Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 476: Erica Lugo on Dating, Dealing with Burnout, Achieving Fitness & Health Success, Building a Fitness Business & MORE

Episode Date: March 20, 2017

In this episode Sal, Adam & Justin interview Erica Lugo (@ericafitlove, www.ericafitlove.com) for the second time. The first time they interviewed Erica via telephone and talked with her about losing 150 pounds, becoming a finalist in the Women's Health Next Fitness Star and what drove her to transform her life. This time Erica came into the Mind Pump Media studios and talked about her successes and struggles over the past year as an entrepreneur and fitness role model. Get our newest program, Kettlebells 4 Aesthetics (KB4A), which provides full expert workout programming to sculpt and shape your body using kettlebells. Only $7 at www.mindpumpmedia.com! Get MAPS Prime, MAPS Anywhere, MAPS Anabolic, MAPS Performance, MAPS Aesthetic, the Butt Builder Blueprint, the Sexy Athlete Mod AND KB4A (The MAPS Super Bundle) packaged together at a substantial DISCOUNT at www.mindpumpmedia.com. Make EVERY workout better with MAPS Prime, the only pre-workout you need… it is now available at mindpumpmedia.com Have Sal, Adam & Justin personally train you via video instruction on our YouTube channel, Mind Pump TV. Be sure to Subscribe for updates. Get your Kimera Koffee, Mind Pump's first official sponsor, at www.kimerakoffee.com, code "mindpump" for 10% off! Add to the incredible brain enhancing effect of Kimera Koffee with www.brain.fm/mindpump 10 Free sessions! Music for the brain for incredible focus, sleep and naps! Please subscribe, rate and review this show! Each week our favorite reviewers are announced on the show and sent Mind Pump T-shirts! Intro to conversation with Erica Lugo (3:07) Dating talk with Erica (10:34) Erica talks about opening a brick and mortar/Challenges she has faced so far (14:04) Dealing with burnout and she talks about her recent autoimmune diagnosis (21:48) State of fitness industry / Impact of social media (34:10) What does she feel is her next step? / Dealing with emotions/attachments with clients (1:01:47) What does she feel she is kicking ass at? / Her Achilles heel (1:09:34) Entrepreneur advice from the Mind Pump guys about her business (1:13:09) Has she had encounters with clients about slowing down? / Changed since her diagnosis? (1:25:01) Differences between Men/Women in fitness (1:27:25) Final thoughts/message from Erica and the guys (1:31:35) Related Links: Instagram - @ericafitlove Erica’s website Addison’s disease HeadSpace Mind Pump Ep. 472 – Tom Bilyeu Mind Pump TV People Mentioned: Tom Bilyeu

Guys, we have a ton of people that have been coming to us that have been asking about what's going on with our bundles programs, which one's best for me That's the beauty of what we just did. Sal spent all this time the other day getting on the green screen going in in detail I'm preaching to you about these programs. What is maps green? What is maps black? What is maps red? Is it right for you? Get on there Go to the website mind pump media dot com. You guys can watch the video so you can explain in detail each program We got huge promotions going on right now, mind pump media.com. If you wanna pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind, pop, mind, pop with your hosts.

Salda Stefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. We just had a great, great interview. It was our second time having Eric on the show. Eric is. Did it over, if any year? He loved Eric. We love her. Let's be honest. She's such a, we asked it to put a great message. We put her, we put her shirts on. That's the first time we've done that. We didn't do that for anybody else. Yeah. No.

No, she better, she better. I will rock that shirt. I will get it girl. Yeah. Exactly. Just so you know. We, we love her because she's got such a great story, a great message. She's very transparent with her own evolution and fitness. She decided to start a break in mortar business so she could be in closer in contact with the people that she's working with. A lot has happened since the last time we've seen her.

Remember, she was just really coming up. Yeah, coming up. And you know, that's how we found her. She was voted for one of these girls on the cover of women's health. And that's how she was on the cover of Yahoo. Well, she, oh, she's had all kinds of stuff that's happened since then, starting a reality show. I think if she said like a make up line going on, a sub thing reached out to her, all kinds of shits happening. And, and, you know, it's been neat to watch her evolution. And now to see her in brick and mortar, which we've talked a lot about, We talk a lot about that and the ups and downs of that business, which she gets into that.

So those of you that are entrepreneurs building a business, even if it's not related to fitness, if it's in social media, if it's a brick and mortar, we get into that with her. I mean, that was a great discussion. She's just so relatable. You know what I mean? Like, she's just such a down-to-earth parent. Very transparent. Yeah.

You just like, you like to hear from that perspective in fitness, you don't get that a whole lot. She's extremely likable, and especially if you're someone battling body image issues, or you have a poor relationship to exercise and nutrition, or you've never worked out, and you're just trying to figure out how you're gonna get into it, she's a very inspirational individual, and she delivers the kind of, the right message

in our opinion, the right message. She's lost over 150 fucking pounds. Yeah, wow that is no joke anybody anybody that's been through that much of a transformation I love to listen to this. It's not the same person. Yeah, exactly you literally are you've lost a fucking human off your body I mean that Transforms people physically mentally she dies into that in this episode excellent excellent episode was such a pleasure. I recommend you give her a follow on Instagram. She's got a great Instagram page. It's at Erica Fitlove. So her name is ERICA and then Fitlove. F-I-T-L-O-V-E. One word. And she's got a

website EricaFitLove.com. That's pretty much it. So here we are interviewing Erica Lugo, a K-A Erica Fitlove.com. That's pretty much it. So here we are interviewing Erica Lugo, aka Erica fitlove. You know, your bumble game out here is strong. Bumble game. Is that like another one of those hook up apps? It's a classier version of Tinder. Oh, it's like, people are educated. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, these are such a thing as a classier version of Tinder. They're squaring this, please. Let's rumble with the bumble. They're educated. I like Adam. It's like Grindr. Sorry. Explain this please let's rumble with the bubble They're educated I like Adam. It's like grinder. Sorry Educated and have jobs you know Now you're now you're a fitting all the tender people right now that are like fuck you bitch

I have a fucking job and I'm on tender really what's the difference? I can't just be just a little bumble the woman has to like she's a little has to approve it Whoa you you send it you seem to know a little bit more about this. Uh, what? Yeah. So no, no, I've heard, uh, who'd have heard my friend told me, my friend told me. I'm actually my girlfriend explained this to me. She said that she was telling me how brilliant it was because it gives women more power

to who they can talk to. Okay, so you got it. Let's, let's step me through this. I'm genuinely interested in how this is. Are we literally recording this coming from? Oh, yeah. Oh, we're going. Let's let's step me through this. I'm genuinely interested in how this is. Are we literally recording this? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We're going. Let's roll. What's tell us tell us how bumble works? Um, so here it's funny because literally you do

a mile radius in Ohio, I have to go like a radius of a hundred people to get like a mile radius of a hundred miles to get like decent people. Here I step off the plane. I do less than a mile radius and it like goes all night long. Like I'm in bed like I just is great. I don't even have the lead airport. I can hook up to somebody in the bathroom. It's just like California's awesome.

Oh, it just keeps going. So then you find someone and then you like, you buy the bush. Then it's like, right. Then it's like a high when they're like, you match. And I'm like, yes, it's hot, dude, said I was hot back. Let's start talking.

So then I have to reach out to them, and then you just start a conversation. So the girl does have the first opportunity, the guy can't reach out first. So on Tinder, it's like you go on there, and a guy's like, hey baby, what are you doing at eight o'clock tonight, you so fine, and you're like, pfft done, you know what I mean?

Here, we get to start the conversation. So it's like, it's like real life. Yeah, it's all the time. It's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's like it's like real life But like last night I'm laying in bed. I couldn't fall asleep and I'm like let's just do less than a mile radius And I swear I could I get kept going and going and going you know what they call San Jose right no man Jose Yeah, really I'm like when I was on Santana. Oh yesterday. I was like yes I was like, yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. petite thing on your I know you pointed out. I know you tell people all the time like I'm a bigger girl Yeah, I am. No, you've got the athlete. You look like you are definitely like a collegiate level like

Basketball volleyball. Yeah, you guys make me feel so good. Did you play those things? Hell no really? No I've been overweight my whole life like sports and I've never been athletic So I bet you would have been a bad ass. I actually remember, no, I actually remember trying out for basketball in high school and the coach looked at me and was like, when I was dribbling and everything, like I was that uncoordinated. Oh, really?

Yeah. Well, that's probably because you never played them. Right, but I mean, I was just bad in general. Yeah, but now you like to work out, right? You love it. My God, I love it. Yeah, I bet you'd be. I bet you would have been a bad ass.

I want to do volleyball. I think I would totally take over that I love it. I bet you'd be, I bet you would have been a badass. I wouldn't do volleyball. I think I would totally take over that court right now. Yeah, volleyball or basketball, I can't imagine you not being good at it. I mean, but I'm like an Amazon. I mean, have you seen me? Wonder Woman, how tall are you? Are you six foot?

I'm 5'11". Yeah, I would, you could round up to six foot. You look sick, but yeah. That's like barefoot. I'm just gonna, okay, so that's what I need to put on my bumble profile no longer 5 11 Yeah, how many new demographic on a real here? Okay, yeah I'm really interested in this bumble thing cuz I didn't okay, so I didn't get this right So I'm Katrina and I've been together for like six plus years. We're pretty much married

We have two dolls live together for a time. So I I'm a post tender Post yeah, the gent that dating I would have just mocked up I feel like I had these resources. Yeah, I like a meat market right now. Okay, you'd been snatched up in a heartbeat So so what's it like so what what is it like? You know, you and we're we're close in age so you know, and so you've been you you were how much are you? Are you? 27 how old You're 27. Oh, shit. Now, how old are you?

I'm 35. Okay. I just turned 30 on Christmas. Okay. So we're a little bit younger, but not that much younger. A lot of it younger. We were almost in high school together. So you've been around the dating game before and after. Yeah. What is the evolution of that business? Because you're older. I was married too for that business? Cause you're a little bit.

I was married too for a while. I mean, I got married, I got engaged. Yeah, that'll fuck your game up big time. Yeah. All right. I want to date with you later when you're married. Right. Exactly.

Yeah. Is it? Can we get that part out of the box? This is my guess. Cause I'm sure my ex husband will probably listen. But yeah, like dating is completely different because I've been divorced for three and a half, four years now. So it is so different.

And now too, I'm fit, I'm confident. Like I love who I am. So it's even more fun. Because I don't have to settle. Does that make sense? Yeah. Before I was like, oh well, you know, no one wants to talk to me.

And my confidence wasn't that high. Now, I mean, I've always had a huge personality. Don't get me wrong. I've always been very open and bubbly, but now it's like, game on. And I'm not nervous. Like, I don't have any problem going up to someone in the bar and getting their number myself.

Like, that's just how it is now for me. That's great. Yeah, but dating apps are funny now. It's funny, but it's a tear. Do you, I feel like they wouldn't be very successful. They're not. They're not. Is it more fun? Yeah, it's like tear. It's a tear. Do you find, are they, I feel like they wouldn't be very successful. They're not. They're not. There's more fun. Is it more fun? Yeah, it's like entertainment, I guess.

You know, like who doesn't like to... It's a great confidence booster. Not even that, but like who doesn't even want to just like get to know someone again? Do you know what I mean? That's what's fun about. Like the dating apps, just literally it's a crazy world out there.

When I say crazy world, I've talked to some nutty people who've got crazy weird fetishes and like, it's just a hot mess out there. So, like, what? Like, what? Don't worry about it. Come on, man. Not bad.

No, I think I'll meet someone through someone. I'm never gonna meet someone through dating app. Like, that just won't happen. You don't think so? Don't say never. I don't think I will. You know what? Where is it getting happening?

