Barbell Shrugged - Great Coaches Learn to Run a Great Business - The Strong Coach #3

Episode Date: November 10, 2019

Drew & Chelsea Dillon have been involved in the sport of Weightlifting longer than most coaches. Have participated at the highest levels of the sport and still found struggle in having a successful coaching business. They share what sets them apart from traditional weightlifting coaches/training and the journey they've traveled in business that has made the biggest difference in their ability to work with more clients while delivering a better service.

Welcome to The Strong Coach Podcast Season 3, Episode 3. The show to learn about how to be the best coach possible while building a sustainable and lucrative coaching business. For more shows like this, head over to thestrongcoachpodcast.com to subscribe to over 10 shows that you can binge on today. That's right, we've got more shows over there than what you're listening to right here. And while you're over at thestrongcoachpodcast.com, download your free three-step coaching business tune-up. You'll learn what most coaches never do to whip their business into shape. And make sure you go follow us on Instagram at thestrongcoach to learn what's working in the industry right now. We're making posts every day. We're pumping stuff

out and we're featuring a lot of the people who are in our programs or have completed and you can see what kind of success they're enjoying and where they came from and where they're going. Now today we have Drew and Chelsea Dillon from Project Lift and we get into how to perform at the highest level in weight lifting and stay healthy in the process, the art of coaching and the big lessons in growing their coaching business. Enjoy the show. Y'all are the first couple, the first couple to go through the Strong Coach. Really?

Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. That's neat. That is neat. Yeah. Cool. Danny told me, he goes, Drew went through, now Chelsea's going through. I was like oh awesome

awesome that's a new one yeah yeah so congratulations thank you you've done it you've done well you're doing it yeah yeah three more weeks i'll be complete yeah so y'all are drew did it first and then chelsea you go this looks like it's been a good thing, so I'll do it too. Tell us real quick about what you guys do in the world. You got Project Lift. Magical things in the world. We own and operate Project Lift out of Columbus, Ohio, and we specialize in Olympic weightlifting and functional movement.

Clients come to us to get out of pain, to function better in their everyday life, and then the other half of our clients come to us to learn how to do Olympic weightlifting and to compete and perform at their highest level. Yeah. One of the things that when I was listening to y'all talk at the summit, when I was asking about what you do, you were talking about taking a more modern approach to training than what most weightlifting athletes are taking these days. Yeah. Can you describe to me what's different about your approach? Breaking outside of the classic, we need to snatch, clean, jerk, squat. Snatch, clean, jerk, squat.

Hip hinging, hip hinging, sagittal plane. That's all where we live. Breaking outside of that, looking at seasons. So one thing that hit me years ago was throwing in track and field. It's very similar to Olympic weightlifting. Where in the world do they get seasons? And why don't we? So now you think of those stories that people go through. It's a season almost builds it in of like, hey, I'm in season and like competitions are coming up and this is what I'm doing. Now in off season, can I deregulate? Can I work on weaknesses? Can I build things up? But

we found ourselves just in this constant cycle of you're always on because here comes a competition. I mean, shoot, even classic weightlifting right now, what's going on with the world team and Olympic prep? These athletes for the qualification events are going big event to big event to big event. And like, we're just sitting back kind of watching going, man, like what's going on with that nervous system. Yeah. It's really fascinating because you're also looking at not just the nervous system, but they're cutting weight for each event too. And that takes a huge toll on you, right? And then it's like, when do you actually get to work on these things, right? And get out of that same plane. So we take our athletes, I build seasons for them. If you compete, I basically plan out the year of your competitions

and I build seasons around them. And that looks very different when they're in season for competition, even depending, like I make. We basically come to, okay, what are big one and two meets this year, right? And that's the ones where we really kind of go more for the traditional movements. And then we have anywhere from two to four smaller meets that we're just kind of training through. We're still doing some lateral work. We're still doing some other kind of weird, crazy things. It's just, it's not the same thing all the time. And we've noticed a huge drop in injury rate and a huge increase in performance. And people seem to really also enjoy competing more often. The burnout is less.

Yeah. It sounds like there's more variety. Yep. There's that variety. And it all stemmed from, like, the seed was my hip injury. And I get this hip injury, and I was cruising along, and it was right before what would have been called American Open Final. It was before the River Series. And right before that, and it just shut me down. Like, I couldn't even get into the fridge. I had to go, like, one leg hip hinge in, like, a a single leg squatty type thing, but you wouldn't have called it a pistol by any means.

Trying to get into the fridge, right? It just shut me down. I couldn't lift, couldn't do anything. And I'm a huge fan of multiple opinions. And I went to five different, some chiropractors, some physical therapists, but five different people. And four were like, oh, open shut case, hip surgery, that's the labrum, you know, these signs. And I know one other doctor was like, maybe. And I was like, I like maybe.

So we came up with a plan. He goes, I still want you to go and see a hip surgeon. And he goes, so get one on the books. And he goes, but how about this? How about I write your program and treat you in the office and mimic that program to what I'm doing in the office and we'll see what we can do. And I'm like, I mean, that sounds like a win-win. So I was like, cool. We talked about the ego and we talk about the ego at times. It was the moment where the ego

had no options. Like I had no options. And I was like, it was this or surgery. And I was like, okay, well, I mean, let's do this. And we go through this 28-week process and I finally see the hip surgeon. And by the time I saw the hip surgeon, I'm back up to 85% of my best numbers and all the symptoms are gone. And I go in to see the hip surgeon and they ordered an x-ray. I'd never even gotten an x-ray because I was trying to do it on the cheap. And I had an MRI and the MRI showed two small tears. Go into the hip surgeon, he puts me through, he looked like Rain Man, eyes closed, yelling out degrees as he's taking my hip around, you know. And he's like,

