build a house, I have confidence from a professional house builder from the Toll Brothers. They gave me a house design, day-by-day house build design.

Speaker 3:

You got this Like okay, I know this works 100%. All I have to do is this today yes, if people have that confidence in their plan, then when things do get hard, it's a little bit easier to continue pushing because they know that, hey, this is correct, versus if they put it together themselves and they don't get any results. Now you have that thought in the back of your mind where, like, you're asking yourself, damn, is this? Even what I should be doing. You know, and that's a very easily avoidable like question in your brain.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I talk about that a lot on here is that confidence piece, it's that self-sabotage it's it didn't work in the past. But why didn't it work in the past? Because you didn't know what you were doing, because it wasn't a plan, you weren't confident, you didn't have it. You know it's. It's all those reasons for sure. So yeah, 100 percent the plan matters.

Speaker 3:

I wish for myself I would have had a better plan years ago because, like, oh my God, if I only would have would have known yeah, my, my lifting. I did not, but my first triathlon I got a triathlon coach and that gave me all the confidence in the world.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I wish I would have just known. I wish I would have had this podcast. I say that a lot when I was doing this stuff, just to kind of figure out what the hell are macros and what the hell is progressive overload. I say that a lot when I was doing this stuff, just to kind of figure out what the hell are macros and what the hell is progressive overload.

Speaker 3:

I feel like macro the word macros just kind of became popular like five years ago, which is crazy.

Speaker 2:

Yes, it is crazy, and it's such a it's such a staple. It is. It's so crazy to me how and I I mean I get it, but yeah, the way I learned it was if it's your macro, whatever the acronym for that is.

Speaker 3:

IFM yeah.

Speaker 2:

There we go. So I learned that and then I had my cousin tried to. He did not try to help me, he just told me this is what you should be eating and I was like I don't know what that even means. But yeah, macros is such a I love talking about macros, I talk about them a lot on here because they're obviously the breakdown of your calories, which is your feel. Which you need and I think that's part of it too is just that's confidence, when you can teach someone, which you do, whether it be through your programs, your one size fits all, which I have a fit club. That's the same thing. It's one size fits all, but it's thorough If it's from the right coach and it's set up correctly. They will still learn through those programs why food is important and how to and how to calculate it yourself.

Speaker 3:

Yes, that it may be a one size fits all, but it's still showing you how to cater it to yourself. And they're goal-based too. So it's not like we have a. It's the fat loss extreme, it's the toned in 90, it's the clean bulk and so like they're goal-based. But it's not like I can't give somebody a modification because they had knee replacement, like I can't do that. Right, if it's a $50 program, you know, but it's still showing them what they should do for their specific goal. It's still showing them how to cater their calories, their macros, to them, giving them recipes to pick themselves and mix and match so that they can eat foods that they enjoy eating. But yeah, you don't have that coach aspect to customize it to you and take that guesswork away.

Speaker 2:

Yes, which I love and highly recommend. A coach aspects 1,000%, but and I think that's where the confidence comes from I think both sides, I think them being able to tailor it to their own needs. For me personally, it would be like, okay, I'm doing the calculations and I did this for years, and then I'm like, is that right? Because there's no one to back me up and say, yeah, you calculated that correctly. So that's why having a coach is really important. But I think that's where a lot of that confidence does come from is when they learn what macros are, instead of just putting it into an app or doing a little food containers. I rip on Beachbody all the time for that, but you know, just things that we teach Amanda Fish no-transcript.

Speaker 3:

the first time you do it it's going to be a little tough, you know. The second time you do it, it's going to be quite a bit easier. Third time you do it you can be like oh, I know how to do this.

Speaker 3:

Same thing with calculating macros, same thing with cooking a meal, same thing with going to the gym and doing your first workout, and so people have to be ready for that challenge in the beginning and some people have that mindset where they welcome it. But some people struggle with that and that's okay to struggle with that. Just prepare yourself ahead of time that it's going to be a struggle.

Speaker 2:

Agreed, yeah, yeah, totally, I think, just having the awareness of what it's actually going to be like. And then a lot of people hire me and they're like I know you're not going to bullshit me, I know you're going to say is this possible? Is this not possible? What am I going to have to?

