Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 97 - Austin Current: Fitness Communication, Writing, and Imposter Syndrome.

Episode Date: April 9, 2021

In this episode, coach Danny sits down with his friend Austin Current CSCS. Austin just finished writing his new book The Science of Strength Training.  The two talk about how the book is going to change the industry and WHY we haven't had a book like this written yet. There's also discussion about fitness communication, self-awareness, overcoming doubt, and imposter syndrome. If you are a hobbyist, fitness fanatic, or coach - you'll be needing this book. Seriously. Get it here.Enjoy!Thanks For Listening!---RESOURCES/COACHING: I am all about education and that is not limited to this podcast! Feel free to grab a FREE guide (Nutrition, Training, Macros, Etc!) HERE! Interested in Working With Coach Danny and His One-On-One Coaching Team? Click HERE! Want To Have YOUR Question Answered On an Upcoming Episode of DYNAMIC DIALOGUE? You Can Submit It HERE!Want to Support The Podcast AND Get in Better Shape? Grab a Program HERE!----SOCIAL LINKS: Sign up for the trainer mentorship HEREFollow Coach Danny on INSTAGRAMFollow Coach Danny on TwitterFollow Coach Danny on FacebookGet More In-Depth Articles Written By Yours’ Truly HERE!Support the Show.

Hey, everybody, welcome in to another episode of the dynamic dialogue podcast. Today, I'm sitting down with my good friend, coach Austin current, somebody who I've worked with professionally, somebody who I really enjoy communicating with. At the intellectual and professional level, I think he's one of the better coaches in our space. And like I told him, after we got off air, he's somebody who I consider a really good friend. I think he's one of the better coaches in our space. And like I told him after we got off air, he's somebody who I consider a really good friend. I think he's one of the better dudes in our space. And we're going to talk all about his book, but more so about how it is that you can go

about communicating effectively with people in your lives, not just about fitness, but with people who you want to help, where people who really do need your expertise. And so that's what this conversation is all about. I think you guys will like it a lot. So sit back and enjoy and do check out Austin's book. We'll talk a lot about it today and we'll touch on it again in the outro. So sit back, relax, and enjoy my talk with Austin Current. Austin, how's it going, man? Pretty good. How are you? I am doing well. So guys, for everybody listening, you will probably remember Austin from one of the episodes we did early last year at the very beginning of a pandemic. Both of us at that time were trying

to be practical and optimistic about it. And it was actually a really good episode, one of the most downloaded episodes we've ever done. And I don't think any of us saw it going on as long as it did, but it gave us quite a bit of time, both myself and Austin, to work on some other projects. And Austin had told me when we got off that episode that he's working on one of his biggest projects ever, and I don't want to steal the thunder. So without further ado, Austin, tell everybody first what you've been working on, and then second, a little bit about how that's been going. Yeah. So in December of 2019, so it was actually pre-pandemic, this project really kind of got started. And so the project is a book called Science of Strength Training.

And really, the goal with the book is really to act as an entry point for a lot of people into strength training in general and act as sort of a bridge between the science-based textbook meets the practical application of like the muscle and strength pyramids meets the visual art aspect of like strength training anatomy. Like that really cool book that that French author, you know, drew those amazing images, right? Yeah, totally. And it's funny that you say that because I get questions all the time.

What's the best resource? I want to learn about this. I want to learn about that. What book should I read? Trainers, hobbyists, everybody. And I cannot tell you how many times I have gone. Well, there isn't really a book that has the visual and the educational element you need until now. Yeah. And so that was really the goal of kind of the, the substance of the book. So, um, I say, if we hit, if we could have hit a home run, it would have been really matching all of that stuff and putting it all together into one resource, uh, the text part, um, the underlying physiology,

sort of the science-y stuff, but put the science-y stuff put in a way where people can actually read it without yawning and getting bored and acting almost as that entry point for people. So those who are interested, those who are wanting to learn more, even PTs, I'm getting a lot of PTs reaching out who have just started, you know, getting certified or just started out in their journey who are, who are really excited about it, which really excites me. Cause they were one of the people that I had in mind when I was writing the book. And then the other person was just that gym goer who may have not, you know, had a background in exercise science, which is totally fine. You know, not something you should feel bad about, but you know, if you're interested, it's, it's a very

cheap way, very well-made, but low cost, I should say say, very low-cost offer as far as how much information is there and the visual and text aspect of things. And here's something that I thought about a lot, because I was thinking about what your writing process would have been like doing this. And we'll talk about that down the road a little bit. But to be able to have coached so many people over the years, to have had to communicate with, like you mentioned, hobbyists, maybe fitness enthusiasts, not necessarily personal trainers. A lot of them probably were personal trainers. But to what degree did your knowledge communicating with, quote unquote, normal people about some of these concepts help you write this book? about some of these concepts help you write this book? Because it sounds to me like this is something that no matter where you're at on the spectrum of hobbyist to professional, you're going

to be able to use this book as a resource. So to what degree did the actual methods and art of your coaching go into writing something like this for everybody? Yeah, I like to think of it. I've thought a lot about this. I've had a lot of time to sort of look in retrospective to this experience. It was very cathartic, honestly, being able to sit down, just do really deep work for really a year. I mean, I worked on it. It's been over 12 months at this point that I've been working on this project and everything else. But it's almost this culmination of my entire career up to this point coming together into one resource that costs $20. Like it's, there's nothing that makes me happier than just that sentence alone. Like everything I've really gained from an experience and practical application standpoint, whether that

