Unknown Speaker 0:00
Go ahead is the new year looking for you,
Unknown Speaker 0:02
the new year looking for me. fast, very fast. A good fast, but I think we're talking about this before we jumped on here. So I was expecting as a gym owner and particular CrossFit gym owner, I was expecting January is usually, you know, not super busy, like you get a few people coming in here and there. But it's historically it's not one of our busy months. Usually, as we get close to like March, April, that's when things like really ramp up, but I don't know if it's COVID or, or what, but for some reason, this January is unique. And we had the new year over the weekend. And then we come into Monday, and it was like, boom, boom, boom. Everything just came in hot, there were new people starting up. And I've chatted with all those people, and they've all you know, had different answers as to why like, you know, now was the time to start for them. But I almost feel like people are waking up to the idea that it's not just like fitness that they need to do, they kind of need like a lifestyle shift. And some of that has to do with like, being around like minded people. Sometimes when people work out on their own, they go to the gym by themselves, they don't really connect with others, or there's no opportunity to make connections. And some of these people have been working from home for a while. So they don't have any separation between like, exercise, and work and home. So they need a place to come to where they can just let loose. So that's what I'm seeing. I'm seeing people trickling in where they, they've come to conclusion, they just need something completely different than what they've always done.
Nick Sanders 2:06
That's interesting. I mean, it almost maximizes the effect of what your like, the home workouts are convenient. Right? But if home and work are both at home, you need something to change. Right? You need something to get out. Yeah, that's true.
Unknown Speaker 2:21
I I know for me, there's only so much of home I can take like, that would upset my wife to
Nick Sanders 2:28
he doesn't watch these anyway, does she? Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 2:32
I'm sorry. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, she would be the first one to say this as well, like, she wants to be working in an office, she wants to be out of the apartment. So like coming to the gym, and particularly for my wife is a very important thing because it gives her an opportunity just to like get out and be somewhere different and see people you know, most of us are no different from you know each other in the fact that like, we do need some kind of human connection, even if we consider ourselves like very introverted or very private people. It's still nice to like see other faces, especially if those are faces that like you get along with and you generally like being around. Sometimes you don't like being around your family all the time. It happens. So when you can see people that yet are like minded and like you you just enjoy spending time with it's, it makes for like the best hour of your day.
Nick Sanders 3:34
Yeah, how have you guys you mentioned you think it might be COVID? Obviously, you know, right now COVID is ramping up if anything? How has that affected you guys as a gym? I mean, I feel like that would be a concern. We're certainly on our end in the rehab world. We're seeing more cancellations in the last month and I think we've had in two years
Unknown Speaker 3:56
I've learned that for as much as I want to operate like in this like field or this zone in which like I'm comfortable there's always some gray area that needs to happen and I learned probably from last year that I need to create options for people to you know to take part in that makes them feel more comfortable if they are you know a little weary about about being around large groups of people that maybe I need to open up the gym more you know outside of class hours for people to come in. Or maybe I need to send them work to do while they're at home maybe they do need to work out from home and they have equipment it's not ideal but you know for those people that love coming here and now they have to work out from home it's it's not a perfect scenario, but it's it's better than nothing. And I know we talked about that, on the last call is like something is better than nothing. And then for other people, I've had members come down with COVID. And they take a break and from from coming in, obviously because they need to quarantine, but I communicate with them weekly. And I even send them some stuff to do or they just do our app home version of, of our daily wad that we have posted
Nick Sanders 5:27
on for our gym. Do you program a home version?
Unknown Speaker 5:31
Yeah, we have a home version? Yes.
Nick Sanders 5:33
So like if it requires less equipment or something along those lines? Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 5:39
You know, and some people, it's not always COVID related. For others, like their job is really ramped up and their schedule has been thrown off because of like, school for their kids. So I've had some people ask me, like, I don't know what to do. Because I can't make it to the class times. I just, I'm clueless, like, how do I how do I do this? And I'm like, Do you have any free time during the day? They're like, yeah, during the day, but you don't have classes. I'm like, come in, I'll be in here in the gym. Get your butt in here and workout. And they're, yeah, they're like, wait, what? Like, just come in? I'm like, Yes, come in. workout. You need it. Like you need it for your sanity. One. But like, you know, this is a big part of your day, and what you look forward to don't deprive yourself.
Nick Sanders 6:32
Yeah, so I guess that leads us into what we intended to talk about, which is work life balance. What are the things you're doing? In addition to what you just mentioned? What are the things you're doing this year that maybe you weren't doing last year, two years ago?
Unknown Speaker 6:47
Pre COVID? Yeah, like three years ago now? Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 6:51
I think we were on the track of doing what we are now doing. But we just didn't have the framework together. So we had kind of already known that, like nutrition was going to be a big part. Right. That's, that's like, the popular thing to talk about nowadays is food and exercise. But I started to feel pre COVID how much there was missing from the mental side of things. I was getting frustrated as a coach. And I know, members were getting frustrated as to why they couldn't see progress or why they didn't feel better. And it was a slew of things. It's never one thing, but I've realized how much getting things right up here in the brain is important as to how it's going to control how you operate, like each day. And how disciplined you're going to be. You know, we we brush our teeth every day. But we don't necessarily give ourselves time to eat lunch every day. Like what the fuck, like,
Unknown Speaker 7:59
Nick can attest to that. How does that happen?
