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Meet a Pain Specialist Turned Personal Trainer · Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Workplace Confessions Behind Closed Doors.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Elsa Barby.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm Don Andrews.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: We have been friends since sixth grade.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Somewhere between a car wash job, a few questionable boy choices, and 40 years of friendship, we became the kind of people who always want to know what was really going on, including at work.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Don spent 25 years as an employment lawyer digging into workplace drama from the inside out.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: I built a long career in the beauty industry as a brand educator with a few TV cameos sprinkled in for fun.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: We came up in very different industries, but we have the same passion.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Meeting new people and asking how they got their jobs, what they love, what they can't stand, and what happens behind closed doors.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Every episode we talk to a new guest about their lived experience in the world of work.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: And because our guests stay anonymous, they can spill the truth without the fallout.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: We get into the choices they made, the tiny cruelties, the surprise kindnesses, and some of the moments that never make it into human resources reports.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: Equal parts informative and titillating.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: This show stirs up all the tea while honoring the incredible, complicated, often messy work people are doing across the industries and across the map.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Workplace Confessions Behind Closed Doors.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Let's get into it.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: As Don and I are super excited about this coming upcoming guest.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, first question.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: What was your first paying job?
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: My first paying job was coaching fifth to ninth grade basketball when I was about 16 years old because I crashed my car, and my dad made me get a job so I could pay him back for the repairments of the car.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, back up.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: You crashed your car.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: I was a dumbass, and I just lost a big game, and I was speeding down this certain road, and the corner that I take 50 times a day came up on me unexpectedly, and I swerved, broke the tire off my car.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: It was a whole thing.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: But yes, I had to work very hard for my minimum wage to pay back my dad on that one.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so tell us what you do now, and then walk us from teaching or coaching basketball for fifth to ninth graders, all the way up to what you're working in today.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: So right now I'm a personal trainer.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: I do in-person and online coaching per se.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I think kind of a good line from how I ended up there was I was coaching a lot, like coaching basketball and whenever I also played collegiately.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: But it but it really made me, I guess it showed me how different people learn or respond to coaching.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: So when I started coaching at that young of an age, about 15 and a half, 16, and then I was a team captain pretty much on every team I was on in terms of like leadership role, it made me really realize oh, many people respond to different forms of coaching, or they respond to different types of leadership across the whole spectrum.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: Some people love, I don't want to say love getting yelled at, but they when a fire is lit under their ass, it motivates them more.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: Some people you have to take them aside, speak to them a little softer, a little more explanation.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: And then in between, there's a lot of in-between.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: Learning that from a young age and also starting from fifth graders and then interfacing with high schoolers, all in back-to-back practices really made me change the way I coached kids and young adults.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: And then I think that kind of led me across the different types of jobs that I had because I really started to enjoy it.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: So, can you tell us more about all the other jobs that you did have that brought you up to where you are, what you do today?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: So after I graduated, I was, I guess I'll tell you.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: So my first dream job was to go into special operations in the military.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: And so pretty much from when I was 18 to 22, all I did was just train like a madman for that and just do a bunch of crazy stuff.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: But along the way, I started to pick up or meet people that would want the same goal, and then they started to almost pay me to train them because I was seeing good results.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: And then they would come along, they would train with me, and then I would make them work out programs, I would lead workout groups.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: And then so that was my somewhat of my job from 19 to 22 when I was just in college and about a year after college.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: So, okay, I was like, oh, there's something here.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: I kind of know, kind of know what I'm doing a little bit, and I'm seeing good results with other people.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: So I started to get certified just to kind of have that.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: And then so my most of my, I guess you could call it clientele at the time was either special operators or people that were training to go into special operations and college and high school athletes, because I still kind of had my hand in athlete athletes, so it was more of that demographic of people from when I was still in college up until I graduated, and then I kind of decided the going into the military for myself wasn't for me, and also the birth of my son kind of facilitated some of that stuff too.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: But once I realized that wasn't the path, I got hooked up with an interview at a pain clinic.