was in the gym training clients, online training clients, every per, you know, everyone from the, you know, person who works at a Toyota factory to a very elite personal trainer who coaches clients themselves to, you know, training people or educating people with, you know, seminars in person and everything like that, you know, seminars in person and everything like that, you know, and the normal person at a seminar level as well. So it's like, I've had that all sort of culminate into this one experience or this one project that really just pieces everything together to hopefully make sense out of it. Um, everything from the physiology to the anatomy, to the program design aspect of strength training, which is again, and for 20, like that's

the coolest part for me, the $20 thing. Like, I'll just say that over and over. Like that's the coolest thing for me because it's, it's such a low, you know, approachable entry point for people. It is. And for Austin, I talked a little bit about this off air for the publisher is DK Publishing, which for anybody listening, if you're probably between the ages of, I'd say 18 and 35, you will probably remember DK Publishing as the king of visual encyclopedias on you name it. So like you could go to the library and find space castles pirates all this stuff and this is like the literal buffed up version because i did a little research before coming on air and this thing's over 200 pages long if i'm not mistaken so we're talking like like you guys 20 bucks over 200 pages including a full visual anatomical breakdown of dozens and dozens and dozens of exercises that really ties together all the theoretical stuff at the front end.

Because it's not just a visual encyclopedia, is it? No, no. So the book really starts out with going over kind of busting some myths, honestly. So everything from the age myth of I'm too old to strength train to touching on gender differences between male and female and their strength training potential and everything like that to somatotypes even, like sort of the endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph

sort of somatotype breakdown of, kind of just break it down of like, you're not a prisoner to your body type. You sort of ebb and flow through a continuum of a different body type, but you're not, it's not a jail sentence. You're not there forever and you can change it to a large degree. And so you've ebb and flow through a continuum like that. So the book really starts out kind of busting some myths and going over some entry level stuff like that. And then it dives into some physiology, muscle physiology, things like that, really breaking down, you know, what

causes muscle to grow and what stimulates that process to happen? How does force occur? And through text and visuals, I'm showing you how force impacts or how force acts on muscle tissue and the functional contractile units within it to basically stimulate the process to allow muscle to grow. And then we go into nutrition, uh, break down everything in nutrition, you know, finding your macros, you know, vegan, vegetarian diet supplementation advice, um, you know, based off the recent literature and everything like that. And then, you know, we get into, um, so neurophysiology or yeah, some neurophysiology, as far as brain health goes, the impacts on brain and the mental health aspects of strength

training. So it's sort of cumbersome, but it's one of those things where I understand that building muscle is a very positive side effect to strength training, but it's not the only reason you should strength train. It's, you know, if you're, if you don't want to, you know, do X, Y, and Z of like, I don't want to get bulky. I don't want to do X, Y, and Z. Like that's fine. Strength training is still one of the best modalities, most efficient, effective modalities for improving your health long-term across a lifespan. Right. So, um, and improving overall health markers, cardiovascular disease, mental health, uh, starving at risk of Alzheimer's dementia, things like that. Reducing anxiety, depression,

like all this is in the literature and all these things are referenced and all the, you know, all the citations are, all the references are in the bibliography. So it's like, if you guys want to look up any of these studies that I read through and cited, like they're in there. And then, so we go through all of that and then we get into strength training exercises, right? So that is a very visual part. That's chapter two. And, you know, there's over a hundred exercises represented in the book. So there's about 33 main exercises, like your bench squat, deadlift, leg press, hack squat,

things like that. And then there's a ton of variations and stuff like that. So each main has about three or four variations that are visual. You can visually sort of look at those and be like, okay, well that's the muscle group that it trains and okay, I could add this in here instead. Um, so that, that's a very visual aspect to it. Um, and then chapter three is all about preventing injury. And then chapter four is all about preventing injury. And then chapter four is all about program design. So very, yeah, over 200 pages. Yeah. And it sounds very full spectrum. And what I like that you mentioned, and this is something that you kind of develop the longer that

you coach and the more people that you coach is this kind of fundamental understanding. And for me, it didn't kick in until several years after I'd been coaching is that not everybody's primary goal with resistance training is to be as jacked as possible. And yes, that is my goal. And yes, for years as a coach, I projected that on other people because I said, who wouldn't want to be as jacked as they can be? And you talked a lot about the metabolic benefits of having a lot of muscle, the impact that having a lot of muscle can have on maintaining bone density, staving off sarcopenia, all that. But to be able to approach this, I have to give you kudos here, as a means to say, hey, look, this is a book for anybody who wants to implement strength training

into their life. And if you don't want to be as jacked as possible, I have done the due diligence and the effort to show you all of the ways in which it can benefit you. from the way weight training reduces their anxiety, from the way that weight training improves their confidence, then they may ever benefit from the actual physiological or compositional changes. Or I suppose some of those would be physiological. But this is a really, really good way to be able to continue to be a representative of kind of the iron culture or the weight training culture and say, hey, look, dude, even if you don't want to be jacked, let me explain to you why you want to have this in your life. So kudos to you for touching on that. Cause I think that's something that too many people in our space completely miss. Yeah. I think that's, you hit the nail on the head there. And, um, that was an important thing for me to do. And it was important thing to the publisher,