sits back and he holds up this paperwork and he goes, this makes no sense. And I go, what? And he goes, that's a perfectly fine hip. I just looked at him, I go, what about the MRI? And he's like, kind of gave me this look and he pulls up the MRI and he's scanning through and he stops and he points at it. He's like, maybe, maybe. And he goes, but you got to understand, Drew, 80% of people walking around have this. He goes, baloney. And he goes, look at your x-ray. And he pulls it up. And for those familiar with hips, you can develop a cam or a pincer, and that growth on the bone can fray the labrum and give you more issues. And he goes, you're not

even genetically predispositioned. You have nothing here. This is a great looking hip. And I asked him, I go, okay, can something happen in our life? And we fall out of a movement pattern and now I'm in a different movement pattern. And because of the weights I'm lifting and the full range of motion I'm doing, inflation builds up and gives off signs of labral tear. And he got this huge grin and he goes, every day. And he goes, but most people don't take 28 weeks to fix it. And at that point, he was like, go, go into the gym, do what you want to do. And he goes, it happens again. Come see me. I went back in the

gym, started going, here come lifetime PRs. And mind you, the 28 weeks I went through were not traditional weightlifting. At that point, I went to the doctor, I go, what'd you do? And he took me down this path of dynamic neuromuscular stability and just learning outside that box, learning outside that industry of going like, huh, fascinating. And that really was the seed that planted in. And then Chelsea has her own story with her back. Where were you guys six years ago? What year is it now? Before I destroyed myself.

That was 2013. That's not when I destroyed myself it was destroying ourselves you know yeah in process of it too probably on the floor in tears because my back hurts so bad yeah 2013 yeah we were right in there doing it too with you yeah i'm like 2013 i don't remember being a very good year i had a lot of health issues that year and training was, I remember, rough. But it's fascinating. Like, where was this, right? And how is it? It hit me. It was this hip injury could have absolutely been avoided. So one of the things as we started changing our programming and working with athletes, it was, there's no reason for them

to go through this. Injuries happen, but one of my biggest pet peeves is when coaches use nature of the sport to hide laziness from learning. Oh, you're hurting? It's the nature of the sport.

Your back hurts? Oh, that's normal. Like, it's just, it's fine. Nature of the sport. Yeah. It's one thing when there's a coach that's been in for five years saying it. It's another there's a coach has been in for five years saying it.

It's another thing when the coach has been in for 30 years and they're saying, I'm going, oh shit. Yep. Yeah. They've been ignoring. Yep. Everything. Everything.

Yeah. And it's funny. Cause I mean, I was that coach that's been coaching five years at one time and I'll never forget it. I was in a clinic I was doing up in Cleveland, Ohio. And looking back, wasn't until hindsight, this coach asked me about a pelvic position of an athlete. And I knew nothing about pelvic position of an athlete at that point. And I was kind of like, yeah, but she's moving okay. Meh, shit will work itself out. And then like, boom, I continue learning. I continue learning.

I go through this myself. And I think back to that time and I just go, shit, there was a moment I could have learned right there. Like that coach knew what he was talking about. You know what I mean? And you weren't curious enough yet. No, it was the ego. And honestly, I was repeating how I was coached. I was repeating what I learned. There was that mixture of it too, of going like, well, this is what I know. Yeah. So how do you guys, how do you approach athletes now? Completely different. I approach them where they are, meaning like we go through a lot of movement assessment, like what is the pelvis doing? What's the spine doing? What are your feet doing? Knees, everything. Like what are we doing now? And then incorporating that into their development of the lifts, right? So it's like their startup is designed around just where they are and taking that more individual approach to give them what they need versus like, well, I just want to snatch a clean jerk. Like, dude, you can't even hold your spine in the right position. Like, why do you think you should load this, right? Like, let's fix this. So you don't end up on the floor in tears

a year from now because your back hurts so bad. So taking that approach with them, and we do tons of accessory work with them as well that Drew and I have learned from our own development over these last few years and taking it down that path. What percentage of the work is accessory work or accessory work for the average? I know it's going to vary from athlete to athlete i'm like trying to visualize it all in my head like a percentage yeah i'm a little analytical with that so yeah just depend like over the course of a year yeah because it's going to vary depending on the season right yeah i would say probably 50 50 at that point yeah because they'll be complete one of my top athletes he had like a solid six weeks where he didn't touch a barbell.

And now he's hitting lifetime PRs. Like he was hitting lifetime PRs four weeks after he put a bar back in his hands. And I do that with a lot of athletes. Newer athletes, probably 30 to 40%. Like if they're training four days a week one full day will be accessory stuff plus then the last probably their last circuit of each lifting day is also accessory work and some new athletes if they're not in the position to do a lift it's 100 yep you know what i mean we got to build you up to the point of being able to do this movement yeah and they

they'll have rhythm and timing and they'll have technical things that have pieces of the movement or things that are getting ready for it potentially that don't really put them in compromised positions but that's it yeah i imagine that a lot of people listening to this show are crossfitters who weightlift and so they squat clean and jerk snatch and then they do crossfit wads yeah and maybe they do some like crossover symmetry shit for the shoulders what are you doing that's actually different definitely a lot of things and you could probably get into some better details so feel free to chime in a lot of the dns that we've learned incorporating that significantly into there we we have hundreds of different movements for them to do to strengthen

that pelvic floor. Foot pressure is a huge one as well that we really dive in deep with people too. You can't load your foot right. You're not going to be able to hold the brace under a dynamic movement or load. Bringing that into then how we teach the movements of the snatch and clean and jerk, how we teach a squat, how we teach a deadlift. It's a lot of things are going to be probably very foreign to what most people are used to hearing. So there's a lot of unlearning that goes on with how we train. And I definitely take the approach, especially not just in the whole grand scheme of things, but especially like in the beginning, less is more, right?

Like I want you to feel like you have stuff left at the end of the day. I want you to not wake up the next day like, oh man, like obliterated, like no. I want you to feel like, yeah, I got a great night of sleep and I feel ready to go for another day. I pay attention a lot to how the athletes feel and respond. And if their movements are looking super sluggish or nervous system just

looks unresponsive, I'll send them home. Like we're done for the day. There's nothing like, you're not going to learn anything. Yeah. You can tell with the nervous system. I mean,

the nervous system has to be fresh to learn new skills. Yeah. Yeah. To put my take to it, everything Chell said, to break it down, you come walking in the door. How are you moving? Right. So I love to teach.

