Vigor Life Podcast

We live in a time when there's more information than ever on nutrition and fitness readily available at our fingertips. Despite that, obesity rates are on the rise and overall health is declining. If you're interested to learn about nutrition for transforming your body—or an individual you are coaching—you could go online and study the many reputable sources available and know just about everything about it in as little as 2 weeks. I’m talking about the calories to eat for certain goals, the macro breakdowns, the foods that make sense and align with your goals, etc. Sure, you may say there's more to it than that. But in that time you would know more than enough about "what" is needed to achieve your desired transformation results. Where things get fuzzy is in the "how". This goes for coaching too. To help you crack the code, the focus of this episode—and the next couple ones—is going to be the "how" of nutrition coaching. In particular, HOW to get people to move the needle and eat their "what

Dr. John Berardi co-created the number one nutrition coaching program and certification in the world, Precision Nutrition. He is responsible for shifting the fitness industry's perception of nutrition coaching, and is the reason many coaches are better equipped to help their clients succeed. I’ve been fortunate to call John a friend and mentor for over a decade. I watched him take Precision Nutrition from an idea to an industry leader, and learned so many things from him along the way. The majority of Precision Nutrition was sold not long ago for $200 million. After the sale, JB turned his sights to helping others in the industry that gave him so much – which led to writing of his new book, “Change Maker” and the launch of the Change Maker Academy. This podcast was recorded during my my fireside conversation with John at the Vigor Ground Fitness and Business Summit this past September. We went deep into his thoughts on... 1. The fitness industry, how it has changed—and continues to—and the thing

Kelsey Heenan and her husband Dennis are amazing humans. I met them over a year ago, and was so happy that they were able to present at this year's Vigor Ground Fitness and Business Summit. At the Summit, I got the chance to learn more about Kelsey's story, and how it led her to the work she now does with HIITBURN. We talk about it in this episode, but Kelsey went from being a college athlete, to a serious eating disorder—which she overcame, and discusses in this episode—to becoming a teacher, to now helping people take control of their body through the online coaching work she does with HIITBURN – the business she started with her husband Dennis. HIITBURN has since evolved into a worldwide phenomenon. It helps thousands and thousands of people globally reach their goals with a series of different coaching programs that are designed and led by Kelsey and Dennis. We talk about everything from how to recognize an eating disorder—or disordered eating—and how to address it. To what led Kelsey to onli

Methods are many, principles are few. Methods change, but principles never do. This is one of my favorite sayings. It also drives the direction of successful program design – for both your clients, and yourself. When it comes to program design, it's great to have as many tools in your toolbox as possible. BUT, those tools will only be effective when they’re used with the principles that shaped them in mind. In this episode, I dive into this concept deeper – discussing program design and some of the principles I use to build body transformation programs. I also give some strength training program examples. The episode is also the first part of my masterclass on program design and building results-based training programs. Both of which I will do more of—in addition to answering more questions about training programs. Dive in and extract as much value as you can to build your own training programs for both you, and your clients. Let's go. IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN: How work

I met Matt Dawson through a mutual friend and it didn't take me long to realize that we were cut from the same cloth. Like me, Matt is trying to achieve a goal that some would deem "crazy". And I knew I needed to get him on the podcast to talk about it. Matt’s journey started much like my own – as an athlete. Following his athletic career, he then entered the fast-paced world of investment banking – where he worked 80-100 hour work weeks and created a lot of success for himself. But life, as it so often does, threw him some curve balls which led him to discovering his purpose and the creation of two endeavours: the Dawson’s Peak Organization, and Project Seven for Soldiers; when he will attempt to break seven world records with all proceeds going to charity. Matt's goal is both simple and inspiring: to make a positive impact on others. In this episode of the podcast we talk about how taking on your own personal challenges can help you create the best version of yourself; while elevating those around yo

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is clear – altruism matters! I’ve shared a lot about how much it means to me – in particular, and how it drives my decisions in business and life. When it comes to the importance/power of of living selflessly, one of the people I look up to is Scott Harrison. Who is the founder of Charity: Water. Like myself, Scott's past includes a firestorm of heavy partying, late nights, drugs, and a merry-go-round of banal hedonism. Rising from the ashes, he made a massive change to his life – which led him to to the innermost villages of the poorest regions of Africa. There he learned of the world's striking water crisis – which led him to dedicating his life to finding a solution to that very problem. In this podcast I share 10 lessons that I have learned from Scott in the building one of the most widely known and efficiently run charities on the planet. The latter part of the show I share 11 models of evolved enterprises that for profit businesses can employ to “bake in” impac

