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Poundcake Fitness: Identity Based Fitness Transformation · Revolution of Purpose Podcast

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Welcome to the Revolution of Purpose podcast. I'm your host,
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John Streit, and each week we bring you conversations with thought leaders,
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entrepreneurs, and individuals who have aligned their
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life with purpose and created extraordinary results. So I'm going
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to live through it and accept it radically with grace and hope
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and love. I mean, I would be proud to be in this household. It was
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an honor. I had so much fun. Tune in every Monday for the Revolution
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of Purpose solo show and every Thursday for Revolution of Purpose Conversations.
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Welcome back to Welcome to another episode of Revolution of Purpose Conversations.
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As many of you know, this show isn't just about successful people. It is
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about the journey that shaped them. It's about discovering what
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they're really here to do and the lessons that they've learned along the way.
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And today's guest is someone I'm really excited about introducing
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you to because on the surface, you may see the show notes
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and think, oh, well, this is going to be a great conversation about fitness,
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but this is not just about fitness. You know, this is a conversation about
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identity, about purpose, about serving people,
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and about building a business that aligns with your values
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instead of your ego. My guest today is Ryan Anastopoulos,
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the founder of Pound Cake Fitness. Ryan has spent more
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than 15 years helping over 1,500 people transform their health,
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but what really caught my attention wasn't his success in fitness
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as much as it was his philosophy. He believes that most fitness culture
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is built around performance instead of purpose, and that people aren't
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simply looking for better workouts, they're actually looking
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for a better life. And the more that we talked, the more I realized that
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we share something in common. Whether we're talking about fitness or business
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or relationships or purpose, real transformation always
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starts with identity. I have a feeling that this conversation is going
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to resonate with far more than just people trying to get
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healthier with their fitness. So Ryan, Welcome to the Revolution of Purpose
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podcast. Hey, thanks. That was very well said. I think we should just wrap it
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up. I think you— I know, right? That was a great episode. Yeah, you can't—
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I can't say anything better than that. Yeah, thanks for tuning
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in. So, um, for those that
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don't know, Ryan is actually based in Okinawa, Japan. Um, and so
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what time is it there? We're filming this at 6 PM Central Time in the
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States. What time is it there? Yeah, it's 8 AM for me. 8 AM the
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next day. Well, don't tell me what happens yet. I want to be surprised.
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So, um, yeah, you don't want to know. What a great time traveler
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joke. Um, so Ryan, I would love to,
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uh, to start with a question. I know you've watched the podcast,
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you were telling me, so you, you probably know this one is coming, but who
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are you today that your younger self would be proud
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of? Yeah. Okay. Any warmup questions or
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are we going straight into that? Go straight into that, man.
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This, um, there is no warm-up on the Revolution of Purpose podcast.
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I think, uh, it's a good question, um, because,
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well, I guess how much younger are we talking? Like last week?
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Oh, let's say 10-year-old Ryan. Yeah,
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10 years looking at— I don't know, I don't— I can't remember that. Let's look.
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It feels like younger me, let's say, you know, 20 years
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ago or something. Okay, um, is that not
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10-year-old Ryan? Oh, it is 10-year-old Ryan, actually. I don't actually know
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how old you are, so that's actually, uh, 0 years old Ryan.
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Oh, there you go, there you go. Yeah, I'm only 21 years old.
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It's hard. Yeah, it's hard to think that. No, I'm 40,
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so if I think back in my 20s, you know, what,
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what would I be proud of? I, I think a question might be like,
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would he even be proud of what I am today? Because there's
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so much Um, about me and my life now
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and what I do now that's so different than
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where I was, you know, in my 20s. You know,
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my, my younger self might look at me, you know, see this guy who takes
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morning walks for his health and making sure he eats enough
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fiber and, you know, talking about, you know, purpose on a podcast
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on a Monday morning and say, this guy's lame. I don't know if I can
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curse, but you can— that's how my 20-year-old self would talk.
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Be authentic. That's what matters. Yeah. Uh,
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because yeah, everything that I do now and where my life is now,
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I don't think I, I would have thought that this is kind of where I
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would be. Because I, I wanted to be a writer, I wanted to be in
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music, and I, I thought that I would just always be one of these,
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uh, you know, beautifully dysfunctional artists living on cigarettes
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and, and coffee and existential dread. And, uh, it turns
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out when you're the one living it, it's not as fun Or
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it doesn't feel as good as you think. So yeah,
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if he told me that in 20 years I'd end up, you know,
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having a fitness business and coaching people for a living and being excited about
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sleep quality, he probably would have called me like a poser or a sellout or
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something. So he'd probably think I'm boring too. But at the same time, I think
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he would be surprised at how peaceful
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it all feels too. Yeah. So would you say that your values have shifted since
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you were younger? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, definitely.
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In probably in, in a lot of ways, probably in more ways than not,
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I would say so. Um, I don't even remember what my values were back then.
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I don't think I really— that was something I really thought about or cared about.
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Um, it was more just about trying to just live fast
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kind of thing. I didn't really care about the future, you know. I don't
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think I even cared to live to the 40s, you know. I was just like,
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let me just go hard on everything and burn out, and that's kind of how
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I want to live. And then now it's like, you know, like I said,
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I go to sleep early because I want to feel good the next day,
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you know. Like, yeah. Lame stuff like that, right?
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So when did that shift start? Like, that's a big shift.
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And I think part of that could be maturity, you know, but, but part of
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it is some genuine, like, self-awareness,
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self-awakening. It sounds like you did. Yeah.
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I think there's, you know, when I think of everything right now, there's a
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lot of factors that influence my values and the way
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I perceive things and the way I live today. Like one of them, of course,
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it's just health, personal health for myself. Another one is,
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is business. And then another aspect is just, uh,
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family and relationships. Those are probably the 3 main pillars
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for me that influence my decisions and the way I live today.
