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This is Day 22 in my 30-day blogging journey.

The “why” can be found on Day 1.

I remember walking into retail stores when I was a kid just to buy the 7 inch (45rpm) of a single that had been playing on the radio. 

Both of my parents loved music. 

Dad loved everything from Eric Clapton and The Beatles to Dan Fogelberg and Poco. 

Mom didn’t bother too much with the folk rock of the 70s but she loved anything she could dance to. Through her, there would be Bee Gees, Raspberries or David Bowie.

I was born in the 70s, raised in the 80s and I saw the decline of vinyl records as the popularity changed to cassettes. This would carry my fascination through most of the decade. 

My first cassette purchases were Guns N Roses, Dokken and Warlock (none of whom I still actively listen to…). 

Being the collector that I am, I was of an age where cassettes were more interesting to me than comic books or trading cards (both of which I tried to collect but music won out.) 

Then of course, compact discs came around. There was better sound, new hardware to purchase and a different medium to hold.

CDs were larger than cassettes yet smaller than records.

But something else changed as well, the way that artists recorded albums.

Listening to records was such an experience that many artists treated the double sided format as a way to present two separate experiences. Track listings were separated based on something of a concept: that Side A would start and end in a conscious sequence. Flip the record over and Side B would start and end as a different experience.

It begged the listener to stick around for the experience.

Of course, cassettes offered the same ability. Side A versus Side B, the journey continues.

However, compact discs where a different story. Now, you have one disc, no sides to flip, no concept except the first track to the last.

Then, of course, came mp3s.

Now, you had convenience and portability and the luxury of having singles without any fluff in between. Who needs an album when you can just take your favorite songs from an album or an artist to create a playlist?

Now, you’ve removed yourself from any intended artistic merit of listening to an album from front to back.

So, singles took over.

In the meantime, cassette sales took a backseat as did vinyl. So much so on the latter, that many vinyl pressing plants went belly up or sold their equipment overseas where the Europe and the UK could continue to press records and meet the demand.

Compact discs would gradually fade too.

None of these mediums left completely, they just became harder to find and less in demand.

But vinyl made a strange resurgence over the last several years.

It happened around the same time that streaming services like Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify and Pandora started to make names for themselves. On one hand you have the convenience of digital media but on the other, you lose the tactile experience of actually “holding” music and art in your hands.

Vinyl has become so big again in the US that the existing pressing plants have had difficulty over the last few years keeping up with releases.

There’s even the Record Store Day event which comes twice a year and not only helps artists by allowing first time prints of releases but also sought after reissues.

Not to mention, it’s a huge day for any mom-and-pop record store who participates.

My wife bought me a refurbished turntable several years ago and I started collecting records all over again.

It’s not convenient, it’s not cheap and it’s not practical.

But it’s fun.

And, it’s fun to be able to revisit my actions of 40 years ago, when I can grab a record, throw it on the turntable for Marissa, Jackson or Sebastian and enjoy the experience with them.

It “feels” different than streaming.

You actually have to engage with the experience. The records won’t play themselves. They won’t remain in the background like some curated streaming playlist.

And now, I get the experience of watching both of my sons enjoy something that I’ve been able to.

Sebastian has been adding to his collection, bit by bit and now Jackson is coming into the experience as well.

As parents, we pass a lot of things on to our children, some of which is intentional, some perhaps less so.

This experience is special for me.

To see my boys set the needle to a record, to stand back and hear that audible landing of the needle and to hear music come from those grooves…it’s a priceless thing to see.

Some trends you never expect to come back with the same vengeance that vinyl has.

But I’m not complaining.

Shout out to all the mom-and-pop record stores out there thriving and enjoying the resurgence. If you’re in the Akron area, make sure you show some love to Hollow Bone Records, Square Records and Time Traveler.

This is Day 21 in my 30-day blogging journey.

You can read more about my “why” on Day 1.

In celebration of our 14 year anniversary at RevFit, I’ve decided to take a look at 14 places where the information or guidance I may have given once upon a time with regard to fat loss was off base.