It is really hard out there right now. Like, first off, I'm Amazon. I'm like, six foot, round up, six foot, right? Stop saying that you're not an Amazon. You're a tall woman. Okay, I'm a tall woman, a mature girl. Yes, you're tall woman. So, you know, Wonder Woman was an Amazon.

Yeah. You guys know that about the comic? Yeah, but she never really cared for your job. So, that's my next step then. Yeah. But no, like, it's really hard dating, being in fitness the way I'm in now, because my life is so public.

Yeah. So you can literally Google my name and everything will pop up. Yeah, I could see that. So it's really intimidating for people to be like, whoa, this girl is everywhere and I vlog everything and, but don't get me wrong, I'm not going on a date, be like hold on, let me give them the best camera angle. You know, like I won't ever, ever do that, But my life is so out there, people are very intimidated. Have you used that line yet?

I use that one time. I felt like such an asshole. What's that? Just Google me. Just Google me. Yeah, just Google me. So, Kev asked me a bunch of stupid questions. Yeah, I said just Google me, dude.

Yeah, and I felt like such an ass, pretentious ass hole afterwards. Wow, I can't believe I just said that. But I was just, I was like, doing, I was multitasking. And somebody kept asking me, they asked me, ask me questions. They were like, dude, just, just, I can't believe I just said that. But I was like, I was multi-tasking, and somebody kept asking me, they asked me questions, they're like, just Google me. And then I thought, oh my God, that sounds fucking horrible. It does, it does, right?

So, now, give me, can we have a story? Can we talk about one of these bumblebee tender dates gone wrong? I know, I know you've got to have it, at least one of them that's kind of blown up in your face. Um, honestly, I feel like I scream people very well because I'm very, very cautious because my life is very public. What does that look like? So you ask certain questions that you, that you, that you, Well, we got to back up a little bit. Like how does one of them get your attention first off? Um, first off, if your height starts with five, you're out. I'm sorry. Just what do you call people who are you know

They're height starts with five a friend Frinzone right I mean that sounds really terrible and I probably sound really really shall we have a crush finish though They want you to stop on them. That's even worse I don't even know where that came from that's gonna be no I don't even know where that came from. That's gonna be no. We're not going on that down there. What? You know what?

Those guys need love. Hi, can you say something about me? Okay, so five. You smash me. Five, eleven and a down. You're in the friend zone. Six, five, and much. Yeah, that's not true, but hey, you know what?

I might fall in love with someone who's five and eleven, so. That's typically what happens when you say she'll live. Okay, so they gotta be six foot or more. Yeah, just because my height is like something that's like, I want to feel girly. Do you know what I mean? Sure, I want to feel like a guy's taller. Yeah, just because my height is something that's like, I want to feel girly. Do you know what I mean? Sure. I want to feel like a guy's taller.

Yeah, I don't know what you mean. Yeah. Well, I feel like girly. So what else? So what else? I need you to basically have your life together. I can't be babysitting you. I don't want you to be needy because nowadays guys are needy.

I will tell you what. I was dating someone and that person needed me to text him at all times will tell you what, like, I was dating someone and that person needed me to text them at all times the day. Let them know where I was. Let them know how I felt about them. At least three or four times a week. And I'm like, ugh. Like that's another full-time job.

So that's a perfect time to say just Google me, bro. So six putter taller than older guys. Yeah, older, older, like I'm generally attracted to older guys. For sure, like I've never, ever dated younger, even around two years above me, that's kind of like worth. Well, it's a well-known fact that men don't really get handsome until after the age of 35. That's so true.

I mean, look at all of you guys. Right, yeah. Wow, that's true, huh? Look at that. We're gonna get in our prime right now. So stunning right now. So what, anything, what else? Do they have to be fit?

Wow. No, actually they don't. I what, anything, what else do they have to be fit? Wow. No, actually they don't. I mean, honestly, I find that being with someone who isn't into fitness as much as I am is good balance for me. Because I'm in it so much all day coming home to someone who's like, man, let's talk about them games. Let's go to, you know, G and C and load up.

Cheers on the protein. Cheers. You know what I mean? And they want to talk about dead lifts and squats and load up. Chairs on the protein sheet. You know what I mean? And it's just like, and they wanna talk about dead lifts and squats and PRs, I do that all day. And it's so overwhelming. You just wanna come home to someone and be like, hey baby, let's talk about like the movies

or what's going on in the world, that fitness all the time. Now don't get me wrong, I love to be able to work out with whoever I'm with, but it can't be constant. Like I need my space too. Yeah, fitness fanatics can be hard to be around when you're yourself or when. And it's almost like, I mean, you guys work in fitness, you guys talk to big fitness people.

It's almost like it's so competitive no matter what. You can be in a relationship with someone and even like my ex boyfriend, he was in a fitness and he was always eating more protein than me and had to mention it or he was always lifting heavier than me and had to mention it. And I'm like, what the heck? That's an insecure dude.

You know what I mean? So I just, you don't have to be a and I'm like, what the heck? That's an insecure dude. You know what I mean? So I just, you don't have to be a fan of it. Bitch, what's your PR over there? 30 grams of protein that's it, this is 60. Right, so you don't have to be in fitness, you don't have to be in fitness, but it is a plus. It is a plus because you guys also understand that fitness is a life and it takes over a lot of your life.

So yeah, you have to have an understanding. How is your fitness business doing? You just started. Yeah, I did. So talk about that. What did you start? What did you open? Because now you're doing your operating

like a brick and mortar business, right? Yeah, I am. Yeah, I took the leap of doing a brick and mortar. So what happened was I've been an online trainer for what, two and a half years now. And so many people kept going, can you train in person? Can you train in person?

I was like, geez, that's just one more thing on my plate. But I went ahead and I leased out a space in a local gym, just to try it out, just see what I thought. And I fell in love with it. I loved the interaction with people all day. You know, the face to face, the different stories. But I just outgrew it really, really quickly. And I was like, yeah, and I just, I took the leap.

I was thinking about it for so long, and I kept putting it off, and I literally woke up one day and I said, oh, I'm just gonna do it. And I made an appointment with a real estate agent, and I was like, I need you to show me at least eight spaces within this range this week. And she was like, okay.

We found one, it was like a little hole in the wall. Like it's literally, it's in a building that shares spaces with people who manufacture cars and repair cars. So it's like an old school garage. I walked in, there was holes in the wall. The floors were disgusting. I'm sure there was like pee in the corner. Like that's how gross it was, right?

And I just said, I signed the lease that day. I was like, I'm gonna do it. Cause I just had to look in my head and I said, if I'm not gonna do it now, I'm never gonna do it. And I signed the lease and I pumped all that money into it and it's amazing. Like I just, it's home. You guys know what that's like, it's home. Totally.

Much respect for doing that takes a lot of courage to do something like that. Scary every single day. It's not easy. No. No. So what are you findings? Because before you did that, your social media success was growing. You obviously online clients growing. Yeah.

Opening brick and mortar, which is where we started. So we all started that way. We went the opposite right. We did brick and mortar and then moved to the social media kind of internet stuff. What are some challenges that you've encountered doing brick and mortar? Was it different or harder than you thought it was? It's definitely harder than than you thought it was? Was it? It's definitely harder than what I thought it was.

You don't think about all the little things that go into running your business in person online. It's so easy because everything's online. I can have a file for this. I can have a file for that. But when you run your own brick and mortar spot, it's you've got maintenance repairs, you've got equipment repairs,

you've got the emotional dealings of people face to face. That's what I would say is probably the hardest. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but I take on people's emotion 24 hours a day. You start to feel that energy transfer. You do, you do, and it's sometimes, and it's funny, they all, when there's a full moon outside, you feel it, because everyone's in the same funk

that the person previous to them was in. So, but it's keeping that like high energy all day long. That's what's the most exhausting thing. But it's just all the little details and man, I'm not like, I'm not as organized as what I thought I was. So like the money, you know, the trackings, the things like that, that's, it's hard. People don't realize how hard it really is. Are you really trying to handle most all that

on you? Do you have a manager, an opening out? No, everything I do with my online clients, with my studio, with my boot camps, it is all me. Wow. Okay. So yeah, it's a lot to handle. And are you looking into maybe changing that? Because I mean, you're gonna, if you're just, if you're gonna grow, that's gonna be cool. Yeah, no, no, it's at the point where I'm doing interviews for other people to come into my studio at this point. Because when you run your own studio, you want it to make money when you're not there, right? That's just a smart thing to do.

So with my boot camps and traveling, I obviously want that revenue to still come in. It's just a smart thing. But not only that, it's growing too much, and I'm one person, and I'm a single mom. So I need the help. I am at a single mom. So I need the help. I am at that point, this quickly, where I need the help. Well, that's a very exciting place to be though, you know. Exciting is scary. At the same time.

Do you find yourself, I mean, we just had this conversation off-air the other day about, you know, trying to remind myself that a lot of this too is to not get so, because we, I mean, motivated people like yourself, right, that are ambitious, go getters. You know, sometimes too, we forget to be mindful of, you know, where we're at right now and actually enjoying the process of the journey. That's really, really hard for me. It is. It is. Stop and breathe.

It is. I mean, I find that common with most all of our type A type or, you know, ambitious personalities, they, you know, we get so focused on these goals and we're so driven because that's what's made as successful in the past that we forget that holy shit, man, two years have gone by and those were the good years, you know, of, you know, learning and learning all these people and watching it grow, you know,

do you find yourself having to like pull yourself out and do that so you don't get so caught up or do you have someone you lean on that you feel like gives you good feedback? Honestly, my clients are those people. I have, they remind me constantly. For me, before I started this fitness business before I was on Instagram and lost this weight,

I was living literally penny to penny. I remember when my son was a year and a half and I was still married, we literally had $5 in our bank account to stretch us after the baby was fed and had diapers and we would have to go across the street and buy little Caesar's pizza that would last us four days. Or we knew how to play the gas station game where you put in your debit card and it would

only pen for a dollar for two days before the full amount came out. Like I have been there to where I was buying beans and I was scared of where the electricity bill was gonna come from. I actually had to sell my wedding ring to pay bills, and I remember going to the parking lot, finding this guy on Craigslist, and he was gonna pay the amount that I wanted for it, and going to the parking lot, and him giving me cash.

That was the lowest of the low I've ever felt, selling my wedding ring to make ends meet. And here I am now, traveling to California and Arizona and Texas and have my own studio. And I can do these things and I can give my son those things. And I have to stop a lot because since you have been humbled before, you want to work and work and work and work. You never want to get there again, right? So a lot of my clients are like, Erica, breathe. You know, they can tell when I'm having those days

where I'm so busy and back-to-back. And- Yeah, it's kind of like, I mean, in-person training is such a personal thing. Oh my God, I'm a picture. People don't understand the relationships that you grow. Some people, you know, that's why I get really, really offended by comments online that are like,

oh, of course she opened up a studio. It's another way for her to get money from people. why I get really, really offended by comments online that are like, oh of course she opened up a studio It's another way for her to get money from people and I'm like, oh, God. You all don't know How personal and how hard it is to do that Fuck it internet. Yeah, it's so that that Yahoo article I even did man those comments I'm telling you And when it comes to getting money in fitness opening a brick and mortar facility is probably not the best way to just make money. No, because I mean, you're trading dollars for hours at that point and people don't really like that. There's only one of you. Yeah, and it's a, it's a, I've learned it's a very selfless act, you know, because I am just trading dollars for hours. And all of my clients can

contest to you that it's not just when you walk into my studio, are you working with me? They have my cell phone number where they text me if they're having bad days. They'll call me if they're at a restaurant and they're like, I don't know what to eat. Or if they're traveling, they'll text me like, hey, this hotel has this, what can I have? Being a trainer is a 24 hour job, 24 hour, seven days a week job,

and people don't realize that, how exhausting it can be. Well, I'll tell you a couple of pieces, because I've been exactly where you're at. Yeah. What'll happen is you'll feel like pieces because I've been exactly where you're at. Yeah. What'll happen is you'll feel like you're constantly running away from where you were. Yeah. Because you want to get further and further away from it.