Nick Sanders 8:04
Patients from nine to six with no break. That's how it happened.
Unknown Speaker 8:12
Three bangs though, is that okay?
Nick Sanders 8:14
Count is nutrition. It's got creatine and EA, isn't it or something? The body needs my energy still up here at six o'clock?
Unknown Speaker 8:31
Yeah, so I think I have I now concentrate a lot more time on mental health. And that's a very loose term. Because I think people think of mental health is a you know what, like, I'm okay, I don't need it. There's probably more of us that need some kind of therapy or meditation or just mental check ins. Then there are the dope. And I'm someone that used to think like, yeah, I got some issues, but I've worked through them, I'm fine.
Nick Sanders 9:13
Now. So what do you do? I mean, what do you what are you doing with your members? What what does that mean?
Unknown Speaker 9:19
So we have a this this past year, not this year, but last year, I implemented a yoga class. And unlike making it for the members only, I chose to go to a community yoga class, there was a donation based class. You didn't you don't have to pay for it. If you want to donate to the community suite, if not, that's okay. But members, people in the neighborhood friends of members, family members of members, anyone can come in and experience you For an hour on Sundays,
Unknown Speaker 10:02
the thing is I, I've seen many gyms attempt to the class, it lasts a couple of weeks and seems like it fails. Members go, you know, they love the first class and dwindles down and nobody's going anymore. How long has it been? It's been a year now that's been running
Unknown Speaker 10:18
a little over. Actually,
Unknown Speaker 10:20
I was there was that two weeks ago? Yeah, well over 30 people there. I mean, it was.
Nick Sanders 10:25
That's insane. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 10:26
it was packed.
Unknown Speaker 10:27
We started it in 2020. I think in the summer of 2020, we started it and it started off small. And then it just blew up. And now people come in, you can tell, you know, who's carrying a lot of weight on their shoulders, like coming into the yoga class. And I'm someone that has been there myself, but it is a really nice way to break up the week, come in and recharge your batteries. I wouldn't call it a hot yoga class by any means. It gets sometimes chilly in the gym, is a vast open space can but we, we try to concentrate mostly on getting people to come down off the highest stress of either exercise, or what's going on at work or what's going on at family like everyone lives with their stress level, like up here. And it's so hard to get them to come back down. Which is why people have trouble sleeping.
Unknown Speaker 11:30
It's nice to enter across the gym and have a something that you can move but not I have it at high intensity.
Unknown Speaker 11:36
Right? Yeah, it's it's a very good way to break it up. So that's, that was one of the first things we did.
Nick Sanders 11:43
Okay, before you move on, can I? So what that yoga class, you know, you say yoga, but you can have yoga, that's pretty darn intense, like your heart rate can be elevated that entire class, and then you have everything from Bikram to the different flows, what's the focus of the of the class,
Unknown Speaker 12:00
so it would be more, and I don't want people to get the wrong impression of this is is I would say like it's therapeutic Yoga. But it really is therapeutic. And it's not necessarily easy. But it is not a hot yoga class where you go in there until sweat really hard, and almost feel like smoked afterwards. What we're trying to get people to do is leave here feeling like they're lighter. And the day just got easier. So, yeah, we put people in tough positions that can get in there. And we do hands on assist for, for folks that, you know, want that and are okay with that, you know, some people that maybe don't want to be touched right now. It's like the pandemic, we're very understanding of that. But we have two, sometimes three yoga instructors that are in the class. So it's very personal. You know, when people come in, it feels almost like community for yoga.
Unknown Speaker 13:05
And I think it's also important that there were coaches here and like, gym leadership participating, and not not in front of the class, but just as you know, participants. Yeah. And people people see that and it makes them want to come more. Mm hmm.
Unknown Speaker 13:21
Yeah. So everyone has kind of bought in, including me, I'm not a yoga person by any stretch, but I do enjoy the things that I get from yoga. Now, if I wasn't recovering from hernia surgery, I would have been a yoga like weeks ago. But I am looking forward to like being back at yoga like this weekend. So I actually pop into yoga for the first time in a while. But it's it's just a very special feeling to see people come together on a Sunday. And yeah, they're on. They're in weekend mode, but they're about ready to ramp up for the week. So it's really a good way. Like I know for me, I can get stressed out on Sundays thinking about the week, but yoga puts like a cap on that. Like I'm able to govern it a little bit more.
Unknown Speaker 14:11
So why do you think you're able to get folks from outside the gym to come in? That's usually one of the biggest issues.
Unknown Speaker 14:17
I think it's a testament as to what kind of people are here at SeaTown, not just me. I firmly believe that it's my coaches, it's the members. It's the people that teach yoga here. Everyone plays a part and helping to bring people here and, you know, a lot of preconceived notions of this place is you know, that's an intense place. It's a CrossFit gym. But I think when people come in here, they're very surprised that we have something like yoga. And the amount of people that are here for yoga is impressive.