1. The Low Carb Solution: In my first couple of years of business, I attended a nutrition seminar in Cleveland. The professor teaching the seminar had seen great success with a style of low carb dieting that looked something like this: 40% of the diet from protein, 40% of the diet from fat and 20% of the diet from carbohydrates. It certainly wasn’t keto but it was absolutely low carb. I asked my roster of fat loss clients if they had interest in trying it. Many did. Of that group, success rates were high. However, many of the successful clients regained most if not all of the weight back. The diet was just not flexible enough for their lifestyles. I’ve learned throughout the years that there are far too many variables to consider when looking at what diet approach can work in the short term versus the long term for clients. I never had a solution for those who couldn’t adhere to that diet plan or even a strategy for those who succeeded only to see the weight climb back on. Now, anyone can try a low carb style of eating if that’s what suits them. I just won’t ever be as dogmatic about any one style being better than another.
2. Suggested Protein Intake: Depending on who you follow, some people push protein harder than others when it comes to fat loss. I’ll normally say it’s the second most important variable to focus on behind achieving a calorie deficit. Where I was somewhat off base was in how much protein I’d suggest for a person. I recall hearing something to the tune of: Take your goal weight and that’s how many grams of protein you should shoot for in a day. It “sounded” like a good idea. However, imagine a person who’s 300 pounds and they want to get down to 240. 240g of protein is not an easy thing to achieve. I average 130-150g a day and I’m not trying to lose weight. What I’ve learned since then is that this same person could actually do just fine north of 100g of protein per day. “Should” they do more? Well, possibly. Pushing protein higher can reduce feelings of hunger and increase feelings of satiety. That being said, too much rigidity around a high protein target can drop dietary adherence. I’m nowhere near as aggressive in pushing protein intake. I can help a client increase their daily amount but if they undershoot the goal, it’s not the end of the world.
3. Calorie Tracking: One of the best things to come from COVID was the fact that in 2020-21, I wasn’t able to do as many body measurements for new clients. As a result, the software I had been using, which allowed me to get calorie and macro goals for my clients would be less accurate. As an alternative, I started utilizing more 24-hour recalls for food patterns and simply looking at client behaviors instead of calorie tracking. If I were the one trying to lose fat, I’d happily count calories and measure/weigh my food. But I am not like everyone else. Some people don’t need to count calories and as an extension of that, some people have absolutely zero business counting calories (especially if they have a history of an eating disorder). Calorie tracking is a tool. No more and no less. I don’t use it as often as I used to and fat loss success has not been negatively effected as a result.
4. Is 1200 Calories Too Low? Ask any woman who’s attempted to lose fat about a 1200 calorie plan and you’re probably going to get a lot of negative feedback. Fact of the matter is: 1200 calories IS too low for a lot of women. It is also just right for many women and…wait for it…it’s too high for some women. What I didn’t understand years ago, which I understand much better now, is learning how and when it’s appropriate. Again, too much of a dogmatic stance can cause problems. Here’s where it can get someone in trouble. Let’s say you’re a woman who wants to lose fat and your maintenance calories are 1700 a day. If you wanted to lose one pound of fat per week, that’s a 500 calorie reduction each day. That takes you down to 1200. Will it work? Sure. However, what if you’re active? Should it be that low? Maybe, maybe not. What if you made a smaller deficit, say, down to 1400 or 1500 from 1700. Would that give you more energy for your workouts, keep your NEAT levels higher and give you better dietary adherence? This is where context matters. Years ago, I would have just blindly offered 1200 because it made the scale move. I know now that speed isn’t everything. I’ll talk more about that later.
5. What About Menopause? I learned more about menopause in my first six months of business than I knew in all of my years combined prior to that. Most of my clients are female and within that demographic, the vast majority of those women are experiencing perimenopause or are in menopause. I understood that the body was undergoing a fundamental change of life but I didn’t quite grasp how that affected fat loss. Well, that stage of life can affect sleep quality, cravings, mood, energy levels, and there’s the added bonus of more abdominal fat due to changes in hormones. Now, does menopause *make* women gain weight? Not exactly. However, all of those aforementioned factors can influence how women eat. As a result, dietary adherence can decrease and weight can go up. Many women try to fight back with a further reduction in calories and chronic cardio. It’s generally NOT a good idea. Yes, you need to exercise (preferably some combination of strength training and cardio). No, you don’t need to kill yourself in the gym. Yes, you need some stress management skills. No, you don’t need more caffeine, more alcohol, and more Netflix. Be kind to yourself, ladies. It’s the only body you have. Treat it with respect.