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And, and those were things that were non-existent
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back then. It was all just, uh, I guess trying
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to figure out, you know, my place. And so I guess for the fitness
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part, I guess that was the first kind of domino Um, I didn't
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get into it because I, you know,
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loved health or liked working out, but it was because I was kind of—
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I was told I was pre-diabetic and I had a fatty liver. And so I
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was kind of scared straight from that because like all I know about diabetes was
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you can lose your legs. I remember I was
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like, oh yeah, I don't want to lose my legs, you know. So that was
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like the thing that I needed to hear to, you know, you change or you're
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gonna lose your legs. And so I, I that's kind of when I
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started to exercise a little bit and try to eat better and try
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to learn about nutrition. And I kind of genuinely started
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to enjoy fitness. And so I hired a trainer
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at that point, uh, just probably less than a year into my fitness
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journey. And it was probably both the best and worst decision
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I made because it got me deeper into fitness and it also pushed me
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into bodybuilding, which is a was a weird thing for me, uh,
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and then it got me into just obsessive dieting and a pretty unhealthy
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relationship with my— with food and with my body.
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And, uh, you know, I had coaches. I had a number of coaches
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over the years, uh, more negative experiences than positive. And,
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uh, you know, I had ones that would just greet me and tell me I
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looked fat that day and just constantly just made me feel bad about myself.
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And somewhere along the way, it kind of— fitness stopped being something
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that improved my life, and it just became something that made me miserable. But I
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felt like I had to, to do it to prove something to somebody.
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Um, and so there's a weird part of it
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that made me, uh, kind of love fitness,
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but it also made me hate a lot about the fitness industry
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and the culture. And, and looking back, you know,
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almost everything I've built since then regarding,
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uh, Pound Cake Fitness, um, has been kind of a reaction
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to those experiences. I remember one of the first things
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I said to myself when I started was that I don't ever want anyone
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to want to get into fitness and come out the other end of it a
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couple weeks later feeling worse. That was like the only thing for me was to
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help people not experience that sort of thing that I did. And so in,
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in a way, the whole business was just built out of
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resentment. And, uh, a lot of,
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you know, what I care about today and a lot of what I do with,
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with Pound Cake, um, just came from like feeling like
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there had to be a better way of doing things. Do you feel like
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when you started training other people, it was more of,
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you know, a job to train, help them feel better, and at some point
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you sort of accidentally ended up being in fitness because
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you care deeply about people? Like, did, did your purpose for
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training others kind of evolve as well as you kind of matured and, and your
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values changed? Yeah, definitely. Um, I mean, I first got
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certified just as a way to get some extra cash on the side. You know,
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I was working, um, in music and I was writing and I was, you know,
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struggling to, you know, afford basic things. And so I was like, oh,
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I'm just gonna try this trainer thing. You know, it's easy enough to get certified
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and then, um, start taking clients. And I start—
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so I started doing that and I quickly got kind of burnt out of that.
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I mean, there's, there's a reason why you have such a high
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burnout rate. Most people that get into the business don't really last very long.
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Um, and,
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uh, so I— the reason I shifted was I was working with
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people in the gym, and most of these people, their goal was to lose weight.
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And we can have a ton of sessions and they can
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make a ton of progress in their strength and all these things that come with
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exercise, but Uh, they would still struggle with,
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with weight loss, uh, because in the gym, regular in-person training,
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you don't really touch on the things that really matter for weight loss,
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uh, like your eating habits, you know, behavior change,
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all that kind of stuff. Um, and so that's kind of when I decided to
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move more into online and to be able to serve those people better through
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coaching them, uh, with the habit change necessary to
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for fat loss. Yeah, it's almost like just from the philosophy that we talked
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about, um, in our chats on WhatsApp, you know, from Japan to Alabama,
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like I would say that you seem like someone who gives
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fitness but with grace, you know, like, and with, uh,
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realistic expectations. And I don't think that you find that in
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a lot of fitness trainers. It's like you said, the trainer that told you you're
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fat, you know, or you find a lot of drill instructors or whatever. But it
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feels like, or sounds like to me, you— that, that deep
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care that you have for people comes about in the way that you train them.
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Yeah, and I think that comes from, you know, I talked to
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so many people and so many people have these— are so deeply affected
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by, you know, their level of fitness or lack thereof. And so,
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I mean, you can't help but, you know, approach coaching
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them, you know, in a way that, uh,
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that's deeper than just throwing them a template or whatever.
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I think, um, COVID, you know, kind of brought a lot of coaching online,
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and it kind of made popular this model of like having,
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you know, one coach to 100 clients kind of thing.
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And that came along with just, I feel like, a lot more— maybe
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a lot more visibility of, of these things on
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social media too. And so in general, I would say the fitness industry,
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or, or just people in, in general, uh, often mistake compliance for
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proof that if somebody follows a rigid plan for
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12 weeks because they're terrified of disappointing their coach, yeah,
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you'll probably get an impressive before and after photo, but that doesn't tell
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you whether the system was healthy or sustainable or,
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or respectful of that person's autonomy. It's, it's just a
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coach-centered industry instead of it being a client-centered place.
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And I think it's because I had such a negative— so many negative experiences as
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a client Um, that's why it just wouldn't make sense for
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me to go any other route. Um, so these kind of approaches
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exist to market the coach, not necessarily to serve the
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client. That is huge, actually. I've not thought of it that way, but to
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say it's so much of it has become a coach-centered industry instead of
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a client-centered industry. And you see that through the
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impressive snapshots of a before and after. But like you said, what,
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what are things after that? What are things a month after that? 6 months
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after that, a year after that? Is it lasting change? And does the coach even
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care? Yeah. And is the person happy? Like, they could be— look, look, you know,
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impressive, uh, before and after, but like, they could just be— they could
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have ruined their life to get there, right? Like, you know, like when I used
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to do— be into bodybuilding, like, I was doing so much
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like crazy to get lean, and like, it was terrible.
