Latest / Tone It Down / What If It All Goes Right? TIU Trainer Angela Gargano on Resilience, Confidence & Starting Over

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What If It All Goes Right? TIU Trainer Angela Gargano on Resilience, Confidence & Starting Over · Tone It Down

• 0:00
  We always think about like what goes wrong with it, but what if it actually went right for you? Like what if you dove in? And yes, there's going to be a lot of new learnings and things along those lines, but literally anything is possible if you just decide to go all in on it and just learn.
• 0:16
  This is your weekly girlfriend chat, the kind that we all crave, where we can show up exactly as we are, laugh until we cry, get honest about the things we're navigating and all the private girl talk that we need more of. No pressure, no perfection, just real women like us sharing real stories with real connections.
• 0:35
  Over the years of Tone It Down, I've learned that the most transformative moments don't always happen in a workout. They happen in those conversations before and after. When we realize we're all going through something, when we feel seen. And that's what Tone It Down is built on. My intention is simple, to help you tune back into yourself, to quiet the noise, and to remind you that you're allowed to evolve. This is Tone It Down.
• 1:07
  Welcome back to Tone It Down. We're so happy you're here. We are currently sitting here with Angela, your trainer, Angela Gargano.
• 1:16
  Hi. Hi. You just finished filming workouts for the Tonered Up app. How do you feel? So good. I feel fired up. I feel like I completed all my workouts for a week today. No, like powerhouse, fire, like you just did like five workouts back to back. Yeah. With heavy weights. Well, 15 to what do you? Like 15. Yeah, we didn't go crazy heavy today, but we definitely worked with the progressive overload that a lot of you ladies have been wanting to do.
• 1:41
  Okay, so what can everyone expect for new workouts in the app? What were these workouts like? Yeah, these workouts are great. I feel like what's really great about these ones, you can definitely do them repeatedly. And a lot of you have asked about, and you're really enjoying the progressive overload style. So these are workouts you can do repeatedly, continue to increase your weight. So we did stuff with lower body for the glutes and everyone wants the glutes, upper body. We also did some quick hit ones that you can also do for your core, for your total body. So we've got a really great combination of workouts that you can just do over and over again.
• 2:11
  And also, let me reintroduce Angela, if you don't already know her, in the app. And she is a ninja warrior, a personal trainer, TIU trainer, and a motivational speaker. You were on The Big Silence, episode 156. So chill. I know, now we're over like 200-something. So I'm going to link in the show notes the complete story of Angela that she shares there so you can get to know your trainer more. But...
• 2:39
  I want to quickly just revisit the story of the Ninja Warrior and what you learned about resilience from that. Yes, definitely. So to just go a little recap of what had happened on American Ninja Warrior, I actually, I got on accidentally first. And then when I got on, fell in love with it.
• 2:59
  trained my hardest to get back on. Two seasons kept getting rejected, finally got back on the show and then went up tearing my ACL on national television. This is actually my second ACL tear. I actually tore my ACL also in college. So definitely resilience for me to come back 11 months later to be on that show was overcoming a lot of the mental barriers that I had. Yeah. Yeah.
• 3:21
  It was so much more mental than it was physical. And I feel like a lot of times, like, that's where the resilience truly is. It's not typically maybe even, like, what you physically see, but more what's going on in your head and pushing through that.
• 3:32
  Okay, and a year ago, maybe a year ago or so, we were on set for the Turn Up app and you were saying that, I love this about you because you know how to manifest or whatever you want to call it. You were like, I really want to do more motivational speaking. I want to get out there and share my story and motivate people. And within a year, you have...
• 3:51
  done that. I've seen you post like all of your speaking engagements. So someone listening right now is like, I want to try something new. And I'm so scared. Why am I worthy of that? Why should I go for that? What is your advice to them?
• 4:06
  That is such a great question. And it's so wild because if I, yeah, if I looked at it a year ago, I was like, I'm going to go all in on this. And I just decided, and it was very, very scary because it was something I, it's a whole new industry, new things that I never had seen before. I think when it comes to doing something new,
• 4:24
  If you're feeling it in your bones and in your heart that you need to do something, you have a duty to do it. You have to just go do it. And I always like to tell people, what if it all goes right? Like, we always think about, like, what goes wrong with it, but what if it actually went right for you? Like, what if you dove in? And yes, there's going to be a lot of new learnings and things along those lines, but...