So I geek out in helping them see how they're moving and then just showing them different parts that they can achieve in that moment, if possible, that are different. And it makes a couple athletes come to mind who have backgrounds of other things. So they're just not brand new. So there is unlearning. And I had one girl who I said the word lunge and she gave me this look. I go, what? She goes, it hurts so bad when I lunge. And so we start going down this path of like, okay, any injuries, blah, blah, blah. And I got her in a position to lunge and she went down with no pain. Now it took a couple of times and we feedback and building that communication. But all of a sudden I go, how'd it feel? And she goes, yeah, there's no pressure there. And I go, okay. And then you just see the wheels turning.

And then all of a sudden I get a message from her and she's like, hey, I took that and applied it to the squats that I already had programmed and those felt completely different. And it was like, okay. So I love the education component to it. So it's helping them understand how they're moving now, where we're taking them and why. And then from there, it's looking at different thresholds. So where are they at with a load threshold? Where do they start to break down?

Where are they at under exhaustion? And I'm weightlifting. Okay. Yeah., there's the old joke like three's cardio. You know what I mean? Yeah. I lived by that one for a while. Yeah. Right. So looking at like under exhaustion, when do they start to break down? And then speed. And for the speed component for the individuals listening, it's not necessarily the speed of lifting a bar, but think of it more as why do some athletes pee on a double under, right? Like the speed component of the nervous system there, their pelvic floor can't control and boom, right? And you see that there where it really clicked for me was…

Speed would be different than load. They might be able to not pee when deadlifting, but double unders does it because it's a speed component, not a load. It's the speed component. So it's a different stimulus to the nervous system. Yes. And it's the ability of the nervous system to handle that speed. So like another one that clicked for me was non-contact like ACL and MCL injuries. Athlete jumps, athlete comes down and just lands, but crumbles.

No one's near them, right? Guaranteed they could body weight squat. Guaranteed. It's not a load issue, right? Game just started. Not an exhaustion issue. So what happened, right? They're coming down to land. Their foot hits. Their nervous system can't stabilize the knee quick enough. Knee goes sideways. Pop. And that just fascinates me. So looking at those thresholds with the athletes, and that's how we start to build our plans. So you build an athlete that can handle load, exhaustion, and speed. Yeah.

Sounds well-rounded. I want that. Yeah. It's what I wanted too. I mean, all of this comes from our own experiences, right? And I've been in the sport now for over 18 years and have had some really good successes in it. And it's like every time I went through or when I went through this huge overhaul of my movement, when I hurt my back for the last time a few years ago, where I really dove into everything, it was just like, man, if I would have known this stuff even five years before, just it was insane what I could imagine I would have been able to achieve even more so. And the coolest part about that too was my dad has been my coach since day one as well. And as he watched me go through this rehab as well, and then watching me compete afterwards, he was like, same thing. He's like, man, if we would have known this five, 10 years ago.

Talking about like coaches who have done it a while. And so looking at Chelsea's dad, here he comes to a DNS class and he was loving it. And it was fascinating because he was a power lifter back in the day. And part of the DNS course, they were just talking just, hey, we're wearing a belt breathing 360 degrees into it. Can you breathe pressure into the back of the belt? And he kind of looked and he was like, well, in powerlifting, we used to do that. And like we kind of looked at him and I was like, that really, I mean, I didn't, no one taught me that. And he was surprised how the information didn't spread out.

It sounded like they were pretty conscious around inter-abdominal pressure. He's like, but we didn't spread out. It sounded like they were pretty conscious around inter-abdominal pressure. He's like, but we didn't know why. He's like, I couldn't tell you like why, like what that meant, like the science behind it. He's like, we were just told that's what we need to do and we had good results from that. Yeah. That's fascinating. Yeah. What's DNS? So DNS is Dynamic Neuromuscular Stability. And it is a protocol that comes out of the Prague Rehabilitation Institute in the Czech Republic. And it's used in the rehabilitation world. So you get an injury, a clinician can use this stuff to help you repattern your motor pattern to what is most stable. Well, trainers can use it to help athletes bring that motor pattern

to not just what's stable, but what's stable is more powerful and more efficient. So that's, in a nutshell, what DNS is. In a nutshell. In a nutshell, like, yeah. Every time someone says nutshell, I think about Austin Powers.

Can't help it. Yeah. So people can come to your facility to learn about this yeah but you're also taking online yeah yeah so with the online i've dabbled in that world a bit and it's been a lot of fun getting to work with coaches right talking with coaches recently one thing i'm hearing quite a bit is needs around programming, right? Especially when, say, an athlete's moving well. What do I do now? They turn and look at me. That lift, I think, looks pretty good. What do I tell them? So that advanced level of programming, as well as getting athletes

to be accountable. So the pain that they're feeling around, they're just not taking this seriously. They're not not taking this seriously. They're not following through the program. Why am I writing this program? They're just going to go off and do something silly anyways. These are the conversations I've been having. So we've been working at Project Lift on an advanced programming and coaching program for online that we're really excited about.

Yeah. When are you going to start that? It should be launching in the next couple months. In the next couple months. Yep. How do we find it? So you can go to project-lift.org and it'll be backslash advanced coaching.

Yeah. So a lot of people need that. Yeah. When I look at the space, when I look at what's happening, CrossFit, weightlifting, that's the type of information. I of people need that. Yeah. When I look at the space, when I look at what's happening, CrossFit, weightlifting, that's the type of information. I wish I had that. We're going to keep saying this. Yeah.

Because I've been putting myself back together now for years. Hearing you all talk about it, I'm like, maybe I should come back to Columbus, train for a week. You should. Yeah. Think about it. How long is it going to take me to learn this? I'm not sure if you need a whole week.

