The Uneducated PT Podcast - Ep 114 Shamrock & Springbok chats

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

This chat with my brother Ryan is all about self awareness before physical transformation. Hope you enjoy. 

Your whole life can change in 180 days. Why 180 days? Six months. Honestly, just because it came into the top of my head, to be brutally, the honors. But consistency breeds success. So you have to have some kind of benchmark. And you can't say, well, I was consistent for a week. You know what I mean?

You can't be consistent for a week. And that's a good thing. But your whole entire life, if you take consistent action, each day for three months even to six months of doing the shit, sometimes the boring stuff that you don't want to do, but you know it's going to drive you forward, will literally change your life because it's a real why is your brain, bro.

You know what I mean? Where you kind of start to see that menial toss that you've got to do as a toss that you get to do, because you start to see the dividends from it, essentially. I completely agree, but I think 180 days feels like a lot to people in the context of fitness, whereas anything else, it doesn't feel like a lot.

Like if you told me that I was going to get a degree or a master's in something, than in 180 days six months I'd be like that is that it because like it takes four years six years whatever it is like anything anything of like real value takes a long time for you to to get there and but it just so happens in the context of your health and fitness goals or just getting in shape or getting stronger it's like people think six months of committing like committing to a program for six months is a long time versus six weeks I'll commit to six weeks and then I'll just stop doing to things that's the problem with the fitness industry bro yeah that's the exact issue is

and you even hear this with mentors and people they all be like get clients quick wins straight away straight away straight away straight it's like okay i get you kind of want to get the ball rolling you want to get the ball rolling but you you've got to be patient and you've actually got to understand that look it's going to take time this person could have come in with a shit load of bad habits or there could be a completely fresh slate but it's very rare because we've all grown right we have lived experience etc but the like gym culture like fitness industry is like we'll get you to lose 50 pounds in like the next three weeks

and it's like one that's unhealthy two that's really unsustainable three you're going to leave that person broken afterwards or you're going to make them feel a shame and it's it's kind of the way the industry is going it's similar to like with content like people will like post videos are like six seconds long just because a person's attention span only last six seconds and I was thinking I was like

if someone can only watch something for six seconds, I don't necessarily care if they don't watch my content. It doesn't bother me because I want to deliver value. You know what I mean? Same principle with this quick win thing. 180 days sounds long, but it's not. Right? And I'll explain what I mean when I say, it's not long, right?

Half a year, you've committed years of your life to various other pursuits. Imagine if you committed, like I can say this easy, right? I've done this. Imagine committing half a year. of hitting the usual, the normal 10,000 steps a day. I bet you'd actually feel so much better, one, you'd lose weight to your mind to get clearer, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera,

but it feels longer because the industry's programmed you to think that everything needs to be quick. And that's just false. Just because it's quick doesn't mean it's good. You know what I mean? And that's the problem. I suppose it's easy to hit 10,000 steps for two weeks or three weeks or four weeks and feel the benefits of that.

And it's easy to do a program for two or three, four weeks, five weeks, and feel the benefits of that. And then I think, you know, they, then then then benefits start to feel less and less obvious. And then you feel a little bit more static. And that's when, you know, people start to drop off. And then they, they end up in this cycle of continuing to be on like these four week, five week, six week diets or challenges and,

They're always getting the high of doing it and then die off and then fall back into old habits. And then it's repeat. And like they're doing the same six weeks challenge their whole life. But it's a stack like, oh, I don't know if I call it a culture, but it's a stack culture. And what I mean by that is like you're chasing a short term high. But what you're missing is the long term dividends, right? Almost like, okay, I'm going to get a, what are those? fake diamonds called, they like made a glass.

Like I'm going to get a glass diamond, for example. I don't know what they're called. It's like, looks good, looks really good. Here's a real diamond. Way harder to get. Took a lot longer, et cetera. I'm not going to go into the monopoly of the diamond industry because I wouldn't shut up.