• 4:43
  Literally anything is possible if you just decide to go all in on it and just learn and just going in and just learn. I learned so much in that year about the industry and things like that. And I mean, going from fitness to that completely different, different field, completely different field. You take what you've learned through fitness and your experience, and then you know how to speak about it. I really think there's like a correlation between fitness and overcoming and resilience and pushing through. Yeah.
• 5:11
  Yeah, absolutely. I mean, definitely no matter what, whatever you've done in your past definitely translates into what you do next. It's also really cool when you start to do stuff like that, you learn a lot of the gifts that you do have that you didn't even realize before. I didn't realize that just being personable and just really good with people would help me so much in the speaking industry because it's such a people business. Like that's truly what it is. And a lot of that equated from all the people I worked with one on one with coaching and things like that.
• 5:36
  So yeah, whatever it is that you want to go for, if you're sitting down and waiting for it and it's calling you, you got to go do it. And you got to just do a little bit of something. You're not going to have it all figured out. You're not going to have the perfect plan. You just have to start somewhere. I started off with cold emailing event planners. It felt like so weird to message them and be messaging people I don't know online. I felt so much anxiety around it. And yeah.
• 5:58
  Just because I stayed consistent with that for literally a bunch of months, got no answers back, it started to finally build up. So I think just really going all in on what it is and starting with that first small step.
• 6:08
  I agree with that. I mean, I'm always like, hey, what do I have to lose? What if it all goes right? Like, hey, and what if it all goes wrong? But hey, you know, then you figure out the next steps and how you, what your next steps are. Yeah. But at least you tried. I think people are scared of looking bad or scared that, either scared they're gonna look, like fail, scared they're gonna look stupid. That's okay. It's, you're gonna maybe not look great with some of the things that you just, but you have the choice to just go after it. So why not? You're never gonna know unless you actually go after it.
• 6:38
  And you're writing a book. Yeah. Tell us about it. Yeah. So I'm writing a book called The Hallway In Between. And it's the five steps to move through when you're not really certain what's next. And I think it's really important. And the reason I'm writing it in my keynote, I always say a quote, when one door closes, another one opens, but no one talks about the hallway in between. And my whole entire keynote is taking people through this hallway, like this metaphorical deep hallway, which I love because the story, yes, is I'm in the story, right? But...
• 7:07
  I'm taking people through their version of their hallway and where they're at. And what was really powerful is people were coming up to me after the keynotes and being like, I'm in the hall, Ang. Like, I'm in the hall. Like, I am there. And they felt it. And I think it's important, too. Hallway's always there. We go in the door. We go back to the hallway. We got to go to the bathroom. We got to go back to the hallway and get back in the door. Like, we're always moving through the hallway, Ang.
• 7:31
  And yeah, every hallway is different. I think what I've learned so much too from all the people who came up to me, and I love talking to people and like learning from them, like what they got out of the hallway. It's like the hallway can mean such different things for so many different people, or potentially maybe you're kind of out of the hallway right now and you're helping someone through.
• 7:47
  hallway like there's so many different pieces of it so it's a game plan on how to actually move through that hallway and not get stuck because what a lot of people do is they get really paralyzed like we just talked about and they they don't do anything they don't get started on whatever their next step is so if you knew you had a game plan to get through that maybe you would feel better about it yeah no regrets i'm always a big advocate of just do it just try like nothing to lose
• 8:12
  And sometimes you just need that day. And when you said just this, you just need to decide. There's going to be a day where you wake up one day and you have to just decide, you know what? I'm going to be that person who does it. And how do you get the confidence to do it?
• 8:25
  So that's the funny part. I don't think you need to be confident either. Like, I think that's what's really interesting about it. I think people maybe are even waiting for the confidence to do it. It's not about confidence. And I've learned that so much through even talking to so many people. It's about having that deep conviction that you're meant to do this. And even if the door doesn't open the way you thought, maybe it's going to open in a different direction that might be better for you. Maybe you're going to learn a lesson or whatever it might be. So I think waiting to be confident, I think you build the confidence while you go.
• 8:52
  Yeah, it's taking that step. Confidence doesn't come by waiting. It doesn't. I'm not going to sit here all day and be like, confidence?