Absolutely. And what you got to be careful for is that, okay, so you have a lot of energy, you're very motivated. Obviously having an entrepreneur mindset, somebody who, you were bound for success at some point or another, whether you did it this way or another way, what you wanna be careful for is that you don't burn yourself out because your body is,

it is limited in the amount of energy that it can expel, and you wanna be careful with doing that because you're gonna put yourself in so many different places that when you hit that wall, it'll definitely be a learning lesson. It's the same advice that we give people, really just like the same advice we give people when they're extreme dieting,

is that you've got this great goal, you're dieting super hard, you're training super hard, and you're seeing results, it's awesome, it's fun. And then just one day, you're just like, what is this all for? And you just, and then you go the other way, so extreme, and so that's why I say, being mindful of the journey is so important.

And I've, this year I've had to. I don't know if you guys remember from this summer with women's health when I was on their cover, I got really, really sick this summer. I found out I have two autoimmune disorders. Oh, wow. And I've really had to step back and learn to listen to my body because I was the reason it happened so aggressively and I got hit so hard was because I was going nonstop. I wasn't taking care of myself. I was flying across the country, you know,

three times a week and then training online and getting ready for photoshoots and all the extreme. And my immune system just like tanked. So have you talked about this with your fans? Are they known? Some of them know I haven't been as open with it because I've just, I've been going through the motions myself, just officially getting diagnosis summer, and basically having to learn to listen to my body and treat my body through foods that are gonna benefit me. So a lot of them don't know, but.

Are you open to talking about it? Yeah, absolutely. This is a really good time to talk to share. I want to share it because it's so many people out there deal with what I deal with, and they don't know how to live with it Especially when it comes to fitness You know that you're sitting in a room each and every one of us have autoimmune issues. Okay. Yeah, so it's it's definitely Everyone deals with it at some level. It's part. It's part of what makes us so passionate about a lot of the shit that's out there

Yeah, that's and there's a lot of things that you know that don't get talked about because we're still learning about. Well, autoimmune issues in general are on the rise. It's an epidemic. It's a silent epidemic. Nobody's really talking about it. It's huge. In fitness, I just from observing anecdotally, it seems to be even worse in people in fitness because number one, lots of people who get into fitness hardcore do so initially, not they don't all stay there, but initially because of some kind of deep, you know, deep seated insecurity, which drives us to overdo the workout, overdo the diet, overdo all of it.

And then number two, the amount of supplements and things that we do to our body nutritionally, which benefit us aesthetically, or we think they're going to benefit us aesthetically, which actually have a detrimental effect on our health. And so a lot of my friends, I obviously know a lot of people who are in fitness, I've worked with lots of people in gyms. I can't, I tell you what, I think almost every single one of them, once they hit their 30s, had their body rebel against them. And mine was when I hit close to 30.

So what would you, can you go into what happened? Yeah, so it was women's health this summer. I was really working at hard because I had, was like, oh my god, I'm going to be on the cover of a national fitness magazine. Like how many people get that opportunity? So I was just really, I wouldn't say I was extreme, but I was doing more than what I would normally do when it came to my fitness regimen. My food was, you know, high protein. I was still doing carbs. I would carb cycle things like that. You know, I was still from what nutrition standpoint, I thought I was still taking care of my body,

you know, I would, you know, my greens and things like that. But regardless, I was traveling a lot. I was working out harder. I was working at Harder. I was really stressed because it's a lot of stress. Going through all those major photo shoots and interviews and I'm still a single mom. So making sure that my son's taking care of and being his classroom mom and taking care of the party, it's like I still do all of that.

I was doing boot camp too. And I remember it was my last Ohio boot camp, June, July. And I started to feel like really blood and under their weather. And I was like, well, maybe it's just all this stuff catching up to me and I just need to slow down. And it wouldn't go away. And it just got worse.

And what I mean by that, my fatigue was so bad. I could barely lift my arms up some day. Crushing fatigue. Crushing, like debilitating fatigue. I've never experienced anything in my life like that. My headaches were really bad. I just felt shaky a lot. I didn't feel normal.

My brain fog was immense, like immense. And I was like, this just isn't right. So I would go to the doctor, you know, in my normal family physician, she's like, oh, she test me for everything, you know, the flu, strap, things like that. Maybe it's something lingering that your body is trying to fight. She test me for mono, came back negative, but we all know like with mono, if you've had it for a little bit, it's gonna come back negative,

because it's only that peak, like what, it's in its first week or two, or something like that. So she's like, come back later, I was like, I don't think you understand, like, I can't function. My life is fitness, and I'm a single mom, like, I don't think you get what I need to do, and I can't do you understand, I can't function. My life is fitness and I'm a single mom. I don't think you get what I need to do and I can't do it. And I just remember being in tears all the time. And again, no one on social media knew about all this. I was posting like normal. I was doing what I needed to do like normal.

And it just went on. I kept going back to the doctor time and time again for a couple of months. And finally I put my foot down as like, listen, nothing is being done. You need to do something. So I went to blood specialists. I even went to infectious disease.

Like that was scary. What could this be? And obviously they did all the blood paneling and things like that. And I even went to a holistic doctor as well. And I've really found with my autoimmune disease, like that's the way to go. Food really plays a major part on how you heal your body. And people just don't realize the power of food and what it can do for you.

But I found out that I have Addison's disease, which is chronic adrenal failure. So as a fitness person, like that's where your energy comes from, right? Like that's how you function from day to day. So that explained why I was so debilitatingly tired all the time. I also have chronic Epstein bar virus. So that means I had monoback in college,

just like chicken pox stays in your blood forever, and you can get flare-ups like shingles, monostays in your blood forever, and it turns into Epstein bar. And Epstein bar is like having monolike symptoms all the time. You're never contagious, but it's like having those symptoms. So my body, I've learned, goes through flare ups if I start getting overworked. So that's why I've had to learn to listen to my body extreme when it comes to my job and I'm holding back.

So this summer, you know, I put weight back on obviously because I wasn't working out like I was, you know, I was barely getting out of bed. I was barely functioning. So I put weight back on. It was a lot of an emotional and physical transformation to this autoimmune disorder learning about who I am and how I'm how I handle myself when it comes to fitness. So now I've learned what I have and how I handle it. I see a chiropractor once every two weeks, sometimes once a week because just keeping my spine healthy, a lot of people don't realize what that can do for the immune system.

That's been a game changer for me. I do a lot more clean organic foods, things like that. My vitamin game, my CQ like my CQ-10 and my fish oils are top of the line. Like I just have to be really really careful with what I put in my body when it comes to my autoimmune disorder now. Now are you are you needing to take anything to support your drainers? So I take ashawanda and not is it echinasia? I don't remember. I see a holistic doctor and it's pure.

Just a adrenal support. Yeah, it's so important. Like I notice night and day difference if I don't take it. Now, looking back before this hit you heart because I know what happened to me. Okay, what happened to me, and I've talked about this before on the show,

but it seemed like all of a sudden. Like all of a sudden I couldn't fucking eat anything. I had severe IBS symptoms, I lost weight, couldn't hold onto it, severely weak, super, could just couldn't figure it out. After I came out of it, after I started really paying, because it forces you, it forces you to look at everything. It's scary.

Nothing will put a mirror in front of your face, like a health emergency. Absolutely. And after I got out of it, I looked back at all the time before it hit me and I could identify all the signs and symptoms that I had ignored, all the things I had done that I did. Did you have any of those leading up to that when you felt like you were good and you were doing were there signs and symptoms little things that you just didn't pay attention

to it wouldn't even realize that they were signs and symptoms. Yeah, you know what they say about your body is your body, if you have a symptom of something, that means whatever is being affected is not even working up to 60% for the signs to be showing already, something like that, that statistic. 60% of whatever is not working is not working because you're feeling those symptoms. So yeah, I ignored it like light headaches more than normal. And I was like, oh, well, I'm just really busy and maybe I forgot to eat and I'm just running around like crazy.

But the headaches were happening like once or twice a week. And I thought that was normal because I was so busy, that's not normal. Being tired every day around 2,33 o'clock to the point where I was like, I give up, I just can't function. Now what would you do? 2.30 came around. Yeah.

What would you do to get your energy back up? Oh, I would go to Starbucks, get a venti, coffee like we all just, we were automatically programmed to think that everyone has that 2 to 2.33 p.m. slump in the day, just from media in general. Everyone says, got that afternoon slump. Let me pick you up. You know, and what about pancakes? And what about the headaches?

Were you treating the headaches at that point? Oh, yeah, pop in the Advil. I'd be profan and that's just so unhealthy for your body. It's not even funny. So I was doing that for a long time, you know, and I was doing what you think is, what the media makes you think is healthy. And it's not.

So it got to the point where like you said, where you had to look yourself in the mirror and have to go through every single thing, like you literally weed out everything when you see yourself going through that health and emergency work. Do you believe in like everybody has a purpose? Like you're put together,

there's something you're supposed to do. Yes. Okay, because I believe that. I believe that was really. And I, I'll tell you what, you have people people connect to you very strongly for many, many reasons, but one of them is because you're very,

you're very down to earth, you're very grounded, and you're very honest with your message. And I have to believe that you've gone through this process to be able to help people through this process themselves, because you went through through what you went through with your fitness journey in a very short period of time now is the classic, we see this all time. This is the journey that clients go through.

Some of them don't make it to where you're at right now. Yeah, some of them, it's almost a year. It takes years and years. It takes, because you literally did that. You went from completely, I was overweight, unhealthy, eating whatever to, oh my god, I can lose this weight and I can work my ass off and I can diet hard and I can power through it, eating whatever, to, oh my God, I can lose this weight, and I can work my ass off, and I can diet hard, and I can power through it, because I have rate

in, you know, I was momentum, and I'm gonna go 100%. And nothing will stop me. I'm beat, you know, I have the mentality of a champion, and I'm just gonna push through it to the point where you ignored symptom, after symptom, after symptom, until, and again, this is how the body works. It will speak to you, and if you ignore it, it will yell at you, and if you ignore it, it will yell at you and if you ignore it,

it will knock you down. You will never wait. You will never, at some point it will get its message across and it's watching your journey, I can't say I didn't think that that might happen because I could see how much energy you had, how much energy you were putting out. And I remember thinking, like looking at your Instagram and your videos and your boot camps and thinking, how, I hope, I don't know how she's gonna maintain this

because this is, I hope she doesn't crash and burn, like all of us have experienced. I always tell people your greatest strength is your greatest weakness. Yeah, and that's just who I am as a person. I am like a go-getter. Like when I get something in my mind, it needs to be done. And I'm just a very, yeah, I'm a very grine now,

shy and later, climb to the top kind of personality. So it's hard for me to step back. But yeah, you're right. I won't be able to keep this lifestyle and keep this career that I love so much if I don't listen to my body because we're all made so very different. And we all struggle with things so differently

that fitness in this life is not a one size fits all. And think about your message. Think about the message now that you can communicate. It's gonna be so much, it can help people even more. Yeah, and I think with social media, especially, you know, and if I myself do this a lot too, and I wrote that post earlier on Monday, I don't know if you guys saw that,

you know, to the single mom who's really tired or to the person who feels like they can't keep up. Social media, especially with fitness, is so glamorized and it's everyone's highlight reel. And I even find myself, even with some of my teammates, I'm like, damn, she looks so good. And oh my gosh, I'm never gonna get there, but I've had to learn this is my body,

this is what I was given. I may not be able to do what they're doing, but I can do what I can do in my circumstances and I can rock the hell out of it, but I'm not going to ever be, I'm never going to be a competitor, I'm never going to walk this stage like my, you know, I probably could, but my body just is like, you know, the extreme and it's just not going to happen. Their bodies do that too. Right, that's true. There's true. You have no idea how a message we get. Yeah, people.