6. Genetics Loads The Gun Here’s the thing: You can’t pick your parents. If your parents struggled with their weight, there is a very good chance you’re going to struggle as well. Part of that is hormonal, part of that is environmental. It doesn’t mean you won’t succeed if you watched your family members attempt to lose fat and keep it off. It may mean that your path could be more difficult and it has little to do with willpower and motivation. In the industry, we say: Genetics loads the gun, environment pulls the trigger. It’s true but it’s not the whole picture. I used to believe that lack of adherence could be laziness or lack of motivation or “Maybe they didn’t just want it badly enough.” Sometimes, sometimes, that’s true. But sometimes, that genetic link makes it near impossible for your hunger signals to shut off. It’s like you’re trying to feed a bottomless pit and it can’t be satiated. What I know now about genetic links helps me. What I understand about trauma-informed responses to eating helps as well. If you’ve tried every diet under the sun and you’ve struggled for decades to successfully lose weight and keep it off, talk to your doctor about GLP-1 agonists. They are NOT for everyone and many people who are finding ways to be prescribed the medications should not have been approved. But for the people who have found success with them, I doubt any of them would tell you it wasn’t worth it.
7. Building A Better Food Environment: Perhaps you’ve heard of the “See Food” Diet? As in, if I see food, I eat it! This might be the best explanation of how our food environment influences our eating behaviors. If we have easy access to ultra-processed foods (think most candies, cookies, crackers, etc) then not only are we more likely to gravitate towards them but they are easy to eat (and overeat) without registering fullness. As mentioned in Point #6, genetics may play a major role in how our hunger signals and hunger hormones communicate with the rest of the body, but how strategic is our grocery shopping? Do we always keep these ultra-processed foods around because it’s “what the kids like”? I understood the importance of an improved food environment early on in my career but I didn’t put as much stock into it as I should have. How you shop, what you stock your house (refrigerator, pantry, freezer) with and what you keep within easy grasp can be the difference between success or lack thereof on a diet plan. Not to mention, it’s typically these snacks that become uncalculated calories for many people who are attempting to track their intake. The easiest thing for me to tell you is that if you don’t want to eat it, don’t buy it. However, I’m also a parent and, like you, my children like these foods. The next best things to accomplish are to buy variations of snacks that they might enjoy and my wife and I are less inclined to consume or just to keep them further out of reach. It’s not a foolproof strategy and it may constantly need tweaking depending on who eats what in the household.
8. Privilege: Once upon a time, it was easy to talk to my clients about purchasing/consuming organic foods, whole and minimally processed foods, or to reduce time and frequency spent ordering through fast food establishments. It alienates a certain population because 1) Not everyone can afford a personal trainer/nutrition coach and 2) Sometimes the less expensive, ultra-processed foods are the most economical option. That forced me to change the way I coach nutrition. Can someone successfully lose fat on a diet that is arguably not a nutritious as we might like? Absolutely. Is it ideal? No, but that doesn’t make it impossible. In a “perfect” world, we would all have access to highly nutritious foods and our bodies would thank us for the time and care we put into our food choices. But those choices are a privilege and not everyone has access, capacity, or income to eat foods on the higher end of quality. Small improvements can help. Reducing fast food consumption from 5 days a week to 3 is progress. Ordering just the burger with no fries is progress (and cheaper). Every small step can add up. Shaming people over their food choices is a terrible way to provide guidance and support.
9. Do Genders Matter? Let me say it like this: Fat loss for women is exponentially harder than it is for men. That’s not to say it’s easy for men. It’s to say that it’s easier by comparison. Women are often at the mercy of lower calorie intakes, less muscle mass, more cravings due to hormonal fluctuations and a societal disadvantage where (even in 2023 as I write this) thinness is still seen as superior to any degree of “fatness”. Men aren’t completely in the clear. There is still plenty of body dysmorphia amongst men and there is the constant nagging of comparison where you just can’t tell if that magazine cover model achieved that body naturally or with the use of drugs. Consider that a man may need 3000 calories to maintain his weight and if he wants to make a 500 calorie reduction for fat loss, he can still consume 2500 calories a day. His spouse, by comparison, may have 1800 calories for maintenance. If she wants to attempt to lose fat at the same rate, it pushes her down to 1300. That means that hubby can eat nearly double what his wife can and still lose fat at a good pace. It not only is a recipe for resentment in the household, it’s a perfect scenario for unintended sabotage. He can still have a slice of pizza and a beer on Friday night. She can’t. I didn’t have a great grasp on this early in my career. It took training enough couples to see the reality of these numbers. Suffice to say, support is crucial to success.