Unknown Speaker 14:58
Yeah, I honestly I felt lucky. Maybe five folks. And yeah,
Unknown Speaker 15:02
it was so it's different pack room. Yeah, it is different than maybe some CrossFit gyms that have yoga classes that are they're relatively small. And I think they're on the right track like, with with where they're going with it. It's, you know, for me, it's not about the money, which is why like, I don't, I don't care to charge for yoga, but like, if I did, I would make sure it's, you know, the yoga instructors keeping the money because it's their time. One thing I've found with, with yoga instructors are very generous people. It's really hard to pay yoga instructors, gym owner, but it is they're amazing people. And I think that's a big reason why so many people are attracted to our Sunday yoga is just how incredible the people are that come in here. It's just they're the nicest, most genuine folks that you could ever meet that come in here on Sundays. Yeah.
Nick Sanders 16:02
Yeah. So. And I think it's interesting that you lump yoga into what you're doing for your mental health piece, right? Because I, I'm, I agree 100% This, this idea that fitness always has to be up high intensity, we need moments where we we drop our sympathetic nervous system and kind of get into that relaxed state. And the right yoga class does that very well. Not all but the right. You know, definitely there's some that do if it's not your, I think the challenge for if I was a yoga studio owner, I think at some point, you'd have to give your members workouts right, because that's also what what some people want, if that's all they did, but you guys can dial it in to meet your community.
Unknown Speaker 16:44
Yeah, the flip side, like too much of one thing being, you know, detriment to, you know, each person's like, quote, unquote, progress. But yeah, it's, it's tough to find that sweet spot, which I think we kind of have with yoga, whether it was an accident, or is just meant to be the people that are involved with that are awesome. And I am forever grateful that we, we have the people that we do to, you know, to keep that going, because it's really cool. It's great.
Nick Sanders 17:17
So what else you guys doing, um, I interrupted you there, but what else you guys doing for mental kind of that mental awareness piece.
Unknown Speaker 17:23
So my, I'm working, I've been working on a project for quite some time. And it is, I would say, It's my baby. It's the one that I'm most passionate about. And it's a very complex project, and a lot of moving parts, bringing a lot of people in to be involved. It started off with my personal story, which I, you know, when we got shut down and COVID. And we were coming back, I was getting to a place where I was very uncomfortable mentally. And I came to the conclusion that I didn't want want to do what I did for a living anymore. I didn't want to be a coach anymore. And it was my life's passion, my life's work. And I can remember sitting down one night and turn into my wife and saying, I'm going to quit, like what I do for a living. And it's because of XY and Z, I was frustrated with communication between you know, Coach and member and vice versa. And then I just didn't believe in what we were doing as a as a company. And COVID On top of that just sent everything over the edge. So I called my former boss and I told him, Hey, FYI, like if we don't change, everything that we're doing is a business and how we work, like his coaches and how we work with our clients. I quit his, you know, wait, what? Like, no, no, hold on, take a deep breath. And I'm like, no, no, that's how I feel. He's like, calling back in the morning. You're just really stressed. I know you're upset. Like, okay, I'm gonna feel the same way tomorrow morning. Call them back the next day. He's like, so how do you feel? I'm like, good. He's like, so what do you think? Like, I'm gonna quit, or we're gonna change everything. He's like, Well, what do you want to change? I said, everything. We we had this way of working with our members that just wasn't working. I didn't feel good about it members and feel good about it. Like we're kind of just beating a dead horse. And I think ultimately, not everyone wants to be worked with in the same way. Like, there are individuals that need like, maybe more attention or less attention. So There's a fine line of like individualizing things for folks like some people, you can tell them what to do, and they could just take it run with it. Then there's other people were like, they need accountability. And then you have those folks that like, you tell him what to do. You hold him accountable, but it's still really tough for them, which I see a lot nowadays. And I was seeing more and more and more of that, through the pandemic, which for me, probably until my breaking point. So I started to reach out to some people that I was really close with at the gym. And some of them work in the health and fitness fields. Some of them are doctors, some are nurses, dieticians. And I'm really close with a lot of my members. It's like a big family here. And for the longest time, we've had like a few dietitians, working out at sea town that have been long term members. Well, when I first got here, they had no part in like, what we were doing. They really didn't work with us very much on on things when it came to like nutrition plans and how to work with people on their food. And I was always curious as to why, like, they just, they didn't play a bigger part. So when I became the head coach and took over, I decided, you know, I'm gonna reach out to some of these people and see what they think. And sure enough, like, it was like an open book, it was just a lot of things that we had been like, you know, maybe messing up or things that we weren't like really good at, we were trying to implement. And I'm someone that feels well, hey, you know what, I'd rather not eff this up myself, I'd rather reach out to the expert. And see where we can make changes. And if they want to, you know, play a part in it. Sweet. So Gretchen, who is one of our members, those of you guys that know Gretchen Spetz she's amazing. She is not only an incredible, like professional in her field of practice, but her she's got a infectious personality.
