The Code To Winning - WINNING IN FITNESS & BUSINESS: LESSONS FROM 6X OLYMPIAN || HEATHER DEES || EPISODE 017

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

WINNING IN FITNESS & BUSINESS- Episode 017   In this episode of The Code to Winning, we sit down with Heather Dees, a 6x Olympian, CEO of The Goalden Consulting, and a leader in the health and fitness industry! She shares her journey from elite bodybuilding to entrepreneurial success, revealing the mindset, discipline, and business strategies that helped her build a thriving coaching business while maintaining peak performance. In this episode, we discuss: ✅ How Heather transitioned from an elite athlete to a successful entrepreneur ✅ The mindset, work ethic, and consistency needed for success in fitness & business ✅ Strategies for balancing business growth with personal health & wellness ✅ The evolution of The Goalden Way and how it helps busy professionals achieve fitness goals ✅ Nutrition misconceptions, AI in fitness, and building a personal brand ✅ Heather’s definition of winning and her future vision for The Goalden Way      If you’re an entrepreneur, fitness enthusiast, or someone looking to level up in life, this episode is for YOU!

I started when I was like I said, I was doing hair. And as I was working for a salon, I realized I wanted to go out on my own, do my own hair business. So I am a cosmetologist. I still do that, like very part-time. And then I kind of got into training. As I got into competing and fell in love with it, you know, a lot of people gravitate towards you, especially through social media. So they want to train.

So working in 9-5 for somebody doesn't make sense anymore. So I just decided like, well, I could do this with training too. And I tried to work for a gym, but like the corporate way doesn't really. really help promote like growth anywhere. There's always a ceiling to it. So getting that concept made me want to like grow my own business. And it's been really fun to just be like self-sufficient, self-employed for, you know, 14 plus years. Realized proper nutrition for everybody is unique and individual. There's not like a template to it. I also call it like Botox because it's like really the most anti-aging thing you can do. Oh wow. Is like putting on lean muscle tissue, especially as a woman, you're

protecting yourself. So with people like need to understand that doesn't matter, you can work against your genetics with epigenetics and continue to like progress and look however you want you're being a six-time Olympia that in itself is an amazing achievement like what has been the hardest part for you person within that experience and that journey too i think the mental and emotional component that comes with the physical training because most people can do like hard work in the gym right and they can like make their meals and stuff but the emotional and mental consistency you need as far as like keeping your head in the right space like understanding that you can do it not defeating yourself not getting a head of yourself. I think staying present and connected to what you're doing in every aspect,

like whether it be training, you'll be more apt to like follow something, right? Because you're not thinking of the future. You're not stressing about the past. You're like, okay, even if you messed up the day before and then you get right back on it, like don't think about that day before because that can spiral you into some self-destruction. Some people just don't know what it feels like to feel good. So it's like, do you realize you can feel good? So I just like started working towards it. I think the best thing for me is like I don't know if like I had like this visual and mind it was just this process of like I'm going to go through this experience and see what happens and as I was seeing what happened I got excited I was like whoa you can really grow muscle like how

cool is that I know and that's like common sense right but like when you experience it it has like a whole new meeting it's like anything you experience like love grief anything once you experience it has a whole new meaning and it becomes like a passion we're in charge of our bodies our bodies aren't in charge of us like you're the soul in the body and you get to decide and it's just realizing like you can be like yeah choose health like don't like let your body make excuses for you. The code two winning insights you need today to seize the world tomorrow. Today we have an amazing and special guest. Her name is Heather D's. I'm going to give you a brief introduction of our guest today. She is a coach, a trainer, the CEO of the

Golden Consulting and also a six-time Olympiad. A very, very special guest from Utah over over here as well. So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, Heather D's. Hi. Nice to meet. Sorry with our mics. I don't want to move my microphone too far. Awesome stuff. Heather, thank you very much for joining us in the podcast and in the studio today. Like I said, I love your credentials. I love what you've achieved.

I also loved the how your company's phrase. It was goal as in like a goal and, you know, din and consulting or golden coaching as well. Can you just give us a brief introduction of who you are and to get a bit of an understanding of like for our views as well. Yeah, for sure. Like he said, I'm Heather D's. I like to say Heather Notties, but it's, that's just kind of a little inside joke because I built my name off of being married. And so now I'm just Heather D's, but.

Okay. I say that all the time. It's kind of funny if you get it. Was it your maiden name or was it like your? No, it was my married name. My maid name's Udi. Okay. Yeah.

So, I mean, that's a little. of because people that will know me in Utah, Heather UD, too. Anyway, six-time Olympian, yes, I grew up in Utah, born and raised, never lived anywhere else, but I've traveled a lot, so that's been fun. And then, yeah, kind of fell into the industry. I was running at one point early in my 20s, and I was like, how did these fitness girls look like this on these magazines? I'm like, I just want to look like that.

And so I was working at the gym one day. I used to do hair at Lifetime in their salon. Lifetime fitness, right? Yeah. Which one? There's only one in Utah in South Jordan. Okay. Yeah.

And then I would work out, but I still just didn't understand how, because I like ran, and then I got a little bit smaller, but I still didn't look fit. So like one guy at the gym one day was like, you should compete. And I was like, oh, I don't even know what competing me. And they're like, oh, you put on a two-piece bikini and you go on stage and you get judged. And I was like, that's crazy. Like, why would anybody do that? Like, it doesn't even make sense.

But so I just thought about it. And I was like, well, I'll just pretend like I'm going to, but like work towards looking like that. So the goal was never to compete. But I think as I started seeing my body transformation, um, responded really well to proper nutrition, cardio resistance training. And so it was exciting. And as I watched my body evolve, I decided I was like, well, maybe I will do a show.

Okay. I love that so much. Were you born and raised in Utah? Yeah, born and raised. Uh-huh. Okay. Are you LDS? No.