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Like, it didn't make me happy. I didn't feel good.
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Um, there's nothing positive about it. And it kind of,
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you know, messed me up for a number of years. Like, it's— I think it's
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still something I kind of gotta work through, just the, the body image stuff.
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And like, it messed up my eating and my relationship with food for a long
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time. And it's like, was that worth it for, you know,
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a before and after, to look cool, to have, you know, be shredded? For the
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coach, sure. He probably got some clients out of it. So is that
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where you got the name Pound Cake Fitness? Because it's like a really
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tasty dessert. I think at the time— well, there was a couple things.
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Um, the first thing, kind of, pound cakes reflect my philosophy
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for fitness in that, you know, the original recipe
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is just 4 ingredients. It's a pound of butter,
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flour, eggs, and sugar. Is that right? I might— yeah,
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it's 4 ingredients. I might have got— there might be milk. Well, wait, there should—
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I was about to say there's some liquid. Yeah, there's got to be some.
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Okay, well, cut that. But anyway, I know what you're saying.
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4 ingredients, each of them were you know, have— are necessary.
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Each of them have a clear purpose. And I think your fitness plan should be,
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you know, just as simple and just as effective. It should be— everything you do
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should have a clear purpose and a reason why you're doing it, and it should
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be simple. Um, and then I think at the time in the,
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you know, 2000s, early 2000s, um, the industry was very
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much like, uh, had— was very aggressive and very serious.
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Uh, and so I just— that did really wasn't me.
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And I was trying to figure out like, how could— how can I fit into
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this industry? And maybe it was just by purposefully not
15:18
and purposely calling my business Pound Cake. Uh, so that
15:23
was the other side of it too, just kind of going trying to do the,
15:26
uh, the opposite thing of like the super macho aggressive
15:30
type branding. Yeah, and I like that. And now I want some pound cake.
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So, um, but, uh, you know, I'm, I'm not sure
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it fits in my macros for today, but I'm sure I'll have some before
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too long. Um, but yeah, I, I'm, I'm a fan. I know you
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said, uh, when we were talking before, you had a pretty good pound cake recipe.
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So, um, I can always put that in the show notes if I need
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to. Yeah. So another
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thing that you said when we were chatting kind of before this that I thought
15:57
was really cool is you mentioned that purpose evolves. So,
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um, I love that thought because I think a lot of people almost accidentally end
16:05
up in their purpose. And it's one of those things you can't really see it
16:08
looking forward. This isn't what I thought I would be doing, but I love
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it and I know it's what I'm supposed to be doing, but I can look
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back and connect the dots looking backwards. Famous Steve Jobs quote, you know,
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saying that you can't connect the dots looking forward, but you can looking backwards.
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Um, so yeah, tell me more about that. How do you feel like purpose
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has evolved in your own life and how does it evolve in others? Um,
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I think, um, I don't know if I've been able to connect the dots,
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but maybe we can do it right now. Uh, when I was younger—
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yeah, we're gonna try to figure this out. When I was younger, it was all
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about, you know, uh, just trying to, I guess, trying to
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make my mark and have a voice and, you know, feel like I was saying,
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being something worthwhile, you know. So, and I expressed that
16:50
through, um, writing and
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through music. Um, and it was just, you know,
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I think it felt like this desperate just clutching for, for straws
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and, and wanting to know, wanting people to know that I existed in
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some meaningful way and that I had something important to say, that kind of thing,
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right? Um, and I even, you know, looking back,
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you know, there was a period where I was even, uh, volunteering,
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you know, at a crisis hotline, and that was probably, you know,
17:19
by the same impulse, just in a different outfit. You know, I just,
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I guess I think I just wanted to matter to somebody at that time.
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Um, and I don't— that, that really doesn't— I don't really have that need
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anymore. Um, and I think I probably— a big part of that is just probably
17:35
after meeting my wife and feeling like knowing that I'm accepted
17:39
by, you know, by her, that was enough for me to
17:43
like no longer have that need. And it's funny because like I kind of the
17:47
the writing, you know, kind of, or at least the way I would write,
17:51
um, and that feeling that I need to use it to express myself,
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uh, doesn't really exist anymore, which is cool,
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which is fine by me. Um, and then, you know,
18:02
when I was building, uh, when I started Pound Cake, I, I think
18:06
it was my purpose kind of became, um,
18:10
feeling like I wanted something more. You know, I was working just
18:14
a regular kind of job, and I felt like I wanted something
18:18
more than just feeling like a cog, you know. Um,
18:22
and I, I enjoy working, so why don't I put that effort towards something
18:25
for me? And it kind of just became, could I actually
18:30
do this? Could I actually build something? Um,
18:33
and to prove that that was, you know, something I could accomplish.
18:37
And then after I accomplished that, uh, the purpose shifted
18:42
again, um, because I
18:46
think at some point I just felt like I did everything I wanted to
18:50
do myself. And so I, I still get a lot of
18:54
satisfaction. I'm really energized from helping other people.
18:57
So I decided to, you know, start working with a team within Pound Cake
19:02
and then, you know, supporting them and to maybe create something that's
19:05
bigger than me and bigger than all of us. Um, so I would
19:09
say probably today is probably just helping people,
19:14
um, build meaningful things, whether that's their health
19:18
or their confidence or even their own careers. And,
19:21
you know, I, I, I, I, I'd be— I wouldn't be surprised if that
19:25
is— I have a different answer for that in 10 years. But I think it's
19:29
been a long journey of just changing my mind a lot and just flopping around
19:32
and figuring, you know, finding out what feels good.