Maybe a long weekend. Depends how good you want to be at it. I should have come out here longer. Damn it. I mean, how long does it take to get a hold of like, to walk away with something that's going to be really good? Is it a weekend seminar or? So this will be a 60 day program. Okay. So 60 days. Yeah. This will be a 60 day program. It's with me. So I'm going to be on calls with these coaches and building it for them. So I have the components and the components are being put

together, but these are going to shift around what we're working on. And I really want to make sure this is set up to hit their needs without just completely guessing or assuming. So, you know, I've already spoke with a dozen coaches around hearing these pain points, and this is what I'm just over and over. So I'm really excited here in the next couple months to start having these calls and guiding them through this program. So yeah, it's going to be built around that in 60 days. We'll have that implemented. Yeah, that's cool. So we've got, you're also going to teach them communication and accountability. Yeah. Yeah. That one's huge. That's going to be huge. A lot of people are just focused on the workout. It was like, what are the workouts look like? And then basic

technique, or it looks like they move pretty well, but after they move pretty well, what does the workouts need to look like? That's why it's more advanced. Cause like advanced is like beyond like, okay, someone it's obvious. I mean, they look like they're pretty good when they're moving, but I don't know what to do after that. What do I do next? This athlete's moving well. The big thing I'm excited is we got to figure out where they want to go. Yeah. That dictates a lot. Have you sat down with them and done goal setting? Have you talked to them around like what other stresses they have in their life? Is this a hobby? Is this, do they view it as their job? Like if it's a young, younger person, sorry, people, do they want to start a family in

the next year or so? Like knowing these things too is a huge factor in where you're going with them. And if you don't sit down and have these like real life conversations with them, then are you really going to be steering them down the path that is best for them or the path that you think that they should be on? And that comes to communication. Like we demand a lot of this from our coaches and athletes. Like we're going to talk to you as much as we can, and we're going to continue to shape your goals and keep that programming

around what you need. Sorry, I didn't mean to step on you on that. I may have gotten on tangent, but yeah, it's just, it's a huge component of it, at least from what we take in the brick and mortar. So, I mean, that's the thing. So for that program, it's at the beginning and we have that system set up. And as I've spoke with coach after coach, it seems to be void. I'm excited to start having these conversations.

It makes me think of one coach I was talking with and they're starting a weightlifting program at the gym. And that's exciting. I love to see the sport grow. And I go, okay, tell me about it. And she's telling me about it. And I go, how much are you charging? And she's like, we aren't. And I go, okay. And I go, what keeps you up at night about it? And I go, what's just on your mind at night? You know, and she's kind of quiet. And she's like, no one will take it seriously. And I go, okay. And I go, that's a pretty good concern. And then I shared with her a number of gyms I've worked with that have had programs set up in similar fashions from what she was describing. And I go, listen, I go, I don't want to put anything in your mind or project. I go, but here's what they've seen. They have some interest at the beginning and things start to trickle out. So what is this beginning process? What is this framing of it that is going to enroll athletes in a process to help them get what they want? And you as the coach are getting to do what you love, right? You're playing with these movements

for a reason because they're fun and there's some draw. Someone who likes weightlifting, like truly likes it, when you say, hey, well, how'd you get into it? It's always this talk about this. And Mike, we've been joking lately about, I'm talking more about feelings, right? But it's now is this like vomit of them trying to express a feeling of being drawn to it. You know, like something drew in there, and like their body's kind of jutting forward at you, like they're getting tugged by a string. And I completely get that. It was like a feeling.

Like there was like this, now you're thinking about it, it was like these butterflies in the stomach, kind of excited, like anticipation of the next day. Will it be better? Like, sure, I was temper tantrum thrower by all means as an athlete, but it was still exciting thinking to the next training session. Like, yeah. What do you think about people making it free?

With going through the Strong Coach, I have new language around it. I'm curious the story. I understand it because I was there. It was fascinating as I went through the sport as an athlete and then as a coach I was more than willing to pay now I had a job did I have a great job no was I in school nope I was out I had a job but happy to pay like let me pay because I want to learn this and I want these results right so we were joking about like I think we started off with BJJ, but it happened in the weightlifting world too. It's like, they're late. You said training was at five and the coach pulls in at 5.30. Like I would be happy to pay because I want to learn said thing, show up at five. There's a mixture of reasons in the culture. You might've come up in the sport, not paying. So now what's the story

behind that? Wanting to help. And that story around service and sacrifice and, okay, I want to help you is taking money from you, hurting you for a service. So, and it's just looking through that. There's something you said earlier too, it's fun. Yeah. I think a lot of times people associate work they get paid for with something that's miserable. We were watching a video this morning. The Hebrew word for job means persecution. Yeah. To be persecuted. Yeah.

And so like people associate like if I'm going to do a job that I get paid for, it needs to feel like persecution. Yeah. But if it feels like fun, there's no way I should be accepting money for this. And I'm doing something wrong in a way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, it feels good and I get paid for it. Too good to be true. I got to run the other way. And that's extremely fascinating. And when you look at it, of getting the sport of weightlifting to grow, we have to make it sustainable. And for it to be sustainable, there needs to be funds to pay coaching, whether that's you listening or another coach,

the facility. Weightlifters would like nice things. Well, yeah. That's one of the big things that when I was coming up in weightlifting, it was like everything was just kind of piecemeal together. Nothing was really that nice. And every once in a while, I'd be at one of the big meets and a laco would come in and make everything nice and like oh shit you know yeah yeah and now looking back on it so obvious is well no shit it was run like that nobody was spending any money on it and knowing that the coaches the coaches couldn't afford to make it their full-time job is always a side gig. And if you're paying a coach or if you're not paying a coach,

if you're being coached by somebody who can't dedicate their life to it, that's what you're going to get. You're going to get subpar coaching. And if someone wants to dedicate their life to it, well, they have to get paid a salary that will allow them to survive well enough to be able to put in that attention into their athletes into their own education so it's like yeah the older I get the more in touch with reality I become and and less time spent in fantasy I start realizing I was like oh yeah there's that it's a business right like a weightlifting club a weightlifting gym it's a business, right? Like a weightlifting club, a weightlifting gym, it's a business. It's not a charity and it needs to be taken seriously like that. Yeah. Well, on that point too, is even if you are set up as a charity, like, so let's say you're a 501c3. Yeah. Know what that means. Yeah. Like, do you think the CEO of the Red Cross is doing it

for free? No. Do you think the people that are working, like administrators and program developers for the Red Cross are doing it for free? And I'm just, it's the first one that came to mind. But I see that a lot. Like, okay. And that's the thing. Like if you're setting up a program that's-