I technically grew up, like culturally LDS, yes. And then my family kind of is. Some of them are. It's like weird because I don't know if I would claim a religion. I'm a very spiritual person. And I love like the fundamentals. what it does for people is great. It brings a community together a lot, but as far as religion, I would say more spiritual. Okay. I love that. And then have you ever lived anywhere outside

Utah? Have you always just been in Utah? Always just been in Utah. I, all my family's moved away. Everybody left me and I'm still here. Utah is one of the most underrated states ever. I've lived in California. I lived in Georgia, Idaho, of course. But like Utah, I think people are starting to discover Utah. I've been seeing a lot of like celebrities. You see a lot of, like, celebrities. You see a lot of basketball players that also have a preferred destination of like Utah Jazz. So I think long term, when people can see like the economical side, it's very affordable. It's very outdoorsies. It has perfect like temperatures for like all four seasons.

So I think long term like Utah is like a hidden gym, you know, so. It really is. That's why I like don't want to leave. I'm like, why would I leave? I love all four seasons. I utilize outside whether it's hot or cold, which is amazing in the mountains. And I mean like, yeah, it's getting way more populated. traveling around the world competing, everyone's like, where are you from? And I don't, I mean,

most people think it's some sort of different ethnic background, but I'm like, I'm from Utah. They're all, oh, never left. I'm staying here. Awesome stuff. Like I said earlier on, you've achieved so much, your credentials and, you know, your resume speaks for itself as well. What inspired you to combine both your passion for fitness and also pursue that in the field of entrepreneurship as well? I think you know it just kind of happened like very naturally. I started when I was like I said I was doing hair and as I was working for a salon I realized I wanted to go out on my own do my own hair business so like I have I am a cosmetologist I still do that like very part time and then I kind of got into training as I got into competing and fell in love with it you know a lot of people gravitate towards you especially through social media so they want to train so I have done like you know, a lot of studying and worked with so many people over the last 14 years in fitness. But I kind of just started doing it more as a hobby and hair was my profession. And then it flipped to where doing hair is more of a hobby and personal training is my

profession. But kind of going out on my own doing hair, realizing like working a 9 to 5 for somebody doesn't make sense anymore. So I just decided like, well, I could do this with training too. And I tried to work for a gym, but it's like the corporate way doesn't really help promote like growth anywhere. There's always a ceiling to it. So getting that concept made me want to like grow my own business. And it's been really fun to just be like self-sufficient, self-employed for, you know, 14 plus years. Oh, wow. I love that. I love that so much. So obviously the golden way

focused on empowering very busy individuals, usually you're 9 to 5 or just people that have a hectic schedule as well through their fitness goals and personal plans. What was the motivation behind creating like this program? And also how has it evolved since you started at about 14 years ago? Well, going through the experience myself is kind of what, like, the way I've created my programs. I've realized proper nutrition for everybody is unique and individual. There's not like a template to it.

You definitely have to work hard, heavy into resistance training if you want to gain muscle. I also call it like Botox because it's like really the most anti-aging thing you can do. Oh, wow. It is like putting on lean muscle tissue, especially as a woman. You're protecting yourself. So, I mean, yeah, it's hard work. The time's going to pass anyway. Anyway, as I've, like, gone into this and had my own experiences

and seeing how much and how empowering it has been for my life, of course, I wanted to train people and show them, like, it's possible. Because I don't think I thought I could look however I wanted. When I was growing up, I thought you're just like, and like I do have, like, decent genetics, but, like, it wasn't to what the work I've put in now. So with people, like, need to understand that doesn't matter. You can work against your genetics with epigenetics and continue to, like, progress and look however you want, which I think that's an empowering thing.

Speaking of genetics, thank you very much. I actually do like what you say. So I serve my mission in West African Ghana and I'm originally, well, obviously born and raised in South Africa. However, genetically, West Africans are usually a bit more built, you know, like if look at the Canaanians and Igarians, the Ivorians or cordivores and so forth, they usually like, sometimes you get like somebody that's just born and is super like, you know, built and above. I love that so much. I win. So when I was in South Africa, I was a little skinny and a little scrony as well.

We rather, we're slightly small in terms of like body mass and muscle as well. I wanted to figure out like, does it play a bigger role or, you know, genetically and so forth? Or how can you kind of like, does it make an impact or does it have a role like when you're genetically like buff? Well, yeah, definitely. I mean, genetics definitely help, right? But like hard work, work ethic consistency that will outdo anybody. with good genetics and weak work ethic, right? So it's not like genetics just will win.

It's like genetics plus work ethic, but work ethic will always outbe genetics. Okay, okay. And I agree, because I don't know if you watch soccer, it's what it's called in America, but there's two different athletes. It's like Leo Messi, you probably know Messi, right? And then there's Ronaldo, but like one is extremely talented,

extremely like, you know, just has a thing. And then you look at Ronaldo, it's 39 years old, still playing in these, like, maybe slightly past his prime, but like the work ethic is there consistently, working on his, like, I think you invests about $1 million, like LeBron James on his body. So I completely agree when you say, like, it's almost like a Botox because it's still working on you looking younger as well.

Now, with the next question I wanted to talk about, obviously you're an entrepreneur in the health and beauty space as well, how do you balance the demands of running a business and maintaining your own fitness and one? while being too. I mean, the awesome thing is, as I've put in like, you know, 16 plus years of like consistency. So there, you do kind of build up a reserve. Like I wouldn't say I'm like the perfect client anymore as far as like not doing everything to a T that I used to. But I think probably 85% becomes subconscious. And like it's just the way I kind of flow through life keeps you that

way. So I think it does get easier because a lot of people worry that like this hard work you have to put in to kind of get to where you want to be is going to be some sort of life sentence. But it actually builds up reserve. But I mean also like I have I should. I don't like to say should anything. I want to stay in shape because it's it's what I represent. So it's like I got to, you know, to be a personal trainer. It's a little job security if I keep staying in shape because then people are like, oh, okay, she practices what she preaches a little bit. I like that. I like that a lot. So I want to speak about personally for me. So I usually find I'll jump in a fitness program, but sometimes there's a bit of inconsistency, you know, and so even if I get a personal

train or something ends up coming up as well. So how do you like ensure that people can kind of build a consistent momentum and try and actually achieve their goals as well? How do you do that? Accountability, really. I think that's what, kind of comes a lot is like finding some way to be accountable because a lot of the times we'll find a reason to like let ourselves down. But if we have like another person that's kind of keeping us accountable like in a hopefully loving way, you know, like something that's going to promote your growth in all in all aspects of mental, emotional and physical. Because of course things come up and then if you can give like epip through those harder times, people usually

find their way back faster and not like do any self-shaming, which that's part of like my coaching, I think is a lot of like mental, emotional, like, coaching. And it's not like I promote it because I feel like it just comes naturally as you work with people. And then can you give examples of a kind of? So let's say I sign up with you right now. And let's say I'm working a 9 to 5 job. And I don't want to say, let's just say politics. We spoke about that earlier.