19:36
And, you know, I'm not one of those people that can say, you know,
19:39
from the time I was in elementary school, I knew I wanted to be a
19:43
CEO. And, you know, like that kind of— I'm just figuring everything out as I
19:46
go and just like have so many everything and just trying to put
19:50
the pieces together as best as I can is— yeah, I guess there's
19:55
something within that chaos that I sort of enjoy. There is. And it seems like—
19:59
I mean, I don't believe it was an accident that you were working in a,
20:02
in a crisis helpline. Like, I know that in respect
20:06
you're like, oh, I wanted the validation. But in another respect, people, they don't volunteer
20:11
for a crisis helpline unless there's some part of you that wanted to
20:14
help people change their lives or help people get healthier
20:18
in a way and survive. And I feel like that's sort of a through
20:22
line to what you're doing now with Pound Cake. You know, you're helping people who
20:26
without a fitness journey are looking at a much shorter lifespan.
20:31
They're looking at a much more depressing life and you're giving them hope.
20:35
So I think that in a way, your purpose could be centered around hope,
20:39
you know, just because of the way that you kind of are offering that to
20:43
people just in different, you know, different titles or masks that
20:47
you're wearing, you know? Yeah, I think, you know, going back to the
20:51
type of people that I meet and work with, you know, it's oftentimes
20:56
they've done a lot of, you know, they've made a lot of attempts, you know,
21:00
on achieving whatever their fitness goals are.
21:03
They've worked with a lot of other programs or coaches.
21:07
And it's only made them feel, you know, worse. You know,
21:11
not necessarily, you know, because of they had like a mean coach or anything,
21:14
but because they were trying to do things that weren't sustainable or
21:18
things that weren't aligned with their life or with, you know, their identity.
21:24
And it was just that mismatch of the plan they're trying to, you know,
21:27
they're trying to do this one thing, but their life was this other thing.
21:30
And that friction just made them feel like they weren't doing it
21:33
right, that there was something that they were doing wrong. Yeah, it throws people
21:37
into a shame spiral. Yeah, yeah. And it's the thing, it's like, it's not their
21:41
fault, you know, but they don't know. They just think that they're, they're not being—
21:45
they're not able to measure up to something that they're supposed to be. But I
21:48
think a big thing that I talk about with people is, you know, redefining what
21:52
fitness is for you. Like, it's— it can be anything, like anything that makes you
21:55
feel better, even if it's like going out, you know, for pizza or something.
21:59
If that's something that is a net benefit, then that should be part of your
22:02
fitness plan, you Uh, so yeah, having some independence. I think, you know,
22:06
the fitness world now, uh, a lot—
22:10
in a lot of ways, it, it kind of rewards coaches for building dependence
22:15
instead of building independence with their clients.
22:17
Absolutely. I think, yeah, I think you see that a lot,
22:21
especially with, um, with some of the fitness apps that are out
22:25
there, you know. I mean, a fitness app only exists if they stay in the
22:28
app, so that, uh That certainly makes
22:32
sense. Please pardon me while I interrupt your podcast episode with a quick
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24:34
And now let's get you back to today's episode.
24:38
So do you believe that for people to really experience kind
24:42
of lasting physical transformation, that they need to also have like an
24:46
identity shift as well? Um, I think, well,
24:50
yeah, it depends on the, on the situation. But yeah, I think it does.
24:53
Because you're, you're what you do. You know,
24:56
your daily actions you take towards your fitness need to be
25:00
aligned with your— what you value in life, right? So if you
25:04
value, you know, if you value family,
25:07
you know, you're a mom and yet you work full-time and you have 4 kids,
25:11
like, telling you to go to the gym 6 days a week and to meal
25:15
prep and do all this full-on like you see
25:19
on social media, maybe, like, that's not going to work. Like, cause now
25:23
in order to achieve that, you need to like put deprioritize
25:27
your family and then put the, you know, your fitness on top. And that's not
25:31
a trade-off that I think is healthy. Um, so it's finding a
25:35
way that you can do sustainably and easily. Like something I
25:39
hear all the time is like, there are people being surprised at how easy it
25:43
feels once we kind of figure out how to make it fit with their life.
25:47
Yeah. Would you say that you're probably— I feel like I kind of went off.
25:51
No, I feel like you did. Absolutely. Like. Because they,
25:54
they shift their identity to someone who believes it's possible when you help them
25:58
see that it can fit easily in their life. So no, I think that's true.
26:02
And it kind of what made me like, it kind of made me think that
26:05
in a way you're also a mindset coach, you know, like I'm a mindset coach
26:10
and I help people shift their identities and see what's possible and face
26:14
their limitations. And I feel like that you
26:17
do something very similar. It's just your outcome is more based in fitness.
26:22
I know I didn't with my own health journey, I lost over 100 pounds,
26:25
but That didn't happen until I got my mindset and my identity right.
26:28
You know, like I had to see myself as someone that it was even possible.
26:32
This morning it was raining like crazy and I still went to the gym,
26:36
partly because I'm like, hey, I'm that guy now. And partly because
26:40
I'm interviewing a trainer on my podcast today and I'm not going to skip the
26:44
gym today of all days. You know, I'm, I'm going to go. I want to
26:48
be a little bit sore while we talk. So, uh, yeah. So yeah.