Unknown Speaker 22:21
She got all sunshine. Yes.
Unknown Speaker 22:25
So when she's watching this, Hi, Gretchen. But she and I talked through 2020. And we decided we're going to create this, this program that was predicated on principles of lifestyle, not just, Hey, you're going to work out hard, you're going to be perfect on your diet, and everything will take care of itself. So she herself has experienced, like, you know, things through, you know, childbirth, and being a mom being a wife and having family obligations going on. Like it's not as simple as, hey, you should work out more and eat less and you'll be good. I don't I can't tell you how many times I've seen that on social media. And every time I just cringe because I think how many times we're going to tell people that and they actually go out and try it. And they end up in a worse spot than they are when they start because they're malnourished. They're overtrained. They're stressed to the max and they don't sleep.
Unknown Speaker 23:30
That's what's all over Instagram right now is you need more supplemental training plan more and more everything. You need less less food, essentially.
Unknown Speaker 23:40
So have all those things in mind. She and I started working on this lifestyle program that we have here, it SeaTown. And it started off really small started off kind of like working with individuals. And then it became like a group. And we have a group call, like each week. And we do meetings every other week. And these meetings are not just like, hey, let's go around and you know, talk about each other's like, you know, progress this week, or like what what was difficult for you, but we do workshops and seminars on breathing on stress management. I like to do workshops on exercise because that's obviously what I'm passionate about. But sometimes I get nitty gritty, nitty gritty on, here's how we can optimize our exercise without adding more exercise. So, hey, you want to get stronger? Okay? The answer might not be let's just do more work after we just complete a class. Maybe we change things a little bit as far as how you operate in class. I'm all about let's do less and get more out of it. And so let's do more to get more.
Unknown Speaker 24:56
It's part of that is just being focused in what you're asking for. You're doing at the time. Yeah, there's some people who go to the gym for four hours a day, but they're actually only working out for maybe an hour of it, because they're sure. Is he talking on the phone on?
Unknown Speaker 25:11
I think, Bill watching your workout the other day, and I know you've seen me like workout in here. I think it's really hit home for me lately. You know, mentioned to you guys earlier that, you know, I've had a hernia surgery and like, I had that on the 12th of October, an hour in January. And, you know, I could be prideful and feel like, you know what, I can figure this out on my own, which I probably could, but it's so nice having a coach. So I went out and hired a coach for myself. And this guy is he's from Columbus. And one of the first day I met with him. And he had me working out, I was like, I was really hesitant, like I needed a push to, to feel like it was okay to, to work out again. And I realized just, you know what, it's okay to get help. You don't have to solve everything by yourself. So a lot of these people that are in the lifestyle program. They're, you know, they're asking for help, which they probably tried a lot of diets and probably tried to work out and a lot of different ways. But it's still not happened for them. But maybe they haven't looked at their sleep yet. Or maybe they have, there is a huge complexity to the human body. Unfortunately, we weren't given an owner's manual. So it's tough to navigate it sometimes. But that's why that's why I have experts in a team of people here to help like it, you know, Kara, you've been here for a while. Gretchen has been around for why I'm bringing in a mental health expert, as well. So play a part of that. And the only the only thing that i i can think is, you know, is of more importance than exercise is getting right mentally. So you can be disciplined to stay with all the little things. People, for whatever reason, are okay with exercising, but they're not okay with exercising their mind.
Unknown Speaker 27:36
I think it's very important for everybody to have, even if it's not technically a coach role, but it's somebody they can go to, because it's very easy to get stuck in your own head.
Unknown Speaker 27:49
Mm hmm.
Nick Sanders 27:51
Yeah, yeah. Let's just have you, somebody analyze what you're doing. That's not in the, in the firing line. They're not on the trenches, right? They're, they're able to step away from it and actually look at the situation. into your point, like, the mental side is, if that's not right, you're not going to go to victory, just not gonna show up at the gym, right? Because you're going to get distracted, or whatever.
Unknown Speaker 28:13
By the way, that's a very tough thing to come to terms with, like, I, I can't put this. I don't want to put it lightly. Like, getting right. Upstairs is so hard to do. And it's very, it's very hard to do on your own. That's why having other people around is is important. Yeah. And there's a lot of barriers that we whether perceived or real, they're there. And it prevents us just from taking steps like for the simplest steps, but the simple ones are the easiest.
Unknown Speaker 28:51
Well, I think a lot of times it's because you don't know, to you, it seems normal. You don't think that there's actually anything going on? Yeah, lack of insight is I guess the best way to describe that.