Right. Okay. So I'm somewhere helping a congressman somewhere. I'm working 9 to 5 every single day, Monday to Friday. And like, I want to do it. but it's just so hard to stay consistent. Like, what's the first thing you're going to try and do to help me become accountable?

Well, kind of provide tools that will help sustain, like, what you're doing, right? So I do have a lot of clients that work. A lot of business women I work with, so they are all busy. They still get into me, check in or accountable, probably not 100 on everything they need to be on. But, like, offering, like, alternate solutions of, like, maybe tracking macros when you're out and just eating for that way. but working out, you can give like hotel room workouts if there's a little bit of something

they can do if they're going to be gone for a while. Okay. But just like different tools to kind of help you like at least stay somewhat active when you're like out traveling and doing all the things that life demands. And even with like women that are working and stay or stay at home, have kids to take care of, there's a lot of tools you can do. I mean, I have someone that don't, but they just like to work out at home. So there's ways to work out at home to still check it.

And like, I think the check-in is big because, you know, and I do, I do one-on-one mostly. I do have online, which I know you're going to come up with that. But, like, online still having like a little Zoom call or something to go, okay, we're getting some FaceTime. See what's going on. No, that's perfect. I'm glad you mentioned that. And that's one of the things that was, I never realized how important it was. When I had, like, I have two guys that do the same thing, already hold me accountable as well.

however, I never realized how important my diet was, you know, when you're trying to like either like get lean muscle and so forth as well. Can you just touch a bit, a bit about that as well, the importance of like eating healthy as well? Yeah. And there's so many like taboos out there, right? Like do this diet or that diet. There's like just no absolutes in it. So I think eating well, I think the biggest thing is being aware, like self aware of what you actually are consuming. I know like tracking has been around for like ever and people if you do that like you can achieve so much more like people track what do you drink track what you eat

even if it is like McDonald's who cares like just be aware of what you're consuming that way you just have like that tool of information and you're not like trying to do all this guesswork because so many I don't know I feel like if I've tracked and I'm like oh yeah and then I have this and this and this we can kind of over consume to a point where we're not in that deficit anymore if that our goal is to be in a deaf state anymore if that our goal is to be in a deaf. right? And I know they go hand in hand like eating right and working out. Would you say one is more important than the other or would you say they're just very complimentary? Yeah, very complimentary. I mean, eating well is obviously important to kind of maintain at least the lean muscle mass you have, right? And that is so different for everybody. I know there's like people that believe in the keto or the people that believe in certain diets. And that's just like you, it's kind of like a metabolic typing. So you have to figure it out. You can't go, well, my friend, lost weight on this, so I'm going to do this. But like you've got to understand that carbs,

proteins, fats all have an essential function for your body. And your body just needs to know which ones to have. And so, but that's a huge component to maintaining. And then obviously weight training to put on that lean muscle, keep your bone density. They have to go hand in hand. And what's the hardest part about like, you know, you being a, you're being a six time Olympiad. It's, that's, that in itself is an amazing achievement. Like what has been the hardest part for you personally within that experience and that journey too. Oh, the hardest part. Now I'm like trying to think because it's all been such like, it's all been such a blessing.

Like I think the mental and emotional component that comes with the physical training because most people can do like hard work in the gym, right? And they can like make their meals and stuff. But the emotional and mental consistency you need as far as like keeping your head in the right space, like understanding that you can do it, not defeating yourself, not getting ahead of yourself. I think staying present and connected to what you're doing in every aspect, like whether it be training or you'll be more apt to like follow something, right? Because you're not thinking of the future. You're not stressing about the past. You're like, okay, even if you messed up the day

before and then you get right back on it, like don't think about that day before because that can spiral you into some self-destruction. And that's kind of like trickles into every aspect of life. Awesome. Awesome stuff. No, I'm just, I love, I love. especially considering it's a very saturated market as well and Utah is becoming very very like fitness if you look at my Instagram I'm like oh my gosh so many fitness Exactly

Coaches consulting trainers as well because everyone like it's at the point I feel like Utah slowly becoming like a new L.A. in a way you know what I'm saying? People really care a lot about how they look and it's a very important thing because at the end of the day how you look determines how you feel

how you feel it's just like it's your inner beauty and also your outer like outer appearance as well. Well, I think it's kind of crazy because some people just don't know what it feels like to feel good. So it's like, do you realize you can feel good? Like you don't have to feel like crap every day when you wake up. You don't have to feel heavy and you don't have to feel. And that, you know, so anyway, sorry, I kind of cut you off. No, no, that's perfect. It's perfect.

So the Golden Way includes tailored plans, resistance training, cardio, supplementation, blood work monitoring. How do you approach designing programs that are both effective and sustainable for your clients? Well, I think just like listing all of those things out, understanding that there is like several components you need to look at to make sure, you know, you're basically customizing it to actually help them achieve the goal they want. So as far as blood work goes, that's a huge component. The demographic I train is typically between 30s and 60s.