26:51
Yeah. I mean, there's research on that, right? Whether, whether you
26:55
say that, uh, I can't have this versus I, I don't eat this,
26:59
you know, the way you frame things in your mind does make a
27:02
big difference. And like you said, if you say that, hey, I'm that guy now,
27:06
I'm a guy who goes to the gym, you know, you kind of,
27:09
even if you don't believe it, you, you kind of got to fake
27:12
it till you make it, you know? Um, yeah, I have this thing,
27:17
be it and you'll see it. And so even if you, even if
27:21
you don't believe it, just just be it. Do the action, and then eventually
27:25
you're going to see those results. Even if the whole time you feel like a
27:27
total imposter, just keep doing it, and eventually you're
27:32
gonna feel like that person because you're gonna see the evidence. You're gonna see it
27:35
happen. Yeah, because it's the, you know, it's the habits, it's the daily habits
27:39
and the actions that make you that person. And you're not going to be that
27:42
person— you're not going to just shift and be like, become that person overnight.
27:45
You just gotta like be doing these things that feel foreign to you and feel
27:49
weird. And eventually they'll feel more natural. And then
27:53
suddenly next thing you know, you'll be this person, you know, drinking kale smoothies
27:56
and you'd be like, what happened to me? You're like,
28:01
thank God I'm regular, but why am I drinking these smoothies? You know,
28:04
like, so, and I think social media,
28:07
it tends to split like fitness coaches and mindset
28:11
coaches into like different categories. Like with mindset, you have the Navy SEAL,
28:16
get up at 4 o'clock, hustle harder, work 20 hours a day,
28:20
Or you have the really woo-woo manifest holder, just meditate,
28:24
it'll all happen, you know? And I know for me, I feel like that
28:28
there's, there's like a grounded middle for me, you know? I mean,
28:31
there's definitely manifestation affirmations, all of that is very important,
28:34
but you do have to put action with it as well. So have you found
28:38
that kind of in, in fitness too? Because there are certainly the
28:42
Navy SEAL get up at 4 o'clock or you're a failure of a
28:46
human being like you talked about in fitness. But I think you're also bringing sort
28:49
of a different type of fitness coach that that, to be honest, I don't see
28:53
very much of out there. Yeah, no, mindset— the mindset part's huge. I mean,
28:56
that's like a big thing I do. Uh, you know, I work with clients on
29:00
mindset a lot. We have a mindset coach on the team who's, who's great.
29:03
Um, uh, so that's— to me, that has to come first,
29:08
right? Like, like, for, for like fat loss, that I'm sure
29:11
you can identify, is, um— and I can too, because in
29:16
the early years of building Pound Cake, I just went completely out of shape and
29:20
I gained a bunch of weight. I was probably about 230, close to 230.
29:22
So I'm like 170s right now.
29:27
I love it when people's like, this was my rock bottom wake
29:31
up is my goal weight. But,
29:33
but it's just funny. I'm like, I'm almost back to 230.
29:38
Thank God. But I was at 350. So that's, you know,
29:41
yeah. Well, you're probably also taller than me, right? I mean, most people are taller.
29:44
I'm 6'1. That's true. Oh, there you go. I'm like 5'6. So, okay.
29:47
Gotcha. Don't cut that part out. I'm actually 6'1 as well. I meant you're 6'1
29:51
as well. 21-year-old Ryan. Yeah. Yeah.
29:55
I was just doing some— I was practicing my slam dunks before this.
29:59
Is that good for you? But, um, yeah, my— yeah, yeah,
30:02
with fat loss, um, people always say, oh yeah, it's all about like how you
30:06
eat and all this, which is true, but it's just as much about
30:10
your mindset. So it's a complete mental game every
30:14
day, right? Like, it's all, it's all mental when it
30:18
comes to diet because it's, it's a thing
30:21
you have to do multiple times a day is make these decisions around
30:25
food and how am I going to live today? And is— am I going to
30:28
make decisions that are going to honor and be, you know,
30:32
productive for my goals or, or not? You know, and that's— it's
30:35
hard. And but if you can shift your mindset and kind of have that identity
30:39
shift, uh, at some point becomes,
30:43
becomes natural. I don't know, you know, I don't know if I can distill
30:47
in, in a, in a couple sentences how to, how to do that, but I
30:50
think it's just very individual process for everybody. Well, I think it's
30:54
wonderful that you realize it's important enough that you have a mindset
30:58
coach on your team. You know, I think any goal we're working toward has
31:02
to have mindset involved, you know, because we have to become
31:05
that person. I'm a big believer in, in be, do,
31:08
have. You have to become that person. Then you start to do
31:12
aligned action that person would do, and you have the results that person would
31:16
do. And now I've, I've actually on the podcast, I've been going through on the
31:19
solo show an in-depth teaching of just a law
31:23
of identity transformation where we first awaken that
31:26
we can even become the person to be, do, how— be, do, have. And so
31:30
we awaken to that, then we become, then we do aligned action, then we
31:34
create the person we want to be. And I think it's a continuation. Once we
31:38
start to create the life we want, then we awaken even more that we
31:42
can do it. You know, it's like we're constantly proving to ourselves that we
31:45
can be that person. And I think what you just said is so important about
31:48
how it's one decision after another, because every decision is a
31:52
vote for who we see ourselves to be.
31:56
And if that decision's going against what we desire, then that's who we're actually
32:00
voting for, is someone else, you know. Um, yeah,
32:04
I think that's— what do you think is the hardest part? You know, you're talking
32:07
about, we do have these, these steps. What do you find for yourself
32:11
or within other people is the most challenging,
32:15
uh, part of that? Starting. Yeah, starting when it doesn't look possible.
32:19
Possible, starting when you don't know what you're doing,
32:23
starting when you're 350 pounds and
32:27
you have gone 45 years of your life, the last 20 of which diabetic,
32:31
breaking promises after promises after promises, and starting to
32:36
believe it's possible. So I say— I'm saying starting, but I mean really starting
32:40
to believe in yourself, awakening to the possibility that things can change and that
32:44
your past doesn't have to dictate your present or your future. And yeah,
32:48
I think that's the biggest thing for anyone, like for the guy whose
32:51
business has failed 10 times. And so he sees himself as
32:55
a failure and then he gets in some type of identity loop of a failure.