The competitive world is, I mean, that's part of what I speak out so much passionately about is how fucked up that world is. Yeah, it's. They're a terrible example for people. There is, it's not fitness. And I know I'm, it's an overgeneralization. I know there's a small percentage that are in there

that are sending the right message. Right. And there are. Yeah, there are. So if you're one of them and you list, probably if you listen to mine, but you're probably one of them. But the rest of them, mother fuckers,

are sending terrible, terrible messages. We're confident. Yeah, no terrible messages. And a lot of them have the worst eating disorders. I've dealt with more competitors with disorders than I have with normal people in my 15 years plus of training. But fact, 100% fact, they have more psychological,

more fucking eating disorders. More poor connection exercise, poor connection to diet, autoimmune issues, metabolic damage, like I've never, I train clients who were deconditioned their entire life, obese, ate horribly, come in, and I work with their metabolism, get it faster, and get them in shape. I've had people who are working with me now, who have talked to me now, who have been

on stages, look super ripped, who have metabolic damage, so bad, like worse than I've ever seen. Yeah. I'm talking about like women who are ripped, 111 pounds, who work out like crazy. I'm talking like two hours, three hours a day, eating a thousand calories a day. That's insane. That just makes me tired thinking about it.

Yeah, that's a big break. But I have some really good friends who are competitors and who are going to compete. And I think that's like a will power like crazy. I couldn't even imagine. But for me, my message and what I want to get across is you don't have to like everyone feels like if you're going to get in fitness, you have to do it for that reason. And I'm like, why can't you just, my message is I just want to live this way because I like

it. You know what I mean? I just want to work out because I like it, not because I want to do something else for it. Like I always feel like, especially on social media, you have to be doing the next best thing. And I'm like, half of us, more than half the world is not looking for that next best thing.

They're just looking to be healthier, feel better, learn how to work out the right way, not go to the extreme measure. Oh, I watched my following and the interaction of likes and comments literally cut in half When I stopped with the whole yeah, the whole thing. It's crazy. It's very like it's very glamourized You know and people want to want to see that best body and physique, but it's it's very glamourized and that's a shame Because there's so many people out there that do have issues from and I will say this, even from an aesthetic standpoint, when someone's healthy, when you're on pictures on Instagram,

you know, yeah, you get shredded, you look a bit in person, when you see someone who's healthy versus someone who's not healthy, but maybe leaner or whatever, the healthy person just looks more, they have an aura about them that's more attractive. Yeah. I think- Totally radiant over here then. I think I'm totally radiant then.

You look much energy. Yeah, you look fantastic. That has nothing to do with that amazing tan in your hair today. Let me ask you this. How was your work at? How was your approach to exercise before all that happened?

How was it changed after? I mean, I'll be honest. If you look at my Instagram, you'll see me last year, even before the summer, I was a lot leaner. I mean, I was just bottom line. I was smaller. My weight was lower. And I was doing a lot more cardio, for sure, because you just as a woman, you think that's what you need to do to get those pounds down. How much cardio are you doing? I was probably doing about 40 minutes a day, six days a week.

Okay, so six days a week doing it. Yeah, and that's not bad, but there would be times where I would have dedicated cardio days and I would do like 90 minutes in one day and that's like, that's question. And that's on top of your normal resistance training. Yeah, absolutely. And how did you do resistance training? Was it like straight sets or was it circuits? I would do like super sets.

I mean, I like to, regardless of my mindset has always been keep your body guessing. So I mean, every four to six weeks, I would do something different. So my strength training has always been super sets, intervals, you know, so high intensity. Yeah, I love that kind of stuff anyways But yeah, I mean I was I was more aggressive with my fitness before I got sick for sure And that's why I've had to really really learn and have a new mentality with fitness like you know It's not an all or nothing. It's it's you're doing it because you love it and you're doing it because it's good for your body. It's not, it shouldn't be a chore. Like, you know what I mean?

Like, it shouldn't be something that you have to do and then you have to go to extreme. Like, I see all these posts that are like, oh my gosh, gotta get ready for 90 minutes of dedicated cardio and I'm like, oh shit, I remember those days and I'm like, I hated it. Now I'm on this Airmaster for 20 minutes

because I love it, but that's all my body needs. Do you know what I mean? Like my body for what I want doesn't need 90 minutes. You know, so I've just really learned to listen and not be so extreme because your body doesn't need that. Not only that, but it backfires. Yes, and you get sick and like literally, I still struggle like, you know, again,

I told you if I feel like my body's getting too stressed or if I'm doing too much like you said Your body will talk to you then it'll yell at you then it'll scream at you and then it'll knock you the F out So now I learned to listen when my body is talking to me before it yells at me. So I'll notice you know Like with addison disease like your lymph nodes and things like that will get swollen Yeah, don't get swollen. So for me, I'll notice a little bit of my right lymph node starts getting a little swollen. And I'm like, back it up, Erica, you're doing too much.

I rest for a day or I take my workout down a little bit and I'm golden. You know what I mean? Like my body's like, thank you. That's what I needed. So it's so important to make sure you listen to your body. And the thing to consider, when was this that you were diagnosed with these?

This summer. The summer. Yeah, oh, okay. So it wasn't even that long ago. No, I'm still learning every day about how much I've got. What you'll find is the more connected you get, because you're still, believe it or not, you're still in the early stages, because really just where, you know, it was this information that just came to you with shocking.

Yeah. You're still, and it's never ending. You'll never end, it's never ending. You always learn more about something. This leads me to ask you, because you mentioned that,. You'll never end, it's never ending. You'll always learn more about yourself. This leads me to ask you, because you mentioned that, you know, you rely, we're not rely, but you get a lot of good feedback from clients, right? They give you your feedback with your business mind

and your work ethic. Who do you have to kind of lean on on the professional of like business and health and nutrition? Like do you have another voice that you can, hey, you know, I've been doing this a lot. What do you think or anyone that you trust like that? Yeah, I mean, I've, I laugh that I kind of turn

into a hippie this past summer because when it comes like, everybody does when something happens. Yeah, I mean, that's like almost like you go, like this is your last resort. I think we all grown up to think that the medical world is like your first answer, like go to your doctor and get pump full of drugs and this is gonna help you and that's gonna help you, but no, it really doesn't.

And sometimes it makes it a lot worse. So I have a really cool, like, hippie community, I guess you can say, you know, like all natural holistic, things like that. And you know, I have a great group of friends back at home that really, really are supportive and like even my chiropractor, like she's like, well, have you maybe thought about doing this?

Or you know, I do have a really good team of people, I feel like, at home that if anything was to ever happen, they would be the first ones to help me and help me get through it. One of the biggest things that I learned was, for the most part, obviously, there's diseases and genetic disorders that exist. But for the most part, your body, by itself,

with good nutrition and good movement, will handle everything. You should you should not. We are made to heal ourselves. It's so powerful. Like the body is so effective at doing it. And if you have to take something to feel better, whether it be a drug or even a plan or an herb or whatever, you got to ask yourself, what am I, what is this bandage covering?

And what am I not listening to? Because I know for myself what I even get sometimes now what I'll do is I will push myself a little too far, and then I'll supplement with something, or I'll drink more coffee, or I'll push myself a little more using these things that kind of get me past the early symptoms, and then I'll notice it starts to get worse.

And so it's just one of those realizations, like, man, you know what? I got to be okay with doing nothing. Are you starting to connect the dots with certain foods? Like there's certain things that you know have been a, like I'll give you an example with me, man. When I first started the fitness industry, I believe that all the things that we saw in our gym would be healthy, because we're a gym and we sell health stuff.

So all the supplements, all the speed stack, energy drinks, like, you know, I was like a two, three, like rock star type drinker a day, plus I was having two protein, protein bars, and then I was having my shake, like my BCA, like literally that was every day of my life for like 10 plus years, and I also attribute a lot of that shit to my psoriasis.

And now what I'm dealing with my autoimmune, do you see certain foods that are certain things that you take that have been hard to wing yourself off or that like you fight yourself with back and forth? Yeah, I mean, I think which is where I was before. I mean, when I was, I mean, I was 322 pounds. So I have an addiction to food no matter what. Like that's always gonna be in my head.

So weeding things out, it's always hard for me, like, and it's always work for me. It just doesn't come naturally. So, yeah, I mean, when it comes to like protein bars, like quest bars and things like that, like, you think are healthy or pure one protein bars, and, you know, I'm even going into like the airport now, and thankfully they have healthier options,

but you look at the ingredients and don't get me wrong. I'm not like a holistic, all natural, one of those yogi kind of people that are like, let me look at everything. I still am a human being at the end of the day. I'm still gonna pound the donut. That's just like, it's gonna happen, but I'm more aware of what I put in my body

99% of the time. So there's a lot of fillers and stuff like that, the protein bars, you look at it and you're like, what? It's like I might as well be eating a snickers bar. So, you know, it's funny. The health and fitness community. You put fit on any kind of bar. And people think it's good for you. And you look at it and you're like, what the hell is this? You know, like that fit, that fit crunch bar. Oh my god. It's like a. We can't sponsor by them, oops. Take that out. But yeah, like I've noticed, I do have to,

like I've, you guys might laugh at this, but like even gluten for me, it really, really has an impact on me, and I've noticed, and I used to be one of those people that would like kind of like roll your eyes, I'm like, this is gluten free, you know what I mean? But until your face was something

where your body just cannot function and you start weeding things out, like it's a huge awareness. So when I eat gluten and more, I'm not saying it's cut out completely, but when I eat a little bit more than what I normally would now that I've been sick, I notice, like my headaches come on really strong.

The next day my fingers don't even like want to bend. It's like it's the same. Yeah, it's absolutely. So you're like, holy moly, like this really does on really strong. The next day my fingers don't even like want to bend. It's like it's the same. Yeah, it's absolutely. So you're like, holy moly, like this really does play a part. It all, all of this starts in the gut. Yeah, gut helps us so important. That's what it's all pointing to. So you probably, or you might have had like a leaky gut syndrome

going on. I did. And gluten and people, well, there's some science thing. It doesn't exist. Gluten intolerance, but the anecdote's some science thing, it doesn't exist, gluten intolerance, but the anecdote is so fucking massive, especially among people who have autoimmune-like symptoms, that when you have leaky gut syndrome, which is when the gut gets so inflamed over time, that it actually becomes more permeable to things. So things start to travel through the gut, you know, wall or line and get into your blood

stream. Gluten happens to be one of those things that is a strong trigger for people. So when I meet people who have symptoms of autoimmune, even if they're mild and they don't have to have them been diagnosed, when I eliminate gluten from them among other things, almost always they notice, they notice, they benefit. And it's funny, you know, I'm from the Midwest, so we're not as open to that stuff as you guys are here Welcome to California. Yeah, so every time I say that, you know, you know, hi-o or even just like friends and family

They kind of rolled their eyes, but I'm like you guys just Realized isn't that funny. I remember experiencing the same thing in a live in Chicago Yeah, it's like you know, it takes somebody that has some kind of a real, you know, life threatening sickness or like an injury or something. For them to open their eyes. Yeah, they just won't listen or receive it. Well, even now, you know, that I've gotten, you know,

diagnosed and it is out there, even now people will still kind of roll their eyes. Like, oh, it can't really be that big of a deal. Or like, what else do you have to do to remain healthy? And I'm like, once you put your body through so much, like, I dropped a lot away. I was working of a deal. Or like, what else do you have to do to remain healthy? And I'm like, once you put your body through so much, like, I dropped a lot away. I was working out a lot. I was eating a lot differently. Like, your body just kind of is like, what? So you do have to be really, really careful. And when you're at that point, when you just don't know how to function as a human

being, like, you're scared, you're tired, I don't even know if I was going to be able to continue my fitness career, you're willing to do anything And look at all options to make you feel better and I've just really really learned that food place such a huge partner I'm just fine It's so funny that the people that fight that though so much like they do it just why do I mean and I know it like and we can Not mainstream People identify with their food and I know we get we get thrown in that hippie area I punch you guys every once in a while I mean, I know we do but it that hippie area and punch you guys every once in a while. We're definitely true.