And so that's when your hormones start changing like understanding. like we don't want to work harder against our own body. So like understanding like proper where your hormone levels should be. And there's a lot of that coming out now. What there wasn't as much like accessible like probably 10 years ago with like TRT and hormone replacement stuff. And I know a lot of, I have a lot of clients that just want to stay like natural and let their body do what

they do. I just say you're just going to have to work a little bit harder. So understanding like you can, you can go that way. but it's going to maybe take a little more work that you have to have. And then as far as resistance training goes, I mean, it's like there's,

like don't try to reinvent the wheel all the time because like you said, there are so many influencers on Instagram and all social media. And you can create like things. And you know, maybe, I don't know, I think it's more just to create content. It's not like, let's stick to the basics, this works.

Let's not reinvent the wheel. Resistance training is awesome. Like splitting muscle groups is awesome. But just do what you're doing for your goal. And if it's body composition change, understand what components are needed for that. Awesome. And then do you have both male and female clients?

Yeah, I do. And would you say you have more female than you have? Definitely more female, yeah. Which I started that way, but I've like had some come in. And it's been fun. It's still great to like work with some of them. I have a lot of wives, husbands that come to me or boyfriends or whatever. So it kind of works.

Oh, that's fun because you actually have like, they're already accountable to each other, which makes it super easy as well because instead of saying, hey, you've got to do your thing, but there's two people, I would have seen, I think it's two for one special.

I like that. Yeah, I have like mothers and daughters or sisters, and it is funny because they tell on each other. So they sit in my office and they're like, you threw me under the bus. And I was like, I am not going to ground you. You can tell me what you're doing.

And then you spoke about hormonal effects as well. Do you think as, you know, women get older, they have to, is there a certain form of training they have to do? How does that affect their hormones as well? I mean, really, resistance training becomes even more important. Because as women age, obviously, we lose that bone density. And as we get older, you know, we don't want to, like, fall and have, like, brittle bones to where we can break something. So, like, I said, it's, like, probably the best anti-aging is, like, heavy resistance training for women as they age. It will help their hormones naturally. But, yeah, I mean, there's a ton of information out there

about perimenopause now that probably wasn't before and menopause and like the changes that a woman's body goes through through all of that is like you do have to work with it because you're going to feel things that you didn't feel before so it's but it's still like the same kind of components apply as far as like eating great you know getting the sleep you need um eating probably becomes even more important because when you get brain fog and all that stuff you need the carbs to kind of sustain mental awareness and focus. And so there's a lot of tools to work through that. It's just understanding like, okay, this is normal.

But you don't have to, this doesn't have to be your normal. Like you can feel good again. You don't have to go through all this crap and be like, I guess this is my life. And I love that. I love that. Thank you very much for sharing that. And obviously I'm going to go more into like the online and also like the in-person coaching as we proceed forward.

There's been a recent push like the last five years, especially with the integration of AI and just, you know, artificial intelligence and so forth as well. And are you kind of transitioning towards that, with your consulting? I know online it becomes very convenient. When I see somebody on Zoom, it comes convenient, but it also has to have a lot of discipline in. Sometimes I prefer being in person, as you know, obviously. Right. I love that. But like it's, it's just very convenient sometimes, you know. For the online? Yeah, the online is, it's convenience. Yeah. I really like in person. Yeah. So, and have you been trying to weigh, consider like integrating AI with your work as well?

I mean, I don't know from what component I would consider AI. I know it's like become very popular, but I think there's still, I don't know, I still love that human component. Like you said, that's why people are like, I know a lot of people are very successful with just online training. I have a hard time stepping away with in person because they really do like the connection and relationship I build with my clients. It definitely limits how many hours and people I can train. So I think pushing into like going online even more so is more for reaching more people and then also providing correct information because like you said, there is AI. There is a lot of influencers and so you can get all of what you need from someone.

But like having that connection and like actual education and having the experience will say more to me than like maybe listening to AI. Like I said, like I think accountability. I don't know. Maybe you could be accountable to AI, but I don't know how that works. I love that. No, the reason I'm saying that I couldn't agree more with you because I'm at the point. So obviously I work with insurance and most of the clients we deal with is online. My team, everything is online.

However, what's been happening is now moving to Utah. I'm trying to integrate like an office space where even though it's going to be remote, everyone's still there because I often feel like in person has such a massive effect. Like I had many people that say, hey, let's try and do this podcast via Zoom. It doesn't have the same feel, Mac. You being here, having a conversation, looking at you, I'm understanding, getting like your feedback. It just has much more of like a personal and human interaction rather than being online, of which sometimes in some cases it's a bit convenient, like FaceTime my parents that are out the country.

You know what I'm saying? 10,000 miles away. But I'm in the same feeling. I just feel like right now with how things are going, especially after COVID, people really do appreciate their human interaction. And, you know, and I think it's very, very important moving forward as well. Yeah, I think it's life, right? It's like what's life without human connection interaction? And like convenience is trying to take over everything.

It's like that's what we should get away from. Like what convenient food is good for you? What convenience like work out? You know what I mean? There's just like so many things that are definitely convenient. But like, is that really the best way to go? 100%. 100%. Now, usually, I know sometimes as a client or just even as somebody before signing up with a personal coach, you look at them and, I mean, even your Instagram, it's just, it seems impossible. You know, like I see you, you're very, very fit. You take well care of your body as well. It can get very discouraging. Don't you think sometimes for like a client? I'm speaking from my experience and I see these guys all bulked up. I'm like, gosh, dang. How long did it take you to get.