Unknown Speaker 29:04
Yeah, the I, I just see more often than not nowadays, that people are starting to wake up to the idea of I don't know why I'm not motivated, or I don't know why I can't stay consistent. And at least like the conversation can start there. It's no longer just I need to exercise more there. They actually understand that. I am not motivated. I don't know why or I just can't get out of bed in the morning. So it's I love those conversations because we can actually talk about stuff that is outside of the gym. That has a huge impact on what they do in the gym. And that is that lifestyle group. It's creating awareness around what we're doing. That is not inside these four walls that It takes place that 23 hours a day that they're outside of here. Yeah,
Nick Sanders 30:05
I think it's interesting that you've created this culture, this environment at your at your gym. I think when you typically think of, you know, a CrossFit gym, you think of, or at least I think I've been around the CrossFit scene for a while. Predominantly the type a individual that you have to pull the reins back on, right? It's not the person you need to motivate. It's the person that's working out seven days a week, and then they're going to go to Orangetheory. On top of it, they're going to go to their yoga class was like, they're working, they're doing doubles, right most days. That's I like that type A personality is what I typically think of when when I think of like the average crossfitter. What do you think has shaped the culture for you? As like, why? Because I don't know that the average CrossFit gyms getting that person.
Unknown Speaker 30:56
The culture here is, I mean, I'm not gonna take credit for it and say, it's a reflection of me, I don't think, I don't think it's just me, I think, I think it's a reflection of the people that are here. Like I, if there's one thing I will say, I can learn from other people's mistakes, I don't want to say that is like a bad thing. I have been very fortunate, very fortunate, I would argue, lucky to be in some of the situations that I've been in, professionally. And personally, I'm not going to say that, you know, my life's been hard growing up, I don't think it really was. But I was very fortunate to have parents that had an incredible work ethic. But they instilled in me just how to communicate with people how to work with people, but also how to feel emotions from other people. And when I got here, I got put in an environment with a bunch of people that were looking for that. And I was just able to
Unknown Speaker 32:08
connect, I think a big difference that I see. Comparing here, the environment and culture here compared to other CrossFit gyms that I've been around. Now, the probably the best way to describe it in class, people aren't necessarily competing against everybody else, like many CrossFit gyms do. Because that's kind of been like the old school way of CrossFit. Whereas I think you guys were doing cleans the other day when I was here, and everybody was stopping and cheering the other person class on and then they'd go, and that's something that you just don't see a whole lot and quartering in CrossFit classes. Typically, somebody puts weight on and the person next to him sees that and puts more weight on their bar. And that, that stood out a lot. That was that was big
Unknown Speaker 32:57
in the community here. Enjoys each other's company, like, yeah, it's cliche, like people enjoy people. But I think I was maybe just in the right place at the right time. I've always wondered, like, I, I like thinking really deep, sometimes, like, a little too deep. I daydream quite a bit. But I, I have wondered, sometimes like, what how did I find myself in the situation that I'm in. And sometimes you can't explain? Like, it's okay, though. But I like to think that the things that we're doing now, it see town and as a group of coaches, and myself as an owner, the reason for it is because I've seen so many folks struggle with this stuff for so long, that I'm willing to turn everything upside down and give people what they sometimes don't know that they need, and not push it on them, but make it available to them. And eventually, they'll have a light bulb moment. But I need to keep the community surrounded with this stuff that we're working on. So they know that it's there. And they know that it's available to them because not everyone will want to but some people do. And it's hard to ask for help, which is why I don't force help upon people, but instead I make it available. So it feels like an open environment. And they can talk to anyone anytime.
Nick Sanders 34:37
You know, this is something little little bit of a change of subject but I think kind of along the same line Kara Kara and I were talking with Phil Weigel the other day. And this is just something I'm interested in right now is this idea of are we training for performance? Are we training for health and kind of where is that line and and I would argue that a lot of the current fitness models out there are still performance based, like whether you're you're looking at, you know, I'm going to train for a bodybuilding competition or figure competition, or you're training for sports, or it's an event like a triathlon or a race, the exercises performance. And then that just carries over into the more and more and more and more and more thing, because I want to perform better. How do you look at that from a programming standpoint? You know, given this culture that you have of? I don't know, like, it sounds to me like it is more health lifestyle focused. How do you create that environment within the gym? Is that something that you're doing intentionally? Or is that just kind of how it's how it plays out?