On this show I bring on Marcus Harden who is not only an OG at Vigor Ground Fitness and Performance, but also an incredible human being. Marcus has worked in eduction and with youth for close to two decades. He inspired me to start the Vigor DREAM program. A scholarship program that I am working with Marcus to develop that will mentor, guide and support young men and women through accountability, coaching, fitness and performance. Essentially, it will be the mentorship program that I could have used when I was knucklehead and getting into trouble growing up. Marcus Harden is the co-founder of ACE Academy, a non-profit that serves young men of color – specifically African American males and other historically marginalized young men of color. ACE Academy is part of the initial cohort of School Foundry and looks to open as a school model in Fall of 2019. Marcus is in his 15th year in education, having served at multiple levels, including educational policy, school-based counselling, Community Engagement

When it comes to energy systems training (AKA “cardio”) there are few people in the world who understand, teach, and coach it better than Joel Jamieson. Let's put it this way, if Joel was a character in Game of Thrones, he’d be announced as “The shield that protects the realms of conditioning” – which is why I brought him back on the podcast for a second time. This episode is full of mind blowing insight that crushes common belief systems surrounding cardio with science-based truth. You’ll discovery everything from why good cardio is more important than strength, and how it can help you be less stressed, more productive and a nicer human. Joel also dives into how/why the current gym cardio models are doing more harm than good, and a tactic that will help you live 10% longer. This episode has a lot of knowledge bombs in it. So, if you want to change your mindset, training and results for the better, you don't want to miss this one. Let's go. IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN: The biggest m

Over the course of two and a half decades of being an athlete and coach I’ve done more diets and experiments than I can count. Every time I learned something in theory, I would experiment with it on myself, before taking the lessons and adding them to my coaches toolbox. My latest experiment: the Paleo AIP diet. This one entered my radar thanks to my friend Jay Ferruggia – who has been raving about how it has helped him. This intrigued me, so I decided to learn more about it before possibly experimenting with it on myself. When it comes to diets, I am tend to be a little more reluctant to try them because I don’t want to be "that" guy. With that said, I ended up deciding to give the diet a go. The final trigger? The words of praise from a few Vigor clients who were on it due to autoimmune issues, so I decided to do a 6-week incubator program with Paleo AIP as the nutrition foundation. In this episode I discuss the experience. If you're curious about the Paleo AIP diet you will not want to miss t

I have been a student of sales and persuasion for over a decade now. What led me down this path was a desire to be a better leader, coach and business owner – since sales and persuasion are crucial to all three. The word "sales" often gets a bad rap. This is namely due to the common belief that "sales" = forcing someone to do something; which is an uncomfortable thought for most. In reality however we’re all persuading and influencing and selling every single day of our lives. Whether it’s to our significant other, kids, team, bosses, clients, we are always subconsciously influencing and persuading people. Mastering the art of influence and persuasion (sales fall under that) is important because it allows you to make the impact that you are striving to make in the world. To put it bluntly: if you are serious about helping people, then you must study influence and persuasion. I dive into this topic in this episode – focusing on the 10 lessons that will help you influence others to create impact, and

Back when I was a personal trainer working with clients one-on-one I only had to rely on myself to get the job done. As long as I got results for my clients and hustled, everything worked out fine... until it didn't. As my business grew, I started to collaborate with other trainers and build a team. It was a natural progression, but it forced me to take a look at how I was running things. As I grew, it became increasingly evident that the behaviors I had built up weren't cutting it anymore – slowing as opposed to facilitating my growth. Essentially I was a soloist trying to play in a unified band – which never works when you’re working to build a championship team. With self-reflection I realized what I had to do. I needed to transform myself from the soloist, who's shoes I had grown accustom to wearing, to a conductor focused on strengthen the team instead of the individual so that we could work together in unison. Today I share five lessons I learned a result of that transformation. These le

If you’ve been around strength and conditioning for awhile you’ll likely know Joe Defranco. Joe is one of the OG’s who started the warehouse gym movement, became a trainer to the pros, and is now one of the most accomplished coaches in the industry. He’s been there, done that, and still doing it. Joe has successfully moved from a career owning and growing gyms, to one where he works with only a select group of high end clients. He also has also launched a number of successful online products and courses, live certifications, and has an extremely popular podcast, and a supplement brand. Basically, he has done it all. In this episode we get into how it did it. We talk about everything from what helps you stand out as a coach, the “old school” things that will work forever, the “new school” things you should focus on in today’s social media-driven world, what NOT to do, and how to build a career that is customized to what you want for yourself and your family. This episode is pure fire. Yo

I grew up watching my oldest brother play rugby – something he still does to this day. The current captain of the Slovenian National Rugby Team, he has become someone the sport respects. Growing up I would watch rugby with him; which led to an infatuation with the New Zealand All-Blacks. There was something different about them. And I loved the Haka they did before their games... even though I didn’t know what it meant at the time.