• 8:59
  Are you there? Are you there yet? Where are you? Come down to me. I think what it comes down to is like when you think about what it truly is, it's the courage, right? You just need to, like you need that little hint of courage, that little bit of like that spark, that moment. I knew for me sometimes it was like a random thing I saw or somebody else and I'm like, you know what? They did it. Like, I'm just going to send the email real quick. Like, we'll just do it. Like, just go do the thing. It's that little spark of courage that can propel you forward.
• 9:26
  All right, so we asked the community. Okay, of course they're asking you this. What's the best way to start working towards your first pull-up without a bar? Yes, I love that question. I get that question all the time. And I love that you're saying without a bar because that means that you're also not waiting to have a bar, right?
• 9:44
  because you can absolutely build strength for your pull-up without a pull-up bar. I think some key things are going to be really important with building strength for like being off the bar. Make sure you have a mini band. A mini band is going to be like your, like really get a mini band. Also get a towel. If you have a towel and you don't have a bar, that's going to help with like grip strength and stuff like that. But a couple of different components. One thing, working on some mobility moves because overhead mobility, because that's where your arms are when you do your pull-ups, so you can do a ton of stuff with bands like
• 10:13
  wall slides and things like that working on I like to call it like stability so movements with the band where you're kind of going in all different directions to keep your shoulders like really strong and powerful and then you can do tons of things with like banded pull down so like taking that mini band and just pulling it down and working on movements like that to really fire everything up obviously eventually you need to get on a bar but that will help you at least create like some kind of base for you so this way when you hop on the bar it starts to translate a little bit
• 10:40
  Perfect. And you did a workout today that has some of those moves in it. I did. Yeah. One of the workouts I did, because I know you guys asked for it. So I made sure to, that was actually our favorite name. It was power and posture. We love that name. So we love it. So go do that one. Next question. What's your dating life like? Non-existent?
• 10:59
  That's a personal question. No, I love it. It's okay. You can ask the personal questions. My dating life is non-existent, but I am deciding since I manifested all the things I've wanted so far with like these past couple of years, I'm like, now it's, I feel ready to open up my heart again, which has been really tough for me. So I am opening up my heart this year and trying to date, although that's a whole ballgame. So I decided that yes, I'm going to be say yes to more dates. Yes.
• 11:25
  But I also am going to just make sure I'm really focusing on myself and the person that I want to become. Because I think that sometimes we focus on what we want from the other person. And that's great. But like, how can I be the best version of myself so that that person that I'm desiring can come into my life and I can give them the best support. I love that. Yeah.
• 11:45
  All right, last community question I'm going to read. Really excited for your new workouts. My question is, how did you become a TIU trainer? So maybe how we met through Liz. Yeah, through Liz Klosser. Yeah, that's pretty much. And I think this is why I think I always told her this. I had messaged them in 2018 or something on the app.
• 12:06
  about like, hey, I love you guys. Like, I would love to like come and meet you. I don't remember what it was. This was like back in the day. And it was crazy when we got, I got my message back from them. It might've been, it might've been. It's not my story. I did the same thing to get a job with them.
• 12:21
  See, you take the risk. It might take a few years, but. But it was funny because I got an answer to the question about something in Rhode Island. I'm like, guys, I don't live in Rhode Island anymore. I live in Austin because it was like 10 years ago. And then our mutual friend, Liz Foster, who we absolutely adore, I think somehow. But we've also, we've been in Austin. I think we know a lot of the same people. So that's pretty much how it went down. Yeah.
• 12:43
  Oh, man. Okay. So if someone came to you and said, I want to feel stronger, leaner and healthier, but I'm overwhelmed, where would you start them? Oh, I love that question. First of all, yes, it is very overwhelming in this space right now, especially if you're a woman in your 40s, 50s, 60s, if you're going through like menopause, trying to menopause, like if that is you right now, I'm so happy there's so much information now, but that's like almost too much. And you're kind of like,
• 13:10
  what do I do? Oh, I should do this. I should do that. I think everything comes back to your foundation. So before you try and do any hacks you see or whatever it might be, it's coming back to your base. And I think your base, I like to say in my keynotes, there's four Fs that I like to go back to your base and just like take a moment and identify like where you're at and make sure your foundation is strong first before you start trying to do a hack or a biohack or whatever it might be like focus on the things. One is obviously fitness.