right? They, they want a book that a lot of people can purchase. They want a book that a lot of people are going to purchase and enjoy and digest and share, right? So obviously there's a component of like, hey, let's write a book that people want and need and desire. really wanted to attack this from a different angle. And although I come from a very niche part of the fitness space, if we're looking at, you know, more advanced physiology, anatomy, biomechanics, things like that, things that I've taught around the world to some of the best trainers in the world. Like I come from a very niche part of the industry, one with a background in bodybuilding, you know, a professional in the physique world, like, you think I'm programmed and built to only care about muscle building. Yeah. And that's couldn't be furthest from the truth. Right. And yeah, that was really important for me to portray because there's so many people in my life who were quote unquote, normal, everyday people, which I don't know what that

truly means. But like, normal people, right going about their know what that truly means, but like normal people, right. Going about their everyday life that just want to be avid gym goers to, to improve their life. I have so many of them in my life from being a client or being a family member that I'm like, look, all of this is important. Right. And I see my family members health, you know, family members right now, unfortunately their health is deteriorating around them. And I can't help, but say like in my head, I'm like, if you would have been strength training through all, like through most of your life, none of like, not none of this, but like so much of this would have been mitigated or improved upon. So, um, yeah, it's just, it's, it's crazy. Absolutely. And we can all get myopic in that we tend to look at things through our own lens.

And like one of the things that happens a lot to coaches is we get pigeonholed as being like, oh, you are a physique guy or, oh, you are a power lifting guy or, oh, you're a sports performance guy. And while I do think it's natural for us to follow the niches that we find the most enjoyable and to dive as deep as we can down those rabbit holes, a lot of people do just become experts quite generally as well. And so obviously you have expertise, particularly in the realm of developing physiques, but like, it doesn't mean that you don't know how to communicate with the average human being about, Hey, you don't have to get jacked, but you should probably lift three times a week to stave off like

70% of all cause mortality with a high degree of reliability. Just do it, man. And I love that when I see that from other coaches, because people love to put you in a box. They love to be one of the monikers that are, or I shouldn't call it a moniker, but one of the things that really bugs me is people tend to disregard the possible existence of an intellectual meathead. Could it even be possible that a muscular guy can actually communicate kindly, politely, and effectively to the general public about why they should lift? And I like this project for you, man, because I think it kills that narrative of the lack of intellectual meatheads in our space. Because I can tell you put a lot of care into this project.

And even though you are an expert, the kind of expert you would need to be to write a book that had any functional anatomy component, this is going to be something that I think is accessible regardless of where people are at. spent away from the industry to allow myself the perspective to write a book like this and be able to communicate with really anyone about health, fitness, strength training in general. And to be honest, I am, you know, I may look a certain part again. I'm not the biggest guy you'll ever see, but it's one of those things where if you saw me out in the everyday world, you'd be like, he definitely trains, like he definitely lifts weights. Right. And so I definitely get a certain stigma. And that's why I say that is I'm typically classified as this one thing. And I would truly contribute that, um, my deviation from that and being able to communicate something of this size and depth

to my travels throughout my life. Um, you know, people like my, my wife that are in my life and people who are my friends who are outside the fitness realm, who I spend so much time, or I've spent historically so much time with throughout my life in different aspects. So, you know, traveling around the world, spending time outside of fitness has really given me the perspective to be able to communicate these things in a real world way that I also have, interestingly enough, I also have so much time spent in it. Um, and I almost like go on these like deep sprints for, you know, years at a time. And then I come out of it and breathe for a year. And like, what have you been doing for the year?

It's like, ah, nothing. But I had a really productive three years before this. So it's that time spent in it and then away from it that allows me that perspective, I think, to really communicate these ideas a little bit better. Yeah. And I think that's something that anybody who's in the coaching space, the content creation space, whatever space you are in, right, you can very, very quickly end up preaching to the choir. And this was the opportunity for you to go, hold on, I'm going to put this on pause. And I am going to try to do what most coaches don't do. And that's reached the 95% of people who don't exercise at all. And so that's exciting. And I often dream of a day where

everybody's working out with weights and it's like, oh, you don't lift weights? Dude, what's wrong with you? You get a tax write-off for that. I have all these crazy ideas that in the future, we're literally going to incentivize people to lift weights because it's that valuable. And to see you take the project on is cool, but writing a book is hard as hell. And I'm sure you had some waves. Was there ever a point in the process where you were like, dude, I just don't know if I can do it? Because imposter syndrome and self-doubt are very real. And I find that they kind of plague people in the 20 to 35 year old professional space. Did you ever run into some barriers like that? Absolutely, man, I did. And, you know, I have been flowed and I had a, you know, I earlier in our conversation,