There are only two types of businesses: those who are going through tough times, and those that will go through tough times. The same goes for life. This is not just me being negative, it's me being real. If you don’t think you’ll ever go through tough times, you won't be prepared for them when they come. And if you're not prepared, it's hard to make it through your challenges as a winner. In today’s episode I breakdown 9 lessons that will help you overcome hard times and adversity in business and life so that you're prepared if/when they do come. IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN: How playing and failing at pro basketball taught me how to pick myself up and win in the long runSome of the roller coaster struggles and adversity I have faced with my fitness business and gym ownership and how I overcame themHow to avoid falling down a spiral staircase of stress, anxiety and confusionThe one thing you must focus on when things go wrong How to assess the narrative inside of your head so that you can tu

3 or 4 years ago I wrote a blog post with 99 lessons from life in it. At the time, I didn’t think much about. So when it went viral I was surprised by how many people enjoyed and shared it. Last year I decided to give my original post an upgrade. I ended up rewriting a lot of it – pulling from my notes in my journals, my voice recordings, as well as insights on things I had changed since then. What started as a blog—that I was going to write over the course of a week —ended up taking almost a year to complete. I am really proud of the completed project and am currently packaging it as an ebook – which I will be giving away for free. My hope is that you can take the lessons I have learned over the course of my life and apply them to your own—and benefit from them as much as I have. Since there was no way to cover all the lessons in the podcast, I chose 17 powerful lessons and stories to share with you. Let's go. IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN: How I approach each day and the lesson t

In this episode of the podcast I sit down with Vigor Coach, Theo Bowie to discuss the lessons we have learned and would tell our younger selves. We dig into things from two perspectives: What we would tell ourselves if we were a young coach just coming into the industry who is looking to learn and grow personally and professionally.What we would tell ourselves if we were a fitness business owner starting with nothing but a vision who is looking to build something that will positively affect people locally and/or worldwide. As a wise man once said, “Life’s too short to learn from just your own mistakes.” It's important to learn from the mistakes and lessons of people that have been there, done that, and are still doing it. Then apply those lessons to your own life so that you don't repeat them in your own life. Don’t get it twisted – you will still have to put in a LOT of work and face struggle, obstacles, and failure(s). But this is the true definition of learning from mentors. If you ar

I met Paul Mort in a business mastermind almost a decade ago. At the time, he was a personal trainer running boot camps in England and had built it up to 17 locations. He was brilliant — but at the same time — crazy, and a roller coaster. Throughout the years we became close friends as I watched him build and sell companies, all while struggling personally with bi-polar disorder – which wrecked havoc on his health and family. This all came to a climax when in 2014 he was on the edge of a cliff ready to jump and take his own life. What happens next is not only incredible, but also inspirational. As Paul took the step back, he made the decision to turn his life around in every way. He has since became unstoppable in the areas of business and fitness. He also saved his marriage and family. Today he is off the lithium medication and helping other men turn their lives around. Paul came and visited me in Slovenia to hang out for three-days and we decided to shoot this podcast because his story is too pow

I’ve always been a hard worker. What The Rock calls, “the hardest worker in the room.” In a lot of ways, I had to be. I was dealt a “bad hand” and made some bad choices because of it growing up. I was short but chose to play basketball anyways. I grew up in Communism. Wasn’t great in school because I had what many would consider ADHD today. My Dad was away from age 11 doing his best to provide a better life for us. And I was also knuckle head, so I chose to run with the wrong crowds as an adolescent and lived a life of crime for a long time. At an early age, I ingrained hard work into my identity. But what if hard work is not the solution to the problem? What if it has more to do with being strategic and doing focused work on the right things to move ahead in life? I address those questions in this episode. I’ve learned a lot of lessons from my mistakes. I've also learned from some of the best when it comes to actually doing what you want/say you're going to do. I share my insights from those exper

It’s important to get insight from multiple angles when it comes to fitness business, coaching, and succeeding as a team in a small business. To talk more about that, I brought in Vigor Coach, Theo Bowie to help answer your questions on coaching, programming, mindset, business, the things that influence our lives, and everything in between. Theo has been developing and growing within Vigor Ground for close to 6 years now. He has come a long way since he started withy us – from running our Strength Camp and Mobility programs, to contributing a lot on the content side of our business, and becoming an integral part of a special project that we will be launching later this year for fitness professionals; which I will be sharing with you soon. In this episode we keep things real. We share our insights from two angles—coach and business owner—to give you insight on how teams function and what to look out for so you can build the most powerful and connected team possible within your gym or business. This e

I've been playing basketball since I was a kid, but started playing the sport seriously at age 11 after going to summer camps for years. I sucked at first, but got better the more hours I put in – which grew my love of the game. The game, the people, and many of the coaches that I've worked with over the years have taught me so more than the skills of the game. They've taught me skills for life and building championship teams, along with how to apply that to business and life itself. All of which changed the course of my life for the better. Though I didn’t always learn the lessons until later on, I kept many of them logged in journals – which I still refer to often. I’ve also dived into a lot of books from basketball greats like John Wooden, Phil Jackson, Jay Bilas, and Kevin Eastman lately. I have so much to share that this will surely be the first of many episodes on the wisdom, lessons and insights one can get from basketball. I hope that you enjoy it. IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN: Ho