there as well. Do you mind sharing your journey? I know you kind of gave a brief introduction when you spoke about in the beginning of where you started and how you got to where you are today. Oh, yes, for sure. Yeah. So like I said, I really, one thing I really wanted was abs. So I just like started working towards it. And I don't know. I think the best thing for me is like I don't know if like I had like this visual in mind. It was just this process of like I'm going to go through this experience and see what happens. And as I was seeing what happened, I got excited. I was like, whoa, you can really grow muscle. Like, how cool is that? Like you can shape. I know, and that's like common sense, right? But like when you experience it, it has like a whole new meeting. It's like

anything you experience like love, grief, anything. Once you experience it, it has a whole new meaning and it becomes like a passion. But you have to like allow yourself to get there. So anyway, I, you know, I competed at my first show at 118 pounds and my last show at 142 pounds. So a consistency over the you know, 15, 16 years of going to the gym has just been this like gradual process. It's not fast, but like nothing that's fast usually stays, right? So it's been, and that's one thing, one component I have understood going through my journey is realizing fat loss is slow, weight loss can be fast, but you don't want weight loss. You want fat loss because you want to have something that's sustainable. You want to feel and, and enjoy the process, right,

and not like be miserable through it. So, yeah, I've, I, I, I, I, I, took progress pictures every year, watching my progress keep going. And that is motivating. So it's like having my own visuals of seeing what my body can do was probably more motivating, understanding like I can have like the mental and emotional discipline it takes to look however I want to look. That to me has been one huge lesson and reward that I think I've taken away from, even above physical, because all of it will trickle and play in a part in your journey itself. And I'm glad you mentioned that. And would you say sometimes when people experience trials and tribulation,

I've often heard people like saying that they go to the gym when they experience just like grief, when they experience like a setback, when they experience that. Why do they use that as a substitute? Does it help like mentally? I know it's the question. I might even know if I'm phrasing correctly, but I just want to know the importance of like the mentality and the mental fortitude behind that. Well, I think movement is medicine, right? So when you're going through something hard and to me, like,

I'm fortunate and fortunate that I can't, I don't numb. Like, I can't numb emotions out. Usually things that people use to numb just make it feel worse. And I'm like, I would never want to just keep this emotion getting worse. So for me, like using drugs and alcohol wouldn't work for me if I was going through some heavy grief. So I go into movement. And I think that's what people, that's what I've experienced for myself is like realizing moving your body is a very healing thing kind of and so people will find whatever it works right and the gym maybe is something that's like a simple like subconscious like well I should go there to move and you do you can push through a lot of emotional and mental like stuff that gets stuck and at the same time as like you're growing and building so there's just such a

benefit to it from like every aspect that maybe that's why people will just go there and it does help I mean, but it could be, it could be weight training. It could be yoga. It could be I just got into dance. I don't know if you've ever done like a West Coast swing kind of dance. I saw that on your Instagram. Yeah. And that's like, because I've been weight training for so long and I still love I do it,

I've had a like wanting to find other type of movements that continue to exercise and help. It's like therapy, right? So it's like you process so much through movement. And yeah, the dancing has been my therapy and it's been so amazing. The last like five months. or six months, I think now I'm like, it's kind of my new little hobby, but I still go to the gym. I live there. That's awesome.

That's awesome. Now, obviously, we spoke about this earlier on. The fitness industry, especially in the state of Utah, is becoming very highly competitive, saturated, and you see it almost everywhere you go. How does the golden way differentiate itself from other competitors and other industry or in this industry? Well, I think, like, because that's a hard question. I think there's so many different personalities. and people have to gravitate towards, like, maybe that's the same person that's in the same, like,

energy they want to be in, right? So I think my differentiation is it's me, right? And I bring a certain energy and I have clients that I love. And honestly, most of my business has been built word of mouth. I wish I was better at social media. I like try to work on that all the time as like posting and stuff because it's just not something that I naturally want to do all the time. Anyway, but like I said, like there is a ton of that and I get on there and I'd be like probably overwhelmed. But I think there's enough humans in the world for everyone to be successful. So it's not like a threatening thing. I think you just you kind of attract the people that want to train with you and they'll come as long as you're authentic.

I love that. A matter of fact, I heard it saying it says you're not winning until the whole team is winning. And I think people sometimes always see like, oh, I need you take that client from that person, not realizing that. sometimes you can always share different ideas with different people. And I realized that when I was doing in the podcasting space, I realized I was like, hey, listen, if I can try and network with other people that are doing interviews, maybe we can try and get also better insight from each other.

See how we can become better interviewers and then still end up sharing our network that we can try and exchange people that we've often interviewed as well. And then I realized instead of saying, okay, I want my podcast to blow up. I want these, you can actually end up working together without like, because you said it perfectly, there's enough clients and enough people, 350 million,

you don't even need one million. You know what I'm saying? Right. You just need enough. You couldn't. You don't have time for it. And we all play a role. We all play a role.

And if we can just understand that and like, honestly, I think self-heal is like the first step in anyone's journey is like just kind of do introspection, self-heal. You will, it'll be successful no matter what. I couldn't agree more. Now,

as somebody who does both coaching for clients, both remote and also in person, Can you try and share the benefits? I hate saying pros and cons. I want to know just the benefits of like the both in person and also online. Benefits of in person is like I love that human connection contact. I stuff. I think you get a feel of somebody's like authenticity when you're like right next to him.

You know and you can see the vulnerability and build that connection like right away. And you tend to like it doesn't become sailing anymore. It becomes like, oh, I want to. work with this person because I enjoy being there. And then online, I think the biggest benefit is just like being able to have a wider reach, right? He's like, I still want to be able to connect with people all over and it's not really convenient for everyone to come to Utah. I mean, come here though. Like it's amazing. Like he just said at the beginning of the podcast, it's like such a great and I would love to actually probably do that and have like a bunch of like hosts them get together

so people can kind of come together and you can all work out or meet or whatever. I love that. And obviously you've done most of also your work when you traveled abroad, right? Which countries can you travel to? Australia a couple times. India, which that was an amazing experience. Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic. I'm trying to think if there's any other states. Not South Africa?