10. How Important Is Fat Loss? It seemed easy to me. Someone comes into my studio and says they want to lose weight. Awesome. Let’s do it. What wasn’t always easy to discern was whether or not it was an appropriate goal. Not every client will tell you if they have a history of eating disorders. Not every client even knows that they suffer from disordered eating behaviors. And, I hate to break it to you, but your average personal trainer who tries to coach nutrition has absolutely ZERO skills in being able to work with this type of client, even if they have the best of intentions. It’s only been over the last couple of years of my career that I even have a grasp on how to work with clients who identify with eating disorders. That makes me far from an expert, rather someone who has slightly more tools in his toolbox than I ever did before. Let me clarify this for any coach who needs to hear it: tools like intermittent fasting and calorie/macro tracking are straight up kryptonite for clients who associate with eating disorders. The main priority is to get these same individuals to shift focus away from fat loss temporarily, help them find a qualified therapist, help them learn to appreciate moving their bodies and not putting as much value on body weight or leanness until their relationship with food has been healed. There is tremendous value in a weight neutral approach to food and training. Fat loss is not a helpful path for all people seeking it. Heal the mind, heal the body, focus on fat loss only if it is appropriate.
11. How Fast Should You Lose Fat? Fast fat loss is almost always inspiring to see because it’s motivating to the client and it has the appearance of making the coach look like they’re very good at what they do. However, any one who has ever dieted knows that it isn’t just about losing it, it’s about keeping it off (not to mention, maintaining as much muscle mass as possible in the process). I’ll talk more about this in Point 14. Studies show that for many dieters, faster and more aggressive fat loss in the beginning of a diet plan can help with dietary adherence. However, some people need to work on other areas of their lives first. Maybe they need to make exercise more consistent first before they can tackle a calorie deficit. Maybe they need to focus on their sleep hygiene before they can even think about improving their food plan. When I was just getting started in this industry, I wanted fat loss results as fast as I could get them for my clients. The problem is: not everyone is “ready” for that. What may have looked good for my business may not have been what was good for the client. I’ve learned that any rate of progress is worth celebrating and sometimes, maintenance is progress. Each client brings a different set of challenges to the table as well as a different personal history with food. Learning how to celebrate and embrace slow fat loss, fast fat loss and the importance of maintaining weight can be game changing for both coach and client.
12. Appreciating The Individual: Client A: “Intermittent fasting worked for me”, Client B. “I love the keto diet!” Client C: “Veganism changed my life!” Client D: “I’m alive today because of the Mediterranean Diet.” Take any one person and they’ll have a unique perspective on the dietary philosophy or style of eating that worked best for them. Dogmatic approaches to dieting rarely worked for me (see Point 1). It was also helpful to note that a good diet for achieving a calorie deficit may not be a great diet for maintaining an ideal body weight. Each diet is a tool. Some tools work for the long term, some don’t. It took time for me to appreciate “meeting someone where they’re at” and giving them the space to experiment with each tool to see what works and what doesn’t. What works for me might not work for the vast majority of my clients. I think too many coaches make the mistake of attempting to wedge their personal styles of training/dieting onto their client base. It’s not a good long-term strategy.
13. More Cardio Or Less? I started my business in 2009, right as CrossFit was really picking up steam in this area. It almost made me second guess my style of training. I did try to adopt some degree of adding in more sprints and more focus on calories burned during a workout. However, it was a short-term solution. It didn’t help me gain more clients and not everyone could adapt to that style of weights mixed with sprint work. As my business has evolved, I let clients pick the type of cardio they want to do. Like running? Run. Like rowing? Row. Just want to walk? Go for it. If there’s anything I’ve tried to emphasize more over time is just making sure that the step count stays as high as possible with as little negative effect on overall feelings of hunger. Many people find that more cardio means more hunger. Not everyone experiences this. Sometimes, the increase in expenditure can have an appetite suppressing effect. Learning how and when to add more or remove more continues to be lesson in listening to the client’s needs and individual responses.
14. Rebounding Lots of clients lose fat. Many will regain some portion of fat lost along the way. It’s just a reality of the process. Let’s assume a client wants to lose 50 pounds. They put in all the right work: appropriate diet, stress management, good sleep hygiene, consistent exercise and they reach their goal. And…then…life…happens. They revert back to previous coping skills and weight begins to creep back up. There are some important considerations to make. Was 50 pounds the most realistic place to take this person? Maybe they can live their best life within current demands on that life being down 30 pounds instead of 50. Does that make them a failure? The success of any client hinges not just on the work they do to achieve fat loss but to manage every other aspect of their lives PLUS fat loss. That means that patience, forgiveness, flexibility and a constant shift in prioritizing their needs has to be considered. Accept that some degree of rebounding is not only possible but normal. Finding a comfortable place to settle and maintain can help remove shame from the process. While I was never the type to shame someone for rebounding, it took several years of data and exploration to learn that some arbitrary weight loss goals aren’t possible to reach and maintain. Quoting Dr. Yoni Freedhoff: “Unless you like the life you’re living while you’re losing your weight, you’re probably not going to keep living that way. And as a consequence, that weight that you’ve lost will come back.” Pay attention to the way you diet, the way you train, the way you speak to yourself and develop a goal that allows you to live your best life.