Well, I think nonprofits, people who run nonprofits, most nonprofits have very little cashflow. I know I have some friends that run some, and I think it attracts people with a poor mindset. Yeah. It's the language around it. Yeah. Nonprofit.

Money's bad. Well, then also growing up, how did you take nonprofit with charity? So charity, well, they're a nonprofit. What does that mean? Right? And typically our interactions with a charity as children, we're getting something. We don't see the stuff behind it. And I'm just saying this because this is how my story was shaped.

Yeah. So long story short. Yeah. Was you get more friendly with money? Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Did you all have a hard time with money at any point?

Oh. Define that. So y'all have a hard time with money at any point? Define that. So y'all are coaches, you're running a gym, got an online program. Was there a moment where you were running your business and did you have like a wake up moment where you go, oh, I need to shift my, how I view money so that I can live the life, like to actually be successful. Yes. Like a big one. Like when we started off, we were lifters in the past. Now we're switching over. A lot of the lifters coming in were friends of ours. So now you have that dynamic going on. Oh yeah. And then we were grown. I've had that. Yeah. We were grown in a weightlifting world of not paying or paying very

little. So then it became into this, well, I'm your friend and we've never paid before. And then what is this worth? And over the years, it was a story of figuring that out. Like the fear around money, the fear of talking around money. Seth Godin's course actually was a kick in the butt. That was the paradigm shift for me in a lesson that he gave around pricing, actually. And he... What's the course? The marketing seminar. Okay.

Seth Godin's marketing seminar. And he basically goes, hey, okay, you're a jeweler, right? You're making jewelry and you buy a $30,000 diamond. He goes, eh, cost you like two grand to put it in a necklace. Will you charge for it? And he gives you a minute, you know, and he goes, okay. Because some people might go down the path of, okay, $32,000 into it, toss on two, three grand for a little bit of profit. That's fair, right? And he goes, however, it all changes when you realize nobody needs a diamond necklace, right? And he's just kind of quiet. And like, I'm sitting there going like, you know? And he's like, the only difference between a $100,000 necklace and a $30,000 necklace or $35,000 necklace is the person that wants to wear it wants to wear a $100,000 necklace. And it was just this

break into this different paradigm around money and price and value and the stories we tell ourselves. And that was extremely interesting for me. That's where it really started to shift. I forget the book I was reading, it's talking about uh luxury markets there's uh sales the sales that happen in luxury markets are different than commodity markets yep so you get in a luxury markets it is like a rolex a rolex is not a watch it's a piece of jewelry yep but most people if you're buying a watch don't buy a rolex it won't even keep the time right compared to a much cheaper watch but it's a piece of jewelry. And who buys that?

Somebody who wants to own a Rolex. It's a status thing. It's about status at that point. It's a completely different conversation. I think you can apply that to weightlifting. Who needs weightlifting?

I think you said it important too. Are you a commodity? Yeah. Like that's, is that what you are? What value are you bringing? Yeah. So it's like not only who needs weightlifting, but who wants one-on-one attention with a coach in this way? Who wants coaching?

Yeah. Yeah. I'm not just, you're not just getting someone that's occasionally sitting in a chair and kind of like, oh, that looks good. No. I've seen those. Yeah. Yeah. You know exactly what I'm talking about, right?

You know, it's a partnership in a team and like, we will stand up for you, like with you through all of this, right? Like we're asking for a commitment though. Yeah. Because we're committed. Yeah. Well, I mean, coaching, I say who needs it because having a weightlifting coach or a fitness coach, it's a luxury item. That's new. No one had that.

This didn't exist 30, 40 years ago. This is a new thing. It only exists because we're wealthy. There's an excess of money. And then people get – I used to get caught up in like, oh shit, I can't charge this much. It's like,

it's like people are coming, like they're volunteering to work. Like they're coming, they're paying to come into work. Charge what you want to make. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I had another thought just. I was going to say like every time that we went to go make a price increase, like, I mean, it was just like gutwrenching the first couple times we did it. And it was just at that point to new people coming in. And it was just like, you're talking like a $10, $15 increase, not like $100 or anything like that. And we didn't really get pushback. And looking back, I looking back, like the only people we did get pushback is probably someone that really wasn't ready to be there yet and to truly commit. And that was probably for the best. And each time it got better. And I'd say I felt better about myself

too. Like I'm charging when I'm at, when I'm worth. And that's powerful because your mindset there is better too. It's not like, oh man, I'm just like so crazed, just trying to make ends meet, this and that. Like I'm freaking present for you. I am there a hundred percent because I get to be, not because I have to be. Yeah. And I think as you go through the pain, you said this, I think right before we started talking, it was like, if you want me to take on this risk and you want me to take on this workload, well, this is what I want for it. And I think when many coaches get into it, they're not looking at that. They haven't experienced it yet. So now here's the workload,

right? You're right in the program, you're in the training, you're the emotional workload at times with athletes too, right? You're building the system and all of a sudden you're fried at the end of the week, right? And there's many other reasons why they probably got to that point of fried, but then to not have any money on top of it. And then you look and it's like, well, I'm doing all of this, right? And they haven't gotten there yet to go, well, what do I want for it to go through that? Yeah. Make it worth my while. I became a much better coach when I wasn't as worried about money. Like when I had enough and then my ability to show up to a coaching session

when I'm not being distracted with, do I have enough money? So I'm going to be more present. And Chelsea, you said something about charging what you're worth. I think that coaches have the opportunity to completely throw that idea out altogether. It's like, what are you worth? What's your time worth?