32:59
The way the hardest thing is starting again and changing and
33:03
awakening that you could become someone different, or the person who is,
33:06
you know, 200 pounds overweight or whatever, or the person
33:11
who, you know, can't find love or keeps going through divorce,
33:14
whatever that is, realizing that at some point we don't have to let
33:18
the past dictate our future and we can start again. Yeah, it's tough because,
33:22
because yeah, like you said, like all the evidence you have in your life is,
33:26
is that you haven't been able to do this thing. And it's like, well,
33:29
you know, can I actually do it? You know, I think of, uh, reminds me
33:33
of this thing I read before. It says something like, you know, you can't solve
33:37
the problems of, of today with the thinking of yesterday or
33:40
something like that. It's like kind of got to change your way you look at
33:42
things and to change Um, you're, you're, you just
33:47
need a different approach, right? You gotta really evaluate where you are currently.
33:50
What's, what, what is your life right now? And then find a
33:54
way to just fit things in within there without needing to become a whole different
33:58
person. Or at least taking a different step, not feeling
34:02
like you have to take all the steps to become a different person at once.
34:05
Yeah, yeah, just like the, the smallest possible step.
34:08
Um, it's kind of, um Um, one thing that's always kind of similar
34:12
in a related way, um, anytime I'm
34:17
thinking of doing something that I don't think I can do— like,
34:21
I remember this was advice my mom gave me when I
34:24
was a kid, and it was something about— it was something around like me taking
34:28
like AP math or something like that in, in middle
34:32
school. And, um, I didn't really want to take it.
34:36
I was like, no, I suck at math. And then she told me, um,
34:39
you know, if you— even if you don't think you can do it, if you
34:42
put yourself in a position where you have no choice, you'd be surprised at what
34:45
you can actually accomplish. And I mean, I didn't take
34:49
the math class. I mean, that's of course impossible,
34:52
but that's something that I always remembered. And anytime there's
34:56
like some kind of, some kind of thing that I'm interested in and want to
34:58
take on, I don't— I never feel like, yes, I can,
35:01
I can kill this, I can knock this out. But I just put myself
35:06
in a position where I have no choice and I'm forced to figure it out.
35:08
And then I'll do it and it's just a complete mess and probably
35:13
a complete failure. But then I'm like, okay, well, I did it, I figured it
35:16
out. And then now I've learned these things from my first attempt,
35:20
and then I can apply that to the second and the third and, and so
35:24
on. And so you're— I'm just constantly, I think, putting myself into places
35:29
Um, where I'm just having to struggle to figure things out.
35:32
Otherwise I won't do it. Otherwise, yeah, I'll just stay comfortable.
35:35
That's how you grow though. You've identified that. That's how you learn.
35:38
It's how you grow. Um, so good for you because some people
35:42
won't do it. Like, you're a little bit outside the norm with that. Most people
35:46
will avoid these uncomfortable situations and that's why they avoid
35:49
growth. And so you see that failure is not the
35:53
end. Failure is a lesson. And, you know,
35:56
it's like that sales technique that, you know, it's like for every,
36:00
I forget, like every 100 nos, you get a yes or something like that.
36:04
And they're like, my goal is 1,000 nos this week, you know,
36:07
because that means I'm gonna get 10 yeses, you know, something like that. And,
36:11
you know, I, I'm such an optimist. It's hard for me to aspire
36:16
to that, but I, but I do get it. And I think that, you know,
36:19
it's like that thing,
36:20
just just, you may not be perfect, but do it. Do it wrong,
36:24
do it hard, do it whatever, but just do it. Um,
36:27
and you're gonna learn from it even if you fall on your face. Yeah,
36:30
yeah. It's, uh, you know, take imperfect action. You know, like a lot of
36:33
times, like, it just— it was so common in fitness where people feel like
36:37
they— because on the surface it's a simple thing, right? Just, why can't
36:40
I do this thing? Why can't I just eat less and lose
36:44
weight? Yeah. But, you know, obviously it's not you
36:48
know, it's, it's not easy to do, but people are often,
36:51
I think, feel like failures because they can't do this seemingly
36:55
simple thing. And they're— they feel like doing it any other way, doing it kind
36:59
of imperfectly, uh, makes— reflects on them poorly.
37:04
When I started my fitness journey, I had a lot of gym intimidation.
37:07
Like, I, yeah, I really did. Like, the thought of going to
37:11
a gym— I mean, I didn't get near free weights
37:16
months till I was 50 pounds down. Like, I would— everything was a machine.
37:17
Planet Fitness, just the machines. The people who are actually doing the
37:21
free weights, I was just scared of the entire area. Um,
37:25
what would you say to those who maybe they are wanting
37:28
to start a fitness journey but they're scared to death of the gym? Um,
37:32
start with what you're comfortable with. Like, you know, there's— the gym is just
37:35
one tool you can use for exercise. There's so many other
37:39
things you can do. I mean, just take a walk. You know, you can do
37:41
that, or work out at home. Or maybe, you know, the thing that's
37:44
going to get you into it isn't even exercise at all. Maybe it's just something,
37:47
you know, diet related. Or, you know,
37:50
maybe it's taking 5 minutes a day to,
37:53
you know, meditate or something. Like, there's so many other ways you
37:57
can show up for yourself and to, to make yourself feel better that are
38:01
less, you know, imposing than a gym full of meatheads.
38:05
So find the easiest path right now,
38:11
whatever it is, that's, that's a little bit healthier than what you're doing now.
38:13
Even if it's just taking a vitamin, you know, like it's something easy, taking a
38:17
walk. But I would probably say of all things, the thing that's probably going to
38:21
be the most bang for your buck is some sort of movement or some sort
38:23
of exercise. So I would say to me, the easiest thing
38:28
to start with, um, would just be to take a walk.
