Barbell Shrugged - Barbell Shrugged — The Meathead Hippie w/ Emily Schromm — 341
Episode Date: September 26, 2018Emily Schromm is a self-proclaimed meathead hippie, host of Meathead Hippie podcast, a personal trainer, CrossFit coach and Nutritional Therapy Practitioner based out of Denver, Colorado. From MTV Cha...llenge winner to Women's Health Magazine's Next Fitness Star and entrepreneur, Emily's journey of self-discovery has led her to a full time career in helping others. Struggling her whole life with body image, gut issues, and acne, nutrition and fitness has completely turned her life around. Primarily running her 21 Day EmFit Challenge online, she works with clients in Denver and around the world to change the food on their plate in order to feel their absolute best. In this episode, we dive into travel workouts, struggles and triumphs opening a new gym, creating the EmPack backpack, women’s strength and health, fighting your way to the top of the fitness Industry, and more. Enjoy! - Doug and Anders ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Show notes at: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/bbs_schromm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please support our partners! @organifi - www.organifi.com/shrugged to save 20% @thrivemarket - www.thrivemarket.com/shrugged for a free 30 days trial and $60 in free groceries @OMAX - www.tryomax.com/shrugged and get a box FREE with your first purchase @foursigmatic - www.foursigmatic.com/shrugged to save 15% on your first purchase @vuori - www.vuoriclothing.com “SHRUGGED25” to save 25% storewide ► Subscribe to Barbell Shrugged's Channel Here ► Subscribe to Shrugged Collective's Channel Here http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedSubscribe 📲 🎧 Listen to the audio version on the Apple Podcast App or Stitcher for Android Here- http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedApple http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedStitcher Shrugged Collective is a network of fitness, health and performance shows that help people achieve their physical and mental health goals. Usually in the gym, but outside as well. In 2012 they posted their first Barbell Shrugged podcast and have been putting out weekly free videos and podcasts ever since. Along the way we've created successful online coaching programs including The Shrugged Strength Challenge, The Muscle Gain Challenge, FLIGHT, Barbell Shredded, and Barbell Bikini. We're also dedicated to helping affiliate gym owners grow their businesses and better serve their members by providing owners tools and resources like the Barbell Business Podcast. Find Shrugged Collective and their flagship show Barbell Shrugged here: SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES ► http://bit.ly/ShruggedCollectiveiTunes WEBSITE ► https://www.ShruggedCollective.com INSTAGRAM ► https://instagram.com/shruggedcollective FACEBOOK ► https://facebook.com/barbellshruggedpodcast TWITTER ► http://twitter.com/barbellshrugged
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Shrugged family, we are back.
We're hanging out with Emily Schramm this week.
Emily's such a gangster.
She has what seems to be on Instagram
like 35 businesses going on
and she just opened her gym in downtown Denver,
Platform Strength.
So if you are in Denver, make sure you get over.
Check out her brand new gym.
It looks gorgeous.
I've kind of been watching her grow it
through Instagram stories for the past couple months. Man, she's put a ton of time, energy, effort. It looks like the struggle
is real, that gym owner life. I have been there and built multiple of these things and it is not
an easy chore to be building gyms, running other businesses at the same time, and just I feel like being Emily Schramm
by herself is enough of a task to keep all the things going that she has going on in her life.
Really enjoyed hanging out with her. This is another one of the shows that we did in Austin,
Texas at Paleo FX, and I think you're going to love it. We even get to go back into the files
and make some really cool jokes
about the real world and the real world challenges,
which I've always been a huge fan of,
especially killing it in college
when there's nothing to do
and all you have is free time
and you get to really dig into
the nothingness that is reality TV.
Really excited to do the show.
It was great meeting her and I think you're going to really enjoy everything that's going
on in her life right now.
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awesome. You're going to laugh. I'm Anders Varner. Welcome to Barbell Shrugged.
I'm Anders Varner.
Hanging out with Doug Larson.
And the sweet sound over here is Miss Viviana Smith.
Hi.
We're at Paleo FX in Austin, Texas.
Life is good.
We just did some tarot card reading.
I'm a dog.
I don't even know what that means, but we're going to find out a little bit later what I'm supposed to be looking for.
We are joined today by Emily Schramm.
It would be ridiculous to try and label you in anything because you own gems.
You've got backpacks that are super cool.
The black backpack.
Black on black.
Black on black.
What's the rest of that song?
I don't even know.
I think people only know that.
That's it.
Black on black. Black on black. Impact. I don't even know. I think people only know that. That's it. Black on black.
Black on black.
Impact.
I don't know.
Welcome to the show.
Thank you.
It's wonderful to be here.
It's been a minute, right?
It has.
You were on the show probably four years ago.
A lot has changed.
Four or five years ago.
Yeah.
Much has changed.
Yes.
Much has changed.
You're speaking this weekend, right?
I am. Yeah. I had a great talk yesterday about cortisol dysfunction in the gym.
I saw that.
I want to talk about that on the show.
It was really good. I think a need for it because we all have some sort of cortisol dysfunction.
And I remember being here four years ago and I asked about that.
So what happens when I'm trying to get strong in the gym but I have cortisol dysfunction
or I have any sort of adrenal pattern that's just not optimal. And the answer was very subpar. So
it was my journey the last four years to perfect it and figure out a way to like help people.
Cause most people think I have adrenal issues. I can't work out. And I just refuse to think that's
the answer. I know why you're so awesome because we have to dig right into that right off the bat.
Usually it takes a minute before people are like, okay, we're going to talk about real shit. So
let's go cortisol. Tell us about it. Well, cortisol, we all have it and it's a stress
hormone, but everyone thinks of it as being something that's bad. And I think it's something
that we have to have. So if we have any rhythm of it being too in excess or having too little,
our body feels it. So it should be highest in the morning and
slowly decrease throughout the day. And that's why we sleep well, or that's why we get tired
because when cortisol is decreased, then melatonin can be produced. And so we start to get sleepy.
We start to wind down and I see all the time, like either one, I can't, my mind's racing and
I can't calm down and I have a really hard time getting into bed or getting the sleep that I need
or two, I wake up and I just feel like death.
It takes me cups and cups of coffee.
Yep.
This coffee has one million grams of caffeine in it.
Yes, it does.
And I'm sipping on it.
And so this is, I mean, I've worked at Starbucks.
My first job was a coffee shop.
So I was six years a barista.
I could have six shots of espresso just to wake up.
So I think I automatically started the cycle.
Then I started CrossFit. Then I started, it's so great for cortisol levels. And then I started my second business and my body just totally crashed. So, yeah, so it was just kind of, you know,
you're used to a certain number of things on your plate, but there's always something that tips it
over the scale. So people are like, yeah, I can operate. I'm crazy busy. I'm crazy stressed. And then all of a sudden it just tanks. And so this is when hyper cortisol,
so excess cortisol becomes too little. And we have that hard time getting out of bed. So
if cortisol is too low, what is the optimal thing to do in the gym? Because most people will say,
don't work out. You have to heal cortisol before you can get into the gym. And I do think there's
something, there is truth to that. You can't, I think anaerobic exercise is the worst thing to do when you have cortisol dysfunction,
but there are ways to help because for me, there was no other option. I'm not going to just not
work out. And I probably did the stupid thing. This was about three and a half years ago.