With over 15 years of coaching and now 14 years of owning this business, it’s of great value to me that I help each of my clients foster the healthiest relationship with their bodies and with food that I can. There’s more to life than the scale. There’s more to life than the constant battle for leaner. Some degree of fat loss may be the best thing for a given client. But we also have to consider mental health, social health, emotional wellbeing as well as what’s happening with the physical body.

(Photo courtesy of Diana Polekhina)

This is Day 20 in my 30-day blogging journey.

If you’d like to know why I’m doing this, check out Day 1.

Last week, I got to write about our Coach Mike Roder.

Today, I’d like to tell you about Coach David Cameron.

It’s difficult for me to express David’s evolution as a coach without also admitting my misstep as the person who hired him.

In full candor, I was not sure David was going to fit in on our staff.

I like to believe I’m an easy person to work for. I don’t lead with an iron fist and I try to lead by example.

That being said, the way this business operates probably runs counter to the way other businesses might.

We work unusual hours and the job can be physically demanding.

On any given day, we service 30-40 clients on average, all of whom have different goals, different personal histories with exercise and often different injuries to work around.

All of our clients have their own individualized programs written for them.

The coaches are here to make sure that everyone is where they need to be with the equipment they need to perform their exercise(s) and to be available to spot if it’s a demanding lift.

As you might imagine, every person brings a new dynamic to the training block and to the day.

We’re here to try and give the best experience we can to those sessions. It’s an upbeat environment with low intimidation and we’ve always been an “all inclusive” training studio.

But David was somewhat reserved when he started. Some things he grasped quickly and some things he seemed hesitant about.

I have always tried to lean on the assumption that if my staff isn’t performing at the level I want them to be at, then the fault is on my shoulders.

I even asked Coach Mike to oversee some of David’s work. Perhaps it was just my style of supervision that David wasn’t thriving under. I knew that Mike would be honest with me if he saw opportunities that I may have been missing.

Little by little, David’s work began to take shape.

I believe he just needed time to get comfortable with the operations of the studio.

With the benefits of hindsight, I realize that I just wasn’t giving him the space to shine on his own merit.

When David and I first started talking about opportunities here, he expressed his intentions of taking his lifelong love of martial arts and opening a dojo of his own at some point.

That opportunity presented itself shortly after he started working at RevFit.

In 2021, David officially opened Blue Wolf Martial Arts at the same plaza where RevFit is located.

What’s been fascinating to watch, is not only David’s growth as a coach here but also how he is evolving as a business owner.

Like Mike, I’ve worked with David long enough now to see him also get married.

David and I spend a fair amount of time talking about all sorts of things related to business, human behavior and even our own growth as individuals. Some of those conversations stretch much longer in duration than I think either of us anticipated.

I appreciate that while we may not necessarily agree on the same points and across the same topics, we have enough respect for each other to listen, to consider and to absorb.

David, like myself, is a student. He has things he wants to improve on, both personally and professionally and he’s constantly searching for answers to the questions he feels stuck on.

He’s embraced the community here and I frequently get positive feedback on the way that he programs training cycles for our clients.

It’s always been my hope that when I bring coaches on staff, it’s not just to have a warm body on the floor. It’s to have people who not only have the desire to grow and learn but also, to have coaches I can learn from as well.

David makes me stretch a lot of the ways I think about training or nutrition or even how I coach these things to others.

Maybe all of the philosophizing is having a positive effect.

When I look at how far David’s come in nearly 3 years of working together, he’s just as much a part of our team as I could hope.

Which is why I have to fall on my own sword in acknowledging that I almost cut the time short.

That would have been not only unfair to David, but unfair to our clients as well.

If there’s a lesson here for other business owners/managers, it’s to make sure your staff not only has the tools to succeed but the space to succeed as well. Let them have room to grow.

And to David, thank you for continuing to grow.

I’m not just proud of you for opening up your own brick and mortar business, I’m proud of you for taking each little step forward in your life to be the best man you can be to yourself, to your wife, to your family and to RevFit.

If you’re close to Stow, check out David’s dojo HERE.

This is Day 19 of my 30-day blogging journey.

Want to know the “why”? Check out Day 1.

Piggybacking off of sentiments from yesterday’s post, there’s another element to creativity that matters:

What your unique voice provides.

The health industry can be a loud one.

It’s a space where often the person with the biggest megaphone (platform) makes the most noise and gets the most attention (even if what they’re saying isn’t true).

That makes it difficult to position yourself as an authority if your platform to speak from is smaller and you’re little more than just a tiny fish in a rather large pond.

I was speaking with a fellow coach recently and she’s trying to find her footing in the industry.

Some degree of shyness, impostor syndrome and not feeling comfortable marketing her skills and knowledge is holding her back.

It’s not a lack of knowledge, it’s confidence and knowing how to position herself amongst the noise.

Here’s the thing (and what I tried to impress on her): The audience we, as coaches/health professionals, are trying to reach is HUGE.

And you don’t need a big slice of pie to make it.

You just need a slice.

Which means that competition only matters by how much credit you give it.

For the coaches out there who are afraid to put their information into the world, remember who you’re writing for: NOT other coaches but to your ideal client.

Some coaches prefer to write with lots of peer-reviewed studies, reference points, and scientific jargon.

That’s all fine and good but is that what your client is coming to you for? A breakdown of PubMed studies?

The advice I gave to the coach was to approach her content from a more inviting place:

If I were a potential client and I had a question for you about how much protein I should be eating to help me reach my goals, would you sound like a professor or like a friend?

I’ve always tried to operate like the latter.

What many people don’t know is that plagiarism is rampant in the health field. Coaches will swipe the work of others, remove credit where it’s due and simply slap their names on it posed as original work.

That may not mean much to the general public, but it pisses off a lot of people who put the work in to make original content.