38:32
Just do that. That's That's awesome. I love that. And that is a huge
38:35
thing and it helps. And eventually with the gym, I got to the point that
38:39
I realized no one really cares. Like no one's actually judging you
38:42
at the gym. Like most people are just so busy. They're in their own world.
38:46
They're doing their thing, knocking it out. And that definitely helped a lot.
38:51
Yeah. So I understand it too. Yeah.
38:54
Oh, do you go through that? Surely not. You were a bodybuilder. Well,
38:59
I understand how— I understand the feeling because like, yeah,
39:02
I'm comfortable in the gym, but like put me in like a, uh, a party
39:06
or something and I would feel, you know, completely out of place.
39:10
Put me, you know, so I, I get that. I understand that feeling for
39:13
sure. Yeah, gotcha, gotcha. Okay, that makes a lot of sense actually. And that,
39:17
and that's, that's good to hear too because there's, there's a lot of different ways
39:20
that we can feel awkward, you know. And, uh, yeah, it could
39:25
be a party, it could be a gym, it could be trying something new for
39:28
the first time. Um, and yeah, facing those things, if, if nothing else,
39:32
just knowing that you can do it, you know, just knowing that you
39:36
survived it and you learned from it. You don't have to do it again if
39:39
you hated it, but I mean, at least try it. Yeah, just, just think of
39:42
it as practice. I think that's helpful too. Think of it as practice. It's not
39:44
like something you gotta nail perfectly every day. It's something you just gotta show up
39:48
for and try every day. That's all it is. That's awesome. Okay, so I
39:52
have a small rapid fire section
39:56
for you, Ryan. So I'm
39:59
going to give you several questions. I want you to answer
40:04
the first thing that comes to your mind that is PG-13
40:08
or better. So, so let's
40:13
start with this. What is one belief that you had 5 years ago
40:17
that you've completely changed your mind about? V-neck. Ah,
40:21
nice. Are you pro or anti-V-neck? You know, I've been back and forth throughout my
40:24
life. Um, there was a period, I think in
40:28
the early 2000s, where like v-necks were like— if you weren't wearing a v-neck,
40:31
you were a loser, right? Uh, and but,
40:35
but today I would not wear one. Gotcha. Yeah, I don't,
40:38
I don't know that I have a v-neck. My husband Joe does, he has a
40:42
couple, but I don't think I have any v-necks. Yeah, well, um, so what is
40:45
your favorite book? Um, probably longtime favorite,
40:50
uh, was Lolita by by Nabokov.
40:53
Um, I was just a huge fan of, of a lot of Nabokov,
40:58
um, just the way he writes. Uh, the series I've been into
41:01
lately, uh, it's been Dungeon Crawler Carl.
41:04
Like, me and my wife have been into that series. Cool. So I'm almost done
41:08
with, uh, what, book 3 of that? So that's kind of been the book
41:12
I've been reading. There's like 10 books in that, so I'll probably be reading that
41:14
for the next, you know, 20 years. Uh, nice. Yeah, probably those 2 come
41:19
to mind. So, uh, if I pulled up your, uh, television right
41:23
now on Netflix Netflix or Prime or whatever your streaming service
41:26
of choice, what, uh, what's your most watched show right now? It takes me a
41:30
long time to get through shows. Um, I watch maybe 1 or 2
41:34
episodes a week, but lately I've been watching Widow's Bay. Oh my gosh,
41:38
I have a good friend who's in Widow's Bay actually. Oh yeah? Yeah,
41:41
you don't actually see her till the last episode. My friend Sipiwe Moyo,
41:45
she is the sheriff's wife. You hear her on the phone and then the
41:48
last 2 episodes Foolseer. Yeah, Widow's Bay is a great show. Yeah, yeah,
41:52
so I've been watching that. Yep, it's spooky, but it's really good.
41:56
Spooky, but yeah, it's also, uh, got good comedy in it too. Yeah, it does.
42:00
It's well written. It's well written. Yeah. Um, what does your morning
42:03
routine look like? Um,
42:08
I wake up, I try to get in some kind of
42:11
outdoor walk, even if it's like 5 or 10 minutes, depending on what I have
42:15
lined up that day. But I'll do that, and then from there,
42:18
um, I'm just drinking coffees and I'm talking to clients or
42:22
in meetings for all morning.
42:25
So that's it. Yeah, trying to squeeze in bites of
42:30
food in between. So yeah, not a very healthy or optimized routine.
42:33
Hey, but that's okay. You're growing. You're growing through it, and I admire your
42:37
honesty. You're like, yeah, okay, it's not very— yeah,
42:40
there's a time, there's a time for where I can be healthy,
42:44
and then there's times where I'm not. And right now has not been a great
42:48
period of, of health for me. Like yesterday, I think all, all I had
42:51
was like a smoothie and a couple cookies and some pork rinds all day.
42:55
So yeah, I'm in a period where, you know, my health
42:58
is not the top thing, but you know, it comes and goes. But you're helping
43:01
other people with their health. Yeah, don't take me— I'm not a great example.
43:06
That's okay. Do as I say, not as I do. I get that. That's— yeah,
43:10
I can, I can be that way sometimes as well. Yeah. So just
43:14
2 more questions. First, Ryan, if someone is listening that they feel stuck,
43:19
not necessarily with just healthier,
43:22
but it could be getting in shape, it could be building a business,
43:25
just wanting a better life in general. What is a piece of advice that you
43:29
would give them? I would say probably if— that's
43:34
a tough question. Is it fitness related? Business related?
43:37
It can be. Yeah. Anything in life. This business,
43:40
anything, anything in life, if they're just feeling stuck?