I mean, I know we do, but it's like, to me, it's so obvious to me when you talk about how we evolve as humans and to compare something that you open up in a wrapper to something that's a whole food. And I think just in us being in fitness in general, it's kind of like scoffed at because in fitness, again, I deal with it all the time. Like, what do you mean you're not eating all that protein and what do you mean that you're

eating all these greens and you're not doing carbs cycling like this and you're not doing that and it's just like, that's not what my body needs. Do you know what I mean? And I think fitness is just everyone, when you think fitness, you think high protein, no carbs, tons of cardio, lift weights and show your abs and all this crazy stuff. We'll go back to the idiots that people are all looking up to. It's those people in, that's why I said the concept of culture.

The competitive world is the most fucked up because they're the ones that have got a million, two million followers. And that's why I want to change the fitness world. You know, like that's what I want to do. The fact you're here. That's why you're on this show. I know, but it's so true.

And most of the, there's such a niche group of people out there that are being fed a lot of the wrong stuff when it comes to fitness. And that niche market is busy moms and busy dads who are raising kids and who have jobs. And they just want to be healthier, but they're being fed the mainstream thing of, you have to go to this extreme to get there, you have to never ever enjoy life to get there, and you have to eat the same turkey and

brussel sprouts to get there. And that's what they go towards, and then that's why they fail. Yeah, and that's why they fail, and they're pumped full of all this crazy stuff. And even those people that succeed with the weight loss. Yeah. Then they end up with some other situation later on. Whether either they rebound or there's something happens with their health. Let me ask you this. Do you, do you meditate regularly or do you take yoga? Um, like, like, yoga type. Yeah. So funny. Um, I am not a patient person. like Yen Yoga type. Yeah, so funny, I am not a patient person. So let me tell you why I asked you this.

I could have 100% predicted that you would be the kind of person that would say, I hate meditation or I hate yoga. Yeah, but you're... Cause we identify a lot like this as well. Yeah, absolutely. But I've actually learned to do it. So I'm getting better.

One of my really, really dear friends, high-end drew, if you listen to this, he is taking yoga teacher classes. And he was like, can I come to your studio and do yoga classes once a week? And before, you know, if you would ask me that a year ago, and I'd be like, oh no, who are you? Yoga, whatever. Yeah, weirdo. Yeah, exactly. But now I'm like, yes, it's so important. Like I have, it's called, it's like mind space

or something like that, it's an app. And it makes me, it hates space. Yeah, so it makes me take the time out of my day to sit there and like meditate for a hot second. And I do truly need it in my day. Like it does make a difference. So someone like you will benefit tremendously from a regular meditation practice and a regular Yin type yoga class because I say that because I worked with lots of people like you and I tell

them go to yoga and they come back to me they're like I've been doing yoga for six weeks and I don't notice any benefit. I'm like what kind of yoga you're taking? They show me I'm like oh power yoga. Yoga with weights like that's not what I'm talking about. You need to do the super relaxing. Yes. And so here's what helped me because I completely relate to what you're talking about. It was exactly the same way.

And when I realized that meditating actually made me more productive. Yes. And actually made me better at my job. I started applying that same fervor that I have towards everything towards meditation which meant I had to buy into it and then boom, the results were just incredible. It's, yeah, I mean, I've noticed when I do take a class how much more relaxed

and how much more focused I am throughout my day. Again, I think like you said, we're all given something for a purpose and I think I got to that point of crash and burn. Like I think my journey of, hey guys, you can lose a weight, the health way, the healthy way, you can be a mom and work and do it. Cause remember I lost all this weight working still. You can do all this the right way.

Was my way to capture people. And then once I got their attention that I could do this, then like me going through all this crazy stuff and learning about my body is now to show them the next step of, does that make sense? Oh my god, absolutely. Like I feel like I was given this sickness or this what I'm struggling with for a reason.

And I feel like all this the yoga and the holistic way of living and you don't have to go to extremes, but it helps you just even small baby steps. Really, really help them make your different day difference. You know what I mean? Do you feel that it was a little bit of a gift for that to happen?

Absolutely. Like I remember crying a lot. I remember crying a lot. And there's some days that I even will still get emotional about it because again, even though I'm preaching this, it's something that I have to learn to still accept every single day that you cannot go to extremes. You cannot look like that. You know, I still go through Instagram and I look at all these girls and I'm like, can

you look at Page Half Away or you look at, you know, some even my teammates look so amazing. You know what I mean? But they don't struggle with what I struggle with. So I've had to learn like this is my gift to show people that you can still take care of yourself, you can still conquer, you can still do what you want to do just in a different way. You're actually sending the right message that needs to be sent. You know, it's very different when you look like those people and the message you're sending is the one that caused you to burn yourself out. The message you're sending now or the message that you're developing

because I can hear it in the way you're talking. The last time we talked to you, when we got off the phone, you know, off the interview with you, we all said like, oh, she's gonna go far, she's got the right attitude. But your message was a little different in terms of fitness and it wasn't bad. It was, we could all tell you were in that go-go-go stage of fitness.

Yeah, get a girl mood, right? And now, now- You're right where she was at. You're all identified with it. Yeah, exactly. And the message you're sending now is developing into the one that's really going to make it's going to strike a big chord. And it's going to make huge changes.

I'm so glad you're open to sharing. Yeah, and I'm actually filming a reality show back at home when I, when I land, we're filming a reality show that our city and the production, the city's behind us in this production, it's really, really exciting. So we're picking five people, we're going through the videos when I get home, but the whole reason is transformation

in regards to the way people think about fitness. So it's gonna be, you know, obviously they wanna lose weight and get healthier, but we're not just teaching them like fitness and wellness is about the weight loss and the extreme way of living. We're gonna actually take them to a chiropractor, we're gonna take them to yoga, we're gonna take them to do all these things

that mentally and emotionally get them right too. So they don't have to burn themselves out. So they learn it right the first way, versus having to go through the struggle that I've gone through where you're nervous and you're scared and you're like, God, why am I going through this right now? You know, so I'm really, really excited about it because that's what you just said is the reason why we're doing this show is to prove to them that what you see on Instagram and on Facebook and don't get me wrong, I post selfies all day long. Like, you know what I mean?

Like, I'm like, Hey girl, that's a good lighting, but you don't have to live that way to get healthy. No, and yeah, I'm excited. I'm so excited for someone like you. And I really wish people realized just how beautiful they really were if they just let themselves be healthy. Yeah. Like everybody has this incredible capacity

to be beautiful if they would just stop judging themselves so harshly and stop. I have to do that every day myself. It's such a difficult thing to do, but it's the way we need to go because the fitness industry has grown, let me live it this way, since the 1970s, okay. The fitness industry has grown exponentially. It's fucking massive now. It wasn't even a fraction of the size it is now

back in 1970. It has grown exponentially, and what has grown right along with it? Health problems, obesity, diabetes, has gone up with it. If anything, that's grown even faster. If fitness, if the current state of the fitness industry was the answer, it's not doing shit. Right, we're getting worse. It's not getting worse. Things are being worse, and that's one of the fitness industry was the answer. It's not doing, it's not doing shit. Right, we're getting worse.

We're getting worse. We're getting worse. Things are being worse. And that's one of the reasons why we started the show was because we were all of us here were mad that the fitness industry wasn't the answer. Well, I remember sitting in meetings, and I remember actually our company used to like,

we used to look at the percentage, like, oh, we're penetrating 4% of the population. And we'd be like, wow, that's nothing. And that was the pitch to all of us was like, listen to how there's so many more lives we can change. And I got to watch it go from 4% to 6% to 8% to 12%. Now they're penetrating 20% of the population now, is some working out or doing something health

and fitness related, and then to piggyback off of what Sal said. But then ironically obesity is on the rise, autoimmune issues are on the rise. Eating disorder. Yeah, all these things that you would think the health and fitness is supposed to be the answer is actually getting fucking worse. And that's where we got so passionate about, you know, doing this. And we said, somebody has got to get out there and voice and and make these people aware because if we keep heading this direction The way we're going. Yeah, it's gonna get worse before it's better

And you know, I know I keep using the word social media, but because it has blessed my life and I wouldn't I think I would be here Without social media. It just probably would have taken me a little bit longer But I really feel like health and fitness and wellness is where I was meant to be So social media has definitely helped Skyrocket my career. I will never ever take that back, but I feel like it's a double-edged sword because we all like, I'll have clients even come in and they're like, oh, I only lost two pounds this week and I'm like, oh my gosh, that's great. Like, you're doing it the healthy way.

Who are you comparing yourself to? And they'll go ahead and be like, this girl. And I'm like, that's not the right way to do. And you know what, again, guys, if you're listening, I can relate to you. There's mornings I wake up and look at my phone and like, oh, that girl, you know what I mean? But I think it's a double-edged sword

and that's why I want to change it. It's so bad, so so bad. Social media, like anything that's new, can be a very powerful tool. That's what it is. You want to think of social media as fire. Like when humans discovered fire, it had the ability to greatly advance humanity,

but it also had the ability to kill. Yeah. And almost every great invention, look, nuclear energy, like discovering nuclear energy, it had the potential to power, you know, give us a limitless power. But we're getting in deep over.

Well, true. But obviously we got nuclear weapons as a result. Like, social media has that as well. And it amplifies both ends. It can amplify the cosmetic aesthetic. That's how I was myself. This is the bomb. Yeah.

You want. It can amplify the city side of fitness. But it can also amplify a message like yours, which may not have been possible without social media. That's what I'm very blessed. It's a double edged sword though. Well, I don't know if you listen to the Tom Bill you episode that we just did.

We interviewed Tom Bill you if you haven't had a chance to listen to his episode, listen to that episode, an incredible story also. Is he over six foot? I'm just kidding. He's marrying. Oh, okay. Nobody's coming. He's hundreds of millions.

Yeah, he's a gazillion. But he's hundreds of millions. Yeah, he's a gazillionaire. I would marry the guy. He's unbelievable. He comes from a morbidly obese family. He tells his whole story of quest and how that was built. But anyways, the point I was telling you is that, he was talking about, right now, we are now seeing generation Z coming up.

And we're part of X, right? And then Y was after us us and now you see Z and The the truth about all this though is Z doesn't know any different without that It will become a necessity and all businesses will have so yeah, oh, yeah, so it's like you know Be it is a double-edged sword, but it's also a tool that you will have to learn how to use if you're going to be Successful in business like seeing a computer's double edged sword, you know, for back in the day. Yeah, absolutely.