I mentioned that this experience was very cathartic for me. And it was in many ways, you know, it was very challenging. It was very rewarding in the way of there was so much deep work spent, right? I'd spent days in these deep rabbit holes into one subject matter. And then I'd pull myself out of it and go right into a new one, right? I'd come out of muscle physiology, right into bone physiology that, and then I went right into something else days later. And I just spent all of this time just absorbing this information, very challenging deadlines. And that was probably the hardest part where the deadlines, um, alongside my actual, like quote,

unquote, full-time job. Right. So I was doing this alongside a full-time job and career and everything else and running a business and whatever else. Thankfully, I had some help from my colleagues, but, um, you know, as far as imposter syndrome, absolutely. I think we all struggle from that, uh, throughout our careers and I absolutely ebb and flow and you're sort of always on this. Yeah. This can sort of ebb and flow through that throughout this continuum of imposter syndrome. Sometimes you feel good. There was some weeks that I could string together that I'm like on a high that I'm like, yes, I'm crushing this. This is working, man. And then there was weeks that I would be like, I don't know what the hell I'm doing here. You know, like, I don't think this is going to be what I, what I hope it is. And, you know, I have a, I have a full bookcase next to me

and my laptop's propped up by nothing but textbooks here. And it's just all, you know, and I have all these textbooks to read and digest and tell me to write this book and from like my university experience and all that stuff. But man, talking about imposter syndrome, you read things from these people, you know, you and I have people that we really look up to, that we've looked up to for years and years and years. The reason really we got started in all of this as a coach. And I do ask the question of like, why am I the one that had to fill this gap? Like, why am I the one chosen to fill this gap of the book that's like, well,

there's not really a book for that. Why was I chosen to do that? And that's been eating at me. As an industry been like really needing like this, this could be the manifesto that changes it all. And they're like, there must be, it sounds like I'm cutting you off here. Almost a little bit of like guilt baked into the, not guilt, guilt's not the right word but the weight of going like okay why me man like and and it's not to say at all that you are not qualified i have to go i have to pause myself there because it almost sounds like i'm making an inference that you're not it's not a question of whether or not you're qualified but any human being with even an absolute pinch of self-awareness

would go like, oh my gosh. And Austin has like more than a pinch. She has like the heaping scoop of like pre-workout you take before leg day of self-awareness. So it's one of your gifts, but it almost was a curse in this, if I'm hearing you right. Oh, it was a big curse, man. I, yeah. And to me, to second your inference, I made the same inference about myself, honestly. And, you know, thankfully I do have people around me who are like sort of, you know, backing me up and stuff like that. Um, my wife was a trooper. My family's been great. Um, everyone around me that allowed me to, to really take the time I needed and give me the backup I needed

for this project. But, and then the editors were huge. You know, obviously this is such a, such a large project and there, I couldn't, definitely couldn't have brought this to life without the editors, the illustrators, the publisher in general, because there's an entire team behind this book that, you know, helped me like up to eight people that helped me full time, really like full time, bring this book to life over the course of the year. So, yeah, there's a lot we do as coaches where I still work in the in-person space where you have to help somebody conceptualize something. And it's not uncommon to like grab a whiteboard or grab the back of a piece of paper

and be like okay so here is my horrible drawing of what i'm trying to explain were there exchanges in this where you were like okay this is what i'm trying to get you to make a picture of and some guy who does graphic design bless his little heart is like um i, I'm struggling here. Or did you feel like you, you set a picture and this is what I need an illustration of and bang, you've got a perfect illustration back. And I'd have to give kudos to the illustrators. Um, there were two or three that worked on the book, two main ones. And I think a third one that came in, um, for the physiology section. came in for the physiology section. And there were only the book is very, very visual. And, you know, we're talking hundreds, probably like 100 150, probably illustrations, total,

I would confidently say, and over that, if you're saying the exercises, right, so there's hundreds, if you're counting the exercises. Yeah. And so I would say out of those, there were probably only five to 10 really difficult ones that I had to really, really test my own ability to find a quality reference. Cause a lot of this stuff, there was some of this stuff that there weren't really good references for, like, you know, I had to, really good references for like, you know, I had to, I emailed a handful of other PhDs in the space like Dr. Cody Hahn, Dr. Brendan Roberts, guys like that, where I was like, hey, guys, do you have any resources I can use for this project? Because, like, I'm trying to conceptualize and visually show like the hypertrophy of connective tissue, and there's literally nothing for me to pull from. And they're like, man, it's really a barren area. There's really not a good visual

representation of that. Um, and even they couldn't really help. So they were a huge help in terms of resources, but even with something like that specifically as it's given a detailed example, like, you know, it was tough. So there were some anatomical things that I, I had to like physically draw out. And I, I pulled images from other resources and had to like put into, you know, pull up on preview and use my pen tool and like, you know, shade in areas, put point arrows and stuff like that. And it's like, Hey, no arm angle needs, needs to be here. This needs to be here. This shading needs to be here. Like, or this, you know, process leads to this trying to visually explain mechano transduction to also make it simplified

was one of the hardest things as well to do. Um, so I mean that, that, as I'm, as I'm picturing this process, I feel just one rabbit hole after another, after another, because the minute you're like, okay, I feel like I've got my footing. I feel like I've found a way to articulate just with writing the fundamental, uh, of everything from physiology to actual exercise execution, which for those of you who aren't coaches, like coaches always double down on the kinesthetic and they're like, yeah, you're going to do it like this and you're going to feel it here. And people are like, all right, that's fine. Online coaching gives you, it gives you a little bit of practice because

you're like, okay, well I have like 40 characters in this PDF to communicate to you how to perform this exercise. But then once all that's done, you have to create images and all of that. It's daunting. Oh, and I would go into these crazy, crazy rabbit holes. And, you know, I, my wife would, oh, there's some funny photos and images. I'll try to get my wife to send them to me. She's, she would come by my office and like snap photos and like random times of the writing process. And there was a one point where she had thrown a piece from the laundry, like a shirt or something on my head, like joking

around trying to get my attention. But I had my head, but like, I get deep focus, like with my headphones on later noise canceling, and like, I'm just in it. And she came back hours later, that shirt was still on my head. And I was still reading what I was reading through what I was trying to portray. And she's like, what is wrong with you? Why is was still on my head and I was still reading what I was reading through what I was trying to portray. And she's like, what is wrong with you? Why is that still on your head? And I'm like, didn't even know it was there. Didn't even know it was there anymore. Like I totally forgot. Um, and so, yeah, I mean, I would, I would look up and it, and four hours had gone by and it's like, I guess I'll eat now. Like, I don't know. I don't know what else comes next. So.