43:43
Yeah, um, I would say, you know, uh, don't get into—
43:47
don't hire a coach to fix how you feel about
43:52
your body. Um, that's something that you have to do on your own.
43:55
And don't start a business because you think it's going to make you immediately
43:58
rich. Um, I did, I did both,
44:02
and, and both went sideways before I, I found
44:05
the right way. What is the right way? I don't know.
44:09
I was just ready for a golden nugget right there.
44:13
I— look, I, I don't have golden nuggets. I'm,
44:17
I'm honestly, you know, uh, everything I've built with,
44:20
with fitness or within, you know, coaching or with the business
44:24
is I'm just trying to, uh,
44:28
uh, figure out— I'm just trying to figure it out, man. Like, I, I— yeah,
44:32
you know, I, I've, I've won a lot of games that made me miserable.
44:36
And, um, there's, there's no— there's so many business
44:40
coaches out there, but, and fitness coaches out there as well, and they can
44:44
give you tons of advice and you can have tons of knowledge on all of
44:47
this. But unless you know how to apply that specifically
44:51
in your life, in your unique life, in your unique values
44:57
and your perspective, unless you know how to apply all of these, all this information,
45:00
all these principles Until you learn how to do that, you're, you're only going
45:04
to keep winning games that make you miserable. There's the gold,
45:08
Ryan, right there. There you go. That was the golden nugget. That was—
45:11
I knew it was in there. That was outstanding. And so right.
45:15
It, it's all about identity and not trying to fit, not trying to
45:20
fit everyone else's solutions into
45:24
your problems. Yeah. You got to find your own way through it. And it's not
45:28
going to be like, it's not, I don't think, well, at least for me,
45:31
like it's something I still struggle with, like trying to figure out, you know,
45:33
What is this like? Just, just calling myself an entrepreneur or CEO or
45:37
whatever, I don't think of myself that way. I feel like that's sort
45:41
of kind of a cringy thing to call yourself, even though it— even if it
45:44
is what you do. It's— there's this kind of duality within me where it's the—
45:48
that side of, of myself, but then the also other side that's like,
45:52
you know, anti-establishment kind of person at odds in
45:56
my head all the time, you know. So yeah, I don't think it ever gets
45:59
easier. Well, I appreciate it. Again, I appreciate your honesty,
46:02
but especially your authenticity, Ryan. I mean, you're— yeah, you are
46:06
yourself, and that's, uh, that's refreshing. Um,
46:10
last question: what is one thing about purpose that most
46:14
people are missing? It might be, uh,
46:17
purpose itself, honestly. I mean, it's not something we
46:21
think about, you know. We get so caught up in our lives and whatever
46:26
that is, you know, just being busy in our lives and, and trying to maybe
46:30
just measure up. You know, it's easy to use these, um, these yardsticks
46:34
that are meaningless, right? Like, like the, the number on the scale, it's a meaningless
46:39
number. Or like, you know, what other, you know, what will your peers
46:43
appear to be doing, what people on social media are doing.
46:46
We compare our lives to these, uh,
46:49
these fictional things, and we get lost in that, and our purpose becomes
46:54
you know, a performance for other people. So I think just
46:58
having, you know, really thinking about what it actually is and
47:01
have— and having one, just having one is— I think, I don't know, maybe it's
47:04
just me, but to me that was something that was hard to figure out.
47:07
Uh, so I don't know if other people feel the same way or if I'm
47:10
just the one guy that's struggling out here. I think
47:14
just having purpose, figuring out what that is, and also being able to
47:19
reflect on things on a regular basis to make sure that your life
47:22
and your actions are always in alignment with whatever that is.
47:26
That is so huge. Alignment is so important. And I mean, and we can't
47:30
be in alignment if we're not being authentic. We can't be in alignment if we're
47:34
constantly comparing ourselves to everyone else on social media. I mean, comparison really is
47:38
the thief of joy. I mean, it really is. Comparison is
47:42
the thief of joy. And you can't be in alignment if we're not being ourselves.
47:45
So thank you, Ryan. Thank you for being here and for being yourself
47:50
and for all of your authenticity and your honesty. This has been an amazing interview,
47:54
an amazing episode. If people want to connect with you,
47:57
um, what's the best way to do it? Where— what are your social
48:01
media handles? I'll also put these in the show notes as well. Yeah, just,
48:04
uh, Instagram, um, poundcake.fitness.
48:06
You can find me there. poundcake.fitness. That is outstanding.
48:10
And I can guarantee that is the only Pound Cake Fitness out
48:14
there, I'm sure, unless someone's spoofing your account. But yeah, no one
48:18
else has a Pound Cake Fitness account. Um, well, awesome. Well, Ryan,
48:22
thank you so much for being here today, and thank you everyone for
48:25
tuning in to this episode of Revolution of Purpose. I, I hope that you got
48:29
a lot out of this. Go follow Ryan on Instagram and, uh,
48:33
make sure to tune in Monday for the solo show as well when we continue
48:37
a deep dive into mindset work, identity, and transformation.
48:40
Thanks so much. Have an amazing day. Thank you so much for spending this time
48:44
with me today. If this episode encouraged you, if it challenged
48:48
Or have it helped you see your life a little bit differently? Would you do
48:53
me a favor? Subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating or review, and share
48:57
this episode with someone who needs to hear it. Every share helps
49:01
us reach more people who are searching for hope, purpose,
49:05
and a life of greater meaning. And if you're ready to stop
49:09
wondering what's next and start living with greater clarity and purpose in your
49:12
own life, I would love to meet with you personally.
49:16
Visit johnstreet.org right now to schedule your complimentary
49:20
live Purpose and Clarity call with me.
49:24
Until next time, remember, your purpose is not something you find.
49:28
It is something you awaken to, and then you choose
49:31
to live it. Go make today another step in your
49:34
own revolution of purpose.