And I just was like, well, if I can't do anaerobic exercise, cause I clearly feel
like crap. So headaches after you work out are shaky, which I see a lot for athletes.
It was like, well, let's do Smolov.
So I spent like 10 weeks doing a Smolov program.
But it was awesome because it was actually giving my body a break in some ways
because I was competing in CrossFit.
Doing Smolov is the answer to taking a break.
You are a train wreck.
I know I was.
That's unbelievable.
I was.
I was definitely a train wreck, but I had to pick something.
So I found, obviously, like my biggest thing is with athletes with SI pain
or deactivated glutes, we all know how to activate glutes,
and you can't work out without glutes firing.
But no matter what I was doing, with my adrenals off, my glutes and you can't work out without glutes firing but no matter what i was
doing with my adrenals off my glutes wouldn't fire so that's a big piece of how do you work
on getting your glutes to fire and your adrenals in a place that you can maintain small love you
can do a squat program or you can deadlift without hurting yourself because for the first time ever
your glutes are doing their job right so you mentioned a couple of like symptoms of potentially having some type of cortisol dysfunction,
say headaches after your workout, maybe a little shaky.
I'd imagine there's many different things
that could lead to a headache or many different things
that might make you a little shaky after a workout.
Something as simple as having low blood sugar
you haven't eaten that day could cause something like that.
How would you know if it was cortisol dysfunction
or adrenal fatigue that's contributing to that?
You get simple blood tests or?
So with cortisol you can test it a few different ways. I think the most common is salivary,
but the most efficient or the most comprehensive is Dutch. So it's a urine test that you can check
your cortisol levels throughout the day. So it's an expensive-ish test. So I think it's something
that's really for people that want to also test their hormones and see how long the problem's
been going on. But the people that come to me are really like, I've been crushing the gym and my muscle definition is going away.
Like I should be seeing some results. And then now I'm starting to gain weight in my mid area.
This is like the telltale sign of cortisol. So it's usually a weight loss, weight plateau issue
for my athletes. And then I start to see the symptoms of okay we are crashing and burning
after these workouts you're pushing it really hard because that's the thing is you you see more
weight gain so then let's work out harder let's eat less and you might do it intuitively or not
but it's just one of those things that pushes you more into the problem of we got some cortisol
issues that are not going to be healed this way have you looked into Paula Quinn's bow signature
stuff yes I'm talking about a little bit yes yeah. Yeah. Give me more. Um, I don't know all the details,
but more or less he, he has probably decades worth of, of blood tests and decades worth of,
of body fat measurements. And he's done all these correlations to, if you have high cortisol,
then you tend to store belly fat. If you have high insulin, you tend to store love handles.
I don't know if those are right, but like if you have, if you have high insulin, you tend to store love handles. I don't know if those are right. But, like, if you have a certain hormone, body fat is stored in a certain place.
And he has maybe a dozen or more of those things.
Those checkpoints.
I don't know all the details.
But when you said high cortisol and belly fat, I was wondering if you were following that in some capacity.
No, I mean, he has the seminars, right?
So they.
I'm not sure all of his current seminars.
But you can definitely find it online.
Yeah, I think that's what I was looking at.
I will.
I don't know for sure.
I know with insulin, we all have insulin issues.
And I especially see this with CrossFit athletes is that when they drink, even if they have like 50 grams of carbs, they get so tired after they eat.
And I was so fascinated by it because I was like, why is there insulin issues with athletes?
Because their carbohydrates aren't low enough for them to induce insulin resistance, which sometimes happens with keto people.
And I found out that I actually, your cell is so damaged so much with CrossFit that you have, you lose your ability of insulin, like insulin receptors stop doing their job.
I thought that was fascinating.
I was like, you could eat the best thing, but you can work out so hard, you can damage your insulin receptors.
That's a problem.
That was a big eye opener for me.
So we have this model with CrossFit you mentioned a couple times,
and it's this constantly varied functional movements done at high intensity.
And in 11-ish years of doing this CrossFit thing, it's like, ah!
I've always just thought, especially towards the end of doing it,
like can't we change that model to like appropriate levels of intensity which is way broader and harder to scale and not as sexy and
it's not as cool but what does that look like for you in your training now because i think high
intensity everything every single day like one of the things we're getting to as just a general
understanding is high intensity every day is very it's not conducive to long-term success so what
is appropriate levels of intensity look like to you yeah i think it's not conducive to long-term success. So what does appropriate levels of
intensity look like to you? Yeah, I think it's listening to my body for the first time in my
life. I'm always going to have an athlete mentality and that's why CrossFit has such a draw because
originally it was accessible. The workouts that you see that they did in the games how many years
ago we could do right now. So I think it's really interesting because it started off as, okay, former athletes get that competitiveness out, be a part of it. You can drive yourself a
little bit further, but still somewhat get at an elite level that you might've missed out on.
Cause I think most CrossFit athletes are just former competitive college athletes, right?
Weight lifters. Then we were like, oh, you want to weight lift with me against me cool let's go totally i'm in
i'm in i'll battle you in back squat today best workout ever i'm gonna put it online and everyone's
gonna see it but that but that's obviously had a huge divide because as people get better it's more
it's less and less accessible but the general population i don't think realizes that like they
still are aiming to hit those levels that they just don't know to say no to. So I think that for me, it's really like one, the adrenal issues that I had with the SI pain and the shift in my squat.
And then really understanding that my recovery and my results came from healing inside out was like, wow, if I don't get my shit together inside, I'm going to keep perpetuating this outcome.
And it's
it's gonna make me look worse and feel worse yeah how long does it take because i'm very much on the
same journey and understanding that this fitness thing used to be about the external like what am
i squatting what am i what's my fran time what is this what is that like how do i stack up against
everybody but now i look at it of how am i like serving my body how am i connecting with my
body how am i able to come in and do the best thing for me what does that journey look like
for you and just endless injuries what is it what is it god it's the process but it's still a journey
right yes it's every day it's every day because i think for me it's the the one thing especially snatches especially
cleaning jerks that's the one thing where I cannot think of anything else in my life and it's really
hard for me to not go too far because when you are busy when you have businesses when all you do
every single day is check emails and make sure things do the things that need to be done in order
for myself to get paid the gym is the only way for
me to not think about it. And the faster I go or the, with someone next to me, if Doug and I are
doing it, the less likely I am to think about my phone and my emails and all the things that I have
to do that day because he, he just distracted me. And I think there's just such power in that. So I
do love working out with people, but I also have to like tone it back as much as I can. So I do a check-in.
I sometimes check my urine. I swear to God to see if there's protein in it to know if I'm
under-recovered. And if I am, then I... What's that look like? It's easy. It's like you can get
them on Amazon for like 15 bucks, a huge pack of 150, and you just pee on a little piece of paper
and it tells you, are you recovered? Are you actually hydrated? And that is a huge indicator of how much I'm going to sweat and how much I'm going to push it in the gym.