Speaker 2:

actually, do it's going to take longer Because why not? You know you're not going to get that 90 days, 30 going to get that 90 days, 30 days, or you know, maybe, maybe it was. So why waste that 90 days and then be pissed off at the end? If it's going to take six months, cool, let's make six months. That's beautiful.

Speaker 3:

Yes, I usually tell people to have big goals. Don't put a timeline on it.

Speaker 2:

Love that, yeah, and there's also nothing wrong with that. I think we'll we can touch on that real quick and then I can. Then I can talk to you all day about this stuff.

Speaker 2:

We can run it back obviously I'm a woman, I talk to more women, but you know I have a lot of spousal questions and stuff and, um, I think there is a difference between that. So it's interesting that you coach more women. I thought it would be more 50 50 probably in your programming, but, um, anyways, I think women, especially like you were just saying, lifting later in the gym, we always kind of and and maybe I don't know if men are the opposite in my head, men just have a little more like confidence of like I can do this and I can lift heavy. Maybe not, but women don't. We're a little more like I can't lift heavy.

Speaker 2:

People are staring at me. What will people think? You know, it's a lot of, it's a lot of negative talk in our heads. Yeah, I do love that. You just said like have big goals, like shoot for the stars and lift heavy, and I I just did an episode a while back about really like taking up space and just owning your shit and being a badass and like I love that kind of concept. So, yeah, I think having having big goals is great, but, uh, do you want to? Can you?

Speaker 3:

can you touch on that really quickly, just as far as I'd love to, because you're totally right, like as a guy myself, I've never, ever had any kind of hesitation to going to the gym and lifting weights, ever. I think for guys it's you're worried, you're not lifting enough. That's the insecurity.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

You, you, you. You look weak. That's the insecurity. Women do not have that same insecurity. Women have the insecurity of hey. First off, I think people are looking at me and my response to that is nobody's looking at you. Everybody is worried about themselves. Everybody's insecure at the gym. Even the people who look amazing at the gym are probably the most insecure.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely by the way Agreed.

Speaker 3:

That's why they're in phenomenal shape, because they're so insecure, and so they're worried about themselves. They're worried of everybody else. Everybody is worried that everybody's looking at them, and so therefore, they're all looking at themselves.

Speaker 1:

Nobody's looking at you.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, you know. The other thing is people women get worried that and guys also get worried about this too. Yeah, the only way to fix that is to get help. There is no go to the gym and just do a bunch of stuff because you're going to end up doing it wrong. It's either get on youtube. Youtube is phenomenal youtube. There's a bunch of nonsense on there, but there's a bunch of great stuff on there too. So get on youtube.

Speaker 3:

Learn what exercises you need to be doing for your specific goals. Learn the specific form that you'd like, the form like, like I always say, like I'm a golfer and so, like, my golf swings pretty bad and so, like I'm always thinking, I always try to keep my swing thoughts is what they're called to one or two. Okay, so for every exercise that someone is doing, try to keep your form thoughts to one or two. If you're trying to remember 15 different cues for a squat, you're going to be all up in your head, but if you just remember that you want to keep your chest out and you want to keep your pelvis tucked, all of a sudden this was a little bit easier and you're not overthinking everything.

Speaker 3:

And so I think the first one is nobody's looking at you. Second one is make sure that you know what you're doing and so like and whether and sometimes people like getting a coach to take go to the gym with them. I think that's becoming a little weirder now, which is odd because of how many online trainers there are, and I don't think that the in-gym trainers are the be-all, end-all, because I don't think half of them know what they're doing and they don't help you with nutrition. And so you're paying $150 for an hour with this person when you could get three of my programs for that price. You know, yes, but it's good to help you in the gym with that confidence.

Speaker 3:

And then what was the other one? Oh, the weight thing. I think women are scared to go heavy and the reason women are scared to go heavy is because, generally let's say that, like my sister asked me this not that long ago because my sister, she's been struggling with some things and she's heavier than she would like to be and she's trying to get into the gym again and she's scared to lift weights because she's already a larger set woman and she is worried that if she puts on muscle she's just going to become more, larger set. She's going to become bigger, she's just going to become more larger set.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, she's going to become bigger, she's going to become bulkier. She doesn't want to become bulkier, she wants to get smaller. So she's doing cardio, she's lifting light weights yeah.