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: Since I'm anonymous, I'll forego the name of the clinic, and so had a connection there.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: It was a completely different side of demographics, right?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: Going from military and athletes to people that were in chronic pain.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: And the demographic was probably 40 to 90 year olds with chronic back, knee, neck, shoulder pain.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: And so I got hired at that clinic, and then that kind of started my journey to facilitate more of like general population or more helping people with pain as opposed to the athletes in the military side.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I worked at the clinic for I was the I worked at the clinic for about five years, learned about their methodology, posture, biomechanics, gait, just muscle imbalances.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: So like some physical therapy stuff with also kind of like a holistic view of the human body, and I became the lead therapist there for about two years.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: And then after that, I had left because I realized people needed a little bit more in terms of okay, it's helpful to help people get from eight out of ten pain, but then to get them from a three or a two to a zero required more nuance, and b, they needed to start getting stronger in terms of like weightlifting and whatnot.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: So I saw there's a bigger need for that for most people, and so that's how I started to get into the personal training side, and then I got hired at a private facility to become a personal trainer, and then now I have my own kind of practice and clientele that I work with.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: What was so appealing about this the special ops?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of people ask me that, and there's two sides of the coin to that.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: One is the crazy egomaniac kind of side where it's it's very elite, only a small handful of people can make it.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I think just being a semi-decent athlete my whole life with semi-good success, I was like, oh, I can do that.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: And it was a good challenge, and I think egotistically, I was like, Oh, I I can do this, and I'm one of those guys.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: And then, two, the other side of the coin is just I was attracted to the brotherhood culture and the team culture because I was just grew up in teams my whole life, and so graduating or looking past graduating and past college athletics, I was just looking for the next team that I could be a part of.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so that was very attractive to me, just being able to stay within a team dynamic.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so, yeah, that was kind of what drew me.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: And then once I started meeting some people and having a few mentors, they were really just people I looked up to.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: And so, yeah, that was just an attractive community for me at first.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a great insight.
• 9:12
  unknown: Yeah.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: You can ask something else.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, from my first question was as I was thinking was did you ever regret not did you ever regret getting in a car crash?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because I feel like kind of catapulted you into what you do now.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_02: I guess so.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_02: No, I guess I never regretted getting into the car crash.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: It did, I don't want to say waste away a lot of my high school time that I would probably spent just bullshitting with my friends in a garage, anyways.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: But no, it was I didn't regret it.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good question.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: I never thought of it like that.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Everything happens for a reason.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: What ultimately turned you away from pursuing a career in special ops?
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, going along to the themes of me being a punk when I was 16.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: I was still a punk when I was 20.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: I think I was 21.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: I got into a bar fight and I got arrested, and I had these criminal issues that popped up.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: Even though I wasn't a criminal, I had this one issue that was just part of my past.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: And so I kept applying and I kept denied got getting denied, and that took several years.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: So after I just kept applying, I finally made it through to the army side of special operations, and they had three boards.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: I passed two boards, and I was like, okay, I was getting ready because the third board I was expecting to be a yes, and the third board denied me.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: And the third board denied me.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: I had the option to reapply, I think, in six months or so.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: But then about one or two weeks later, I got a call from my then girl girl I was seeing that she was pregnant with my son, pregnant with my child at the time.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't know if it was a boy or girl.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_02: And so that was obviously a paradigm shift for me.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: And so I ended up not reapplying to the military, and that's actually when I started searching for more normal job.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_02: That was now then I kind of spiraled from okay, my whole life or my whole adult life, I'd been thinking of okay, I'm going into the military, conducting myself X, Y, Z way.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: And all of a sudden I went from, oh shit, that kind of got taken away from me, huge paradigm shift with gonna be a dad in eight months.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: And so I kind of had to re-scramble and figure out what I was gonna do.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: And at the time, once again, I've just been blessed with kind of a lot of connections and opportunities.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: So my dad has a good friend that ran the clinic I was talking about previously, the pain and biomechanics clinic.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: And he's like, why don't you just hit him up?