And then I get to the gym and if I'm not dialed in after eight minutes, I have this eight minute
rule. Cause I'm obsessed with the number eight. If eight minutes, you know how you start, you start
moving and you're like, at first you're like, this sucks. I don't want to be here. I don't want to do
it. But after eight minutes, you're usually dialed in and you're like, Oh, this feels pretty good.
I'll stay around. But at eight minutes, if I i'm like this is getting worse and what they talked about
it on the panel a little bit yesterday is if it sometimes goes the other way and you feel
like i'm really still pushing through this workout then i foam roll and i go home and that's been a
really tough thing for me to learn but the alternatives actually that have helped are
really really really hot baths and saunas. I have a little sauna in my house.
See, I'm creepy.
I just met you 20 minutes ago.
Sauna every damn day.
I know you sauna every day.
Every damn day.
God, that's so creepy.
So it's good because I'm hot and I feel like I'm doing something.
And I know I'm doing something because of all the benefits of being excessively hot for your brain.
I've had a lot, a lot of concussions.
So I really care about my brain first.
And I can tell when it's, if I'm not dialed in after eight minutes, I just call it a day.
So I didn't expect you just now to say brain specifically.
What are the benefits for heat?
Well, it's so fun.
Rhonda Patrick, who we all know, I think she's just incredible because she kind of dialed
this in.
Yeah.
And Wim Hof has been an awesome, or Aaron, what's his full name?
Shoot, it's not Wim Hof.
The breathing guy.
It's Wim Hof.
It's Wim Hof.
Is that his name?
Is that his actual name?
I thought it was his method.
Wim Hof method.
Oh, okay.
Got it.
For sure.
He's all about cold exposure.
Yeah.
But I hate cold.
I mean, I know it has the benefits.
So I dug into Rhonda Patrick and just having that release of that protein that really just helps your brain live longer and your mitochondria be produced more.
Near infrared, especially that red light, it's shown within 30 minutes of exposure.
Like sometimes I'm like five inches away from my head with the red light.
You know, correct.
I'm sure somebody will say you should absolutely not do that.
But it's shown to lower anxiety and depression just with 30 minutes of exposure a day
with people with really severe depression and anxiety. So I'm just like, you know, I have all
the boxes checked, like a gene testing, all the things, especially on top of that concussions.
If I don't take care of my brain, I'm going to run into a problem in 20 years.
Do you know how much the red light is different than just going and standing in the sun? Like
if depressed people spent more time in the sun, would they also potentially get that?
Yeah, I think that's more serotonin related.
So vitamin D is connected to your serotonin levels.
And I love vitamin D for so many different reasons, especially with cortisol issues.
If you have no exposure to sun, you can't sleep as well.
So having that increased D level.
But near infrared, the red light specifically stimulates ATP production in a way that I don't think sunshine can do.
So you said you had started this journey, you know, four years ago to kind of finding yourself internally and then dealing with it externally.
What was your tipping point?
If you can, you know, think four years back, what was, what-up call, you know, that said, hey, I got to stop?
Well, the wake-up call was trying to compete at a CrossFit competition with, like, adrenal supplementation in my pocket.
Because I was like, I mean, I'm like, this is a problem.
What am I doing?
In your pocket?
I swear to God.
Wait, hold on.
How does this, how is this, what's in, is this like a vial?
No, no, no. You know know, like those Reebok shorts.
They have like a little key spot.
They still do.
You don't have to talk about it.
The only person I hang out with that wears girls' pants is Colton.
The key thing is still there.
He knows about the key pocket.
I love it.
And I just, I remember finishing it.
I was like one, I didn't even see it as a problem. was like i gotta get through this last day of competing and then i just
took a whole week to recover i was like i feel like death i'm not doing my emails this just is
what is what what am i trying to prove like coming to myself and being like why did i just do this
why am i trying to be this person when i'm clearly my body saying don't do it so it was a very come to Jesus moment
of like let's just let's heal and see what that looks like and I think that was my tipping point
for sure you recently did a I listened to the show you and you mentioned it a little bit the
genetic testing and because of your show I also have a friend that lives in Denver that is doing
the exact same program that you did and he calls me all the time and it's like this long drawn out conversation. It happens
to be really freaking interesting though, of how people are able to get in, check out what's going
on. And then from everything you put into your body, they find the deficiencies. Where did you
find out about this whole thing? You were literally the first person that I even introduced me to what was going on.
It's so awesome.
So everyone knows 23andMe is kind of the standard test.
And I had done 23andMe before August of 2017.
And in August of 2017, they changed their testing.
And so now I was like, well, what do I do?
Because I have all this amazing information.
I plugged it into a software that this guy, Alex Swanson created. And that's who I interviewed. Nutrition genome
is what is what it was called. So he takes your 23andMe data, plugs it into the software,
and it shows you food based and supplement based and lifestyle protocols to work with your genetic
kind of epigenetics. Like what are you, what is your tendency based on your genetics?
And so I had heard of it through this amazing lady named Sarah Morgan who worked with Alex Swanson.
She actually just launched this Buddies in My Belly.
It's a kid's book with little plush dolls that represent probiotic chains
that affect specific neurotransmitters.
So people with GABA issues or anxiety issues usually have a hard time with bifidium.
So that's the probiotic they should get.
So it's like a super cool.
So she introduced me to Alex Swanson and the genetic testing is incredible, especially athletes.
I learned like some cool stuff about athleticism. The most important thing for me to learn was the way I handle inflammation.
It's just not good.
I don't do a good job with it, which is why if there's a lot of it, my body starts to shut down.
And that probably, were you able to see any correlation between the result on the test
and maybe some of the cortisol stuff you were dealing with back way back?
No, I think that was all self-perpetuated.
No sleep, over-training, multiple businesses.
Extra pre-workout, two a days. I think that was all me i mean there was a lot like i got this crazy
this is the craziest story but i actually got a piece of pulled pork stuck into my tooth
for like a long time that caused a bacterial infection so like that was delicious yes it was
horrible yes it really was it was like bacon you just betrayed me what's a long time let me down
how did floss not find this piece of pulled pork well no my dentist wouldn't believe me because i It really was. It was like bacon. You just betrayed me. What's a long time? Let me down.
How did floss not find this piece of pulled pork? Well, no, my dentist wouldn't believe me because I was like, there is something.
It was like unflossable.
It was almost to my bone.
That's how bad it was.
Did you have like a callus on your tongue?
Because anytime something gets in your teeth, you're like digging with your tongue.
No, no, no.
I think I just didn't even know it was there.
It just was there.
And then it started.
And then you started to feel it. And then I was like, oh, shit. What is this just didn't even know it was there. It just was there. And then it started.
And then I was like, oh, shit, what is this? There's a thing growing in here.
Get it out.
It took her like a good ten minutes to believe me.
It was like, just get it out.