If you were a musician, there’s a good chance you might write a song with the chords G, C, and D but how you play those chords matters a lot. Something has to make those chords not sound like you’re rehashing “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” from Poison.

What your left with is your interpretation of those chords: the speed, the style, the inflection, and your personal mark on the chord sequence.

So, if you’re a coach, take the knowledge you have (which is likely enough to impress and attract your ideal demographic) and explain concepts in the way you think will have the best effect; with care and empathy and YOUR personality

Your words won’t affect all people in the same way.

That’s ok.

Remember: You just need a slice of the pie.

My approach may not appeal to many people and I sleep just fine at night with that truth.

What I also sleep well with is the knowledge that my voice is mine alone; influenced by many and constantly evolving.

(Photo courtesy of Jason Rosewell)

This is Day 18 of my 30-day blogging journey.

If you’re just joining the trek, Day 1 can explain more.

I don’t know when it registered for me, but I have a prime time of each day where I’m at my most creative.

It falls somewhere between my normal waking time of 345a and about 530a each morning.

That’s not quite two hours where my mind races about all manner of things: the next blog I want to write, what my next Instagram reel will be, the email I need to send out, the post I need to make to my clients, etc.

My mind starts going shortly after I have my first sip of coffee, while I read a few pages of a book, scroll through emails and messages from the night before, while I wash my face, brush my teeth and throw my clothes on to head to work and during the whole 20+ minute commute from home to the studio.

Some days are better and more fruitful than others.

I find that the more I create, the more ideas I tend to have.

The knife stays sharp.

The problem isn’t what do I have to talk/write about, the problem is: Which idea am I going to pick next?

A few days ago, I did something that I haven’t done in over ten years.

I wrote an original song.

Mind you, it was meant to be a joke for a post I did on Instagram, a very snarky take on carbohydrates dedicated to people who choose not to consume them.

It took me about 10 minutes.

When I was in a band, many years ago, that wouldn’t have been a big deal. Some lyrics just came to me quickly.

However, in that span of time since I haven’t been writing lyrics, I’ve still been writing.

And the biggest difference between creativity with a blog and creativity for a song is the fact that you generally want lyrics to have a rhyming scheme.

As we watch the demand for artificial intelligence grow, there are a lot of things that can be created through algorithms and data and trends.

It may become difficult to discern what’s created by (wo)man or machine.

Honoring my creative process is one way to keep alive something that is uniquely mine.

I’m going to talk more about this tomorrow.

In the meantime, pay attention to the times in your day when you feel the most creative; whether that’s 10 minutes or 110 minutes.

Guard that time and keep it to yourself.

Use the time to create without limitations and without judgement.

If you’re anything like me and random ideas pop into your head at odd times of the day, make sure you plug some notes into your phone before you forget.

My memory may not be improving over time, but my ability to create has barely lost a step.

(Photo courtesy of Nick Fewings)

This is Day 17 in my 30-day blogging journey.

The “why” for the journey can be found HERE.

Both of my sons love Legos.

Jackson (15) has been a fan of Legos for years and while he doesn’t seem to have the same fascination for them at this age as he did when he was younger, he still will pick them up at stores to work on.

Sebastian (5) just started getting into them. He doesn’t have the same patience (yet) that his big brother did but he’s getting there, slowly but surely.

There’s one distinct difference between the two boys when it comes to building Legos.

Jackson will only follow the directions from what’s provided on the set. He rarely, if ever, will free build.

Sebastian, by comparison, will happily do both. He’ll follow the instructions AND he’ll build items with his own imagination.

Because Sebastian gets frustrated more easily with following the instructions for a set, I’ve had to help him a few times.

There’s a sense of calm that comes over you when you’re working on them.

Mind you, I’m helping him put together a kit that’s sold for ages 6 and up, but there’s a certain wonder in putting all of these tiny little blocks together to form something that has not quite taken shape yet.

Much like putting together a puzzle, things only tend to fit a certain way.

However, there’s a lesson from Legos in both life and work.

Which kind of person are you?

Are you a rule follower: the person who needs the guidelines and systems to put things together in a strategic way?

Or are you a creative: the person who needs to free build and let things happen spontaneously so you can find the flow in the process?

Of course, you don’t have to be exclusively one or the other. You may have areas of your life where you lean to one side more than another.

Rules and guidelines can be helpful. They can give structure and order when there’s a sense of chaos.

A sense of creativity matters, too. Life isn’t black and white, we need to know where to ebb and flow in the gray areas (and when to add color).

Because I spend much of my days coaching strength training and nutrition, the same concepts can apply.

There’s value in structured training plans and there’s value in just winging it to move for a sense of feel as opposed to a quantitative measurement.

There’s value in calorie counting and meal plans, just as there is value in trusting or listening to your hunger signals and your body’s feedback when you eat certain foods.

The next time you’re at the store, buy a Lego set. Expect to spend $30-50 for something that interests you, whether it’s a Star Wars ship or a Harry Potter set.