It's like, I guess I'll eat now. Like, I don't know. I don't know what else comes next. Hey, guys, just wanted to take a quick second to say thanks so much for listening to the podcast. And if you're finding value, it would mean the world to me if you would share it on your social media. Simply screenshot whatever platform you're listening to and share the episode to your Instagram story or share it to Facebook. But be sure to tag me so I can say thanks and we can chat it up about what you liked and how I can continue to improve. Thanks so much for supporting the podcast and enjoy the rest of the episode. I think whenever you talk about like big projects like this, whether it's a book,

whether it's launching a business, which is something that we've both done. There are a lot of emotional ups and downs, and there's a lot of self-doubt. And if you don't have that self-doubt, you're kind of a psycho and you're probably lacking some self-awareness. But for you, was there anything in particular that you learned about yourself from this venture that maybe you hadn't some of the other stuff that you've done, because you've accomplished quite a bit, but this is a jump. This is something very novel. It's something that a lot of people, you know, this is their dream in their entire life, you know, to get published, not saying that it wasn't your dream or maybe it was, but like, this is a big ass project and you had to test a lot. Was there something in particular that you're like, from here on out, I know these things

about myself that I did not previous? That's a really good question. I think, and just to give myself some time subconsciously to think about the answer there, this is a project that I wanted to do throughout my life. I thought it would come about more in my 40s or 50s after 20, 30 years in the industry, but I'm here for it. No, no, that's amazing. I don't think we had ever actually circled the wagons around the fact that this was like a bucket list thing for you. You know, so like, that's pretty incredible because we all want to do things. And I think human beings naturally, like you already said it, you thought forties, fifties, we put time,

I will have this project done by then. And then sometimes life goes, not quite right now, like bucket of cold water on you in bed at 4am, wake up, it's time to work on this now. Yeah. And let me, so exactly. So let me kind of answer your question. And because I don't, I'd have to really, really think hard about specifics to your question, but let me kind of, the first thing that comes to mind and something that keeps coming up for me is this idea. And this, I think, is going to be helpful for a lot of people listening. This idea of serendipity, this idea and this concept of really front loading and putting a lot of work into what you're doing in the current moment because you never truly know what it's going to become.

And this project was and still is the biggest representation of serendipity in my life. You know, culmination of all years and years and years and years of hard work of, you know, every bit of learning and putting myself out there and putting out content and getting critic, you know, getting some very critical feedback at times and very harsh comments and DMs about the way I was portraying information and then having to fix that and change the way I was speaking to others and not in like a really bad way,

but like I had to change the way I was telling the narrative or was communicating the message rather about a certain subject. And that taught me a lot. And so I think the biggest thing that I, this project really represented was the sort of that art and that realness of serendipity. And you never know who's going to read your stuff. You never know who's watching and you never know who's going to be watching in the

future. And so if you are doing something, it's sort of like how you do one thing is how you do everything. It's like when the people who, the publishers and the editors who were sort of looking for authors of this book or for this book, right? Like if i didn't do my job right and put all the effort i could into the articles that i did write that they found and all those pieces of content that they did find there's no way out they would even thought second you know thought a second time about oh this is our guy you know and it's also there wasn't a credit to because there's a second piece to that right so it's the it's the doing the work part but it's also, there wasn't a credit to, because there's a second piece to that, right? So it's the, it's the doing the work part, but it's also the being yourself part.

And I think it was a re a reconfirmation of it's okay to be that person that you are, right? It's okay to be more conversational in your communication and your delivery. Like you don't have to, you don't have to speak or write or communicate in a way where you you're trying to prove your intelligence. You just, what do you want to get across and get that across and let that be what it is. Like, let that speak for itself. And if that helps people and it helps people. And if it, you know, if someone doesn't think you're the smartest, like maybe because they didn't need help,

right. Like they're just here to criticize. So yeah. And do you want to write the fitness book that only reaches the 5% or do you want to write the fitness book that reaches the 95%? And I think that that's something that's really important to key in on because a lot of us in this space, and this is one of the realizations that I've had through COVID just through looking at, okay, what is the space that I inhabit professionally? What types of personalities does it attract? And one of the things that I've noticed is the fitness space attracts a lot of very competitive people who like to be right and like to make sure that everybody knows that. And for better or for worse, in this constant

competition in our space, we have kind of boxed off the people who most need our help because we're so concerned with projecting intelligence to one another that we forget that there's a massive audience of people who just want a human being who's going to communicate to them in a way that they can understand. And what I'm pulling out of what you're saying is a lot of the opportunity that you've gotten is a byproduct of work that you've done that maybe you needed to be reaffirmed that you had done. Because a lot of us look at what other people are doing or what other people have accomplished, and we look at the results only. We never look at the work. And as somebody who's done, you know, almost over 20,000 sessions in person, I've been coaching

online for years. I've been, I've had skin in the game for about as long as you can have skin in the game. And I forget sometimes like, Hey, I've been doing this a long ass time. And that never really leaves you because I think it's normal for us to have that. But it sounds like your use of the word cathartic and reaffirming kind of tells me that this process for you solidified, like, not only do I deserve a seat at this table, but I have something special to give because of the gifts and the authenticity that I have. Yeah. And I think you said that well. So thank you.