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_02: And because I kind of wanted to get into the strength and conditioning side, but I was still at the time set on still coaching athletes and military personnel, even though I wasn't gonna go in.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so he's like, just hit him up, and maybe he can give you some insight in just the general industry.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: And so I called him, and it just so happened that they were gonna they had an opening that was gonna come up literally a few days after I called him.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: He's like, Oh, or actually, this person's leaving, and we're gonna put a job opening up if you want to interview.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: Your background's a little different than people who work here, but I think you'd still be good.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so I interviewed.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: The VP is kind of like this crazy psycho guy, and my dad's friend, who was the clinic director at the time, warned me.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: He actually gave me several calls.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: He's like, Look, this guy's kind of nuts, he's gonna really challenge you in terms of just to see what you're made of.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: He wants to see you squirm essentially, and just see how you react.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: And at the time I was like a 22-year-old kid, and so I was like, all right, sure, whatever.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: And so I went and did the interview, and he's they have this big open facility, and there's just two chairs in the middle of the open area, and then the rest of the personnel were personnel, the rest of the staff were kind of in an outer circle watching us in this inner circle.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like on this little rinky-dink chair, and he was like on this huge, huge chair, and so he just keeps peppering me with stuff and asking me kind of normal questions, but it's semi-aggressively.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: And then one of the questions that I think perked me up, but also made me got his attention was he's like, I'm just not sensing leader or I'm not sensing strong qualities from you.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I just perked up and I was like, ah, I pushed back on that, and I gave him my backstory a little more.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I he I guess I was one of the only people to really push back on him in any part of the interview process and tell him, ah no, I think you're wrong.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: This is actually who I am.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so that got me the job.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: And that was just a another paradigm shift in terms of once again, just teaching a completely different demographic and then learning this whole new methodology of okay, it's not about deadlifting 500 pounds and then being able to run a five-minute mile.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's actually, can you connect with this 80-year-old grandma who's had back pain for 40 years and teach her how to essentially remove and get her out of pain and keep her consistent and more of that?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: So that took a while, but I wouldn't say it took a while, but it took me a different just into a different mindset.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_02: So that was the birth of kind of who I am now in terms of a coach or a trainer.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Did you have any personal experience that you could draw on when you tried to connect with these patients who were in pain?
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: That's a great question.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_02: So early on when I started working out, I knew mobility and flexibility was a huge part.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so from the time I was about 18, I was really training mobility and flexibility and just maintaining a lot of recovery ability.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: So instead of just, you know, banging my head against the door, I would take a break sometimes and I would rest as opposed to just constantly banging my head against the wall, like most younger athletes do.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so that I think that kind of set me up in a good way for the rest of my life.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_02: But I had never had any pain, really, like ever.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_02: And so that was hard for me to really fully connect with them.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: But I think I saw so many clients in such a short amount of time when I started that I just by osmosis started to really understand what they were going through.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: But then I did have one bout of back pain for about a week where I thought I was still 20 and I started playing basketball, no warm-up, tried doing some crazy shit, and then I was like, oh fuck, and just had a week of back.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: And so then I was like, oh my god, this is like peanuts compared to what other people are feeling, and I can see how crippling it was.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: So that was probably my first initial part there.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: And then I had an injury several years later, once I left the kind of towards the back end of when I worked at the clinic, I tore my peck doing jujitsu.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: So that was my first huge injury, first surgery, first recovery, and that really gave me insight into what a people face from the healthcare side, because a lot of people would come in just super frustrated with the care they're receiving.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: So I got firsthand experience there, and then being in charge of your own recovery.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: So at the clinic, we always preached you're responsible for your health.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: You can't depend on other people fully.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you can have a team around you, but ultimately at the end of the day, you're responsible for your own health because yes, you could have the greatest team, but for the most part, you're just seeing those people one to three hours a week, and you have the rest of the time by yourself.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: And what you're doing in that time really dictates how your recovery is.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: That was interesting to me to just see, oh shit.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_02: I had all this information in the world, access to one of the best mechanics experts in the world, who I consider one of the best biomechanics experts in the world, was the founder, and then the VP was probably secondary, and they were writing me movement prescriptions and exercises.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: But at the end of the day, it was what I was gonna say consistent with that.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: And so that was my big injury.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: That was my other big kind of aha moment of oh, this is what it's actually.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, those were my two kind of connective moments there from the pain side.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: What's the best part about your job?