Every generation had a double edged sword, right? So, the social media thing, yeah, it'll get figured out. Yeah, you just have to, you know, put a cautionary tail out there. Well, I think people like yourself are, I love like, you know, even like when you do your pictures where you show your stomach and you're like, is me this is yeah I have stretch marks I still have this this and you just put it out there for people I really think

that that is the future about people are starting to actually to brace that because they're real like they're slowly realizing it that for everybody was kind of bamboozled the first couple of years I'm saying like oh my gosh you put stretch marks on the line. Right, yeah, right. And so now they're starting and I, and I, Yeah, I feel transparency will be the,

will take over and I believe that people that are starting. Yeah, I love that too. And I have, I see, because I, I believe in humanity. I believe that they're, I believe in us. I believe that there's smart people. I just think that, hey, the social media thing, when it first came out, there was quite a few people, they were pretty fucking clever with Photoshop

and then treated it like a way to market themselves. So they were strategic about it. And they bamboozled a lot of people, but I think now people are becoming savvy. They're starting to pick up on it. They're starting to figure it out. So you're telling me I need to get rid of that Photoshop app on my phone.

So what is it? The beautify one that girls do? Is that what it's called? Yeah, there's like a beautiful. Yeah, I'm noting it. I'm like a beautify app, but my girl showed me that she's like, living with all the girls are down here, she shows me, right? And then she puts her like a picture of herself and then it goes to this app and it's like

automatically like glamour shots by Deb, you know, whatever. And still he's like sparkly. I will go like this, right? Yeah, right exactly. No, it's great. It's great. She's like sparkle you know, I will go like this right yeah right exactly no It's great. So you said you feel like you were meant for the wellness and fitness industry. Yeah, I do do you do you feel like That it might be a stepping stone to something bigger They're like world domination. No, no

Presidency, you know, yeah, no not that you know, I I do I no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, bit from social media and be more involved? Like honestly, like community is so big on my heart lately. Like I feel like, you know, like check you guys out. Like you guys have this group of, you know, friends, you guys help all these people. We really hate each other. Yeah, I can tell. No, but like I really, really love the personal interaction of helping people.

So I don't know where I'm gonna go with that. Like I have a lot of ideas in my head. I have a product that I'm coming out with an exercise product that is in prototype right now. It's really, really exciting. So I don't know. Like there's so many, like, because I don't think the one-on-one thing will,

you'll ever leave that completely. I think even all of us, we still have one. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's one of my fun. It's your finger on the pulse. Yeah. The fitness and how it's lot of things to do. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me.

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It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's fun for me. It's social media and our podcast and so I started online coaching again more so because it keeps and we have a private forum That doesn't good job with that too. It keeps me in the game It's almost like being that like a like a like a general But then you got to go down to the to the to the field and be in the middle of the shit So you know what's going on? You got to be able to crawl through it Yeah, and but the reason why I asked you if you felt like it was a stepping stone, not because I wasn't trying to, you know, make you sound arrogant like,

oh yeah, I'm going to do it. It's because your message transcends fitness. It's very much like a better your life coach, you know, believe in yourself, grow beyond. And those are messages that are true for everything. Fitness is just a great way to initially. Well, that's why I think like with the show that we're going to be filming, I'm really, really excited about. so I don't know if something like that

But yeah, I do I do feel like I'm not gonna be training in my studio forever I even will tell my clients. I don't want to do this forever But it's my stepping stone to figure out what my next step is for I think I think it was one of the most Draining things for me because you mentioned something earlier. I remember when I was pushing out 12 plus clients a day in classes and camps and doing all that. And you notice when you're in person doing that and sometimes the moon, whatever you wanna call it, everybody is kinda in that.

And they just no matter how positive because I'm full of energy to my clients and totally positive view, but it starts to kind of suck it out of you of you and then you start to realize like man, you know I'm constantly giving myself to all these people. When am I gonna love myself? Yes, that that is huge for me like um like my bootcamp. This is gonna be the last year I'm actually doing my boo I got that joke Justin loves on himself all the time.

Got it. He's loving on himself over there. I know. No wonder you're quiet. You've just been kind of like. Who's the heavy breather? It's not me today. Like I'm looking at Saul and Adam over there the whole time.

So I'm, yeah. No, but this is going to be the last year I'm even doing my traveling boot camps. Because like you said, I am high energy all day long from 7 a.m. until the boot camps over at like six and I am constantly giving, giving, giving that we're at the end of the day. I get to my hotel room. I'm not physically exhausted. I'm emotionally exhausted and that is more draining than being physically exhausted and I do that all the time.

Completely. Yeah. So, and it's, it's almost like a humbling experience, I guess, because when I get back to my hotel room after being on a high all day and emotionally draining, then you come back to your hotel room, it's just you, and you're like, who's there for me? You know what I mean? Who's there to lift me up and be positive for me? Do you know what I mean? That's why this is, people go, well, why is it your last year?

It's so much fun, and I like, y'all don't understand like how exhausting it truly is to do this. So one of the best pieces of advice I had in regards to this was years ago. So I had the pleasure of training some very, very high level surgeons and doctors who worked nearby because my facility was, I had a wellness facility and it was next to a hospital.

And one of the people that I facility was, I had a wellness facility, and it was next to a hospital. And one of the people that I trained was, she was a female surgeon, one of the best in the country. And she was just a badass. I respected her so much. Number one knowing that she's in a boys club and that when I trained other male surgeons, and surgeons don't typically say good things about each other. I don't know if you've ever worked with doctors, but it's very much like.

They call the God complex. Yeah, but every time I brought her name up, all the other surgeons were like, oh my God, she's amazing. So she was just very well respected. And she would come in and sometimes she would be a little down and that asked her, you know, if she didn't mind, you know, telling me what was going on. And she'd tell me about a patient that she just worked on and like, there was one lady that she worked on and she went in because they saw some

stuff on a scan and then she opened her up and saw that her, her, there was she just full of cancer. And she had to close her up and tell her basically that she was going to die. And she would be sad for about 10 minutes and then she snapped out of it. And this would happen sometimes. That's that's part of the job. And I remember I asked her one day, I said, you know, I said, how do you, like, I can't imagine dealing with that because I'm pretty sure you've lost people on the operating, because I'm pretty sure you've lost people

on the operating table. I'm pretty sure you've lost lots of people that you've had to tell them that they're gonna die because she worked on cancer patients. I said, how do you deal with that? And she said, well, in the beginning of my career, it drained me and destroyed me so much because I would start to own what they felt.

And I learned, I had to learn how to be empathetic without owning what they were experiencing because I realized that if I did that, as much as I love them and I wanted to feel what they were feeling, I couldn't do my job and I couldn't really help them. And I'm here to help people. I need to be able to not own people's emotions

and feelings and that really made sense to me so much. And from that day forward, I found myself not being as exhausted because when you work with clients, anybody who's listening has been a trainer to tell you, they're gonna come in, especially if you've been training for years, you're gonna hear about their family, you're gonna tell us everything. Oh yeah, you know everything.

It's the most intimate thing ever, right? And you, and if you own that, like, it'll, it'll, her, it'll destroy you. You work with 10 people, you got 10 different issues going on. You've got home, you have no time for your family, no time for your friends, worse than that, you have no time for yourself because you're so spent. And I learned to not own those things.

And it made such a huge difference. Yeah, I'm learning. I mean, this is my first, you know, couple months into owning my own studio. You know, so I'm learning slowly how to separate myself from those emotions. I have a lot of clients who are going through some pretty heavy shit. And their workouts with me are the way they let it out. And that's what they look forward to because they know they have a non-judgment space.

They can let it go. But yeah, I understand what you're saying. It's hard for me because I'm a very attached person. Like I take people very personally when I'm working with them. And I love them. You seem like you're very empathetic. Yeah, like I just, I love all people, you know.

And so it's hard for me to detach myself, but I have to for my own well-being. A lot of the time. Back to that greatest strength, greatest weakness. These are your great strengths about you. You always gotta know that. You gotta be able to do that. It's so hard for us to do that. I just be cold

Just like just here. They're all quiet. I'm not talking anyone cold. I love that you know You are like you do show that and since you are let's do this because I feel like you're a type of person that will do This and most people most guests don't because they're so insecure with themselves is you know I feel like you know I can look at my life and and and people that are very ambitious I think I I'm not alone here save me if I'm F.I.M. so please sell. Is you have these different silos in my life and I'm like yeah I'm kicking ass of that yeah kicking ass of that fuck I'm not kicking ass of that. Oh god yeah. When you when you look at your life like that and you evaluate it like everything, you know,

everything from being a mom to social to friendships to your business to your diet to wow, how you love in yourself. What do you feel like you're kicking ass in and what do you feel like you're fucking Achilles heel or just keeps getting it? Honestly, I feel like everything's my Achilles heel. I mean, I'm fucking up in everything right now.

It's just keeping it real. My personality is a very go-getter personality. And I have to learn like we talked about earlier to slow down. And for me, it's like I should always be better than what I am. And that's just who I am as a person. I don't know where I even, like I just remember being even a teenager and like working at Old Navy. I had to fold more t-shirts than they had to fold.

Like that's just my mentality. So I will say what I'm kicking ass at is being a mom. Like I know he's well taken care of. I love on that little boy. That's so hard. You know, I may not be a Pinterest cookie mom, but I make sure that at least gets the store and get cookies for his class party.

Do you know what I mean? The kid is well mannered, he's very sweet, he's knows-no stranger, and he knows what it takes to be successful. You know, he's growing up with a single mom and don't get me wrong. His dad is amazing, I have great support my ex-husband is such an amazing father.

But you know, when my son's with me, you know, 99% of the time, he sees what it's like to run a business I take him to my studio. He's got his own room in my studio So he's with me with my client Yeah, so he he has his own room and he doesn't like to even stay in his room He likes to come out and watch and it's funny, you know even every time he sees You know a person running he says get a girl, you know

Because he just hears mom say it all the time So we'll be in the car and we're driving and he sees someone working out He's like get a boy or get a girl, you know, because he just hears mom say it all the time. So we'll be in the car and we're driving and he sees someone working out. He's like, get a boy, you're get a girl. And it's just, you know, he's saying that being healthy is a good thing. It's a normal way of life, you know, that it's not something that you should feel guilty

about taking an hour out of your day to work out. So what I'm proud of is being a mom. Like I feel like that little boy is gonna make such an impact in the world because it's just in him. Oh, so cool. So, I'm gonna be like a true mother. So, I'm very, very proud of the little boy he's grown in to be. What my Achilles heel is is myself.

Like I'm still learning about my health journey. Like you said earlier when it comes to autoimmune disorders, every day you're learning something. So when I get a headache, I'm like, shit, I thought I was doing okay. Like, what do I need to analyze? So my own health journey, I feel like, I mean, granted, obviously, I still want to lose more weight and I still want to be able to lose about 25 more pounds, so that's still a goal for mine.

In business, I feel like that's my acule's heel because owning your own brick and mortar is a whole new beast. It's not just online anymore. And then I constantly have ideas in my head and I need to learn to, what is the word? Filter myself better. Do you know what I mean? I can't keep going three, four, five different directions at all times.

I need to pick something and go for it. So those are, but I think clothes are always gonna be everyone's a key leasing. I would love to dive into the business thing because this happens that this is our wheelhouse. So are you okay sharing that out? Because we have a lot of entrepreneurs. And I feel like this is an area also that on social media

people don't share, they don't talk about the struggle, how fucking hard it is, how expensive it is, how much money you're not missing. That's what kills me. So like, you know, I'm like, damn, like I'm an online trainer. I actually still work full time. Like I am an HR and marketing director for a franchise company, so I still do that.

I'm a trainer. So okay, now is that the main source of your income? No, absolutely not. Okay, so training is taking over. No, oh yeah, absolutely. But I'm one, again, single mom mentality. Right, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no buying a brand new $1,500 suit or taking these elaborate vacations and brand new designer bags. I'm like, what the hell am I doing wrong? You know what I mean?