You articulated that beautifully and way better than I did. And also for what you said about the 95% who are missed, say it louder for people in the back who may not have heard. Man, there are so many underserved individuals that are in the fitness space who are interested,

who are passionate, right? About, you know, resistance training, getting into the gym, getting stronger, getting bigger, being healthier, getting it more in shape, you know, creating that physique or body or the way they're living that I've gotten who aren't from people who are, you know, the most equipped, let's say, as far as their knowledge base within the fitness realm, right? The way they ask questions, you know, they can tell they haven't been educated on any of this stuff. And to me, like, that's a missing link, right? That's like, man. And also in their language, something that really shined through to me was the passion in which they spoke about it. Like they wanted nothing more than to learn more about this. Like they're that excited about it. And, you know, I think a lot of

that as fitness professionals, we take advantage, like we, we take for granted, not take advantage, but we take for granted. We, we take for granted that we know how to do every single thing that we'd like to do with our life. Like we have full autonomy for full control of every like, okay, you want abs in six weeks. I know exactly how to do it for myself. I know exactly at each step of the way. I know I need to do nutritionally training wise. Um, you know, everything I know to expect each step of the way. I know what I need to do nutritionally, training wise, you know, everything. I know what to expect emotionally. Yeah. And so, yeah, what do you expect?

That's a big one. But we have all those tools, right? And that's something that we take for granted. And when you really think about it, that 95% that are in the gym every single day, passionately going through the motions, really trying, but like passionately going through the motions, because they're not, they just don't know. They're not quite sure. They don't know any better, right?

And I've seen so many of them throughout my career, traveling and teaching and whatever else, just lifting in the gym and being observant. And that to me is who I want to really speak to. Like I've spent my entire career speaking to the 5%. And there's nothing more that I want. I think for this, whatever this next phase is of my career, we live so many different lives within our career typically, but whatever this next phase is for me or transition, it's not going to be a massive one, but I really want it to be a transition of going from speaking to that 5% to really speaking to that 95% if I can.

Yeah. One of the things that's strange about our space is people are almost ashamed to speak to the 95%. And what I mean by ashamed is that because the information that these people require to make huge leaps and bounds is so simple, it's so reductionist. Like your point about the DMs, I probably get five DMs a week, somebody asking me from another country through a language barrier with pleases and thank yous, Danny, when should I take creatine? And every time I want to go, it doesn't fucking matter. Just take your creatine. That's all. But I go, okay, this person wants to know something so badly that they are probably translating from their native tongue into English. A question that admittedly they could Google,

but they didn't Google it. And they didn't Google it because I have something that they want, and that is expertise. And I should respect that. And I should answer this person politely. And I've gotten better at it. And I certainly, I had to catch myself because again, in this space of buff dudes, former athletes, buff chicks, former athletes, really competitive people. I'll say this for people who are not in the fitness space. There are a lot of intelligent people in our space, meatheads and all. We don't get a lot of credit for it.

But the things that it takes to build a significant amount of muscle or to get really strong, the ability to become extremely comfortable with deliberate practice is the same shit that it takes to build intelligence. So there's a lot of smart people who want to be smart. And there's something like, at least for me, I know one of the toughest things I had to do is just go, it's totally okay to talk to the 95%. You can talk shop about any 5% you want. You want to talk physique, you want to talk strength sports, you want to talk athletic development, you can. But the people who really need your help are going to be able to get your help from some of the most simplified explanations

of shit that you take entirely for granted. And when I crossed that bridge to the point you made about maybe taking a next step or expanding, like that was one of the biggest things in the world for me was to go like, I could help somebody gain five more pounds of muscle. I could help somebody gain 2% body fat or lose, lose exactly 2% body fat. I could help somebody shave, you know, 10, one hundredths of a second off their 40 time. Are any of those as impactful as teaching Mary Muffintop, who's never lifted a weight in her life, that she can lift a weight without getting bulky and helping her find a routine to do three days a week and never talk to me again? No, they're not. And there is absolutely nothing wrong for coaches and hobbyists

and enthusiasts out there with having at least a certain percentage of your message or your content or what you're creating geared to the people who most need your help you can totally niche down like a lot of people recommend niching down for business but like never get it twisted that if you are in this space the fitness space and i ask 99 of trainers why you chose this job and 99% say the same thing. Because I want to help people. Help people. Yeah, you didn't choose this job because you wanted to make money.