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: The best part of my job is just being able to a I get a lot of fulfillment from seeing people succeed.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: So whether it's like reducing pain and they're able to lift a weight over their head without any pain, or be able to pick their grandkid up for the first time without pain, like that's a huge obviously for them, it's like monumental.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: And then for me, I'm like, oh, that just feels so much more meaningful than having an athlete being able to run a 40-yard dash a little bit faster.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like to me, that started to just really outweigh what I thought was awesome was like, oh, look, I can get this guy to run a five-minute mile and do 20 pull-ups.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_02: But what was way more meaningful and fulfilling was just like what I said, you know, this guy.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: I guess one of the you know, most ha or like fulfilling moments I had was I had this guy come in after like 40 years of just intense back pain.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like he was shaking, just like standing still, right?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: Just and sweating, just constantly sweating because he was just in so much pain.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: So I was like, holy shit.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: And and then after about two months, he was I don't want to say he was chilling, but he was like at a three out of ten from an eight out of ten.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: And so he was just like telling me all the things he could do and all the things he realized he could start doing.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so that was like the biggest, okay, this is where I belong in terms of this is what I love doing.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's there's that one side, and then the other side is just being able to connect with a bunch of cool people I enjoy actually spending an hour with and getting to know their life, their story, connecting with them on a more human aspect or human level.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_02: And then they teach they start teaching me things.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_02: So when I was preparing to take the step into doing my own thing, I got help from a lot of my clients from the business side, the legal side, the just the entrepreneurial side.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: I had a lot of clients that started their own businesses.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_02: So they were telling me, hey, just give me little tidbits and then offering help.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_02: So just having a network of people like that around you is been great.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: So that's been the second part that I really enjoy.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: And up with that, what is the hardest part about your job?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: The hardest part of my job kind of ties with the first part of my job.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's progress is never linear.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so when there's plateaus or even regressions from people, it's there's a lot of pressure I put on myself.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: A little bit less as a personal trainer.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: I really felt it when I was at the clinic because people were coming in with so many issues.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: And this was kind of their last shot before either having a life altering surgery or just not having any more options.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: And so there was a lot of pressure I put on myself as well, just self imposed.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: But I could kind of feel it from the client in terms of oh shit, it's week six.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_02: I was expecting this person to be here, but they are not there yet.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: So that was really that was.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Pretty hard to deal with, not to kind of let it drag me.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's the hardest part, is also on the personal training side.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, this person wants to lose 30 pounds, but are they maybe they're not making as much progress as they like?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm telling them, hey, there's these certain lifestyle shifts we got to make.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe they're telling me they're making it, but they're not.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so there's kind of a little bit of a rift sometimes with personal trainers and clients, because once again, they're only seeing me one to four hours a week.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: What are they doing on their own time?
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: And how can I, in a professional and courteous way, tell them, hey, you're doing a good job here, but can we make changes on this side, right?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: Can we walk more?
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: Can we eat more?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like kind of managing those conversations with can sometimes be a little awkward because maybe this person isn't ready to make that change or they're not wanting to hear that.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's a hard part, but it's not something that I dislike per se.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: So there's really not much I dislike.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_02: Those are the kind of hard parts, is having those reality check conversations with some people, and also when we run into plateaus or regressions, like keeping them same in terms of hey, like just part of it.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: This is just part of the progress, right?
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's always gonna be up and down.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_02: So having those conversations is tough, but there's really nothing I dislike aside from sometimes the random 9 p.m.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: text from a client and Instagram post saying, why aren't we doing this?
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: But that's just very minimal.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: Is people pleasing an occupational hazard for you?
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_02: I wouldn't call it people.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: No, because I do feel like I challenge my clients a decent amount.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: So I wouldn't call it people pleasing.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_02: I would I call myself a chameleon.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like I can shape shift into whatever it is they want.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: So are they a crazy liberal or crazy conservative?
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: I can shape shift into those and just be like, oh yeah, you're right.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: Like that is crazy.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like you're right.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_02: Or just shape shifting in terms of how they receive coaching.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_02: I wouldn't say people pleasing because I definitely think I take pride in like challenging the client in terms of look, I'm not gonna bullshit you.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: You're let me see your Apple Health app, right?
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: You're telling me you're getting 10,000 steps.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_02: Let me see, oh, you're big averaging 6,000 steps.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then you're coming to me talking crazy about I'm not losing weight.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_02: Well, shit, let's check your metrics.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_02: Look, reality check, you're not holding up your end of the bargain.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, I'll ask them, hey, what can I do better?
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: Just so it's not I'm not always on a pedestal in terms of oh, I'm doing everything right.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_02: I'll always have these check-ins with clients being like, hey, what do you think in terms of these exercises or how are you feeling with this style of training?