Unknown Speaker 35:42
I love that question. A lot of layers to this. So I have to backtrack a little bit. And we've used a lot of programs here at SeaTown, like a lot of different programs. We've we've had people program for us, we've programmed internally. And I'm very open with the members as far as like, yeah, like we're writing our own program right now. Or, hey, we're using this program here. I'm not shy about that, like, I don't know, try to keep it a secret. However, I've learned quite a bit. Just watching members, not only coaching, but just even watching one of my coaches coach, and I can step back and not just like analyze what my coach is doing. But what's going on with the class, what's going on with the people? How do they feel about this thing? When they come in? And they get ready to warm up? What how's the warm up treat of? How do they look when they're going through their strength? What's their body language when they're getting ready to start the like, the the conditioning portion? What's it like when they end? And then are they talking when they're walking out of the door at the gym? are they smiling, like all of those things I'm, I'm keeping track of I write down and I store. And what I've seen is, there is a very unique balance between health and performance. So being a former athlete, and being very competitive, just not outwardly competitive. I'm very competitive with myself. And I've taken myself to what I call the pain cave, or some pretty dark places in my training. But that is some stuff you can't do every single day there is there's got to be days where you recharge, and then there's got to be days where you can push a little bit. And some of those days are predicated on how much stress do you have right now in your life? How much sleep did you get? So I don't know what might be taking place at other gyms. But you need to present like we present options to people. So instead of cornering them into, hey, you're going to do this RX, or you're going to do at scale. Like, hey, here are some options as far as what we can do. Here's the movement. But if that movement doesn't feel good, he would be the next best movement to give you the similar stimulus and a similar movement fashion. And here are some options for weights. But you guys know, we can do less than that. I just wouldn't recommend doing more. So we we sometimes, you know, we have to put a cap on people, but we do give people suggestions we put in our program. Hey, here's, here's the RX. Here's a scaled, but let's talk about where you are individually on doing this movement. You know, some some people are going to be 4050 6070 pounds away from maybe the are excellent. That's okay. That's why individual conversations are so important. And we're having those every single class. So can it be more demanding on the coach? Absolutely. Does it create a much more tight knit relationship between member and coach? Yeah, it does. So that's, those are just like some of the things that we do with the program. So we do tell people, hey, Today's a day where I want you to, I want you to go hard. Are you feeling good today? Did you get enough sleep? Do you get enough to eat? You feel good after the warm up pool? Let's freakin go. And if somebody else isn't like, hey, you know what? You've come in three days in a row. You're a little sleepy today. May be a little off. Hey, I want you to dial it back on this. Take it easy on this go a little bit harder on this. So you feel like you're moving for the day. Do the first round like that. See how you feel and if you feel pretty good. Okay, let's we can amp things up a little bit. Yeah, so it's it's presenting options to 15 or 16 different individuals. Like I said it, a lot of stuff happening around the coach but it makes for a more unique experience that way
Nick Sanders 40:00
Yeah, I mean, I have to imagine that's part of why that's successful. Because to your point, it's not just the programming that dictates how hard somebody can go that day. Right? Like, yeah, my daughter woke up at 430 this morning, I'm a little more tired than normal, right? Because you got, you know, you get four hours of sleep one night instead of your, you know, 67 That's a different beast, you know,
Unknown Speaker 40:21
that's why you have 300 milligrams of caffeine. Yeah.
Nick Sanders 40:27
Yeah, it does work. I have a whole other thing. I have cycled off of that from time to time.
Unknown Speaker 40:32
Y'all need to go into that today. Yeah,
Nick Sanders 40:37
I saw um, who was it? Somebody somebody just presented some research that up to three cups of coffee is good for you. So
Unknown Speaker 40:45
a day, a day, three cups?
Unknown Speaker 40:50
And then lunch?
Unknown Speaker 40:53
How many? How many milligrams of caffeine is that? 300
Nick Sanders 40:56
milligrams? No, I 240. Probably. I think most people say 80 milligrams of caffeine, a cup of coffee.
Unknown Speaker 41:02
I mean, I won't lie like 40 milligrams takes me to the moon. Like I'm like,
Nick Sanders 41:09
I have a cup of coffee. I'm
Unknown Speaker 41:11
sensitive. I'm very sensitive. Sorry. Yeah, yeah. My wife always calls me sensitive. But yeah, when it comes to caffeine, I'm like, I can't do it. Now like I had. So former coach that used to work here. He's one of my best friends. He lives in St. Louis. Now I'll reference him. His name's Chris. And he is an incredible human being. He would come in here to the gym. So like he and I would be working like early mornings at 530. He'd be coaching the class that'd be doing like a private session. And he's in the gym at five o'clock on his, like, 50th cup of coffee. And he's like, how's it going? Like, I can tell it's going pretty good for you. Like, yeah, he's like, I'll be out of here in a little bit. I'll be napping. But he, he, he would go through coffee like crazy. But I it's just not something that I can do. I just, I'm not a coffee guy. By the way. If Chris watches this video, amazing coach.
Nick Sanders 42:26
sandwich technique of bad news is that you compliment bash compliment.
Unknown Speaker 42:32
So, you know, I laugh about this. So he's actually working with me now we're, we're creating some more content, like for C town, he's actually going to program a class that we're going to have rolling out soon to our members in about a month. But I, I thoroughly miss working with him. Because like I said, he was one of my best friends. But you meet those people every once in a while. And they don't come along very often, where you can finish each other's sentences, and literally be lockstep on just about everything, but have so much fun together. And we used to be able to have conversations across the gym using movie quotes. And people would think like, what is wrong. But I love the fact that like, I got to experience time with him. And he is a very big reason why things operate as they do now you're a SeaTown because he was here. And he was one that like really encouraged this lifestyle, like shift interest. It was just way before its time like he had he had left move back to St. Louis before I could get you know, everything rolling. But for those of those people that got a chance to work with him know how special the guy was excited to
Unknown Speaker 43:55
get to know him a little bit more. He would have been perfect for our conversation yesterday. Big big cycling guy. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 44:02
Great. Doesn't look like it. He's jacked. But yeah, he's way
Unknown Speaker 44:07
negative so that you could add another compliment
Nick Sanders 44:14
other than his coffee drinking, huh? Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 44:17
Yeah, it brings me back to the whole like conversation about people like just people coming together. You just sometimes you're in the right place at the right time.