We know you don't make that much money in this space unless you're just a total horrible person. You got in this space to help people. And most of the people that need your help literally need to know like how many days a week to start lifting? How much water should I drink? Should I have protein pre-workout or post-workout? Never, never act like you're too big to answer those questions. Like that's a lesson that I've learned the hard way. I've, I'm very comfortable with where I'm at now. And like, that's a space that I continue to want to nurture because to your point, not only is that a space that's underserved, but like, if you think about how people find their way into lifting, they usually stumble into resistance training because they

tried CrossFit and they got hurt. They tried Zumba and they couldn't lose weight. You know, they did P90X and that wasn't going anywhere. Like most people's first stop isn't the weight room, but it can be their last stop. If you don't fuck it up and you teach them the shit that really and that wasn't going anywhere. Most people's first stop isn't the weight room, but it can be their last stop if you don't fuck it up and you teach them the shit that really counts. And that's what I like about this book, is it feels like it's the shit that really counts for the people who need to hear it and the people in the 5%,

which is probably why it was such a hard project. Yeah, it was very difficult to strike that balance. And it is is it's distilling the need to know information into taking the because also one of the biggest things that i i've tried to do um and this is shown within my work on instagram and stuff like that which had a big response over the last few years right was how do i take the intimidation factor away from not you know people not going into gym because they don't know what to do. Right. And there's something to the community and the comfort

and the, the unins, unintimidating factor of CrossFit, right. It's, it's something that should be incredibly intimidating as a sport. It's something that intimidates the hell out of me because I almost, I know too much. And it's like, oh, I know exactly what this is. And I don't know if I'm equipped for this. Um, but it's usually in a large way, it's someone's first stop into this world. Right. And there's something to that. And it's because they've created a culture. They've created a community that isn't built off judgment and isn't built off intimidating the person next to them into not using the equipment because I'm using that bro. That's mine. Like, can I work in like, no, you know? And it's like, dude, and I, you know, I've observed all this

stuff, you know, throughout my, my career. And as well as just people that walk into the gym and I've seen these people and it breaks my heart. It's like, they walk into the gym, and I've seen these people, and it breaks my heart. It's like they walk into the gym. They seriously walk in. I'm watching this whole thing happen. They look at the weight room. They walk around the weight room, and they don't know what to do. And so they go to the cardio equipment, and they just trudge on it, and then they walk straight out. And not that cardio is bad.

Aerobic health needs to be built. Cardio is very good for you and it's something you should implement, but it doesn't do the same thing as resistance training does. It does not do the same things that strength training builds, right? It doesn't lend us all those things. And there's a reason we need both of these things in conjunction with a good, healthy lifestyle, right? Paired with good nutrition. So really creating an entry point is really what I wanted to do and take the intimidation factor away from people and educate them enough where they can walk into the gym confident

in, I know what I'm doing. I know how I'm doing it. And I even know some of the science behind it. Do you? You know, like it's my first time in the gym, but do you know? To piggyback on your point, I worked in a commercial gym while I did my entire undergrad degree. So I spent between eight and 10, I did my homework there, between eight and 12 hours a day in a 24-hour fitness. And the shit that you see there, very quickly you start to key

in on almost everybody here has the right intentions. But very few people have the resources to actually achieve their goals. And defaulting to the cardio equipment is like example 1A. But I would see people come in and there was a row of machines made by Precor and they were the hoist model, which are some of the worst. If you're trying to get quality sensation, quality tension, anything, there's like three or four hoist machines that are decent. And then a bunch of them that just are just gimmicky. There's no way around it, but they're very non-intimidating and they were all lined up like 10 to a row.

And I would watch people every day, start on the hoist leg press, go to the hoist leg curl, go to the hoist leg extension, go to the hoist shoulder press, go to the hoist chest press, the hoist row, the hoist lap pull down and walk out the door. They go down the fucking row and they're out because that is less intimidating than stepping up to the next row, which is hammer strength where you have to put the plates on. And then the next row, which is free weights. And it was like, oh my gosh, there's a little tiny hierarchy here of people on cardio who are terrified, people on the machines who have at least dipped their toe in the water. And unfortunately, a lot of the culture of conventional gym space isn't super inviting. And so now what you have is

you have the ability to reach those people visualizing this, whether they're on the stairs, they're on the hoist, they're on the hammer strength, or they're in the free weight area and give them the level of education that they need to really take it and run with it. And just again, for everybody listening, when can they get the book? When can they expect to get the book? And in the meantime, because I know I don't think it's out yet, where can they go to get more content? it's available at barnes and noble walmart target you name it um books a million indie bound it's available in a lot of places but the easiest place to find it on pre-order is definitely amazon um so the release date in the uk so if you're a uk listener uh that's on april 8th so coming up very soon or maybe even the day this week yeah this is probably i'll make sure that this is out or i'll try to make sure that this is out so if you are in the uk you go right and you go

right now you buy that fucking book on your phone yeah um and i will say for those who do go and buy the book and then i'll quickly touch on the us S and North America that releases in April 20th. So just a couple more weeks. Um, and we'll be there in the, in the North America or North American, um, continents, but as far as, um, the, where was I here? Oh, as far as the additions of the book, um, I will say there will be a kindle version available okay there will be but this is something it's so visual that i'm telling you you want the physical book and i don't i don't get anything for saying that i promise you like i just want you to have a better version of the book and the the paperback flex-bound copy of this book, the physical book, is just the way to go. I promise you. It's going to be under $ I'm guessing it's something that you can read cover to cover,

but also something that you'll just use as a resource like crazy as you go through whatever you're going through, whether you're new or you're a coach. Absolutely. And I mean, man, like at the beginning, so just for example, like we go even talking about working on machines, working on freeways, things like that.