But it takes a lot longer. It's a lot rare. It's a lot harder to get. But damn, do you feel good when you get it? Same principle. It's just like, it's a shiny object syndrome in the industry of like, oh, you know, six, chat, it's fresh. It's like, okay, cool.

fresh stuff is not a bad thing no but you know that six week area or that four week area where you're about to quit or you're like i need to do a different different challenge right there in that like pivotal moment is the moment where that neuroplasticity is really beginning to occur you're starting to change your behavior you're starting to actually turn into the person you want to become by actually doing these challenges but everyone hits that wall I call it the invisible wall they hit it and then they just bounce off it like a circle instead of going

straight through and just keep chewing away, chewing away, chewing away and then they miss getting the diamond and they get the glass on and they wonder why it breaks and hits the floor why it's so shocked you also said you go to the gym you try to eat well and yet still no progress or an empty

feeling because what you're doing isn't working how you taught it would do you think that people have this kind of disconnect between effort and results do you think that's why people don't end up lasting them 180 days and and onwards i don't know if it's effort effort to result ratio to be honest mate like if i had to conceptualize it i would say it's more to do with the fact that the development that people actually want right more often than not so i could probably say this for about 90% of people

listening easily, right? The development you seek is in the end, right, is in that end point, that pivot point where it's tricky, where things start to get hard, where the challenge occurs. I think it was Alexander Volcanovsky, who said adversity is a privilege, right? Now, I'm not saying, chuck yourself into adverse circumstances, right? I'm not saying, you know, go to Gaza, you know, or something like that. I'm not saying do that, right? Because you're probably you get a bomb drop on you or Israel, whichever side you choose to swing, your call, right? But what I have saying is that at the end of the day, the development of the self occurs when you hit that wall and then the awareness has to grow to realize there is that wall

and then to push through it. Now, don't get it twisted. The little challenges are great, right? they're great to keep people interested. But it's not just about being interested, but I think if you had to pull it back to the center point, I think it's the gap between, I've got all this knowledge at my fingertips. Why am I not getting a result? Because, dude, you can go to chat cheap, cheap, you go there, there, there.

All that knowledge is not getting your result. We have more fat and obese people now than ever. Their literacy rates are higher now than nearly ever. ever since the education system included reading and writing. Right? So I think people get it confused. Well, I got the knowledge, mate. You know, I can handle it.

It's like, good luck. And then they can't handle it more often than not. And what happens is they realize that knowledge is not going to be a direct correlation to the results you get. It's the application, the accountability. The understanding of what challenge it is you hit in the gym or wherever it may be. And then being like, okay, there's awareness there, build awareness. now have to develop in order to come through that challenge and then the growth cooked and that's the growth that

everyone really really sips on and loves the source that's the best growth isn't it funny because like i always say that awareness breeds change but then you could also be very self-aware and you could like you could also have the knowledge but then you could also be not applying it there so there is this disconnect there and it's like sometimes it's like you know even when you hear someone say like the phrase it's like oh i know what to do i just can't seem to do it and And sometimes I think in my head, it's like, oh, well, then you don't know what to do because you're not doing it.

So you might have the knowledge. You might know that you need to track your calories and do your steps. You might need to go to the gym. You know the importance of resistance training. You know the importance of protein and whatever it is. But for some reason, you're not doing that thing.

So there is a disconnect. So even though you might technically have the knowledge or the self-awareness, but you're not applying the actual things are going to create change. So do you really know what you're doing? Yeah, bro, I always say this. Knowledge, just for knowledge's sake,

ain't going to do you much good. Knowledge without applicability is just knowledge, bro. Right? You go read a self-help book, right? Whatever. Like, let's say the 5am club or something, right? Something around. You go read it and you get told all these awesome things

that can happen if you wake up at 5 a.m. You've got all the knowledge, but you don't have got the five of it. It's like, right, bro, it's not the knowledge is the problem. One, there is a knowledge gap. It's a knowledge gap. I think that's so funny because, like, I can so relate to that of, like, reading all the fucking self-development shit and then just being still being in the exact same position in life. Like, after all of that, and it's like, oh, shit, why has nothing changed in my life? I'm sitting there reading books rather than actually applaud.

lying out of the... Yeah, right. I said this to someone the other day and I had to rephrase it again when I was speaking to someone else where I said you know, in order for you to

change, you're actually going to have to change, right? And I shit you not. It was like a bomb dropped on this person's head. They were like, that's a really good point. I was like, really? I thought it was evident.