• 13:34
  Are you actually moving right now? Like seriously, like are you doing like three workouts maybe for 30 minutes? If you do three workouts, three workouts, 30 minutes, that's only 1.5 hours of your week. I think everyone can do that. So get down to your base. Is that still overwhelming? Just do five minutes every day in the morning. I like workout snacks. Snacks. I love snacks. This morning, we were in my gym here and I literally came in for 10 minutes. It's all I had time for, but I did it.
• 14:00
  Yes. And it starts to become a muscle, right? Because you want this to become a part of who you are and how you show up. So fitness, obviously, number one, again, ask yourself, are you doing those things? If you're doing nothing, do not try and do five days a week right away. Go start off with a snack. Go start off with a 30 minutes or whatever it might be. But it only takes 1.5 hours a week. Fuel. Fuel is really, really important. Just go back to the basics. Again, you don't need to go and do anything crazy.
• 14:22
  Check in on your protein. Ask yourself, are you eating enough protein? If it's overwhelming to try and get 100 grams, because it is for a lot of people to start with, just start with breakfast. Just try and get 30 grams in the morning. Get a little bit of fiber. Nail that down. Drink some water before your coffee. Get that. So it's a fitness, fuel.
• 14:39
  Focus, meditation, getting back to the present moment, whatever it might be. Are you taking a moment even to take five breaths throughout the day without your social media, whatever it might be. And then the last one I added recently was fun. Like, are you having fun?
• 14:56
  Absolutely. I made a note for something for a podcast about the essentials of tone it up. It's like all of those things removing your body community, but then also make sure you're having fun. And that's the root of it. Life is meant to be enjoyed and have fun. And fitness can actually be really funny. Are you gals?
• 15:15
  Especially with a community like you guys have. Like, it can totally be fun. But yeah, going back to those things, I remember there was a really, there was a spark where I didn't really know what I was doing. And I felt, I was like really deep and feeling depressed. I was talking to a therapist and transparently, he was about to give me like medication. He was like, you're really low right now, whatever. I was like, is there anything else I could try? And he's like, I'm going to give you something to try that's going to sound really basic. And I'm like, what? He's like, go have fun again.
• 15:39
  He's like, go dancing, go surfing, go do things that you want you to enjoy, even if like you don't feel like you really enjoy them yet. And then as I started to do that, it literally changed so much for me. I'm like, duh, I got to go back and just start having fun. Because once you're in that moment of having fun, you're like, but what was I like pushing this way for?
• 15:58
  I think a lot of times too, when we get in these weird like states too, we want to think our way out of it. You can't really think your way out of it. You need to move. You need to get up and get out of where you're sitting right now. So whatever that means. So yeah, I'd say fitness, fuel, focus, fun, base. Make sure you have your base first. Once you do have that, maybe then start exploring some of the other things that you might need to do. But if you don't have that, like don't be doing a million things. Just start with that. All right. So what's the fitness trend you're seeing everywhere right now that makes you a little cringe?
• 16:28
  How transparent can I be? Very clean. Oh, man. I mean, the fitness trend right now, I mean, I just, I'm not against the GLP one fully. I'm just feeling very cringe on how it's being used. And I think it's being used a little irresponsibly. I think it really does help a lot of, there's a lot of women I have who are like, this has really helped me like get out of my whatever. But then they're not doing anything to actually change their lifestyle.
• 16:51
  lifestyle. So I think that's a huge problem. I think we have the same opinion on this. Number one, if you're taking a GLP-1, some really need it. And I advocate for that. But alongside, yes. Are you going to therapy? Are you working on why you need the GLP-1? Do you need the GLP-1? And are you in the fitness industry taking a GLP-1 and selling your program?
• 17:13
  I know. We keep seeing that. Why are we doing that, everyone? And you kind of can tell. And then you also feel bad because then I know for me, I'm like, I don't want to be like, are you on it? You know what I mean? Like, it's like a weird... No, we know. You're in this like weird like situation. So I say like, again, the trend that I... I'm hating that trend. It's making...