Can you really put a price tag on that? That's true. We talked about that. We said that before. Like, I think right before we came on. That's absolutely true. That's very true. Always work.

It's work in progress, right? Yeah. Thank you for that. Yeah. I went. For coaching me on that. I went through that stage where I'm like, well, what am I worth? And then I go, I'm worth X amount of dollars per hour.

This is what I want to make per day, or this is what I'm worth per day. And then I get to a point where I go, what do I want to make? Because it's all made up. And I go, oh, I can like make up whatever number I want. And there's definitely psychological caps and ceilings for where people are comfortable. Because if it's something that's too outside your comfort range, you won't believe it enough for other people to buy into it. So letting go of the worthy, for me is getting to a place where I go, I am worthy. And it doesn't matter what I'm worthy of.

There's not a number attached to being worthy. Like, what am I worth? No, I am worthy. Oh, I'm worthy of whatever the universe wants to give me. And you know what? I'm just going to put this out there and see what happens. This is a very fitting conversation right now because I believe this week's topic in Strong Coach class is pricing. Oh, shoot. That's phenomenal timing. Yeah. So what week is this? Nine? Yeah. Week nine.

Yep. All right. So Drew, you went through, when did you go through Strong Coach 99 program? Class seven. Class seven. It was late April through July. And then it was finished for maybe two weeks before the summit. Yeah. And then I was talking to Danny. He goes, oh yeah, we got a husband and wife come through. What caused you to go through, Chelsea? Why didn't you

just get what he was getting automatically? Thank you for saying that because that's actually typically what I do. You just go through it, then teach me some things and whatever. I've done this with a lot of continuing education. And this was, it was week two or three. It was the one on scheduling. And I believe the question was, or it was like scheduling your time first.

And he was telling me about that module. And he said, like, he said to schedule your time first. And I was like, that makes me want to vomit. Just thinking about it. And then I like paused. I'm like, I need to sign up for this. Because of that reaction, that's why I need to sign up for this. That's what makes you a good client. Like a good client goes, this makes you want to vomit?

I have to do it. Yeah. Like I need to explore this. So then it was discovery call with Danny and pulled the trigger on that next class after that, which was what I'm in now, which is class nine. And there's a mixture of it too. Having conversations with Chelsea, I can't translate the same experience that she would have going through it. So like there's that going on because it's all fresh for me. I'm trying to navigate it. I'm trying to go through it. But then also that process of investing in yourself, like that, I mean, if Strong Coach

would have been free, I guarantee you I'd have skipped me some calls. Yeah. It's like, I don't, I mean, we make a lot of space for it and commit to a lot of the time. It's like, I committed to this. I get to show up for this. Things come across and it's like, do X. And it's like, really? And then it's like, I messed it up myself. I'm going to do X. You know, so here I am. And it's, yeah, I mean, I pride myself on being coachable. So it's one of those things of like, even if in my mind, it's like, I don't know, this doesn't make sense. It's like, no, you don't know what you don't know. Okay, I'll do it. You know, and then on the other day may have been michelle but saying that like usually i let drew go through and just kind of tell me about it or whatever the experience i've had like there is no way that no way i couldn't even imagine not having it now like i really really would have done myself a complete disservice just as like a human being not even as a business owner that's quite a testimonialervice just as like a human being, not even as a business owner. That's quite a testimonial.

I mean that like complete sincerity. It's been so shifting for me as just a person. You made that comment the other day about like how much more open I seem. And we've been together for almost 10 years, right? And he's noticing this. And I'm like, I feel that way. It's just, thank God I invested. Thank God that I allowed myself to take myself seriously and do what I wanted to do and lean into that vomiting feeling. Yeah. I mean, it's been fascinating. There was that moment where she wanted to vomit. I mean, going through it, okay, she's my wife and my business partner. So going through and going through the process of goals and everything else, she continued to kept coming up. You know, you can't separate the two. I mean, not only even if she wasn't my business partner, you know,

there's this big effect. And there was one moment that Danny was like, hey, do this exercise with her. And I'm like, okay. So it was around communication. And we went and we sat out back actually in the side yard and went through both of these drills. And the next day, a situation hit in the gym that just took stress and spiked it. And so, okay, you're under stress. How are you responding? There was two things that happened here that I noticed. One, I had space. Like, I didn't react. And there was this, okay, how are we going to get this covered? Right? How are we going to do this? This was a shift into that immediately. Like, okay, what are we going to do here? Right? Well, Chell's had a bit more of a strong stress

reaction. I had a breakdown. It's okay. We all have them. So we went to a park and I was like, let's just get out of the building. You know, we went to a park and we're walking around the park and I'm like, what's going on? You know, and she wouldn't respond to me, you know, and I'm like, let's just get out of the building. You know, we went to a park and we're walking around the park and I'm like, what's going on? You know, and she wouldn't respond to me, you know, and I'm like, I had no words. I didn't have language, you know, and I'm like, oh, okay. And then finally, I was like, Chelsea, you have to say something. And we had just done a drill the day before on communication. And she literally turned and looked at me and she goes, I'm imagining you expect me to have an answer for this. And I mean, immediately we were able to have a conversation in a way that we had never had around a stressful business issue

with no miscommunication because I had never expected an answer from her. Yeah. Because that typically would have been my response, like to just hold that back, like finding language to feelings and emotions had been a challenging arena for me, even in our personal communication. And I mean, one drill took me 15, 20 minutes to get that one sentence out, but I used imagination. I imagine that you expect me to have an answer and I wouldn't have been able to say even that simple sentence without the imagine thing. This is just like hinting at the tip of the iceberg of like a exercise that allows you to communicate better. That was a large part of the impetus for me starting the Strong Coach was wanting to bring communication, leadership, and things like that to the coaching community.