We actually interviewed Paul Cech,
and there was like an entire piece of what he was talking about.
He was like, your jaw makes such a difference.
He was like, has anybody ever gotten a sesame seed stuck in their tooth and everyone's like yes what's going
on he's like well that'll just mess your whole world up from your axis to like your pelvis and
it was like all right paul check let me just get the thing out of here yeah like the water real
life i'm a big believer in the water pick the water picks are amazing if you don't have this
i was recently told to get one.
Are they as good as that? On Amazon, $20.
I have one to travel with, and I have one at home.
They are life-changing.
You'll never have to floss again.
I just hate flossing, and you just.
It's just water pressure?
Just water pressure.
Yeah, it's just like a little dentist machine.
When I had braces, I had one to get all the things.
No more pork.
No more pork.
Yeah, pulled pork makes me terrified.
So what changes have you made
though? Because of that genetic testing, like that, that's been a really interesting process
for watching my buddy go through because the gut health thing is so wild and it digs into that.
It does. It's really cool. So for me, the, I mean, I love supplements. I'm a big believer
in supplements. Like I really do have 10 pounds of stuff here, a supplement. So I just kind of dialed
in what my, especially liver and my detox pathways needed glutathione. Um, I really think turmeric,
if I don't have it, I just wake up like a groggy asshole. Uh, it's just like a lot of little things
where I was like, okay, if I stay away from the foods I'm eating, increase my intake of beets and
extra greens, which I try to do anyway. What can I do to help
with my methylation? So it was really adding in or making sure that my B vitamin had enough folate
and MTHF. And then I also add glutathione and it just helps my body get rid of any inflammation
that it has a little bit easier. Have you noticed any difference in the gym? Oh, it's game changer.
Well, the gym's not open yet. So that's the best part is, like, the stress of getting to the gym.
Like, I mean, I shouldn't be able to do –
if it wasn't for the supplements I take and the way I ate
and the things that I said no to,
I think I wouldn't be able to do the five things that I'm doing.
What's going on with your gym?
You're opening right now.
Yeah, so we're opening right now.
What are you doing here?
I've opened a couple gyms.
There is no way I would be here, chaos going back i would be here chaos yeah we're far away from it
so we still haven't even started the build out but we'll hopefully open in july in a rhino area
in denver which i'm so stoked about it's my favorite area uh and i think for right now it's
really it's so cool because i started off online like six seven years ago worked backwards where
usually most people start in a brick and mortar and then
it builds up to online or whatever it is but it's been fun to have the m fit challenge have these
impacts um have these teas and now i'm like i want a home i need a place for these to come together
and so it's half tea bar half strength training it's gonna be dope i can't wait for you to visit
everyone i know that does stuff online eventually is like, I need to have a physical location. This is just not doing it for me.
My house is both is dope though. Yeah, it is. It is. I'm very lucky and I'm very grateful for it,
but I'm really ready to be out of my house office. So what's the vision for the gym? Is it a unique
spot that is unlike any other gym in town? Like what does that look like? Well, I would, yeah,
I wouldn't create anything unless it was, you know, something different. And so it's a 24-7 access strength and conditioning
hybrid gym. So for me, I want a place where I can Olympic lift and I can also do some triceps,
skull crushers and not feel judged. And I really, really am excited because it's platform-based.
So those Olympics, full squat rack platforms, and then bodybuilding on the other
side. So group classes, but really just a home for people that have a program, want a program,
but also don't really, we're just sick of pushing it too hard. I've had a really hard time post
CrossFit competing to figure out where I fit. And so I'm going to create it. It's really cool. We
get to go around and clearly see a lot of gyms. And when I opened my gym, it was, like, pure CrossFit, as hardcore as we can get.
And then now when we go and visit some of these places, I'm like, man, it would have been really cool if there was, like, just some bodybuilders in the corner, like, getting after it.
Place for everybody.
It would be really cool, yeah, if there was, like, some of these, like, movers over in the corner doing handstands and like everyone could just see what's going on.
Yeah.
Or some moms on a,
on a spin bike,
you know,
like what,
what speaks to you?
Yeah,
totally.
Find that common ground between everybody.
There's so many burnout CrossFit athletes that still want to do some
CrossFit ish things.
And then like really like the second half of the workout is like all
bodybuilding.
I think you're really riding the front of that wave right now.
The functional bodybuilding thing is coming in really strong.
Everyone's ready for it.
If you have a gym that's niched down to that crowd in a big city,
I think you'll smash.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
I hope I smash.
I just think it was really, and it was honestly out of this adrenal thing.
Like what do I do that's good for my body that I don't continue to burn myself out?
I have to run my businesses hopefully really well and also
maintain my fitness level. And so I think especially business owners, how do you
balance that line? And the way you do it is by the way you, what's your output? What's your
exercise look like? Because if you push it a little too hard in the gym, you're going to feel
it when you're trying to answer emails and trying to get creative for the next challenge or the next
thing you need to launch. Right on.
We're going to take a break.
I want to get into the meathead hippie when we get back.
We're supposed to be hanging out with you all the time.
I'm only somewhat hurt by this.
Meathead hippie when we get back.
Truck fam,
hope you're enjoying hanging out with Emily Strong.
She's such a gangster.
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Yo, team, go get the clothes.
Go get the coffees. go get the fish oils,
get after it. Back to Emily Schramm. Well played. Well played. Welcome back. Thanks.
Sorry, that's Colton. He's the man. He is the vibe creator. Anytime something happens,
Colton comes in. It's like the perfect song to cool the mood.
He's in charge of the vibe.
Very chameleon of you.
Very, very chameleon.
Meathead Hippie.
What's up?
I really dig the podcast.
It's so awesome.
Thank you. You have such a really cool take on just everything you're doing because I know you come from the strength and conditioning background.
And then along this journey, I feel like we're on the same page here.
Right? I feel like we're on the same page here, right? Well, I think it leads.
Every time you're just on the journey, you always start out pushing the external.
And then all of a sudden, you realize you have to kind of have a little bit more of a conversation with yourself.
But what kind of started it?
What's the goal with the podcast?
With me and Hippie, I think it's really I just need to be stimulated.
So I was online for, well, I am online until this gym opens. I don't
do any one-on-ones. And I think I had this huge hole missing in my own life where I feed off of
other people. And when I did a personal training session or when I coached a class, like I walked
away feeling like on top of the world and I was missing that so much. And so I just wanted to
start having good conversations with really awesome people. So that's how it started is it fed me in a way that I thought it was just a way to put out more content.
And then it turned into like, this is my therapy. This is incredible. So for me, it's really just,
you know, I love, I love lifting weights. I love it so much. But I also think the other side of me
of herbal teas and spirit animal cards. And if you know all the palo santo i mean
i'm pretty hippie i take a lot of you're in denver i'm in denver i take a lot of flower essences so
hold on back up you just uh what flower essences tell me about it what am i what am i missing how
about that not what is it what am i missing this? This is so cool. So flower essences, I didn't even believe them until I started doing muscle testing on people.
And when I became a nutritional therapy practitioner, I wanted to care about adrenals and gut health.