Do you know what I mean? And it comes down to that whole premise of if you want to change, wanting to change is not enough. Gaining knowledge is great. But being able to discern it, being able to apply it,

is a different source. You can read all the books you want on, you know, how to build a car. But if you've never touched an engine, no matter what you do with that knowledge, you're going to mess up for the first time you touch that engine

because you haven't applied the knowledge. So the problem that I think a lot of people are having is almost like choice anxiety. It's like I've got so much knowledge of my fingertips. It's like, okay, firstly, probably too much knowledge. And when I say too much knowledge, not the forbidden fruit knowledge, but you don't actually know what knowledge is going to be applicable for you. because you can't even apply what you know.

And if you do apply what you know and it's not working, then what? You're going to be like, well, that's not the knowledge I seek. It's like, you're right. But why don't you save yourself the effort? You know what I mean? And read something or learn something in the gym and then go and apply it. You know, imagine, here's a really easy one, dude. Mean you can explain perfectly how to do a squat, right?

But let's say we've never done one in our lives. how well will it be able to say that how well could we describe how difficult it is to be in the hole at the bottom of a squat like 100 kilos in your back or like 200 kilos in your back and be like look this is where you really

got to push your knees out drive your hips people like unless you've squatted you won't know you won't know what that feels like so knowledge without application is just knowledge bro you know and that's how I see it

that's such a good point it's like some things can't be read in a book realistically you have to you have to experience them and then I suppose then like if we go back to that point like you go to the gym you try to eat well but yet still no progress or an empty feeling because what you're doing isn't working how you thought it would be I suppose that how you thought it would be would be like almost unrealistic expectations that this is supposed to be easy all the time 100% it's supposed to be the exact opposite it's not supposed

to be easy that's the whole idea of the development. Look, it's not supposed to be like the hardest thing in the whole entire world, this and the other thing, but it's not supposed to be within your realm of comfort. No development occurs there. You know everything there, right? It's like the back of your hand. It has to occur outside your comfort side, which is going to cause some by proxy, there's comfort, right? So the growth you seek is in the challenges that lie ahead, not in the comfort of what you already know. And one thing I will say is because of this quick fix kind of like quick results,

quick results thing, it's like there's a period of time in your journey, in everyone's journey where you have to just do the work and nothing is going to happen for a period of time. Yeah. And then all of a sudden boom. Yeah. Everything's going to happen. And it's almost like the best I can describe is like imagine like sieging the gates. you bang against the gate

nothing happens you keep banging you eventually it gives and then buff you're into the stronghold essentially and that's where I think a lot of people miss the mark it's like

just because every single day the scale isn't going down or your biases on growing two inches it does not mean you're doing something wrong you know what I mean there's what is it about the bamboo tree it's the bamboo tree is like a metaphor for patience and persistence

I think, yeah, so for years you see no visible grow above the soil with a bamboo tree. It's like nearly five years without anything. And then just in six weeks, it grows 90 fee. Exactly, dude. Exactly. And that's the whole thing is people don't understand what's going underneath the surface with you doing these things, with you going to the gym consistently, with you training, with you putting yourself out of your comfort zone.

What's actually happening? So here's a question for you, Dan. I suppose because your job of a coach is to get people to keep doing the thing regardless of seeing the result or not. How do you help them to kind of personally measure progress beyond them physical changes when they feel like, oh, you still no progress? You know, I feel empty. And yet I'm supposed to continue. I'm supposed to continue down this path even though I can't see a clear ending. the truth is every single one of my clients has a clear ending because I make sure that when they

come on like and I can speak on behalf of my clientele I can't speak on behalf of everyone else's right so that's time to stick mine is I'll get them to map out and credit to Lewis Potts for this by the way so big man big up but I'll get them to map out their vision for the future when they first get on board straight away, right, on purpose. So when that hits, bro, you know, I'm going to the gym, but I'm plateauing. It's like, okay. And then as a coach, it's my job to look, okay, let's have a look at your physique. Let's have a look at weight.