Speaker 3:

And women need to understand. That's not how you get smaller. Light weights and cardio is not how you. You might, okay, you might get smaller if you're. I mean a lot of it comes down to your nutrition. So you have to be in a caloric deficit, like that's a non-negotiable. But when it comes to lifting weights, the whole point of lifting weights is to challenge your muscles so that you actually can build muscle, and that muscle, by the way, so okay. So what building muscle does is it speeds up your metabolic rate. That's why you have that friend who is in phenomenal shape and eats whatever they want. They can eat pasta, pizza, burgers, fries, milkshakes. They can have whatever they want and they never are in bad shape. That's because of their metabolic health. Are in bad shape? That's because of their metabolic health, typically because they have muscle on their body. Like I have a decent amount of muscle in my body. I got some guy friends who do not.

Speaker 1:

I can eat so much, more and so much worse than them, because I burn it, you know.

Speaker 3:

And so, ladies, lifting weights, heavier weights that challenge your muscles, that you actually struggle with, picking up 25, 30 pound dumbbells for that chest press or that shoulder press, rather than the 5 or 10-pound dumbbells, is going to challenge your muscle. It's going to create this little microscopic muscle tears on your muscle fibers and then that muscle is going to grow bigger and stronger and it's going to speed up your metabolism. That metabolism is what's going to help you burn more calories. And also, I think what's super important to understand for women specifically with this point, is that muscle is almost five times as dense as fat, which is super important to understand because, ladies, if you, let's say, if you, burn one pound of fat and put on one pound of muscle, it's going to significantly speed up your metabolism and it's going to look like you burned four pounds of fat.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

So you can burn five pounds of fat, that's going to look like 25 pounds of muscle. Yeah, so like if muscle is like the size of your fist like that's one pound of muscle. Put five of your fists next to that, that's one pound of muscle.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so like if muscle is like the size of your fist, like that's one pound of muscle.

Speaker 3:

Put five of your fists next to that, that's one pound of fat. That's crazy. That is so much larger than muscle. Like, if you were to just Google like the images of, like what fat replicas look like we use them all the time in our ads just as a great visualization of it. It's crazy, yeah. And so if you're burning five pounds of fat but putting on one pound of muscle, your metabolic health is increasing tenfold. But also you still are losing so much fat.

Speaker 3:

Because the other thing is like, when women go to the gym and they do a bunch of cardio, yeah, it burns calories, but the second you step off that treadmill, you're done burning calories. If you lift weights and put on muscle, you're done burning calories. If you lift weights and put on muscle, you're burning calories even while you sleep, even while you're sitting on the couch eating potato chips, and so, like, you get way more bang for your buck out of this resistance training. And if you think that, like, lifting light weights is going to tone you, it's not. What's going to tone you is heavy weights, heavy weights, light weights.

Speaker 3:

Just so you ladies know, if I want to get big and bulky, I lift light weights. If I want to stay smaller and get stronger, I lift heavy weights. There's this thing called hypertrophy versus strength training. Hypertrophy is with light weights, high reps. That's how you get big and bulky. That's if I was ever trying to get my biggest. I'm lifting in that 12 to 15 rep range. If I'm trying to get strong and stay lean, I'm lifting in that four to eight rep range.

Speaker 3:

Yes, so another thing that's important to understand. So, ladies, don't be worried that people are looking at you at the gym. Everybody is worried about themselves. Don't be afraid to ask questions. I, Everybody is worried about themselves. Don't be afraid to ask questions. I'll also add that, and generally I would say, the people who are most willing to help you is that big, scary, muscly guy. He's usually the nicest one in the gym and he's happy to help you. And then you have form. I think that's important to get comfortable with.

Speaker 3:

That's one you can't just go to the gym enough and just figure it out on your own. It's going to take you a long time. You're probably going to have bad habits for a long time. It's like I said with my golf If I just go out and play golf, I'm going to create bad habits and I'm never going to know what to fix or what I'm doing wrong. If I get a coach or a lesson who's going to show me hey, you're doing this wrong, you need to fix this and you fix this. Now I know what I'm supposed to be working on. And then up the weights. Ladies, that's the best piece of advice. I can give Up your weights like double.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, I will always. You know you've lifted 15. Let's try to do a 30 on the, you know, single arm back row and they're like 30. And they can do it easy, they're like oh.