I wanted to master it.
But I really wanted to go through this technique that taught people how to muscle test and see, you know, physically what's the change in your organ affecting what muscle, which is why glutes, adrenals, that whole talk,
that's how it started happening. So anyway, when, what you can do is if somebody can't open up,
which means they cannot get into an energetic place where you can muscle test them well,
one of the only things that will work is if I just put flower essences on their tongue.
So an immediate response, relax them, let them let go. And really what it is,
it's a flower and you sit it into the mother it's called
mother so it's just mountain spring water this is crazy i'm sorry you put the flower in the water
the sun sit you have to have it in direct sunlight for at least four hours and then it's diluted and
distilled in alcohol just like a tincture and so each flower like chestnut or i mean it really is
bach flower is the guy that mastered this.
So Dr. Bach, actually, I don't even know if he was a doctor.
Hippie Bach, we'll call him Hippie Bach.
And he has these huge line of flower essences,
but it's really just combinations of things that help you
with your specific needs that are energetic.
So like for me, I have a tendency to not let things go.
Like somebody honks at me, I'm like, what did I do?
Why did I do that?
And I just, you kind of hold on to it. And when you're more and more stressed, you hold on to those little things go. Like somebody honks at me, I'm like, what did I do? Why did I do that? And I just, you kind of hold on to it.
And when you're more and more stressed, you hold on to those little things even more because
they bother you in a way that if you were open, it wouldn't.
And so I think a lot of humans have that issue is like, okay, I can't relax, but then I can't,
everything's happening to my life and I can't relax and it just perpetuates it.
So flower essences are just a very simple way to get somebody back into their body
and it's shown it's never going to be scientific and so people always say it's placebo but it is
shown to release energies like if you can take them consistently for up to two weeks four times
a day energy patterns that you've had your whole life yeah can start to go away who cares if it's
placebo when i go to the sweet yoga class and the little yin master comes over and she's like, how about some
reiki? And she rubs her hands together
and places them near my forehead.
I'm like, no problem.
This is radical. I'm
meditating. You just did some weird
witch doctor stuff. I don't even care.
I should show you just my purse. Do you guys
want to see this? This is so ridiculous.
Get this on YouTube. Here we go. This is like what I carry.
So first I have my Palo Santo. You guys have seen this, right? We burn this. You burn this. This is so ridiculous. Get this on YouTube. Here we go. First I have my Palo Santo.
You guys have seen this, right?
You burn this. What's really cool
with Palo Santo, it's called Hollywood.
It's just like sage. You can
burn it and instead of clearing,
it grounds you. It's really good for grounding.
If it doesn't burn, it means the
Palo Santo did not die naturally.
Someone did a really
not good thing to that tree.
Have you been accepted by any Native American tribes as like a medicine doctor over here?
No, I think in another life I want to be a shaman.
This is one of my favorite things.
You could do it in this life if you really wanted to.
You guys have seen this, right?
No.
The pendulum?
What?
So my mom introduced me to this.
Maybe I get it from my mom.
I mean, my mom's a pretty she's a she's a
little bit of a witch in like a really good way in a good way in a good way so this is a pendulum
so it just sees energy so it says if energy is more masculine or feminine or if you're having
a hard time with a decision it says yes or no it's super hippie i'm gonna shut the purse there
we're gonna do the pendulum afterwards i want to know okay cool okay so wait did you give yourself
this name or were people friends of yours like referring to you as the fucking meathead hippie
and you were like oh that's my boyfriend we were trying to he was like someone was trying to
explain me and he was like no i don't i don't think that's it i think she's just a meathead
hippie i was like that's the best that's my podcast that's what we're gonna call my podcast
so it was my boyfriend but it's perfect you still
identify as a meathead oh god we went far down the hippie track so i get the hippie piece the
meathead piece you still feel like that's you yes every i mean i'm i'm in the gym and when i'm in
the gym it is all i care about and all i all i need to do so i think bicep curls squats deadlifts
i i'm i follow conjugate methods so i'm a huge fan of
all of the strength training that comes with that um i'm ready to open a gym because it's just
i can't really do what i want to do at the place i'm at right now do you follow a program still
yeah i do cool yeah is that stressful no it's necessary it's one structure in my life that i
have to have if i there's times where i don't want to program and I know that going into the gym.
Maybe I had too many meetings and too much structure that day.
If that's the case, then I just want to move my body.
But if I don't have structure that day and it's just me making things happen, I'm creating, I'm like, how do I design this and how do I make this?
If I'm in my head too creative, I come to the gym and I want something to be on paper.
It's interesting.
At this point, it's really challenging for me to be on any program
just because it's like, oh, no, now I have to hit a number.
Well, that program was written well before my morning exploded.
So if I could just show up, that would be awesome.
Yes, there's definitely days I shift.
Adjustment. You have things going on. When you show up, that would be awesome. Yes. There's definitely days I shit. Adjustments.
You have things going on.
When you show up, it's like, God, maybe I'll just pick up a dumbbell today
and see if that puts things in a better place.
Eight-minute rule.
Yeah.
Eight minutes.
I like that, actually.
I'm going to steal that.
You're going to draw a tarot card one of these days.
It's just going to have a big eight on it.
You're going to be like, what does it mean?
Maybe I already have. I think it's inside gonna have a big eight on it you're gonna be like what does it mean maybe i already
have i think it's inside this dog one um are you so when you coach online are you what are you doing
any personal programming for people yeah so i have like eight programs right now uh busy b burn and
build so some are very specific for the mpac and so six-week strength training programs on the go uh burn is more of
my hypertrophy based program that keeps cardio and endurance higher and build is my strength
program which follows the conjugate method so me and my uh gym co he's my head coach at my gym
will be the head coach at my gym when it happens is really awesome at integrating just rehab
technique and also strength training in a way
that even I forget about like, Oh yeah, lateral moves. Forgot to do that. CrossFit does one thing,
you know? So it's been really good to have him with the programming. So I have different eyes.
And then I can incorporate, I've been taking from like MSU has a really awesome experimental
Olympic lifting program. So I've been following that. So Olympic lifting, I find other people's programs, but for the program that like, I know exactly what I need
to work on. And it's usually three times pooling and one time pushing. So it's just trying to find
a balance of a lot of health in that too. Yeah. How have you, or rather have you combined weight
lifting with conjugate and like, and if so, how do you do you do that yeah and it's hard because you
have to be smart of not pushing it too much because you i mean the max effort upper body
lower body dynamic effort upper lower if i put too much in between those days my max is horrible so
i really think that it's i try to do it on the days of the max effort upper and max effort lower
and then if i am not recovered the next day,
then I move on.
So I'm always like, okay, well,
I did too many snatches yesterday.
But if I had to pick and choose,
like if I want to just lift something,
I don't ever just go to deadlifts.
I'm always going to air to Olympic lifting.
That's always kind of my go-to.
And I think it's the opposite for most people
because they don't have to think about it.