Because I saw that that was the biggest opportunity from a skill perspective for coaches. Is being able to listen and speak into what the athlete is doing so that we can actually make progress. Because most athletes are holding themselves back in some way. Because there's something going on that they don't know how to talk about and the coach doesn't know how to address or how to listen. And I was seeing this, I was traveling around, I was going from gym to gym to gym and going, okay, this is a very consistent issue. So the strong coach was never, initially wasn't intended to teach business that much, which is really interesting. And I got halfway through the beta group and I go, oh, everyone needs to learn business

because business is like, well, we have to talk about marketing because marketing is communication before they become a client. So we're teaching leadership and communication. It's about leading people. It's about getting people to follow you and come along for the journey and help them transform their life. As coaches, we're there to transform lives. If you're not transforming lives, what the fuck are you doing? It's cool to hear that and also knowing that as soon as I needed to teach business to people and to the Strong Coach program, I was very comfortable. I go, this is what's needed. I don't get to decide what people need to learn. I simply, I have this knowledge and this is what we're going to do. And it's been very exciting for me because I've actually dove way deeper into business than I ever have in the last year,

which has been really satisfying, really, really satisfying. So what do you all think about the future of coaching? Where do you see the industry right now? What's happening with the average coach and where do things need to go? Where do you see coaching being in one, two, three, four years from now? I imagine that it's going to go down this track of functional movement into everything that we do. It needs to. The way that just our culture kind of goes, we got to be able to control those stress levels, right?

Wherever else we can. And to come from a job where you're just like frazzled and burnout, and then you come into the gym and want to obliterate yourself like that's not sustainable so i imagine it going down more this this balance route more empathetic coaches language that's what i'm putting into the universe yeah i see it as maybe this is a burdened word maybe not burdened but maybe i and i imagine that because if i would heard someone say it i don't know if I'd be like, huh. It wouldn't have landed.

I don't know if it would have landed, but what comes to mind is more of a holistic approach. Yeah, it's definitely an overburden word. You know what I mean? Those fucking holistic practices. God damn it. More integrative approach. Yeah, all these words. But look at the big picture.

Here's this athlete, and if you're not going to be able to talk with them about their job, if you're not going to be able to talk with them about their relationship with someone else, if you're not going to be able to talk with them about whatever's causing their stress, you're not going to get results. So that's where I see it going is coaches at the high level are going to be able to connect with athletes and help them through their barriers towards their goals. And in that, even helping them be clear about their goals. Yeah. So, yeah, that's where I see it going.

Yeah. All right. Now we're going to go down to fun. We're going to the last segment of the show, I think. Tell me about your experience with Enlifted. You guys are going through the Enlifted certification right now. I love this because every time I get in a conversation about Enlifted, people just start smiling like you're smiling right now. I want to just highlight real quick, each of you, what's the highlight of doing the Unlifted certification? Oh, the language for me, the story work. Going through your stories and getting tools to go through your stories has been fun.

Owning your story. It's funny getting to name your evil inner workout partner, right? But then, okay, over the course of, the last eight weeks of, I talk about him like he's one of my children. Right. And I don't have children, I have cats, but basically just the comfort, the ownership of it. That's been a blast. What'd you name your workout partner? I know what it is, but people, I want people to know. Mine is Enrique, and he's full of Puerto Rican rage. Are you open to sharing? I'm trying to think.

Oh, here's my phone. Pull it up. He's like, oh, I don't have my phone. And you're like, your phone's right there. Yeah, Chelsea's like, actually, she pulls it out. You can do this. Well, Chelsea, you go ahead as I pull it up. All right, Chelsea, yeah. What's been the highlight and lifted for you?

Story work has been great, but i honestly the negation work and one of the last ones i just watched was around the stories around injuries and i really really enjoyed that component of it too because that's it's a part of high level sport right like injuries are going to happen i've had a couple people have gone through the program now and they've gotten hurt they go oh thank oh, thank God I have this. Yeah. And it's like, this is a phenomenal tool. Like I've always kind of known like how like I handle injury and how I handle the kind

of things like that. But now I have like the actual language for it. I didn't have the words for it before. And that is extremely powerful mixed with the negation work as well. Did you find Enrique? Oh, I got it. Oh, good to hear all about Enrique. So Enrique is your, the evil inner workout partner,

this is the part of you that drags you down. This is the part of me that drags me down. Do we have a balloon for this or anything? No, we don't have a balloon, but I will smile the whole time. Good. So Enrique is full of Puerto Rican rage, sabotages goals, and hates sympathy. He confuses kindness with doubt often. He tugs for me not to train for myself, but to focus on the opinions of others.

He encourages me not to write goals for myself, but to create them for others, because they've always doubted me. Big goals? Fuck you, Drew. He'll speak up. They're not perfect enough. Enrique has to be the hero and amaze everyone who doubted him.

Money is elusive and bad. Fear is his quick natural state. He is very focused on everything he doesn't want and that causes him to freeze. Perfection causes him to freeze. I love it. Every time you read that, I just want you read that i just smile so big when he when he goes into that fuck you drew like it just it makes me laugh so hard especially picturing it

in the high squeaky voice and what's fascinating about it is when we read those out loud the first time in the group that was rough that was tight and. And here I'm smiling. I feel open. And yeah, I own Enrique. Yeah. Yeah. That part of you that used to lurk in the shadows and wreak havoc is you own it now. Yeah. Yeah. Instead of the other way around. Yeah. It's extremely fascinating. Yeah. Chelsea, do you want to share yours? I have to find my phone. Oh, yes. You hit it.