Speaker 2:

I repped that, oh, no problem, I got to go buy bigger weights. I'm like, oh my God, and I've been. I thought the same thing. So obviously I'm coming from a place of love. But like, yeah, I thought the exact same thing. I remember when my husband brought home a squat rack and I'm like I'm never getting, I'm never using a spot rack like that, since I'm over with my little beach body. You know workouts, I love it, but yeah, you have to. You have to have that visual of the muscle versus fat. You have to know that's, you have to know. That's why that confidence is so important. Having someone or program that you trust someone is easier because you will fix your form, you will feel it in the right spots, you will grow. You will understand that, yeah, lightweights and more reps is not the answer, because then you're literally spinning your wheels. You're thinking I'm doing this and it's going to get me to where I'm going, and then and then it's not.

Speaker 3:

It never does.

Speaker 2:

No, and then you are stuck. So I really do love that you touched on all of that, because I know that's something that that women struggle with and obviously you coach a lot of them, so I knew you would know.

Speaker 3:

And I guess I forgot to talk to the spouses. Guys, stop going too heavy. That's my only recommendation for you. There's way too many times I see guys in the gym who and I've been going to my gym for probably three or four years now. I've seen everybody, I know every face in there and I know how much weight people should be pushing. And I see a guy who I've seen in there for a couple months now pushing way too much weight on incline bench press. His form's horrendous and he's not going down deep enough. His shoulders or his elbows are flared way out. Or on the lat pull down and he's turning it into a bent over row because he's swinging back so far. Or on squats and his back, his low back, is not looking good and he's not hitting depth.

Speaker 3:

The best thing I ever did for my fitness regimen, for my physique, was drop weights and learn form. That was the best thing I ever did and for a long time I didn't even care about like lifting heavy, because I did enjoy like this kind of be contradictory to women, because I was trying to put on as much size as possible. And you do put on size by lifting light and doing more reps and working hypertrophy and getting that lactic acid buildup and that burning sensation in your muscle by rep 13 and then pushing three more until failure. That's what I was focused on for a while. Like most people see me in the gym, I'm not as big as I've ever been right now because I'm doing endurance stuff, but like, let's say, the biggest I ever was still wasn't lifting heavy. I was still pushing 70 pound dumbbells on like chest press, which for a guy is not like. For a guy who's been working out for 15 years is not a lot.

Speaker 3:

There's kids in there who are not in good shape, who aren't big, who are trying to push the 110s and I'm like what are you doing? Like, are you trying to become a powerlister? If so, great. If you're just trying to look better, like I was at your age or guys who are 10, 20 years older than me, it's even harder on your body to go that heavy.

Speaker 3:

Stop worrying about trying to look strong, because for those of us who know what we're doing, you look like an idiot. Sorry to be straight with you, but like I see people who are going super heavy and I'm like you clearly don't know what you're doing and so you might look cool to the other people, who have no clue what they're doing, but not really. So drop the weight, check your ego, leave the ego at the door and lift weights that you can control. And then, after a couple of weeks of you lifting that lighter weight that you can control, all of a sudden you're working your way up towards that heavier weight with good form, and you're also looking a lot better because you're actually building muscle now in the areas that you want to build it. So that's my advice for the guys.

Speaker 2:

Love that Great. I love the say it, just say it yeah.

Speaker 3:

No, I mean, I see it all the time. I'm like you clearly have no clue what you're doing. You think you look cool because you're lifting super heavy and you look dumb. And that was me, and I say that because that was me. That was me from age 14 to probably age 20, before I knew what I was doing, before we started this brand, before I got certified. That was me and I thought I looked cool because I was lifting heavy weights and I looked like an idiot looking back.

Speaker 2:

Well, you don't know Exactly, you don't know. I mean, if you hadn't done that you wouldn't know you looked like an idiot, exactly.