• 17:30
  skinny feel like the most important thing again. And I just don't love that. It's so prominent and I don't know how to manage it because obviously we all want to be in shape. I don't take, I've never taken a GLP-1. Don't need to. We all know through ToneRub, I've shared my journey of perimenopause, gaining 40 pounds and hormones and all the things and then actually losing it. And I just, I don't know. We got to be honest. We can't keep putting
• 17:59
  false information out there and false hopes. It makes people feel really bad too. Like it makes them feel really bad about themselves. Like what am I doing? And I think also, just to think about also the side effect for the GLP one, a lot of the women that I have who are supporting who are on it, they're so scared to get off of it because they don't know if they're going to have control. And I feel so bad for them because then you're becoming dependent on something. So I think if you're, again, if you're going to do it, no hate, no shame, but I think there should be a responsibility of whoever's prescribing that for them to make sure they have a protocol to help them
• 18:28
  on their journey. And again, obviously, it's not going to be like that because it's a moneymaker. So they're not going to help. They're like, stay on your journey. They're like, keep taking it. All right. So on the opposite side, what trend, what fitness trend actually deserves the hype? Ooh, yeah, that's really good.
• 18:45
  More of the strength stuff is in right now, which I'm really, really loving. Like, so yeah, it's a mix of like, that's get skinny, but also get strong, build muscle, because when you build muscle, that is health. So I'm really enjoying that. I guess that kind of goes hand in hand with, you know, some of the doctors being like, you know, go all in on protein so you can get muscle or whatever it might be. So I do like those. I'm liking those trends a lot more because it's teaching you like, yes, you need to eat more and make muscle. And it's breaking that myth of lifting will make you bulky. Yeah.
• 19:14
  Like we know, I can't lift enough. I'm 45 now and I got to lift and eat protein to keep any muscle on. A thousand percent. And you do, and you need, and that muscle is going to be so important for you to get because that is what is going to help you. But your metabolism is going to help you stay healthy and plimate your kids and all these different pieces. So yeah, so I'm loving that idea of like that strong is actually in more because I knew when I grew up, it was not in. I had really muscular arms then because of gymnastics and I got made fun of all the time.
• 19:43
  And I hid my body all the time. So it's kind of nice where I'm like, oh, like, people are like more into like what strong looks like now, which is great. Yeah. Yes. I like that. Strength is in. Skinny is in. And now can we find a balance with everything? But that's not dramatic enough for social media, right? Yeah.
• 20:04
  All right, we're going to hit some fitness myths that need to retire, perhaps. We already touched on weight's making you bulky. We discussed that. Okay, you need to work out for an hour for it to count. No, not at all. I don't even know the last time I worked out for an hour was, to be honest. Cardio is the best way to lose weight. No. What if?
• 20:25
  I mean, I feel like it's strength training, eating right. And then I like to call the cardio as like a snack almost. Like that cardio is a snack. It's a little, it's additive to try and figure out like some kind of in-between, but it's not, if you just do cardio, it's going to be not good. Myth, you can spot reduce fat.
• 20:42
  No, I see that all the time. I'm not targeting right here on my belly. It's not true. I'm sorry, guys. I'm so sorry. I wish you could, you know, but you can't. No, you can't. Like that comes off like an onion peeling all over your body little by little. I mean, if we could spot reduce the belly, everyone would be in fitness heaven. Yeah. Sorry, guys. All right. Myth or not, walking isn't enough.
• 21:10
  I think walking can totally be enough. Yeah. Like, I mean, obviously I want you to try and do strength training, but if you've got nothing else and you can go for a walk, like go outside and go for a walk. Yeah. All right. And final question. If someone listening feels stuck, intimidated, or like they're starting over again, what's the one thing you want them to remember? Oh, man. Start intimidated or like even like probably thinking that. I think that.
• 21:34
  Not comparing yourself to other people or comparing yourself to your past self and not dwelling on that. I think that's where a lot of things happen. They're like comparing yourself to everything like that. Take a look at you, you versus you right now, and think about whatever the next first step is and the action you need to take to get there. Not the thing you need to lose or lose weight. What is the action step you need to do to propel you forward and focus on that instead of everyone else? What is your next step forward?
• 22:01
  Is it just getting one workout in? I think that's like the mindset you need to have with it. Well said. Thank you, Angela Gargano for being on Tone It Down. Tone It Down. Workout with Angela. And where can we find you elsewhere? At Angela underscore Gargano. And maybe on some stages if I see you. If you're ever in the audience, I speak all the time. I would love to meet you. Thank you.