Nick Sanders 44:26
Yeah, yeah. Wow. That's Wow. I mean, I think it's pretty cool to see the shift, not just at your gym, but I feel like these conversations are happening more and more. Like it's not just how hard can we push people every day. But trying to fit things into what they need is, is definitely it's interesting to see the evolution of fitness in general. You know, you see you go from like, Jane Fonda aerobics to you know Know the different classes and you see all these different things? I don't really, it'll be curious to see, you know, where do you think it'll be? Let's say five years from now, like, what do you think the evolution of, of this group fitness industry?
Unknown Speaker 45:17
Cool. That's deep. Um, you know, I can tell you what, like I dream of that, I hope happens, okay? So it's really tough to tell like, you know exactly where things will go, there's so much stuff up in the air. And a pandemic has a lot to do that. I dream of the day where hopefully, all three of us are still around morbid.
Nick Sanders 45:51
Five years, five years I got a real issue with my life insurance policies.
Unknown Speaker 46:05
I, I hope I'm still around to see this what I'm saying like, I think it's gonna take a long time. And I hope to see the world get to a place where we don't treat fitness and health, like we're buying a car or buying a house.
Nick Sanders 46:24
We mean by that.
Unknown Speaker 46:27
So, I think we're, we have this thing about us, like, when we buy something we look at like, well, do I? Do I really need that or like, well, I want the heated seats on the car. But I really don't want to pay for it. So you don't want nevermind. Or like for the house, it's like, well, I want that house. But, you know, maybe maybe it's not the right time. So I'll go with this or and vice versa. Like we treat it like we're buying a spec sheet, or like a value stack. And to an extent like to work on your health that cost money. I like I get that. And I'm on a budget just like anyone else is on a budget. However, when we get away from looking at health is like an option, or is something that like, isn't necessary that moment. We're missing the boat. Yeah. Because health is that moment. Like we live every minute of our lives, based upon how we feel. And our health determines how we feel. If we feel like shit, the day is probably going to go like shit. Yeah.
Nick Sanders 47:44
Yeah, it's interesting that that's where you went with that. I mean, I feel fortunate that, like, I've worked with people that have unlimited resources financially, right, like, unlimited. And if they're not, but if they can't move, well, it doesn't matter, right? You still can't go on trips, you still can't go on vacations, you still can't do your your thing. But we put such a priority on financial advancement. But the health advancements takes a backseat and I'm as guilty as anybody, right. Like, I started the business and I that's all I was focused on is get get the work stuff done, get the work stuff done. Um,
Unknown Speaker 48:18
I think it's okay to have time periods like that, though. Like that. Yeah, like, nothing's gonna be perfect. So like, like I said, getting back to the idea of like, you do what you can, right. Um, but whether it's individual fitness or group fitness, I think, I think ultimately, we got to get away from this idea that, like, it's just about the fitness. Like, if group fitness is going to continue, it needs to start going in other directions besides what's just happening inside the walls of the gym?
Nick Sanders 48:56
Yeah. Well, when you start looking at some of the research on like, anxiety, depression, neurodegenerative diseases with like an Alzheimer's or Parkinson's or pick your your brain disease, or exercise is just such a powerful, like, it modifies that
Unknown Speaker 49:11
stuff. So much. Total change.
Nick Sanders 49:14
I mean, that fascinating amount of the like, when you look at research, and you see the differences and different mortality rates, or the the odds of getting different mental or neural disease. I mean, it's crazy. But you have to go looking for that. You have to go looking for that information. Right. It's not That's not what's getting pushed to you on the New Year's commercials. And
Unknown Speaker 49:36
so it sells, unfortunately. Yeah. Yeah. I
Nick Sanders 49:40
mean, how will it ever you know, I've kind of been in the mindset, you have to give people what they want. And then as you build that relationship, you can give them a little more of kind of what you think they actually need. But if you don't give them what they want, first, they just write you. They're gone.
Unknown Speaker 49:55
Yeah, I think there's a lot of validity to that. For sure, you got to give people a little bit of what they want, because ultimately, they're there because they kind of want to be a little bit. But as far as like the needs go, as I alluded to earlier, you surround them with things that, you know, they need. But maybe they don't, like approach you right off the RIP about it. But if you surround them with it, and you create a culture, and an environment that talks about it a lot and makes it like a focus, then maybe just maybe they wake up to it, and they think, you know what, maybe I should try this. And then it's them taking ownership over that thing, versus you pushing it on forcing it on. Yeah, that's a great point. When people take ownership over their stuff. More, more good things happen
Nick Sanders 50:53
than not. Do you read any uh, Jocko willing stuff?