Let's have a look at the data. Let's actually have a look if genuine progress is not being made because then it's on the coach to make sure we pivot a maneuver. But for all you know, time and attention increases, you know, an extra rep here or there. Now, people think, well, extra rip here is not a big deal. If you're pushing close to failure for anyone listening,

an extra rep is monumental. It's monumental. If you're going up 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 KGs every single week, I'm sorry to burst, above all ladies and gents. You're not training hard enough. Right? If you actually are training to achieve a result of some sort, right? If you're just training to fight your demons, kind of like me,

cool. it's like get in there get after a man that's literally the only reason I try yeah mine's like an amalgamation of buying yeah yeah yeah so it's like I'm like

like you spoke about suffering like I'm looking for the suffering I'm not looking for the result the result is the suffering I'm looking for the pain yeah yeah yeah I think that's that's the kind of phase you get it in trade and after a long time

isn't it it's like a slow longer yeah Yeah. I think that's not a bad thing. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's like, that's great as well, isn't it? It's like, I just want to feel challenged. Yeah. Well, think about it like this, right? Walk into any gym, any gym. I don't care where anyone's from or how heavy, light, jack, thin, skinny, anyone looks. There's a common denominator in that gym. Because everyone's in there trying to improve. Yeah. In some ways, shape, form. Whether it's, you know, dealing with trauma by just, you know, lifting heavy.

stuff instead of, you know, smashing someone's face on the concrete or or lighting your husband's car on fire or something. I don't know. Right. Or someone's trying to lose some weight or someone's trying to get. Everyone's in there for one common denomination. They're all trying to get better. So being in a gym environment, the scariest may seem, right? And look, I can I can play both sides of the fence. I'm now the big guy. But when I was the fat, ugly, you know, stumpy kid that would literally go bro. When I say Beat, I mean like,

shameful. It was so embarrassing if someone came to speak to me or if I came to speak to someone. So I know what it feels like on both ends. But the common denominator I always saw in the gym

was if I just stood back and looked, irrespective of physics, irrespective of any of that, everyone's in here for a positive reason. Now, someone would be like, oh, well, no,

you know, my girlfriend broke up with me yesterday and so I'm here. It's like, that's positive. This is a net positive mate. Like you're actually taking care of yourself. Yeah, you're channeling negative energy, but you're channeling it to something positive. You know?

And that's why like for me, the gym is such an important place. It could be the gym where you train is in lift the weights. It could be the Muay Thai gym. It could be the DJJ. It doesn't matter. The point I'm trying to make is everyone's in there for a specific reason, especially the gym gym is in with the weights and stuff. And that's, everyone's trying to get a little bit better.

Everyone's trying to improve something. And if you're if you're someone who's anxious and knows about going to the gym and you're listening to this, just always remember that when you go in there, who cares how people look at you. Just think everyone's in there for the same reason as you are. You're all in there to get a little bit better. Well, that also ties into what you're even talking about in terms of like how you're measuring progress beyond physical change, how you're kind of seeing. the light at the end of the tunnel even if you're not seeing physical changes yeah like you're actually you walking into the gym is the is the progress because it's like the first time you walked in you were probably petrified to walk in now you don't even you're not even thinking about it when

you're going in so like that's an element of growth growth that you don't even realize that okay you faced your fears of walking in there now it's not even a thing because you challenged yourself So like that's you That's another little piece of evidence that you are Becoming the person that you want to become You literally just said it right there bro You didn't realize as a coach It's your duty to show that person

Yeah yeah You see what I mean like at least that's how I see it right If that person is like I can't get to the gym on social gear And they get there I'm like okay you need to see this as a win Like this is huge and you know there's so many other tangible effects you can see if someone's you know

improving I look at one thing I like to measure it and you can actually measure it is self-awareness and the way you measure is when someone makes a mistake I'll go okay do you know you made a mistake and they'll go yeah no I made a mistake but okay cool so what do you think of it what do you think what do you thought and it's not not not like okay you're in trouble with it Just like, Jenny, like, everyone makes mistakes. I make mistakes. So who am I to judge? Okay.