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: And a long answer, no, I I don't feel like I people please too much.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: I'll laugh a little harder at their jokes, though.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: How's that?
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's a little happy.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: Do you see yourself doing this or staying in this line of work for the indefinite future?
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_02: Definitely for the indefinite.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_02: Just because once again, I've been so blessed to just have a lot of people in this industry, they struggle retaining and acquiring clients.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_02: That is obviously the biggest thing for almost any job.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I've gotten really lucky with referrals, word of mouth, clients also just believing in me.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: So I've had a lot of clients that have left the clinic I'd worked at and left with me at the gym I'd previously worked for, believe in me.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_02: So they left with me and continue to work with me to this day.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: So some clients I've been working with for maybe six years, three different or two or three different career jumps.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: So that has changed the way I train them.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_02: So they've stuck with me through that.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that has given me a lot of confidence and foundation to say, oh, this is something I want to do indefinitely.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: Now who knows?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_02: If you asked me that same question five years ago, I would have said, no, I'm gonna be a green beret and I'm gonna be in freaking Iran right now.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't know.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: I do I am setting myself up for this as being part of my future.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: Now, of course, this will the job will shape shift into what it needs to be.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I guess that's the answer there.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Speaking of physical training as a whole, what is a myth that people believe about your job that drives you nuts?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_02: A myth about my job.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: I guess the a really common myth is I'm gonna be a personal trainer, so I'm gonna have so much time to work out and get super fit on my own time, where it's the exact opposite.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: The minute I started I step foot into the personal training worlds, I went from working out five to six times a week, sometimes twice a day, jujitsu and lifting or a run, to no, sometimes I'm lucky if I get I'm super lucky if I get four workouts in a week.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_02: Extremely lucky.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_02: So being able to manage expectation of being being able to work out a ton just because I literally spend eight to twelve hours in a gym, sometimes I'm not working out at all.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I guess that's a common myth.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of different myths regarding the fitness and health industry.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: How do you feel about the phase that we're hopefully hopefully this is a phase that we're going through where there's so many AI offerings for personal training on your phone versus person-to-person?
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a good question.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think I don't know, you get maybe in five years, people look back on this answer thing, I'm a dumbass.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_02: But I think my industry in terms of personal training can never be replaced by AI because the whole AI, yes, honestly.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: One of my favorite quotes from my men, I would consider a mentor is he says in terms of getting somebody stronger, anything works, but not forever.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_02: So literally, if you get somebody to work out consistently, shit, you're right.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_02: AI program, some bullshit program.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_02: It might probably work to get you stronger, but the the magic is being able to see how somebody moves, what they're comfortable with, what are their pain points, and what can they actually do, and being able to progress them.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_02: And then also what I think is what people actually pay for is the personal connection and relationship while they're working out, right?
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_02: So that I don't think can ever be replaced by AI.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_02: There's already, in my opinion, I don't love them, these smart fit gyms where you go in for 30 minutes, you have you go on these machines, and the AI tests your strength and blah blah blah, does all these gets the mistake machine and the strength to your specifications with this AI power.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_02: But A, you're missing the the human-to-human connection that I think most people actually really enjoy with the personal training part.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_02: And then B, I don't think you can replace true strength training and strength, true movement training in terms like teaching people how to move with machines and just with an AI dictating, oh, hey, you pressed 30 pounds last week, so let's do 32 and a half pounds this week.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think you can really dictate that.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_02: Now, if people want that, great, the AI will take that over.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_02: That's fine.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_02: But I think the true personal training aspect will never be taken over by the AI stuff.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: Do you feel like you're your client's therapist sometimes?
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_02: I think less therapists, just more like listener, right?
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_02: I'll I think it's out of my scope to give people advice on their life.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll just listen.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_02: But oh yeah, you're right.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_02: That's that sucks.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_02: That's crazy.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_02: I think most people just want just vent.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think they actually want to hear.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_02: And honestly, it's most people that I train are older than me, more successful than me, more life experienced than me.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like the advice I give them, they've probably heard a thousand times already, anyway.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm just more a neutral third-party listener, I would say.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes the clients are my therapists, though.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: I'll be going through most of some of my stuff and I'll tell my clients and they'll give me good advice.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, it goes both ways.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like, once again, it's a human-to-human connection or relationship.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_02: So it goes both ways.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: So now let's get to the juicy part.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: What's the wildest, weirdest, or most unforgettable thing that you've ever witnessed at work?