But I just love, I mean,
I have a couple of meets that I'm signing up for this end of this year and i just think olympic
lifting has changed my life like i never thought i would love it and i'm forever grateful to crossfit
for introducing me to it because it's good it's just the best it's great it is i mean you just
can't you can't perfect it yeah i'm obsessed with the fact that it's going to be different every single lift.
Yeah.
Dude, Olympic lifting is like, even now, I just am at a point where I just,
I feel like I can do it, and then I'll, like, watch the video,
and I'm like, man, we still have a long way to go,
and you're, what, eight, nine, ten years into it,
and it's like stuff's never going to get better.
Ever.
Just always on this fun journey.
Yeah.
Where you're lifting at a gym right now, though,
that you can't really do this Olympic lifting thing.
You can't drop things.
Which is so fun.
Which is really safe.
Really, really safe.
Let's lower one rep backs to our shoulders.
That's really smart.
I know.
So it's interesting because it's a guy's bar.
It's at just a general Colorado athletic club.
They're great.
I mean, they have a sauna, and they have three platforms
that I fight for every day. One-stop shop. Yeah. So it's been great to fill
in this whole, this transition stage until the gym opens. But what's interesting is not having
chalk, not having a guy's bar, and then also having people just stare at you like you're a
nut job have put you, you have to, it's just a, it it's even it's like a challenge that i actually appreciate
in a way that i think it's actually helping me improve in ways that i wouldn't if i was just
on my own with chalk with a female bar like all the distractions are gone i don't have to focus
quite as much and when you create your own gym i think that one of the things that really drew me
to crossfit was like i need or when i opened my gym was like i need to create a space where i can
train the way that I want to train.
Like being in a 24-hour fitness, yeah, I could probably go and do muscle-ups or I could go
and do whatever I needed to do.
But why does that guy have to stare at me like I'm a Looney Tune?
Get him out of here.
He's messing with my game.
He's staring at me.
I just want to work hard.
Get away from me.
And the headphone thing.
Yeah.
The headphones are an issue because you can't Olympic lift with headphones.
And then the music is horrible.
So now, yeah, you really can't.
Focus is off.
When you catch a front squat and you have the, like, iPhone thing and it cuts the music out, you're like, no, no, no, no, no.
I needed that.
Yeah.
I needed that.
I know.
But now when you, so now that this CrossFit thing has become a little bit more mainstream and everybody understands a little bit of Olympic lifting,
imagine if you're, like, in a 24-hour fitness and you, like, start doing some, like,
primal flow movement pieces and now, like, you're crawling.
What are you doing over there?
So it's super cool when you go to build your own gym to be able to have these pieces in there
where people can, like, explore explore movement explore what's interesting to
them um i man i i always just think i'm like man if i was to redo this gym thing it would look so
radically different from six seven years ago because all that stuff's really interesting
and giving people a home to just express themselves is really like kind of at the
heart of owning a gym like come in here and like let's give you a home where you can be the best you.
Yeah.
Do you ever go over to Awaken Gymnastics in Denver?
Oh, man, it's been on my list for a minute.
It's not that far from my house.
It looks amazing.
I'm one of those people, though, that I have a hard time picking excess hobbies.
Like if I – so I started jiu-jitsu.
If I do not give this much time to
jujitsu i had to quit it i had i couldn't because i'm an obsessive personality so if i go i know
awaken gymnastics is gonna awaken the gymnastic person in me and i'm gonna want to master it
in some way so i have just like picked and chosen my hobbies for this year because I can't do it all.
And I just get frustrated if I can't do it all.
So I'm not a dabbler.
I can't just go to one class.
I have to go to all the classes and become more perfect at it.
I'm just a nut job like that.
But it's on the list.
Is that when you're backing off of jiu-jitsu then?
Did you scratch that one?
Yes, I had to because I was – I mean, I did it to train for one of the MTV shows that I did.
And it was great.
But when I came back, I was like, I can't commit to this.
Because I want to, I would want to compete.
Like, this is all or nothing.
So, I pick Olympic weightlifting or I pick jiu-jitsu.
I can't figure out a way to do both.
So, I figured out, for me, it's Olympic weightlifting this year.
So glad you mentioned the MTV thing.
Do you just smash people on that show?
Like.
Yeah.
I feel like so.
Anytime a competition comes up, I just always kind of assume,
like if I'm 1% more aggressive and care 1% more than everyone else in the room,
there's a really good chance you're going to be at the top.
But you've trained that intensity so much,
and then all of a sudden you show up and it's like game time, let's go.
No one else is in that head space of like, no, no, no, no.
Wherever you're at, I guarantee you I can one-up just a little bit.
I'm here to play just a little bit more than you are. You said that really well.
I appreciate that.
You have to monitor it because you don't want to be like three degrees higher.
No, just a little bit.
Because all of a sudden now you're an asshole.
Yep.
That's a fine line. I just want you to know when we look at each other i'm going to kick your
ass but i'm going to be friendly about it in the interview after i'll give you a butt slap
afterwards right we'll be friends go get a drink after just know i'm the alpha here yep it's it's
uh how often are you still doing that so i did the last one because it was a charity challenge
so i was able to raise money for Girls Inc.
So those are the only ones I'll do if I do another one is these little charity spinoffs that they have.
Which is good because you can still have your laptop and your phone.
But if you don't do the spinoffs, you really disappear for two months.
And it's just not a real...
You must have the time to do that, right?
Yeah.
Sometimes.
Sometimes you want that.
But it's not going to happen anytime soon.
That's a fun little adventure, though.
I feel like those challenges have – okay, I'm about to talk about MTV.
Here we go.
I have spent a few Sunday afternoons with a hangover watching these shows,
like an extreme amount of them in college.
But I love them because as you watch them,
the training of the people has actually gotten better.
And someone that loves strength and conditioning.
When I see the level of athleticism on those shows, and then all of a sudden there's a couple people.
I don't want to say their names because then it's too much of my dorkiness.
But you can see the people that start training.
And then CrossFit showed up.
And then you really started seeing some people that showed up in good shape.
How many people on those shows? because that's like your real competition now you're not doing the CrossFit thing, how many people are actually training like behind the
scenes in a really way? Like it's a professional thing like, oh, I got to go on the challenge and
try and win 50 grand. They definitely do it. What's ironic is they actually start training
more when they're there. So they're like, oh, now I got to get my shit together.
Oh, you've already beat them then.
Yeah, so you're good.
You've already beat them.
Yeah, there's only a couple people.
You should totally go and be like, oh, this is really good.
Like really poor squats, jack their knees up.
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
No, this is great.
I'm a professional.
No way.
No, I love it because I get to show, you know, a lot of them, especially the females, they
really haven't been exposed to any sort of strength training.
That's not fair.
I know.
Well, it's good because one, I get to teach them about it.
And then I'm like, well, this is why.
Because you'll be better at these challenges if you do this.
If you show up, I'm still going to kick your ass.
But I'm still 1%.
I love it.
I'm actually super out of the loop.
I don't even know what these challenges are.
What are you even doing?