No, they never had a figure in South Africa. that. Like the division I competed in, I would, like I said, I like turned pro in 2010. And then like my first year as a pro in 2011, I accelerated really quickly, which was amazing. And it was really fun to see like, oh, I figured out what I was good at 24, right? I was like, and this sport is ageless. Like I have clients that in their 60s and they're competing. I've seen that. They're so awesome. I've seen that. I've seen like people. There's one guy. As a matter of fact, I'm going to be interviewing in Vegas, I think sometime next year. like he's a 60 year old man and I'm like this guy is good looking you know I might flip the rainbow

nation on this guy do it but like you know no no joke he's a very good looking guy takes good care of himself he's just super super like and he just loves fitness you know what I'm saying and as at the point I realize there's no specific age limit I've seen people like I said he's old this guy I've seen at 65 and he's out there doing like the pull-ups and he's just super fit as well so Well, I think there's a lot of respect for people like that because we know, you know, personally, that it takes a lot of dedication and consistency to look like that, right, to put on muscle and to be in shape and look healthy too. There's a healthy component to it.

So there's obviously that. But the time's going to pass anyway. It's like, what are you going to do? Like, just do it. Because whether you get there in a year or five years from now, the time's going to pass anyway, just like start building on something. I love that. I love that.

Now, as somebody obviously successful. and prominent in your industry. What advice, though, would you give somebody who's aspiring to try and get into the fitness field and doesn't know where to start? I would say, like, honestly, hire a coach. Hire a coach. There's always someone out there that can help benefit and, like, give you a piece of information.

Invest in yourself, right? And we talk about, you talk about that a little bit, but like, or like the soccer player that just put a million into his own body, right? invest in yourself. That's like the biggest thing you can invest in. That's where you're going to be the most successful. So it's like sometimes we like nickel and dime certain things that will benefit us the most and then we're willing to spend like hundreds on things that like poison us. So it's just like understand like that like where you're, you know, and then after you hire a coach, you kind of get some basics and start seeing like developing some consistency of your own, seeing your own progress

and kind of getting into that flow of it. Then you, then you, can kind of go on your own and continuing education on whatever. But I think always it's like having a professional is the best way. I've always had a coach. Awesome. One of the things, obviously we spoke about like nutrition in eating well and the importance of that. And it's also a big part of your program as well. And looking back, seeing with social media can sometimes be a negative tool and how people can just give misinformation, disinformation as well, what's often been the biggest like misconception regarding just like diet and fitness as well. Um,

you want to try and debunk. Probably just following any absolutes, right? Like there's so many like fad diets that like there's, this is the right one. This is the right one. This is the right one. There's like no absolutes in it. There's not a template.

People's own, um, bodies are going to like work better with some things and worse with others. It's like that's where, that's why it's like get your blood work done, see what's going on. And then like hire a coach. to kind of show you how to what macros are going to work best. But like I guess there is a lot of coaches out there that will promote different weird bad stuff too.

So maybe listen to your body too. Like if you start I don't. It's like so hard because if you don't feel good, you don't want it feels like to feel good. So you might do something that still doesn't feel good. But no like you can you should feel good on your program. You should be consistent and like getting better and like seeing growth in all the areas. Like yeah.

No, no, I love that. I want to go back. This is a random question. It's not saying it's something I plan on asking, but I always see these like Instagram videos of all like these, either housewives or mom, just like dancing, dancing, like, ah, ah, yeah. And, you know, you spoke about dancing as something very therapeutic for yourself. Would that, is that like, are they selling it wrong by saying they can lose weight through that?

Or I know they're becoming fitter, maybe healthier, but it's not a weight loss like technique. is it? Well, I feel it might be a weight loss. It might not be a fat loss, though. You know what I mean? So it's like, yeah. So it's, yeah. So weight loss is like, it's, it can be fast. Like right, you could take a diuretic, um, cut your water, you know, do a lot of things to just lose like five pounds. Like there's those always basically, most, uh, weight, quick weight loss pills are pretty much diuretics. They're just flushing you out. But you're not really losing any body fat. So body fat is obviously a slow process. That's what it's, that's where movement becomes key. That's, that's where having the correct nutrition to fuel your physique.

Like obviously there's nutrients and whole foods that will build muscle, repair tissue, all the things that you need to do to actually function. And then there's a lot of foods out there that claim to be, but like, you know, preservatives, like stuff that artificial, all that kind of stuff. Like if you're just because it tastes good or says it's, if it's convenient, it's probably not good for you.

Okay. And I like that. And then I, the reason I like, asking also especially for myself, I'm like 180.83. And on a good day, I'm 5-11. Yeah. Key word there's on a good day. I love that. Five, six, on a good day. But the reason I'm asking this, I don't want to lose like the weight. I want to try and gain muscle. It's still kind of stay in the same weight range. Does that make sense? Yeah. And so it means I'll have to lose fat and turn that into muscle. But sometimes muscle

becomes more in terms of pounds, right? Well, muscle is like three times more dense than a pound of fat, right? So it's just like if you lose one pound of fat and gain one pound of muscle, you're not going to be bigger. You're going to be three times smaller technically, or like at least twice smaller because that one pound of muscle being a third of what a fat pound is, your body is going to totally have a dramatic change. Like some people will lose five pounds of fat and gain, well, five pounds of lean muscle

tissue would take a minute. but um and if the scale said nothing they're going to be like well this is dumb it's not working but building muscle as you're losing body fat is a possibility it's just a slower process and it's like long term it's going to give you like more satisfying results right it's like considering like this long slow process it's what takes a little bit longer is tends to stay longer so the quick things like undown like dancing yeah that might be good probably more mentally emotionally like releasing some stuff because movement is amazing. But as far as like getting your body in shape, like there really isn't a substitute to like weight training. You can't. You need to weight train heavy.

Okay. And like women aren't going to get big. I mean, there's still time under tension like a 30 to 90 second rep range. So you can alternate it so it doesn't always become mundane and you're doing the same thing day to day. But just switching up the order you do your workouts in. Like that'll give you enough stimulus and change to not like get bored or sudden. And like, I don't know, I think it becomes fun. Like you just have to, you have to realize it will be. It's hard and it hurts, but you're happy at the end. Yeah, and I agree with that.