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: You're anonymous.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I know.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_02: So I got the the scariest thing to me, and then I'll go to some of the more crazier wild stuff.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: I got like maybe one or two stories that I can pull from the top of my head.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_02: The craziest, the scariest thing that happened to me was that when I was at the clinic, I was working with this 90-year-old guy.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_02: I'd worked with him for about six months at that point.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: And he'd come back from the cruise, he kind of looked a little weird the first session back.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you okay, John?
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_02: And he's like, Yeah, fine.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_02: And he would always fuck with me.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_02: So I could never know if he was telling something for real.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I had him doing an exercise we've been doing for months now, and he's like, I don't feel very good.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_02: And then he just full on starts to fall, passes out, and I catch him, and I'm laying him down on the ground, and he's like kind of twitching, and I'm like, Holy shit! And another therapist started to come in and he started to pee his pants.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, Oh my god.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_02: And so we had to call the the paramedics, they came super quick, and at that time he started to come to, and then yeah, I don't know if they gave him an IV.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think they gave him an IV in the clinic, but they started to sit him up once again.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_02: He would always mess with me.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_02: The first sentence he said once he had full consciousness, like, Dom, what did you do to me, man?
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, dude, John.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_02: So they took him away, and I actually had to step out and just I think I let out a few tears because I was so rattled.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_02: I thought he had died.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_02: Literally, he was 90 years old.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_02: I thought he had died, and so that was crazy.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_02: And then what one of my other stories was just one of my bosses, I won't say at the clinic or at the gym.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_02: We had uh let's just say they were from India, two older Indian uh parents of a younger guy we had been seeing for I think three years.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: So I knew this guy very well.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: My boss was just like he put on a weird Indian accent sometimes, and he was asking of all these kind of weird Indian semi-un ironic jokes and whatnot.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_02: And it went on for about an hour.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_02: So that was just the cringiest.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_02: There's a little there's always the little quips and remarks when you're working with people that are like eh, but this went on for a whole hour in terms of just weird India ironic but unironic prodding.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_02: It was just weird.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_02: So that was probably the cringiest, weirdest moment because I was just standing there just being like, yeah, well, that's trying to be whatever.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, a lot of kind of those situations when I've had two bosses that are just very situationally or unaware, then they'll drop some interesting bombs on people.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_02: I guess for the sake of the juicy part, I had one boss refer to a client I'd been working with to her face as pleasant as a vaginal itch to her face.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: So a little male, this was a male saying this?
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_02: A male saying it to a female client, and I was like just I had to just step aside and it was just part laughter and just part just whole.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no HR.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, little remarks like that have definitely been heard everywhere.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_02: Pretty crazy.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I think those are the two that come to top of mind.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: In any part of the career that you've had thus far, did was there ever a time where you just thought I'm not cut out for this?
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: Probably, yeah.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_02: Early on in both the clinical side and the personal training side, there's always just little bumps where you're just self-doubt creeps at fuck, I'm not that good at my job, or like I should I'm a fraud.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I think of it, it's like what imposter syndrome or whatever.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's super normal, but yeah, that's I still get it to this day.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like I don't know as much as I should, or if I am really struggling with a client, just whether it's connecting with them or getting them better, just in all aspects, right?
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_02: Getting them out of pain, getting them stronger, whatever.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe I'm struggling with them.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_02: I'll really take it home with me and first and just stew on it.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_02: And so I've definitely had moments where it's like, yeah, man, this sucks.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not good at my job.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_02: But for the most part, I think I snap out of it, and then I kind of see the bigger picture of oh, I've been successful here and there.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_02: So you know, easy to have those moments of self-doubt, but to step back and reflect on the whole entirety has helped me.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever fired a client?