Like, why do I not have a huge gluey on my arm? You know, that kind of thing, but I have to realize you have to spend money to make money and it does your first couple years in business or always the hardest. But I'm actually, you know what? Like, I told you guys a story of where I was just even three years ago, like five years ago, buying a pizza to last me. I'm nowhere near that.

You know, not at all. That's the thing, get a little bit of luck out. I'm just very, very smart with my money now. Look over here right now. Yeah, I've become almost like a money hoarder. Do you know what I mean? So like, I'm like squirrel and like, keep an all in the bank,

and they want to invest in things like that. So, yeah, like when entrepreneur is such a different, like you have to love it. Do you know what I mean? Like there's no gray or either you either love it or you don't. You know, and it's a grind and it's a lot of hard work. But I'm open to any entrepreneur ideas. Well, this is why I want you to ask us.

Like when you look at your business right now, and you look at it as a whole and you're obviously trying to grow it right There's no doubt your passion in your heart. Everything is in the right place. Yeah, I got no advice for you there I mean, I believe that that's that's what's going to continue to make you grow and to be successful I'm actually Interested in helping or if we can talk about openly on the show When you look at yourself on the business side, what would you ask us?

Like, hey, I'm thinking about maybe doing this. What are your guys' thoughts on it? More than likely, if you're thinking about doing something with your business about your location, one of us have probably done that multiple times at one point in our career and probably have something or opinion to say about it. Yeah, well, I mean, obviously when you have your

in brick and mortar, just growing that in general, what can you do? Are you going to start opening more? Are you going to become a chain? Are you going to add more trainers? Like, you know, that's, this is all so new for me, like literally I'm starting from the bottom when it comes to opening your own business and a lot of trainers are where I am. You know, I mean, like, where do I go next? Like, every day is like, what do I do? You know? The first thing I could say with that is, you have to decide very now, if you haven't already, what the ultimate goal is with the brick and mortar. Is it, is your goal with the brick and mortar

to make that the primary source of your business and to explode and grow that, or is that more because you like to learn from working with people one-on-one, you enjoy the time, and you just want it to take care of itself. Yeah, that's where I am with it. Okay. It's a different approach. Absolutely.

It's a way different approach. Now don't get me wrong, there's a lot of trainers who are like, girl, are you crazy? I'd love to be in your spot. You've got a great list of clients. Your overhead is low. You can do this and whatever, but I do it because I honestly love the interaction with the people and the clients.

It gets me out of my own head for a little bit. Do you know what I mean? So I love that. What I want, I am like a behind the scenes, like I want to be like a Martha Stewart. Does that make sense? Like, that woman is behind the scenes and so many things that you wouldn't think she's behind the scenes of. And bars at one point.

Okay, I don't want to be that part of Martha Stewart, obviously. But yeah, I just, I want to be involved. Yeah, maybe I can start designing those. No, but I want to build a company. I just don't know where I want to go. Does that make sense? I have a product line and coming out with. Well, that's one thing. like, we talked about personal training.

You're training dollars for hours. So I don't want to be 50 years old, still training 13 hours a day. Do you know what I mean? Oh, I do know what you mean. So that's like exit strategy. Yeah, I want it exactly. I do this because I love it. I don't want to do it forever.

So like, product lines with fitness, you know, I don't know, like there's just so many ideas going on my head. I just need to mind map them out. Well, I'll tell you what, Erica, I've been a nonchpreneur or self-employed now for 15, I think 15 years, and it took me 15 years to truly,

because I always had some kind of a vision and ideas, but it took me 15 years to really clearly see what's happening, that's started with mind pump. So it took me 15 years to really clearly see what's happening. That's sort of a mind pump. So it took me that long to get to this point. And so, great. So I've got 10 more years. You have mind pump on your side.

No, you've got to get a mind pump pump. I've got 10 more years. I feel like I could have shaved at least seven years off if I had the future us talking to him. But it's not just, not that I'm telling you it's going to take you that long because it might, it might, you might do it next week. Yeah. My point is to be, be okay with it.

Like, be, what's it, don't judge yourself so harshly. And here's what I mean by that. I think a lot of times we look at where we're at and we judge it because we should be doing better. Yes. And if we say to ourselves, if we say to ourselves, I'm happy with what I'm doing. I'm happy with my body.

I'm happy with where I'm at in business. We think those of us who are super entrepreneur-minded or hardcore-minded, we think that means we're gonna settle for it. We're gonna be more complacent. That's not the same thing. Complacency is not the same thing as loving where you're at and loving yourself.

For example, there's a big difference between working out because you hate your body and working out because you love your body. It's a very big difference. So you can sit there and say to yourself, holy shit, I am really happy with where my business at. I'm really happy with the way I look. And that doesn't mean you're gonna be complacent

because I think we're afraid of that. We're afraid of saying I'm happy with right now. Oh shit, because I'm gonna stop now. Right. It's not the same thing. Well, it's trying to say, everyone thinks that you have to chase the next big thing. Like you can never be okay with where you are. Do you know what I mean?

We're in a generation where we constantly have to get better and chase getting better, but there's nothing wrong with like being like, yes, I own my shit, but yeah, I get it for sure. There's gonna be a point in the future that you will look back in, you know, let's say 10, 15 years from now, you're super successful, making tons of money,

business was great, everything's awesome, and you're gonna look back on these days, I promise you, remember I said this, you're gonna look back on these days, and you're gonna remember them fondly. And you're gonna go, man, I remember those days, I missed those days when it was so, it was smaller, it was more pure,

and all the things that right now, we tend to take for granted. Oh yeah, there's, I mean, you guys, I'm a mind pump in California doing a podcast. Do you know what I mean? Like five years ago, I was splitting a pizza. You know what I mean? So yeah, I totally get it. There's times where I have to sit down.

Like we tend, I tend to go through the motion so much because I'm like, okay, this is what I got to do next. I got to do next. That I don't stop and breathe. Like even yesterday on the plane, I was like, holy crap. I was able to buy a plane ticket, be able to go shopping off the airplane, and do all this stuff, and I did.

I seriously sat on the plane, I was like, I'm doing this, like this is me. So awesome. We've talked a lot about the psychological side, the emotional side of the business, and everything like that. If I could give you just some pure business advice, kind of where you're at, and what's happening, I would tell you just some pure business advice kind of where you're at and what's happening. I would tell you to love your ideas, but don't marry them.

Yeah. You know, people like us that are super ambitious, opportunities are hitting you left and right right now and this sounds awesome. That's a great piece of advice. Everything sounds fucking awesome and you're the type of person that could technically kill almost anywhere those ideas if you want to.

If you put your mind to it and you know that about- Love you boys, can you just come home and sit with me and tell me that's all the day? Well, you know this about yourself, right? I mean, I- You have that attitude. Yeah, people like you like us, you have to have that attitude to get where you're at. So you have that. Now that also, again, could can become your Achilles heel because you want to entertain every

business idea and every idea does sound great. But then like you mentioned earlier that time is money man and your time is very valuable to you. So being able to step outside, okay, yourself and I'm excited. Oh my God, this sounds great. I got a product line to do this. Oh my God, I'm going to make shirts for this. Oh my God, I'm going to run blue cancel the country. Oh my God, I'm going to do a reality. And the next thing you notice, like, you're god, this sounds great. I got a product line as to do this. Oh my god, I'm gonna make shirts for this. Oh my god, I'm gonna run blue cancel to the country.

Oh my god, I'm gonna do a reality. And the next thing you know, it's like, you're really trying to do like 10 different, like there's, there's, there's, that's each one of those things could be a million dollar business by itself. Yeah. You know, and so we, sometimes we get this shotgun approach

of like, I'm gonna just fluck into all of it. And then the one that, the one that's gonna make it is gonna present itself to me. And that's the one I'm gonna do. And then I'll just fuck all the rest of them where it doesn't necessarily work that way because they're all requiring energy from you. So if I could give you business advice,

I would say to evaluate that where you're currently at and love your ideas, but don't marry them. Yeah, I read an article a while ago that resonated so strongly on this particular thing. And the question was, are you an entrepreneur or are you an artist? Mm-hmm. And I read that one. Did you?

So the difference, I guess, between an entrepreneur and an artist is an entrepreneur will have a business and no one to leave. An artist will fucking grind it out and stay with it because they're so passionately attached to it. Now, the caveat is that the most successful people in the world are both. The most successful people in the world, the entrepreneurs who are also artists, but who've learned through trial and error or through mentorship that you need to, like Adam say, said, it's okay to not be married to some of these things, these things are so passionate about

like, oh my god, I love, you know how hard it was for me to sell my wellness facility? It was one of the most difficult decisions I've ever made in my life. And it wasn't because it was making me a shit ton of money. It wasn't. Do you attach to it? I was so attached to the people there.

And I think, it kept me up at night. I think to myself, what are these clients gonna do without me? Yeah. Like, I've been training them for 10 years and I've been kept me up at night. I think to myself, what are these clients going to do without me? Yeah. They've been training them for 10 years and I've been a staple in the community for so long and my people come in and they feel safe there. What's going to happen to all these people? I've got these trainers that worked out, that run their businesses out of there.

I was so like, and it became my Achilles heel. And it was a very difficult thing to do, but it was the best decision I could have ever made for both myself and for a lot of those clients. Cause a lot of those clients got to learn how to work with other people, they got to learn to do some of the stuff on the round. That's of course all hindsight. So, I mean, great, great piece of advice.

Yeah, to add on to that too. Like, can you sell your business? Like that's something I'm always constantly asking myself. If I'm doing anything, you know, anymore. I'm always constantly asking myself. If I'm doing anything, you know, anymore, I'm like, is this something that, you know, I can step out of or am I fostering people underneath me to then come through and take over this business? So that's another thing that we're still, if we have an Achilles heel right now, it's, it's, we've, we've recognized that we need to bring people in. And we need to bring

them in and to run certain legs of our business in order to run at an even higher rate to meet up with the growth. Because you're growing astronomically. Oh, that's my thing. I need help. And I'm a control freak when it comes to my face. You know, I mean, like, I think with any new business, you're a control freak. Because I'm like, Oh, it's my personalization. And that's why they work with me. It's because they're not talking to someone who's not the actual person. Like I can't tell you how many emails I get to go.

How often will Erica help me? And I'm like, hey girl, hey, it's actually me. Do you know what I mean? So yeah, that's for sure one of my biggest problems is I need someone to help me. Now have you had situations now that you've gone through what you did with your health and a whole process of losing the way out of the moon?

Now you're training people. Have you had encounters with clients that you've had to tell them, hey, I think you need to back off on the exercise, I think you need to, how was that? Yeah, I do all the time. I'm just very honest with them. Like there's some, when you're a trainer, you have to be...

Yeah, when you're a trainer, you have to be a chameleon. I think like, even just a business person, you have to be a chameleon. Like I need to be able to go walk into a room full of CEOs and talk on their level, and then know if it's guys, talk to you guys, I'm just kidding. What the hell, and shit, and all these F-bombs, and stuff like that, right?

But you just have to learn how to feed that person, the information in the way that they're gonna be able to absorb it the correct way and not be offended by it. There's some girls that I can be like, listen, you're freaking crazy, stop it. Do you know what I mean? Like you're not gonna do the right thing, and then there's some people that I need to be very educated

with them, I need to give them the facts, I need to show them statistics, like you have to defeat it to them differently. But I'm just so used to it now, it's easy for me. You know, but yeah, I mean, I have to have that conversation a lot of the times. Now has that changed from before you got sick to now? Like before, really?