What do you think of this mistake? Oh, well, you know, I know what I did wrong? Okay, what did you do wrong? I did this in the sense. Okay, cool. What do you think you did well? This is this is. Or whatever it may be, but it's our job as coaches to show them those tangible impacts

that they may not see when they're in that grind, right? When they're in that gym doing their thing and they're like, you know, I'm showing up every day and I'm doing my sessions. It's like, hold on. You're showing up every day and doing your sessions, even though you think, and as coaches we can see, you think you're not getting a result, but you can clearly see a tangible change. You're showing up every day, irrespective of the fact you think you can't see it. Like, wow, dude, what resilience you're building. Seriously, like what resilience are called?

It's funny because your job almost as the coach is to take their negativity bias and then just pangling it up and. throw out some positive spin on everything that they're doing because not everything though not not everything they're doing but but the good things that they're doing that they can't see because they're blind to it because they might have this kind of

pessimistic attitude towards their life when they're it's human nature bro like we're naturally we're naturally wired to look for threat than we are to look for positives right you know that's like been the case for yonks but it's

It's your DG as a coach to show this person that they are actually making progress. But it's also your duty as a coach. I'm going to stand by this because I am the no BS guy to not bullshit them. And not lie to them and say, oh, you're doing great when they're not. Then you need to have the chat. You need to have the discussion. And you go, hey, you want to change, right? Yeah, I really do.

Okay. Now, these are the things you need to do in order for you to change. Now, can you manage them? Now, can't manage all. Okay. what can we manage yeah and then we start to break down like a bite-sized fraction into what they can manage not set the bar too high not set by too low and nail it for them that's a really good that's a really good point out because if if you think about the relationship between a poor coach and a client

it's like okay they might be setting standards on their clients that they actually just cannot adhere to and and then that constantly has this kind of um this push and pull between them feeling like a failure and the coach wanting standards that they can't adhere to because they can't because they can't recognize the client situation or where they are in life compared to where that coach is 100%. And then in my opinion, if that is the case, the coach needs to have a look at themselves first. And that's like I'm a huge advocate for that, right? If something's going to right, first person to look at is Ryan? Yeah, like why is this client not doing the behaviors that I've ask them to do and then it's like instead of being like okay well what am i doing wrong that the

client is not adhering to them behaviors i am i communicating it like is it being heard is it being seen is it is it being ignored like yeah you look for the tangibles to see right so you look at yourself first okay am i am i doing everything of my power to help here without crossing my own boundaries that for me is always a tricky one right because i just want to help help help and it's like easy tiger right not everyone who says they want help actually want to want help right yeah yeah you know so it's like take it easy and actually give you it to those who deserve it yeah you all you also can't want your client to succeed more than they should want themselves to succeed i think that's that's something that i actually have started to to believe in a little bit like

like because you can't force someone to change they have to want to change for themselves but you can create a path for them to change and i think a lot of the times like the more we try to push someone into change the more resistant they're going to be to that change Yeah, I think there's a, I think it's a nice, I love saying this, it's a nice edge. It's a nice edge. And the reason why I say that is because they do need to be pushed out of the zone of comfort because what's kept them in that spot is the fact that they're just rolling around of the zone of comfort, right?

Kind of like a kid swimming in the kiddie pool when he's okay to go into the adult pool. Right? And it's like, okay, up you get, off your got. But the moment you start to collapse under the weight of whatever it is you choose to pursue is the moment I'm right next to you. Right here. Okay. You know, so when you said, you know, you can't want it to succeed more than they want to succeed, that's true.