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_02: I have, yeah, I fired I fired several clients because they're A, I've had a few clients I've fired because they're setting these goals for us as a trainer client, but at the same time, they don't want to pay for it.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_02: They are asking me to go above and beyond, which I'm fine with 100%.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_02: Let's do it.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_02: If we're gonna do this, we'll be a team.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_02: But if they're also asking me to lower their rate, my rate, or forego these other resources that I can offer or give it to them for free, uh maybe I'll let it happen for once or twice.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_02: Be like, yeah, sure.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_02: Let's do this assessment.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_02: I'll cut you a little deal if you've been struggling.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_02: But if it's constant, then it to me it just shows that they're not valuing my time or my experience.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_02: So I fired a few clients from that part, and then a few other clients I fired because they just are asking a little too much.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_02: They'll or I wouldn't even say fire, just be like, look, I don't know if I can offer what you're looking for because I'm not gonna work you out at a 6 p.m.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_02: on a Saturday or something like that.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_02: So some of the times are insane, like 8 p.m., 7 p.m.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_02: or weekend times in the middle of the day.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, look, I just can't do that.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll just tell them to try to find somewhere else.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: So in regards to self-care, we know physically you're in the gym four days a week now.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: How do you go home every day and just recoup from your day of working with different clients every single day?
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll expose myself a little bit.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: Fair, fair.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_02: So every Tuesday, today is it?
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_02: Today's Tuesday.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_02: So one of the little things that I do is I go home with my girlfriend, we crack open an olipop, crisp apple olipop, and we will watch Summerhouse or Bravo Reality TV.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_02: So right now, Summerhouse Reunion.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's getting fucking nuts.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if any of you guys watch reunion.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a 90-day fiancé.
• 38:49
  unknown: Okay.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_02: So we'll watch Summer House on Tuesdays, Thursdays.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_02: I'll sit down, I'll watch whatever it is.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's some sort of housewives.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_02: And then when Love Island's on, I'll intersperse a few.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a Bravo guy a little bit, so I'll sit down, watch it with and pretend I don't like it, and then I'll get into it.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_02: So that's kind of that.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_02: And then honestly, when I'm home alone.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_02: When I'm home alone, I just when I don't have my son and when I'm not with my girlfriend, which is very little, I honestly will just sit on the couch and just look at my blank wall for about 20 minutes and just kind of recoup, stretch a little bit.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_02: That's about it.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, kind of the guilty pleasures is definitely the bravo thing with my girlfriend.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_02: Or we'll go on a walk.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_02: Just little shit like that.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's cool.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_02: That's cool.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: If anybody's thinking of coming, getting into your field, what advice would you give them?
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_02: I want I'm racking my brain.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_02: Because obviously it's oh, you gotta know your know your shit.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_02: But I think more people go into it trying to know their shit as opposed to once again, like knowing who you're talking to.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_02: You can know, you can have a thousand IQ anatomy, but if you can't connect with this client and make them hear you, then you're not gonna be successful.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_02: So I think really understanding who's in front of you and how they learn is probably the biggest thing as a coach.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_02: You could be a really inadequate coach in terms of mechanics and all that stuff, but still have a great clientele if you can connect and retain people.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_02: I've run into it a bunch of extremely successful people, but they just know how to connect with people.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_02: I think the other thing would be like choosing your market in terms of if you want to be successful as a personal trainer and actually make a living, you can't, no offense, online you can do it to an extent if you're good, but you can't, it's hard to do so in small town USA.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_02: You gotta know your market.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_02: So for me, I live in a coastal area, you know, pretty wealthy area, healthy area, right?
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of people focus on their health here.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_02: And A, I've also grown up here, so I have a lot of connections here, but just knowing your market, I think, is really important as a trainer.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_02: You can't be offering rates out the ass if you're in a low-income area, middle income area.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_02: You might have to relocate, which comes with its own challenges in terms of going to a new place, but with no connections.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_02: But I guess that's probably the best one.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_02: Connecting and knowing your market is probably the best one.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: Good advice.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much for being such a great guest on our workplace confessions behind closed doors.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: I must say, from crashing that car as a child to being a successful personal trainer, congratulations on all of your success.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for sharing your story with us.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: You've officially joined the ranks of the brave and the bold.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's it for this week's confession.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: We've laughed, cringed, and maybe questioned our own career choices.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: Big thanks to our anonymous guests for keeping it real and reminding us that behind every job title is a story worth telling.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: If you've got a workplace confession of your own, we're all ears, hit us up at our email address.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: And don't forget to subscribe, rate, and share.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: Your support helps us keep the secrets flowing.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, keep your badge clipped, your coffee strong, and your stories wild.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is Workplace Confessions Behind Closed Doors.