Unknown Speaker 50:57
I knew you're gonna go there. Or use the word ownership I have. I have actually. So very unique perspective, respected dude, like, you know, a whole lot. He's, he's got a very unique personality, that doesn't ring for a lot of folks. Like, it doesn't connect? Well. I'm somebody that I've been exposed to those personalities at a very young age. So I respect the hell out of the guy. Yeah. Maybe it's not necessarily exactly how I would like, put it into like messaging. But what he says is, there's a lot of truth to it. The reason I
Nick Sanders 51:39
asked he, I think he's gonna He's got a couple of different books, I think there's one called, like leadership strategies and tactics or something like that. So his big book was the Extreme Ownership. And he's got another one that's like, it's a set, it's a second, or maybe even the third book. But anyway, one of the tactics in that book from a leadership standpoint, was to and this was more of a one on one conversation was to create the in the environment when you're talking to somebody so that they can, instead of you pushing your opinion on them, you kind of set them up to make that their opinion, right, like, you're presenting ideas to them that they then can make their own and move forward with what you wanted anyway, kind of an idea. Totally. So it was, but you know, that was as if you were talking to your boss, or your supervisor was kind of the approach, you know, like bringing up similar ideas that that supervisor may have had. And then kind of the, hey, you know, you said this, I really liked that idea. What if we kind of went with this so that now it's their idea, and they move forward with the thing. But what you just said, of creating the environment to just kind of surround them with it reminded me of that, but I haven't, I hadn't heard that in like a group. Group community perspective, but I really liked I really liked that idea. I mean, I think that's
Unknown Speaker 52:54
it, I have definitely tried to create a collaborative effort, I really enjoy the people that I work with. And I work with a very unique group of individuals like that are some coaches here. One is a, I like to call him a former a rocket scientist, because he actually works on like, Space Program stuff, and is in his former job. So for those of you know, that, Jared, coach, Jared here that works at SeaTown, incredibly smart individual, and he likes to read up on a lot of things he and I were chatting the other day, he referenced something very similar to what you just mentioned, that, which was, there's a book called atomic habits. And he talks about, like, if you want to do something different, you want to be someone different. You have to surround yourself with it, you have to become that, like, your habits are habits that a person that you're trying to become already does, or is already like fully implemented. So if you want to, like make a shift, you, you create a lifestyle that embodies that, instead of just, you know, trying to cram it in and then not have it be sustainable and then backing off of it. Like it has to be about the habits is not necessarily about the end goal. But it's about the things that actually accumulate success over time.
Nick Sanders 54:31
I just watched a new mark Bell the power of the figure.
Unknown Speaker 54:34
Yeah, I love what he that he
Nick Sanders 54:37
has a thing he just came out was about weight loss or something and I've been watching more. I got on his channel looking at intermittent fasting stuff, actually, because I'm intrigued by it, but and then I'm kind of been watching some bodybuilders stuff to see what they're doing training wise. And anyway, he just had a video where his comment was something like, you know, if you're 280 pounds and you want to be 180 pounds, you have to do things at 180 pounds. Do Yes. It was like,
Unknown Speaker 55:03
yes, triple. And he's dead like a ton of weight for that video. Yeah, for anyone that's watched his story. It's awesome. Yeah, and he's a big dude was shed quite a bit of weight off.
Nick Sanders 55:19
It's a it's a pretty good YouTube video. I mean, it's funny, you know, he says some things that are a little off the wall
Unknown Speaker 55:24
here, but you know, to to let it rip,
Nick Sanders 55:28
but the content is sound you know, as far as some of the things go, you know? Yeah, he's a big intermittent fasting proponent the keys is quite a bit of anyway works
Unknown Speaker 55:40
works for some people doesn't work for other like, again, it's that individualized, you know, I would say individualizing things to each person's like life is key as well.
Nick Sanders 55:55
Assuming What else you got going on? Yeah, yeah. Because if it doesn't fit in your lifestyle, it's never gonna, well, some of it, you gotta switch your lifestyle. Right. But then something or hard fix that you Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 56:07
that's a good point. And some people are coming in because their lifestyle is like, so out of whack. Right? Changing that it's gonna take time. So like exercise is like their first step. So it's like getting them to the point where they're consistent with that before you start to tackle other things. And sometimes it's easier to tackle food first. It just depends, you know, everyone's different. And their, you know, and their journey.
Nick Sanders 56:36
I think some people like that kind of little step, you know, kind of put your toe in the water and make little change. And then some people are like, jump in and go for it.
Unknown Speaker 56:45
Yeah, some people just needed to be like, pushed into the pool. Yeah, it happens.
Nick Sanders 56:51
We all need a little bit of that. For sure. Well, hey, this was good. I think we're coming up on that hour mark, anything you want to leaving remarks that you want to wrap up with?
Unknown Speaker 57:06
For anyone out there that's trying to get their life together or back on track? Don't try to go, you know, to your end goal tomorrow. Just understand that there will be failure. That's part of the the progress. It's a very long race. And as my buddy Chris, in St. Louis would say he's like, all we're trying to do is extend the race. When we get to the finish line, here it is, again, we're dead. We're trying to extend that then as long as optimal decline.
Nick Sanders 57:44
This podcast has been morbid and may be upset about my caffeine intake.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