And as you’re building that set, think about the process that appeal to you most: the structured plan or the ability to free build.

And what does that say about how you approach your life as well?

This is Day 16 in my 30-day blogging journey.

If you’d like to know why I’m doing this, read Day 1.

I never considered how amazing it was that certain businesses would hire individuals with developmental disabilities (DD) until I had a child on the spectrum. 

Nowadays, I can walk into my local grocer (shout out to Giant Eagle) or large chain retailer like Target or Wal-Mart and see someone with disabilities working there. 

It always make me smile. 

Of course, those are more visible examples. 

I work with clients who have DD and one helps package products for a local essential oil supplier while another does janitorial work at a nearby university. 

In many cases, it helps when the job has a great deal of structure and routine to it. What might be considered boring and mundane for someone who is neuro-typical, can be great for someone who has DD because there is consistency to the job. 

There’s even been some conversation in our family about getting my oldest, Jackson (15), to start working this summer. My mother owns a flower shop and I have my personal training studio. 

We can find work for him to do that gives him some responsibility, interaction with the public and the ability to learn new skills for a paycheck. 

I can’t put into words what that might feel like to have him help me at my studio so that my clients can engage with him on his shifts. 

It’s a reminder that, when many people are searching for good help, maybe they need to think outside of the box for ways that someone who has DD can be of service. 

It can help that individual, it may be of tremendous help to their family and, I think it makes the company look good as well. 

As we hear in the autism community: Different, Not Less. 

To all the companies proudly hiring those with DD, thank you. 

Stay “special”. 

Featured below, one of our aforementioned clients, Butch, making his deadlift “debut” with a 225×1 lift.

This is Day 15 in my 30-day blogging journey.

If you’re just now reading these, check out Day 1.

I used to love going to concerts.

I saw my first show when I was around 10 or 11 years old with my parents.

It was Mr. Mister headlining with The Bangles as openers.

Do you feel old yet?

Over three decades later, I know I’ve logged hundred of concerts since.

When my wife and I started dating we saw a lot of shows, too.

And, then, life starts to get in the way as does the prioritization of finances.

COVID aside, we see very few concerts now.

That being said, I’m a strange type of music fan.

Most (not all) of the bands I listen to are either not popular or are no longer popular (if we’re gauging against sell-out tours by artists like Taylor Swift, Imagine Dragons, Chris Stapleton or the Dave Matthews Band).

Which means, many of the shows I’d like to see or have seen are at smaller venues where the only option is standing room only so that you can push and jostle your way to the front (or simply be pushed and jostled back by a more aggressive fan).

And as I get older (or more selective), I just don’t want to fight those crowds much longer.

Never mind the fact that when I was younger or even in those early dating days with Marissa, we’d be up close & personal with bands like Bayside and I Am The Avalanche or watching up & comers like Father John Misty pull off an opening acoustic set for a larger band at the time.

Now, on the few times that we strike out to see a show, you opt to be seated and possibly closer to the stage, all at a higher cost because as I write this in 2023, EVERY THING is more expensive.

So, it leads into the question I started this article with: What will you pay for an experience?

How do you justify the expense?

With concerts, it’s the cost of the tickets, any associated (and outlandish) fees for those tickets, it’s looking to see where you’ll be seated, if you’ll have a good view, if the sound will be good enough based on the venue, how long the commute is to the venue, whether or not you’ll need lodging the night of the show, parking fees, snagging a babysitter for the kids, and whether or not you’ll be dining ahead of time or stomaching the expense of food and drinks at the show.

There’s also consideration of: how often does this artist tour, how often do they come close to where you live, how much longer do you think they’ll be putting on shows before retirement, and can they still pull it off like they used to?

All that to say, the Mrs and I will be heading to Cincinnati in July to see Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds co-headline with Garbage and opening act Metric.

I was fortunate to see Noel when he was part of Oasis a total of four times before they disbanded. This show will mark my fourth time seeing him and my first time to see the other two bands. Our seats will be close but not quite as close as we were when Noel toured for his first album outside of Oasis.

It’s a lot of time and money to spend over 8 concerts total, all memorable in their own rights for completely different reasons.

And I know I don’t hold a candle to those who follow bands like Dave Matthews, Phish or what used to be The Grateful Dead.

Like a lot of things in life, you pay a price for an experience.

Make the experience a good one.

This is Day 14 in my 30-day blogging journey.

If you missed the “why”, check out Day 1.

Mike Roder started working with me in 2017.

At the time, he was wrapping up his Bachelor’s in Exercise Science at Kent State University. He would work third shift at a retail store, drive home, sleep for a few hours and then drive into the studio to help me out with the training blocks here.

Mike caught on to how the flow of the business worked early on.

It may have been his second week here and we were looking at client training sheets during a busy block. I was going to show him a trajectory of where to take the weights for a client when he explained to me what he was trying to do. I looked at him with something of a blank stare: “I’ve got you, J. I know how your mind works.”