Conveniently lost. I didn't conveniently lost. I want to bring these up because I think it's really good to share these stories because when I started hearing the stories, this is the second time we've done this certification. This is the second round. And when I heard the ones in the first round i go wow because we came up with with this was like just an idea that got spitballed during the curriculum development between me and the guys

and we're like evil in our workout partner yeah what should we name him he's like well mine's billy so like well you guys have seen the videos and so it was just something we thought would be funny that would be helpful and it's become a central theme of the course yeah and when people submitted their stories and the first time i go what's great about people hearing it i love that you're willing to share them is there are pieces of your story oh yeah that people are gonna go oh fuck that's me i have the same story or something similar well and if we hear a dozen everyone's it's gonna resonate with, fuck, that's me. I have the same story or something similar. And if we hear a dozen, everyone's it's going to resonate with somebody.

That's the thing is going through the group. My Billy story expanded or Enrique's story expanded on somebody else would say something else about their Billy and I would go, Enrique does that too. Yeah. And I like how you said Enrique does it, not me

too. Yeah. Create some distance. Yeah, there's the way, that's actually, I think the samurai, they did that. The way they talked about themselves is they would talk about, it creates distance. So it makes it less of an emotional experience and being able to have greater awareness around self yeah y'all are basically samurai yeah i love that can i get a sword so one of one of our coaches one of our coaches actually is pretty skilled in a lot of like weapons he like owns a lot of these things too and he has a sword and i was like can i play with play with it? And he's like, ah, I saw her use that mace. I don't know about that.

Just stick with the blunt object over there. No sharp objects for Chelsea. I mean, yeah, I cut myself, but it's okay. I've never cut anybody else. We care about you. That's fine. Cool. All right, so this is your evil inner workout partner,

the part of you that drags you down. Yeah. Her name is Chelsar. Chelsar is full steam ahead, solo goer who uses negative self-talk to beat herself into overachievement. No level of achievement is ever good enough, though. You can do better. You can do more.

Work harder are her common mantras. Chelsar is blind to her fatigue and workload because it's fine. She wears her ailments like adrenal fatigue, stomach issues, and depression like a badge of honor, but is quick to help others in seeing their own flaws in this. But I'm the exception. Chelsar is a massive self-sacrificer who will take on her world plus everyone else's around her. She'll be the first to help others, but never ask for help herself. I got it. Need me here? Got it. Need me there? Got it. Need me to rearrange my day for you? Got it. A morning time slot that is more convenient for you? Even though I don't work mornings? Got it. Whatever you want from her, you got it. Pouring from a cup drier than the desert after a drought, you got it.

Yay. Yeah, I'm like expecting claps after this now, right? And I wish everyone could see my hand motions for that. So this was tough for you to share the first day. And now it sounds like it flowed easily. It's like fun to share. Yeah. It's hysterical to share. I. It's like, it's hysterical to share.

I have a lot of enjoyment with it now. But yeah, that first day, it's just like, oh man, like kind of want to cry here. And I remember I did tear up, like at least like welled up. Yeah. It's like. A lot of people do. Yeah. Like it made me sad, like to really write it and say it like that.

And now it's, yeah, that distance, that space, it's so fun to read. What made you sad about it? Because I see that in how it had limited me so much in life. Yeah. When people go through these processes, a lot of times there's grieving. Yeah. There's a grieving for the lost opportunities. You start seeing how we limited ourselves in ways that we didn't even realize. But once you recognize

that it was limiting, you go, oh, fuck. The reality of it sets in. You go, shit, man. Yeah. Yeah, it's very freeing. Yeah. Well, it's,

the future of coaching is bright. I am thrilled. The conversation that my business partner, Mark England, and I have been in around coaches and language is like, what's really great about all of this is people in fitness really get this better than anybody because we understand repetition. We understand what it's like to put in the work. We understand what it's like to put in the work. We understand that it takes years to develop truly. And you'll see results quickly. And it's very obvious. And at the same time, we're going to take it really, really far. So thank you all for jumping in, doing the strong coach, doing lifted.

Thank you for creating it. Thank you. And any athlete that's working with y'all is getting a fantastic coach. Y'all are not only on the movement side. I mean, you've got next level things going on with the movement, with weightlifting, with DNS, with teaching athletes how to do that. But now you have the ability to, well well you're running a sound business as well which means that you're free for your athletes so you can put more energy into them because your cup is full and you have the language and story work at your disposal i mean shit we'll find something

else to make y'all better but i don't know what it is yet like i'm gonna figure it out i'm gonna like that's part of my mission it's like okay what else can what other tools is there to make y'all better, but I don't know what it is yet. I'm going to figure it out. That's part of my mission. It's like, okay, what other tools is there? And if y'all run across something, let me know. So always open to more. Thanks for coming on and being so transparent and sharing openly. So where should people go? If they're in Columbus, Ohio, obviously come by the gym.

Yes, obviously. 50-40 Nike Drive. Sweet Bee. Sweet Bee in Hilliard, Ohio. Online, I like Instagram the best. That's that. Well, shortened version of Project Lift, P-R-O-J-C-T underscore lift. On Instagram, YouTube, Facebook.

Facebook, like it's plural. All the books. And then the website for just more information. We have a ton of information on the site as well. And that's project-lyft.org. YouTube channel also has a ton of video content on there as well. Yeah. You guys have a free download?

Yes, we do. It is the three mistakes that are holding you back in weightlifting. Yeah, that is the free download. I love that. Three mistakes. Yeah. Go check that out. If you're a weightlifter or wanting to get into weightlifting, check out, these two are really sharp and those mistakes may likely be something you're completely unaware of

and likely something simple you can fix. So be in contact with them. They're pushing weightlifting to the next level. You want to be on board with anything they're doing. And Drew, you're taking a group through the initial phase of the online, the advanced coaching and program design. So if you want to take your program design to the next level, definitely go to the site, get signed up, check it out, follow them on Instagram. Love you all.

This has been fun. Thanks, Mike. And good. Oh, we know you love the show. So go over to strongcoachpodcast.com to subscribe to the channel today. There's a lot more shows over there than what you can hear right here. And you also get that coaching business tune-up over there as well. So go check that out.

Give us a follow on Instagram. Give me a shout-out. Shoot me a DM. We'll have a conversation. Talk to you next week.