And I've seen people are just happier when they work out as well. And I think, I think there was a statistic that came out, which actually was shocking to me. It said that the leading cause of death in America is not even cancer. It's not like AIDS. It's not, it's actually obesity. So, and those numbers have seemed to be. be increasing because of the unhealthiness it's been happening within year. I don't see it as much in Utah as you see it in other different states as well,

but because for the most part, people usually do take care of themselves, especially in the social media world that we live in. However, it's such a concerning factor, considering the fact that many people are dying from that because from obesity comes like heart diseases, from obesity comes like the high blood, low blood, all these different stuff because your body is just expanding in a way it's not supposed to be doing as well. Right. It's so insane. And like, um, that's like where that I think whole convenience factor comes in. Everything is so at our fingertips. And like it's really like you could literally get everything done and stay seated all day long.

So it's just like, you're not food delivered. Right. Like there's no need to like have to do anything. And like, okay, now let's have AI do it for us. And then we don't even have to use our brains anymore. Is this like what are we going to use if we don't have to use our feet, our hands, our brains and AI and like convenience kind of comes into play. Like, I don't know, life gets, that seems boring. Yeah. You know, it's so crazy you say that. I don't know who I was talking to. But I know of a guy, you know, who also does like sales, super successful. But sometimes you're in this habit when you know very well, I can just pick up the phone, do some calls.

I don't want to go out and get food. I can just order Dode Ash. And after a Dode Ash, you know, I just end up like watching a movie to chill and then I end up sleeping. And before you know it, you've hardly done any movement. So it's easy just to get into that habit. Or you just sit. there and I don't know you do another like remote work but if you just indoors it's just it's an easier way and people just seem to like go for the easier route sometimes so yeah and I don't think

it's a coincidence that like there's more mental health awareness and like depression and anxiety like um diagnoses nowadays than there probably was before because you are getting any like human to human interaction there's like releases that happen in that you're not out in the sunshine you're not moving your muscles and all your body is basically i mean just sedentary will just like slowly um you know dwindle away what's the word i'm looking for but yeah so i'm like yeah it makes sense like people are getting more obese because we have everything so conveniently at our fingertips and that none of it's really even so many non-nutricious foods that we consume and I mean, I think that's the crazy thing is like when you start understanding nutrition

and like understanding what it does for your body, like educate yourself because it may just be enough of a shift for you to want to like follow a meal plan or eat healthy because you're just understanding it. You're not like, okay, I know that is, but it doesn't taste good and this tastes good. But what is the what you think tastes good doing? Like how is it making you feel sick or how is it making you feel better? I couldn't agree more. And another thing I noticed, I don't know what is adding to this, but obviously being in the U.S. from 2017, 1617, it's been a while. But I noticed from, you know, obviously dating before I got married, like just in Idaho, Utah side, I just realized that almost every single girl I dated had some sort of like a precondition, some sort of like illness, you know, or something just slightly small, even though it's not like, someone not so chronic.

I'm trying to figure out like is it something with some of them are just healthy looking. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I'm trying to figure out is it like what's causing that? Well, I think like the mental and health component that comes. Well, like there's a fitness to that too, right? Like you said, get out and exercise or educate yourself or staying inside and convenience and all the social media and staring out our screens and our phones.

all the time, trying to look the way that's getting the most likes or be liked the most and kind of putting on this mask and not being authentic and not sitting in pain or discomfort or like hard times and like trying to find some sort of outsource to like numb us, right? So social media is a good number, movies, good number, all of the screen times, like conveniences. We can be so numbed out just with regular life that, you know, we're not. feeling emotion, we're not connecting, we're not struggling through anything hard. And I mean, I think that's why probably I love the gym is like the component and the metaphor, it trickles

into life as far as getting out mentally emotionally healthy just as much as physically. It's like it will take hard work. You have to sit in it. You have to fill the pain. You have to push through. You have to understand like if something triggers you. It's a reflection of what you need to look at instead of like trying to blame and go crazy. Like just like do some self work. said self-healing, I think if we could all self-hill, like, we would have so much peace. Like, and not only for ourselves, but like for, like, in the world, right? It's like understanding the reflection that, like, if something triggers me, I'm not going to, like, think, oh, this person's a jerk.

I'm going to be like, whoa, wait, what happened? Like, why did that trigger me? Is that something I need to visit? Is that something like I'm insecure about? And that is, like, the key to, like, getting out of these mental and emotional funks, I think is like and like the worrying and anxiety is just like not being present like worry and anxiety you're not present in the moment and if you're present and connected and this is like I didn't know this until like recent right like this has been the evolution of my journey is like okay I know I did all

those things that I'm saying don't do so at least know like I know what you're going through right and like it's possible so yeah I'm like grateful that's like been a thing for me is to learn and understand like okay a trigger is like a reflection and I need to go through that so that would help because a lot of the social media and all these there's so many like um what are they called platforms too and to stay up on them I'm like I want to it's it could be fun sometimes but I also do think it like um is a distraction for me sometimes too no I love it I love it matter of fact you said everything pinpoint perfect um just to like um add on that as well I just feel the fact that you've experienced what you have experienced, you know, you've experienced

all those things you said don't do. I think it's far more important than coaches that haven't experienced that as well. Like personally for me, I've experienced, obviously pain, I've experienced grief. I've experienced so many different painful factors in my personal life that it's easier to even comfort a friend that is going through something I get as well. So I think coaching comes a lot like credentials, experience, your resume, obviously speaks for itself, but that alone should be enough for people to say, hey, listen, this person can actually guide me through the various steps because they've been through that as well. Yeah, I mean, grief alone, like I've had a lot of clients that have gone through grief and loss

and before I've experienced my own, really. And so, but when I went through it, I realized that grief is just a word until you actually feel it. And then that pain that is like, there is a still, like, there is a still, like, like there is beauty in the pain. There is beauty in the trauma, and that's what you have to look for. Like, you have to, like, let those little glimpses because I totally would understand someone, like, spiraling deep into, like, grief, right?