In the book right now, I'm looking at a visual of how to set up a machine. What's the difference between machines and free weights, how to choose, um, how to lift safely, how to grip, what grip positions and types, what is a wide grip, narrow grip, neutral grip. Um, there's an entire terminology guide of all the terms like flexion, extension, supination, pronation, abduction, external rotation, internal, you name it, it's in there. And it's very visual and you'll get the, the gist. There's even a section on gym etiquette, which I really wanted in there. It's so funny, man, to hear you say this stuff is like, it's almost serendipitous for me. Cause I

think back into, it feels like a previous lifetime because COVID literally just, it acts as a literal divide in my life between, it just happened. But I think back to when I was making YouTube videos more frequently, and that was when I was getting paid to do that. I don't do that anymore. But one of the people who I made the videos with would always come up with ideas. And he'd be like, why don't you do like what grip to use on the lap pole? And I'd be like, dude, that's so dumb. Who asks that question? Or it'd be like, why don't you do how to like, how to hit legs? Like, should I do machines only or just free weights? And I was like, I was like, what are you like a newbie who doesn't even lift?

And he was like, yes, like 90% of the people. And so I just, I see the stuff that you've put into the book and it just totally, I see my old blind spots. And some of them are probably still there, quite frankly. I love that. I know that you probably at one point had those blind spots too, because we naturally still to this day, we naturally progress away from them. too, because we naturally progress away from them. And to know that you put that into this book, it makes me laugh for all the right reasons because I'm like, somebody finally fucking got it.

Somebody finally got it, which is that this is not about the 5% only. This is about growing that 5% from the people who really need this in their life. So dude, I think that's fantastic. The name of the book is The Science of Strength Training. There's a subtitle too? Science of Strength Training. And the subtitle is Understand the Anatomy and Physiology to Transform Your Body. I love it. And available on April the 8th in the United Kingdom, April 20th here in the United States, Amazon, Target, everywhere pretty much books are sold. They can follow on Instagram for updates, correct? Yeah. So there's a special page, a new creative endeavor who I've created to... So my own personal Instagram is really speaking to stay on par with the

conversation to that 5%. Right. I've tried to transition once before. And then, you know, if you're working off like, well, is it worth my time? Because there's so many people here already that are in the 5%. So my, my personal one more for the 5%, this new one, the science of strength training. So it's just at science of strength training on Instagram. It's created to live as a resource and a community to come learn in a very unintimidating, nonjudgmental like way. And it's basically me sharing photos from the book, showing illustrations. All the captions are very educational and act, again, as an entry point to strength training. It's there to speak to that 95%, be there as a resource to that 95%.

I've been really excited about that. It's a new creative endeavor for me,, I love the creative side of content creation. And I love how to, how do I package this in a way where it's going to get a great response from people and, and be digested in a way where people get excited to share it. They get excited to, to tag a friend. They get excited to like comment, like, oh my gosh, like, where has this been? This is so helpful. Um, and that's what that page has been so far. And we're almost up to a has this been? This is so helpful. And that's what that page

has been so far. And we're almost up to a thousand people already, which is so cool. And so yeah, come join us. Yeah, dude, I like to see how excited you are about this. I know you did an awesome job. And I know it's one of those things that you kind of have to break free of like, okay, it's okay to talk to the 95% and to, like, you have to overcome a lot of things, a lot of self-doubts to take on any endeavor like this. I know the book's fantastic. I know that the growth that people will get from reading it will kind of be similar to the growth that you got from writing it. And I, I, I plan on buying several copies of the book. I would, I would stay tuned

guys for anybody who's listening. Maybe we'll do a, um, like maybe we'll do like a little giveaway down the road. Um, but I would like to buy several copies of the book for my friends who are trainers for my clients. Like, this is something that I've been whining about for years, not existing. Like there isn't a good book. Like, stop asking me if there's a good book to learn about weights. There's not. No. Well, now there finally is. And it's like one that I'm very confident is actually going to be quite, quite good, man. So again, science of strength training on Instagram, I will make sure that the pre-order links are going to be in the show notes for the podcast. So unless you're driving, take your phone out now. It's $20. It's very much worth your money. If nothing else, this is probably going

to save you from looking silly. If you have a question about something, use it as a resource. If you're a coach, if you're new to this, like I said, I've been doing this for 10 years. I've been waiting for this book. It's finally here. It's finally been written. I can give you the seal of approval. Get the book. Follow Austin on Instagram at Science of Strength Training and Austin Current. Any other projects you want these guys to be aware of? No, there's always plenty to talk about, but no, just do those two things. It's really, really, really the one thing, you know, the book and then the Instagram. Get the book, follow Austin, and we'll be sure to keep in touch with him. As we get closer to launch, you can expect me to get several copies. I expect you guys to get several copies yourself. Thanks again for coming on, bro. Thank you. So kind. Thank you.

All right, everybody. So I hope you enjoyed my chat with Austin. Do check out his new book. Okay. I've linked everything for you below in the show notes. I think you guys will enjoy it. I think for coaches, this is a must buy resource. And then for anybody who's just into general muscular development, physique enhancement, you want to learn the ins and outs. Again, $20 pretty tough to beat the science of strength training. Check it out, guys. Give Austin a follow by the book and tune in next week. If you got something out of the conversation, do feel free to share it. Leave me a five star rating review on iTunes. And stay healthy.