Doug Larson, how in the world did you get through college? I've never sat and watched MTV for a whole day. challenges so what happened and honestly i hadn't seen real world before i got on it so
i like binge watched right before so it's real world which is like the first reality tv show
and then they take members from that show now Now they have all types of members. And you do like a survivor type show.
So you compete.
So you try to figure out who is the best of the best.
But it's strategy.
It's like big brother meets survivor.
Okay.
That's kind of what it is.
It's a really good way when you're trying not to do any homework in college
to polish off an entire afternoon of just nothing positive going into
your brain but being wildly entertained yeah i don't think so what was the real key to doing that
like it was it certainly isn't all physical there's a huge psychological component to it i
would imagine um but tell me about that like what what was your strategy what worked what didn't
work well for me honestly this is so long ago So this is like nine years ago when I was on the first real world.
And I just needed to get the fuck out of Missouri.
So I like had, I had nowhere to go.
I was stuck in Missouri on a path of being a veterinarian,
which I was realizing that that was the last thing I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
But I had wanted to be that since I was three.
So I was like, what do I do with my life?
So I was like in a really dark place.
So when they offered to do that, it was kind of just a way for me to get
out of Missouri, which turned into a way for me to start seeing the country and actually start
seeing the world. So we went to Prague and Iceland and Dominican Republic. And we've been, I think
Thailand was the last one that I did. So it's just, it was fun because it was unique. And then
it also triggered a competitive side of me that I didn't know I had. Like I thought it was competitive,
but I didn't realize how like, I'm like do or die. I mean, what you've said is so real,
like the competitiveness that it triggered in me, I became very addicted to. So that's actually how
I got into CrossFit competing because it felt very similar to competing three, two, one,
I'm about to wrestle you and the winner stays and the loser goes home.
Like those situations that I became really drawn to because I just wanted to know really what am I
capable of? I had never tested myself enough in different ways. Like I don't know what my body
can do. I'm not, I've never been a collegiate athlete. I never was an elite athlete, but I am
an athlete and I want to see what I'm capable of. And this
makes me so nervous. Like I would be, I still get, my heart rate starts increasing thinking about it
because it's like, you just have this moment of like you black out and you just got to go. And
those types of moments, whether you're competing in CrossFit or whether you're on a challenge,
I just, I had to see who, I had to see what I could do, what Emily showed up.
And I just love that.
I really, so I just, honestly, I didn't have any strategy.
I'm like the nice one on the show.
So I just kind of would be like, yeah, let's wrestle. The nice one that's 1% more aggressive than everyone else.
How much of this stuff kind of, like you have a gym.
You've got this impact business.
You just launched another Kickstarter.
You probably have 19 other
things going on that i'm just not aware of right now and tarot cards that people can find and feel
good about their life and all kinds of beautiful things sage in your purse or what paulo santo
i have a really good friend named paulo paula santos so every time i'm like who she's in there
she's probably got good energy a lot of the stuff when
you find your competitiveness does that transfer over into your business world and like how how do
you manage all of the things that are going on in your life right now well it was a good mental
shift for me to say okay i'm stopping this competing crossfit which i never was a great
cross i mean i was decent i could win like areas you won regionals yeah you were good
in my local competitions but I never and I would do it just was an interesting combo because I was
like I'm never gonna get dissatisfied with my level of crossfit because I'm just I'm not gonna
train that hard are you doing this uh when did I start I guess it was 2014 15 16 oh yeah 13 40
yeah it was one regional switch from so I like missed it by a year, I think.
So it was just a really interesting process of me like, okay, I'm trying to do it all.
I'm trying to, it was when I launched the MPAC on Kickstarter, the first Kickstarter
in 2016.
And then really just saying, okay, how do I channel this competitiveness?
Because all I know is how to physically be competitive.
And so I just decided, well, what can I do with these businesses?
And I love creating and I love creating product,
which I didn't have the chance to do with online training.
Yes, you can create meal plans and videos and content,
but it was like a consumer packaged good.
Like tea versus a workout was like an addiction to me.
So how can I be the best in the tea business?
How can I be the best in functional movement business? How can I be the best in
functional movement on the go? You know, those kinds of things is where I pushed it. And it was
nice because I couldn't do both. I couldn't also be the best at the Kickstarter campaigns and at
the social media that's needed to make a product do well and also train at the level that I was
doing. And so I was like, this is dumb. let go of this and so I definitely transferred my I transferred energy into that. Awesome what's the story behind the
pack like how did you get into that? Yeah so I was actually watching the CrossFit games and I didn't
have a way to work out so I took a suitcase and I stuffed it with everything I could and started
squatting and then I realized there needs to be a way for me to have a backpack or carry-on bag
that turns into a weight training bag really quickly.
So it uses water as weight.
And so that was the first concept in 2016, launched on Kickstarter.
We raised like $208,000.
It was amazing.
And it was kind of like the propelling of this is me being a business owner.
This is me being an entrepreneur.
And it's just been wonderful to have all these.
It's basically the world is your gym kind of concept. Like work out where can where you are barefoot in the grass get out of the gym that was
a huge piece of healing from adrenals is just being in the sunshine and caring less about
the weight on the bar and more about my movement in nature and that was really healing for me
and then it turned into okay i own a backpack. So I have a patent pending on the straps.
And so it's a really unique concept of take the straps off when you want it to be a workout bag or keep the straps on.
Use it as a rucksack or just use it as your go-to backpack.
So we launched our second Kickstarter, which is we have like three days left.
And we were funded within four hours.
Yay!
It's incredible.
Look at you, savage.
1%.
1% cooler than everyone.
So it was good.
So now it's fun because I actually have a company, not just a backpack.
So it's really cool to have a hydration reservoir holder.
Not camelback because it's copyright.
So it's a hydration reservoir holder.
You can do trail running with it.
It's like my Murph bag, like a weighted vest, but also just a nice hiking adventure pack.
Do you have a bunch of spinoffs kind of in the pipeline?
Yes, I have too many in the pipeline. But it's fun because at first it was, you know,
I want to be a weight training bag. I want to be a fitness company. But now I'm like,
I am a backpack nerd. Like I want to make really good backpacks. And the X factor of,
if you want, you can work out with it whenever you can but if you can't
you have a really good backpack that's going to be with you with for all your backpack i feel bad
about my backpack theory i was just curious about it's a good story don't feel bad yeah t-shirts
and backpacks yeah what you do people want you they're going to find you right they want to give
you stuff black on black um what what's going on with the the second kickstarter yeah so uh it's
finished i guess no no like what what what's the difference between the second Kickstarter? Yeah, so it's finished, I guess.
No, no, no.
But what's the difference between the first one and the second one?
Just fundraising?
Are you guys producing more bags?
Different product.
It's a new product.
Yep.
So it's a smaller compact version.
So this bag holds four reservoirs if you want.
I sell it with two.
This bag that's on Kickstarter right now, the MPAC Nomad,
it holds the hydration reservoir and one weighted reservoir.
So you can use it just for like small single arm stuff, but also running.
So it gets to at max capacity 22 pounds versus 60 pounds on that one.