Like, there's, your body hits a certain level of pain that you're like, how is it even alive? It just goes to show how amazing the human body is because that kind of pain where there's physical pain that you're like, how is it alive? But the mental and emotional pain that you can go through and then finding those little pieces. But like you said, yeah, it's been really great because I feel like I've been able to connect clients or with clients even more that can go through that and I can empathize with them for it. 100%. And I love that so much. We obviously touched a bit on social media. I still feel, you know, you've built your own personal brand. Are you looking at ways to try and like expand in terms of like maybe trying to get some girl to like help you with your social media and stuff?

Because I think it's fine. Oh, yeah. I mean, I've thought of it. But like, I have the biggest hang-ups with, like, I want it to sound authentic. And imagining someone else writing down my words is really hard. And then I'm like, I'll just go back and, like, change it up. I don't know. Maybe that's, like, a controlling thing I need to look at. No, the reason I say that I have my, I have my two Instagram pages.

Obviously, my own person, I don't give to anybody because I'm always going through DMs, reaching out to people, trying to connect and so forth. But my, a COTA winning one, there's another guy who does just some of my reels, because I just don't have time to be posting. Yeah. But I can kind of give him a blueprint of what he can, like, expect. Sometimes I'll just be scrolling. I'm like, unposted, not realizing, I gave the guy, like, you know, to post this stuff.

So I think that's a convenient part. So I don't know. But I feel like you've built your own personal brand. And I think social media is so important, especially for clients and trying to connect with people and so forth as well. I know. I know and I really do like it and I I totally understand the component of having help with it. I think that's actually a really beneficial thing.

I just got to figure out like why I have such hesitation for it, I guess. I'm like, I don't know. And like I'm busy in person and I like want more time. So I'm thinking posting and getting more of an online like base would give me. I don't know. I just, I love what I do though. So it's like I'm not even though I work long days and like a lot of hours with clients, I still love what I do.

So that's kind of fun. I mean, and they say that, right? It's like a job is not a job if you love what you do. No, no, it's true. Now, I love that. And I think it's very important. I think it's very important. I just think that there's a phrase I heard,

which I love so much. It speaks about health is wealth, you know, because one thing, they made an analogy that if you gave the richest person in the world, and they were completely sick, just about to die and so forth. and they would completely substitute somebody who's perfectly healthy for all the money they have as well. And I think it just gets to show that regardless how much you have, at the end of the day,

like our health is far more valuable than any amount that you can put as well. I totally agree. Yeah. And I think like we have to understand and remember like we're in charge of our bodies. Our bodies aren't in charge of us. Like you're the soul in the body and you get to. decide and it's just realizing like you can be like yeah choose health like don't don't like let your body make excuses for you I was trying to look for the for the quote it he said it's so perfectly I think

it's one of my favorite entrepreneur's name is Bradley he said if somebody were to offer you one million dollars like would you take it and anybody's answer would be like yes right yeah that'd be weird if I said no right you'd be like what's the catch exactly and here comes a catch, would you take $1 million knowing you only had one day to live? And then everyone's perspectives begins to change because you realize that it's not as valuable as health or even like life in general as well. And I think it just gets to show that if people really get that concept of understanding how important they're health is. Because I mean, yes, I think about the consistency, I can do better. But like I see just people just healthier and just happy in the long run. I think

it just makes a big difference. Well, yeah. And just like with that is like, time, right? So it's just like time isn't promised. So health and time, like you don't know how much time you have and so some like money or time, right? Wouldn't you rather have more time? And then if you have more time, like what you choose to do with it. 100%. I love that. Now looking back now, as an entrepreneur, as an athlete and also as a coach, just using those three specific components, what is the biggest lesson that you've learned in this 14 year journey? the biggest lesson I've learned um inner healing is what what you need to do to like achieve any goal so like work through things um and consistency i think mental emotional and discipline all go

hand in hand so that's kind of the same thing that's all inner healing right inner outer healing is like mental emotional physical discipline um sitting in feelings pushing through hard not trying to find a way and escape. That's a lot of things, though. I just said like, what's one thing? I love that. It's all bunched into one little topic. And then like moving forward now and the trajectory, what's the next step for the golden way? The next step would be like building my online presence. I would say like I know that's like such a component. And I mean, there's a lot of people out there. I remember thinking when I first got into coaching. There's a lot of coaches. Why should I do it? So I'm like, well, there's a lot of influencers. Why should I do it? But,

I keep having to remember, like, there's something that I bring that other, that I mean, I'm uniquely me. So it'd be fun to be out there and just, like, continue to promote what I already teach and have a wider reach. So having a wider reach, online training and, like, just presence in general, as far as, like, health and fitness goes from my mouth. I love that. I love that so much.

Now, as we conclude, I often ask, because it's the co-winning insights you need today to seize the world tomorrow. I always ask every entrepreneur, coach, and also like trainers, what is your personal definition of winning? I feel like I'm gonna sound like a broken record because like it's like self-healing. It's like having moments that you recognize like how much further you've come and like who you were

and how you've gotten here and like having that. Like self-appreciation, not self-guilt and shame. and understanding like that's all was part of your journey and it's healed you and gotten you. Progression, right? Progression is winning. If you're constantly progressing and you're not just trying to stay the same, you're winning.

I love that, love that so much. Now Heather, if you could like look at the camera and just let our viewers and guests know where they could get a hold of you, if they want to sign up for your training, what's the best way to contact to your social media as well? Yeah, so I do have a website. It's Heatherdees.com. It has a lot of my training programs.

if there's, there might be some stuff that's not on there. I'm pretty sure it's updated. But, and then social media, mostly Instagram is where I like monitor the most. I do have a TikTok, but it's at IFBB Heather D's or actually TikTok's the Heather D's. I mean, and I have like Facebook. You can instant message me there or yeah, I look at all of them pretty consistently. But my email is Heather D's at me.com. So you can email me directly, but that's going to be on my.

website. So just heatherdees.com is my website. Go there. Follow me on Instagram. And I'll, yeah, I'll keep posting you guys. If you follow me, I'll keep posting. Give me feedback. Awesome. Awesome. Love it so much. Ladies and gentlemen, the co-winning insights you need today to seize the world tomorrow. Heather, these. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Eiji. It's a pleasure.