Speaker 3:

You don't know Exactly, you don't know I mean if you hadn't done that you wouldn't know. You looked like an idiot Exactly, and I've hurt myself before doing that kind of stuff, like serious disc herniations, torn muscles. You don't want to do it, it's not fun.

Speaker 2:

I do talk about that a lot in terms of just progressive overload, because that's a big term that people it's misunderstood or not. There's just reels out there that are 30 second overview of progressive overload, which is okay, but it's five pounds heavier every week, and it's like oh, that's 10 weeks at 50 pounds heavier.

Speaker 3:

It's like that's crazy.

Speaker 2:

My clients and I'm like I've been doing this for 16 years. I should be thousands of pounds. Like that's not, it's just like that. Yeah, Easy to me. So there's a lot, and to your point too, I I had an episode. I've had some real spicy episodes lately.

Speaker 2:

So if you want to be entertaining, um but talking about kind of unsolicited comments and just people in the gym and whatever. But I did say something in that episode about people that really know how to lift in the gym, aren't judging you or aren't looking at you in a place you know they're kind of like, oh, maybe your form could be better, but if anything we're contemplating coming to help yes, right, it's from a good place and we and we're scared too because we don't want to be received poorly and we don't been.

Speaker 3:

So many times I see bad form, where I'm not judging them, I'm just going damn, that was that was, that was me once, was me once. I know I would, I know something that I could tell him that or her that could help her or him a lot. But like I also don't want to be that person that inserts myself in somebody else and it's received poorly. Now all of a sudden I'm an asshole for trying to help and so most of the time, if I know them, I'll be like hey, I'm a, I'm a trainer. Is there any way that you would take some like a piece of advice, like I'd love to give you a quick form tip that I think could help you a lot, and I've done it before and usually it's received well, but it's never in a judgy manner, absolutely, and that's kind of what I was talking about.

Speaker 2:

I mean now to the people that are lifting super heavy and have bad form or you know doing something. That's like what are you doing those people? Sometimes I am judging it's in a completely different way.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, okay, yeah, you're right about that.

Speaker 2:

But you understand the difference. But no, I'm glad that you touched on that too, because I know it's, I know it's intimidating to get started and yeah, I think, just knowing that and I don't mean the people that matter, as if not all of us matter, but the you know, as a woman going to the gym, I know that the people again, I know that, like you said, the big, strong, burly man in there is usually the nicest. You know he would love to help you and he's the one that most women are like oh my God, there's this. You know he's scary. I'm like cool, if you ever have questions, he would be the one to ask. He would be fantastic, rather than some other people. So I like that you touched on that too, because it really is.

Speaker 2:

The gym doesn't have to be a scary place. This whole fitness world culture doesn't have to be a scary place. I think sometimes it is simple. Most people are genuinely nice. There is a lot of information and some of it's coming from a good place. But it is misunderstood when it's a 30 second, five second reel and there is a lot of information, so that that can be hurtful. But no, I I'm really glad that you touched on all of that. So that was. That was a really good conversation I really could honestly just talk about it.

Speaker 2:

I love that you're just so down to earth and just kind of. Yeah well, I think it's one specific questions and I'm like trying to make sure that like.

Speaker 3:

I'm ready for very specific questions with very specific answers, and it's not very conversational and it's not very fun. This was not that, so I appreciate it.

Speaker 2:

Good, I'm glad, I'm glad. Yeah, thank you so much. Where can people find you? What's? Where do you? I send my peeps?

Speaker 3:

Well, give it about like 30 seconds, you'll probably see one of our ads.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, very, very good. But no, I mean, we're on all social medias. If you want to search the brand, it's just vShred on anything TikTok, instagram, youtube, facebook, our website same vShredcom. If you want to search my personal, it's just V-I-N underscore Sant. Then Sant, I'm basically just I have a TikTok, I just don't use it. I'm pretty much only on Instagram. But yeah, if you want to get in shape with us, we got a free quiz on our website, check it out. But yeah, thank you for having me.

Speaker 2:

Awesome. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for listening to today's show. Go ahead and leave a rating and a review and, of course, follow the podcast so you don't miss out on any future episodes. And I would love it so much if you came to connect with me over on Instagram at Christy Castillo Fit. I will see you next time time.