Awesome.
One thing I do kind of want to come back to just a little bit is like
your voice in the fitness industry has, I mean,
you have a really cool platform that you've created.
Who are the majority of your clients and what are their goals in working with you?
Well, that's a good question.
I think my favorite thing to hear is when people come to me and say, I just want to
be strong.
I feel like I did a good job.
You know, and if when I hear that, I'm like, yes, I'm doing it right.
Because you never know.
You put content out there and you're just like, this is me.
You hope someone's looking at it but to have the shift when i first started and
especially doing the women's health stuff that i did it was like how do i get skinny how do i get
abs how do i cut my belly fat and then it's shifting to how do i just be strong how do i
feel good in my body and how do i you know have, like that confidence that you have. And it was, and it
is strength training that does that. So, um, that's the clientele that I want to attract
because I, I care so much more about how they feel, how they sleep, their energy every day
and their perception of themselves. I mean, I just want everyone to look in the mirror and
just fucking love what they see. It took me a long time to get to that point. And it's always
a journey. It's never like an end all be all-all some days are good some days are bad but to really have that moment of oh my god I'm a badass
like everyone should experience that and like so it takes a long time but that's the clientele that
I feel like I've been lucky enough to to have how do you feel about this little voice not even
little it's a large voice but uh what comes with kind of the personal growth and building not just these products but the brand and kind of becoming a really cool face of women's
fitness yeah i appreciate that uh it's like i'm a fan i'm not female i just want to hang out with
you uh i think it's interesting because uh you know instead of you i've just been myself you
know this is me and this these are the things I produce.
But at the end of the day, I have become a brand.
So it's interesting to always navigate this identity with brand and growth and not see the growth of my business or lack of growth of my business as something that's a personal fault.
And so monitoring that is always a very tough battle of like, I have to put myself out there more for my business.
And then being like, but if it doesn't do well, then I am the person that's...
So many cool things.
Go for it.
When you change, what happens to the brand?
Because I've gone through a lot of this process.
And in owning a gym and it being called CrossFit PB and it has to
be so CrossFit-y and then all of a sudden breaking up with that or like that brand is no longer
represents what's going on and you've gone through so many of these transitions yourself. So
what happens to the brand when you become more meathead or more hippie? What are some of those
middle principles that you're guiding people
through well i think the process of the transition is the most important piece so the reason i've
never felt like stuck in that situation and i think maybe advice for anybody that might see
or foresee that happening to them or that transition happening is talking them through
each step that got you to that point so when when you feel like, oh, I feel stuck, maybe it's the CrossFit thing, right?
So like I'm a CrossFit gym, but I also just want to do some effing bicep curls.
Then I experience, I show them like why am I doing bicep curls?
I feel like a badass.
My muscles look great.
And it's okay to want to care about what your body looks like and not perform like.
And so just talking them through that, I think, and being really organic.
And, you know, my biggest thing with social media
is that sometimes people use it as a way
to validate who they are.
So they show their weakest moments
and pretend like it's them getting through it.
But it's really them looking at validation
through the crowd that they have.
I think it happens with influencers all the time.
I don't know if that makes sense.
So I think the biggest thing is
if you are trying to share something, just make sure you're in a good place.
You've already gotten through that journey.
You already know where you're going.
And then that piece is going to resonate with your followers way more than something that's like, oh, I should post about self-love or I should post about X, Y, Z.
Just don't do it because people will see right through it yeah i think the best part about you is that your internal success totally shows with all your external success which a lot of times from women
you know we see all these external things but people that we're looking at are pretending that
their internal is all set and ready to go but you totally are on that platform where i looking at
you believe that your internal success helps and give me, of course. And so,
you know,
as being a female,
seeing that I believe in,
like believe in you as a person in your internal,
cause I know that's what's producing everything externally.
So that's really cool to see.
Damn.
Thanks.
Right.
Where can people find you and all these cool things that you have going on?
No.
So emilychrom.com is probably probably the best. That's the hub.
That's the hub.
Although I don't have my tea company on there.
So teas, tarot cards, herbalelement.com.
Get them on there, girl.
I know I need to get them on there.
Shit.
But that's where you can see the MPAC.
That's where you can see I have a body awareness project on skin
for people that struggle with acne.
I have a lot of crazy things going on.
Do you just have an idea and say something cool and you're like, I need a patch?
Yep.
I love it.
I do.
The world is my gym.
I didn't even know these were laying right here.
I got them for you.
Colton, you can patch that shirt up you have on with this thing now.
Cover that nipple.
Cover that nip, bro.
The last thing, for any entrepreneur, anybody that's creative or has ideas in their head,
it just gets better when you trust yourself.
I mean, the way I eat, the supplements I take, if you just go with it, I mean, the ball will never stop rolling.
Right.
I think people really struggle with that trusting themselves thing.
And I think if more people just jumped, said something will happen on the other side if I just take this first step.
And then that first step, usually someone's going to catch you.
It's scary as shit.
But if people just started to practice taking that leap a little bit at a time, they're going to find that they trust themselves.
They're able to do it more often.
You've got to build the plane while you're flying it.
Right.
Yeah.
Jump, jump, and have the parachute in your back pocket.
EmilyShrom.com.
EmilyShrom.com.
At Emily Shrom on all the things.
Viv, tell us about you.
Find me, alohapokeco.com or Viviana Smith on Instagram.
Doug Larson.
Viv has like 15 restaurants she's putting together right now.
Literally.
How you have time to be on this show right now is I will never understand.
I love poking.
And she's a gangster.
And everything you were just saying is probably her life about sleeping three hours,
working out too hard, being too athletic, all the good things.
We'd be friends.
Yeah, definitely.
We are now friends.
You just bonded us.
We're going to put you two right here.
We are very, very, very similar.
Great to meet you.
Great to meet you as well.
Doug Larson.
I have three kids and two companies, and I'm like, man, Viv is really busy.
I got nothing going on.
I just, like, have nothing to do over here.
You can find me on Instagram at Douglas E. Larson and everything.
Barbell, shrugged and shrugged collective.
Make sure you follow Mr. Fitzpico behind the camera over here.
We're going to post a picture of that shirt he has on.
He's been torturing me with it for the last three days.
You look like you're nine.
You can find me at Anders Varner.
Make sure you get into the Shrugged Collective.
Five shows a week coming out.
Make sure you like, subscribe.
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Coolest conversations in all of strength and conditioning.
Most importantly, we're going to be here every Wednesday in your ear on the way to work.
Come and hang out with us.
We'll see you next week.
Shrug fam, hope you guys enjoyed the show.
Emily Schramm, what a gangster.
Go visit her platform strength in downtown Denver.
That's her brand new dream and i'll bet she'll
even let you read a tarot card with her i can't remember what mine was but man tarot cards in the
middle of podcasting you can't go wrong um i want to thank our friends over to organifi make sure
you get over to organifi.com forward slash shrugged. Save 20% storewide using coupon code shrugged.
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We're going to see you guys on Saturday.
Let's get after it.