And he was right.

Mike and I have always been able to work well together and we have a complementary but different way of training.

One thing I discovered shortly after bringing him on was that he was intensely passionate about sports.

You would see a total shift in his demeanor from the Mike that would talk to you about the weather and school to the Mike that would talk to you about sports. It was a 180 degree turn.

However, despite his love of football, baseball or basketball, Mike knew that he wanted to continue his education with a Masters focus in cardiac rehab. The goal was to be able to work in a hospital or clinic to help patients with heart issues resume their normal lives during and after being under doctor’s care.

And, at the same time, in the past nearly six years, Mike has gone from intern to coach to business owner.

When his work in cardiac rehab began to scale beyond 30 hours a week, he reduced his time working with me and began building a clientele of his own: youth athletes.

So, now Mike works full time at the hospital and part time coaching his roster of kids.

He’s also happily married now and the proud father to a beautiful two year old girl.

Throughout our time together, I’ve been transparent about how I run my business and he’s seen (or heard) it all: the good, the bad, the frustrating and the exciting. If there was something I did wrong, I told him or showed him so he could keep from making the same mistakes I did.

Within those lessons, he paid quiet attention to the things I did “right”. He didn’t always talk about it. He would just ask questions and absorb what I had to say.

And over the last two years, his business has skyrocketed.

It’s been purely organic growth.

He catches video and pictures of his athletes training and breaking records and then he saturates social media with the footage. He tags the parents of his athletes and celebrates their accomplishments on and off the field/court.

“I learned this from you…”

It’s the one aspect of my marketing that I make no apologies for. I post the things to celebrate: personal records, fat loss, you name it. If permission is given, we like to brag to the world about it.

It’s not fast growth, it’s slow growth.

But it works.

Of course, the service has to be good as well. No one’s going to show up if the results aren’t there.

In Mike’s case, it’s not just his athletes who are talking about the training experience, it’s the parents as well.

Mike’s schedule is currently quite limited, which means he can only take so many people in within a relatively short window in a given week.

It doesn’t matter.

The demand is there, the coaching support is there and Mike’s reaping the benefits of a patient process.

Nowadays, when a parent reaches out to me about sending their child to our studio, I always ask the same question: Is this for general strength or sport specific training?

If it’s the latter, I give them Mike’s number and say they’ll be in great hands.

If you’re local and you have an athlete that needs to raise the bar for their training, start following Mike.

And if you’re not local, give him a follow anyway. You’re watching athletes thrive and prosper.

To Mike, you already know how proud of you I am.

Stay patient, stay focused, your business will only continue to grow.

I’m learning things from you, too.

This is Day 13 in my 30-day blogging journey.

If you don’t know the background, check out Day 1.

Social media is a funny thing, isn’t it?

You’ve got the ability to connect with others, share pictures with friends and loved ones, promote your business, sell your wares, or just vent.

Let’s talk about the last one.

When you’re equipped with a voice (or fingers and thumbs) plus some variation of a keyboard, the world is your oyster.

Your social media page (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) is yours and yours alone to post what you like, how you like, when you like.

It’s also open season for anyone connected with you to view what you post, comment on what you post or unfollow you if they don’t like what you post.

They can also screenshot what you post so they have it for posterity…

One thing that’s puzzled me about social media behavior is when business owners/managers air their dirty laundry on their social media page.

Let’s assume “Joe” runs a business in an industry with high turnover.

Joe may not like the fact that he can’t keep staff on hand and, if he’s in the “right” mood, he takes to his social media page to let loose about it.

Now, if I’m connected with Joe, I might feel bad that he keeps losing team members but there’s the part of me that wonders if:

A) He’s “friends” with other staff members on his page who will see his vent

B) He’s looking for sympathy from other business owners who might commiserate with him

C) He believes that by venting, someone out there in the ether will be looking for a job and reach out to be hired

I have to assume that C doesn’t happen very often, but…what do I know?

Here’s my opinion (and anyone reading is more than welcome to disagree with me):

I think social media is a profoundly powerful tool for all of the reasons I mentioned above.

As we’ve heard: With great power, comes great responsibility.

If you have staffing issues, take it up with your staff.

If you need to hire people, direct message a few people who can help or reach out to a recruiting company.

By comparison, if you have to take to social media to talk about the need for help, try it with a positive spin.

Talk about the energy, talk about competitive pay, talk about your benefits package, talk about the flexible schedule.

But the venting?

You can do that privately.

Because when you need to hire again and your social media presence is indicative of how you handle turnover, I can’t imagine that people would be lining up to work with you.

Signed,

A fellow business owner who owns a business with great energy, very competitive pay, no current benefits package to offer and a very unorthodox working schedule (also with very low turnover).

(Photo courtesy of Eric Prouzet)