Yeah. What was it before? What would you have said before to somebody? I think I was more like coddling people before. Like I was very mama bear like, oh well, you know, let him work it out themselves. But now that I've gone through it and how scary, like, I can, you know, let him let him work it out themselves. But now that I've gone through it and how scary, like I can't keep you that word enough,

it was scary. Like I was waking up every day going, am I going to live today? Like that's how scary you feel. I don't want anyone to go through that. If I can help them avoid it, why not? Do you know what I mean? But I also think that a lot of my clients had went through that with me because I was Renting out that space and in a local gym when I was sick

So there was times where I would come in to the gym and I would look like I look tore up from floor up You know and my clients were like oh snap, you know, so they a lot of them went through it with me So I think it's just I don't know just putting it out there and being more open and about it. My post, I don't talk much about it, but I do talk about it. You know, when I go live or I've had a couple posts where I talk about, just being honest, if I can help you avoid feeling the way I felt, that's why I'm going to be aggressive with you because it's awful and I never want anyone to feel that way.

You connect very strongly, especially to women. Very, very strongly. How is the experience in fitness different or how you've seen different for women than it is for men? I see a lot of differences between the two of them. It seems like I hate to say this. Okay, go ahead. For women, it's so emotional. We have a more personal attachment to it.

Our weight and our bodies. Now granted you guys, it's really close to you guys too. You know your aesthetics and the way you look and your PRs and all this have don't get me wrong, but women, we chase a feeling versus a look. I don't know if that makes sense. We take it so personal to the point where it will really affect the way you feel about yourself when you wake up in the morning.

I think guys feel that a little bit, but not as much. Girls can wake up in the first thing that they do. We'll look at themselves in the mirror and tear themselves apart. I know so many of my clients who will wake up or I start training at 6.45 in the morning. And the first thing I hear come out of their mouth is, oh, I'm so bloated today.

And oh my gosh, why do I feel like this when two days ago I felt amazing? And they just, I hate this about myself. Can we work this? What's on my plane today? Because this looks so bad and I can't stand this about myself. And they just, like, it is.

It's funny you say that because I actually feel this is something that is equal. Really? Men just like it is. It's funny you say that because I actually feel this is something that is equal. Really? Men just express it differently. Yeah. I think we're just more. The way our insecurities come out by puffing our chest out and doing things that are, I mean, to me, I go through that same thing.

So you guys identify who you are based off the way you look. Yeah. Just like women do and there's Jeff Jeff there's the total emotional side. It's just how the two sexes react. Yeah. Well, I think mainly that. And it's huge reaction in the way they express this huge like, I can't tell you how many times I've had people literally drop and cry in the middle of their workout sessions with me. That means you're an effective trainer. You know what I mean? It happens. Or a really shitty one. That's true. It's true. It's true. It's true. You could be one of the other, I'm just saying. You had to go there.

I'm okay. Brother I never had, never wanted. But it's, yeah. He was my favorite. Whatever. But no, like it's, you know, I've had a lot of women just drop and cry in the middle of their workout sessions because it's really tapping into their emotions and things like that. And what you can do in fitness really brings out who you are as a person to. I've just, I've grown such a connection to it on that level. Everyone has, I think, so. But when it comes to the way Adam said, like the expression and the way they react to things is so different in fitness.

Here's the difference that I see. Cause I do, I think it's the same in many ways, but here's the difference where I see, there's a big difference between men and women in fitness, is that men don't seem to judge each other at- Oh, that's a good one. Nearly as partial as less pressure. Like, yeah, like if I'm in- It's high-f tough, if I'm with the group of men and, you know, we're

going to go to the pool and, you know, some of us are overweight. Yeah. Like, we're not like looking at each other going like sizing each other up. Oh, we might do. We might do that with, with money or with our cars and stuff like that. But when it comes to our bodies, nobody's like, you know, like if they're, if we're hanging out and there's a funny guy, but he's got a big belly no one's gonna be like that fat guy Yeah, we just we tend to think about it. We tend to not be so hard The ego the ego is is equally powerful in both. It's just how we express it Yeah, each sex hazard like you just hit it on the head when you said that man had this we you know our way of showing our

insecurities is by what we what we drive and those type of things Women's or the opposite you know, I'm saying we're just those type of things, women's or the opposite. You know what I'm saying? About how we look. Yeah, exactly. But at the end of the day, it's both driven from our ego and our insecurities. I'm here to let you guys know, you're all 100% aesthetically pleasing.

Oh, thank you. I appreciate it. All right. I spent like, I spent all of my 15 minutes this morning on my beard in here. Don't get excited, Justin. She can't see that far. She's not in the office.

All right. You see that? Oh, All right. Oh shit. Well, she's just fine. What? That's why she, you don't pick that seat right across. Exactly. Before, you know, before we, I mean, I guess before we sign off or anything, what are, how would you like to end with your, like, what,

what are the message you'd like to share with people who are tuning in to listen to you, either for the, like, for the first time, because there's gonna be people who've never followed you or heard from you before. Like what would you like to share to them? Honestly, that just do you, you know what I mean? I just think that's so important when it comes to fitness. Well, in just in general, like that phrase goes so far beyond what fitness is, do you and learn who you really are?

That's what I've learned through this whole journey is. Like, you know, Adam Touchpoint on is, you know, stop identifying, stop judging your worth on how you look. That's not what fitness is about. And I think that's what fitness has grown to be about is you are, you know, only so high based on how you look. You're only so low based on how you look.

And that's just not how it is at all. And I've really learned the hard way living this out on social media. Do you know what I mean? Well, it's hard when people like us are trying to build a business around it too. And I'll tell you, I struggled big time. So when I first got on, right,

and I met this kid in my late 20s, and he was in his early 20s, and he had built a business around his social media. And I was so fascinated by this that I was like, holy shit, I need to do this. I need to figure out how to do this. And before that time, I really didn't get on Facebook and Instagram didn't even exist at the time.

And then Instagram comes and I get on it and I start posting and I'm just, you know, I'm watching what everybody else is doing, trying to figure, okay, this guy who has a million followers and this one has this many followers, what is he doing, what is she doing doing and I found myself at the beginning? Trying to mirror a lot of that because because regardless if it was truly me or not I felt like I'm trying to build this business and that's what you have to do. That's what I have to be successful

And so and I remember about when we when we really started diving into mine pump and it was such a such a relief for me When mine mine pump became bigger than I had ever built my social media and then I really truly felt like my social media became me. For once I felt like I didn't have to post these things or do these things that people would, I didn't give a fuck anymore. Because at that point, I cared about all I cared

about was Mind Pump and so then truly I got to keep my- Work your way to zero fucks. Yeah, literally, no, it's my advice. It really is and I think the message I'm trying to give is that the sooner that you can get there The better it is because now I actually feel good about it. I love talking to people on my social media I enjoy posting when I can post because I do I don't give a fuck anymore I'm posting what's either on my mind what I'm currently reading and thinking or like it's me now, where before it was more like what is everybody else doing to get that? What do people expect you to do?

Yes, and I feel like a lot of people struggle with this. Oh, yeah, I mean, again, I've said it a million times. I struggle with it every single day. Do you know what I mean? So that's why every day it's learning for me to do me and appreciate what I have to offer and what I have to offer. We all have different drinks, right? So in the fitness world, there's so many people out there, you know?

We're not, I mean, it's that Instagram account is not going to get everyone and feel to everyone. You know, I always like to go back to like the business because they're part of me. I'm not going to lie. When I was doing it, I still said, I don't give a fuck of this doesn't totally, this isn't totally me because I'm trying to convert this into dollars. It was this social media to me has never been like it is probably for generations, Z kids,

where it's like this is a part of their life. For me, it was something that I, it was something that I added to my life to enhance my business life. And so I've always had that mentality on it, but what I realized, and it took me to go full circle, so if you look deep into my Instagram, my likes and views and things like that were way higher than they are now and mine pumps 10 times bigger than what my Instagram ever was. So for those listening

that don't realize this, you know, what really fucking matters on that stuff? If you're doing this for business, right? If you're whatever, I'm not trying to talk. Your likes and put, yeah, that shit does not, what really converts to dollars is, and what will, connection. Yes, it's the connection. Yes, connection that you make with people and what you, and so yeah, for, and so if you're a high school kid coming

out or like that and all you care about a popularity contest, well then keep doing what you're doing. Keep posting half naked pictures. It doesn't get you anywhere. Yeah, but if you literally are doing this for a business, don't be afraid to be more of yourself and to get less likes or less views because those people that would ever even consider

buying something from you anyways, those ones are the ones that are paying attention and that are interacting with you. The other fuck sticks that are just doing double hit like because you're half naked, those people aren't buying shit. It's funny, you say that like, I've really kind of, since I got sick, especially, I think my messages have kind of changed

without me thinking about it. I think the way I put myself out there has changed and my likes have gone down, my following the way the rapid growth has slowed down. But it's funny because you're so right when it comes to connection, so many business people constantly think, I gotta get new, I gotta get new, I gotta get new.

No, if you feed in and truly connect to what you have, that's what grows you. And that's what I've really noticed this past year with Specialist Since Getting Sick is how different my page has become. And it's not as vanity driven anymore. I mean, that's still there. I mean, what girl doesn't like to do that, right?

But that's still there, but it's different. And the content I put out, there's a lot different. And I don't even know if you know, like I put more of like my clients on there, like put this, you know, spotlight on them. And yeah, but that's so true. You have a great balance. I really, I enjoy, you're actually one of the few people,

like that's been a guest from an on show that I still have the time to kind of go back and look at your stuff and read through. So I try to make sure I stay in touch. And I think you give it's what we always liked about you. Like, you know, when we first brought you on the show, you know, it's it's not like you're some, you know, authoritative position and fitness, like Elaine Norton or like, you know, or, you know, Dom Diagostino or name like that. But what we liked was, you know, how you how you connected to people, the story

that you were sharing, you had a you have a great story. And you are, you're, you know, how you connected to people, the story that you were sharing, you have a great story, and you are. You're so open and honest with yourself and you're real with the people that are paying attention to me. That's so much more powerful. Sure, maybe these doctors that we bring on here that are super educated, and this is their field, is going to be able to talk circles around you and fitness, but who gives a fuck? Because a lot of those guys don't connect with a lot of the people that are listening. And so that's why we've always enjoyed watching you and watching what you're doing and excited to do.

You've got a good message. And more people need to have, we like that message and fitness, and we try to foster it, we try to help it grow. And it doesn't have to be mind-pumpic. Like we have no affiliation with you. But we like to promote it because that's the kind of message that we like to see grow.

And I'll say this when it comes to social media followers for those people who are doing it for business, 100 followers who follow you for your message are far more effective, business-wise, and a thousand followers who just follow you in the virtual. Oh, yeah. To look at your pictures. Yeah. No, I couldn't. My page is a perfect example of that. You know, I have a page that's as powerful as, you know, pages as powerful as pages that are five times as big, but it's because I just connect a little differently with my followers.

For those of you who are doing social media for business and for fitness, no message will come across as effectively as one that you truly feel and are truly passionate about and that truly reflects who you are, be honest with what your flavor is and put that out there. And you might not get as many followers, but the ones you get, you'll be able to connect with and then that can turn into a business and because it's passion-driven, because you believe in it,

you're probably gonna do, make things better for a lot of people. Hashtag preach. That's it. Can I get a name in? Yeah. Yeah. We'll end right there. That's it. Can I get a name in? Yeah. Good one right there.

Check this out. If you like Mind Pump, go to YouTube. Check out Mind Pump TV. We post a brand new video every single day. You can also find us on Instagram at Mind Pump Radio. You can find me at Mind Pump South, add them at Mind Pump Adam, and Justin at Mind Pump Justin. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump.

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