But you can want them to succeed to the degree that they see fit as much as possible. And I think you can see more potential in them than they can see in themselves. I think that's true as a coach. But if you want, if you want them to get something more than they want, to get it themselves, that can start to turn into desperation. And then that can start to turn into you pushing standards on them that they're not ready to commit it. Yeah, I think then it's evident when that happens

because then the coach will project what they deem to be, no, not what they deem to be, that's incorrect. The coach will project their goal for that client onto them, rather than actually help the client pursue their goal. If someone came to me and said, right, I don't want to lose weight, I don't want to gain weight,

I just want, you know, to be able to deal with my problems and be solution-orientated. It's like, cool, dude. Not a problem. Ryan, why have you put a gym session in my program?

Okay, I'll tell you exactly why. Why? Well, because that's a problem I want you to solve. What's the problem? I go to the gym all the time.

Okay, cool. so what's the issue with the session? Well, no issue, right? And then if there is an issue, then we can start to unpack that, for example, and go, okay, cool. So we can see there's a little bit of a pain point, so to speak, there. And then you can dive into that and unpack it, you know. And a lot of it is people sometimes just walking blindly,

and it's your job to make them see. And that can be really, really hard. And that's why I always say to people, stop relying on your friends and your family to keep your accountable because there's just too much subjective bias there way too much you've got to have the third party and when you have that third party and that person's actually invested in your bettment what you what you envision for yourself in six months in a year two years 10 years 20 years 200 years whatever i don't know what Elon's doing and cooking up there but who knows right but with that being

said pushing them towards their vision of success and the reason why i do that thing with clients at the beginning is because when they go, you know, why am I doing this or, you know, what's the reason? I go, this is what you said. I came out dead shut. I zip the lip and these are your words. This is why you wanted. You know, I talk about it all the time and I'll never stop.

Shackle to you. Why is it so important to you? You know, why is it worth going through the day where you don't want to do that thing, but you're going to do it anyway? And what's going to happen when you do that? you're going to feel better for it, you're going to build some resilience, cultivate a bit of discipline, get a nice dopamine hit, you know what I mean? So I think it's really important that people understand that your job as a coach is to help them pursue their vision of excellence. And the cool

thing, at least that I can see, is as they begin that pursuit of their vision of excellence, not my, right? Because if it was my vision of excellence, I'll be like, okay, let's, let's, you know, get you into a Muay Thai fight. Or let's, you know, you get you to it. Not, right? No.

You think we're going to get, like, a mom with two kids, be like, listen, you need to be playing boy tie. We're moving to you halfway across the world and you're going to start scrapping with strangers. Come on, Karen. We'll get you some time on the cigarette. It's getting in the ring.

You'll be fine. Don't worry. Your husband will look after the kids. Let's book that flight. Instead, you're helping that person pursue their vision and what I noticed. And I'd say, if I had to give it a data point, about 85% of the time, or yeah, 85 would be a good mark. As they're going through that, right, as they slowly start to pursue what they deem to be excellent, which is awesome. And anyone pursuing any kind of betterment listening to this, fucking good on you, straight up.

Nothing else to be said there. but as they start to do that and you start to peak their awareness right and go are you aware that that's actually really good okay are you aware as to why you made that little mistake there and they go oh yeah yeah

was it because of this yeah that was it that was the one you see how you're growing in knowledge you're not only growing at knowledge but you're growing in applicability because your knowledge is there but you made a little mistake but then you have the awareness now the growth occurs

you see so the next time that pitfall you're going to be like oh i see that i see that puppy there oh give that a little dodge i'll give you i'll give you a good example of that uh with an old online client that i had and um it was like she when we first started she was like i have no willpower around food i'm i was raiding the presses i'm always eating chocolate and i can't stop and then obviously we put some things in place one being like the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger and like we were having the conversation and And like after having multiple conversations and let's say her awareness increasing around her food decisions, she jumped on a call with me and she was like, oh, I, I had a lot of chocolate last night. But I realized why I had it.

It was because I skipped breakfast and I didn't have enough protein. And therefore, probably, yeah. And then I like, boom, there's the win. The win, the win. It doesn't matter that you over at the chocolate. Who cares the shit of you over at the chocolate. The fact is that you understand the reasons behind your behaviours. It was like, you know, you're, you're underfed and.

there for you over it. You know, everything has a reaction. And I was like, so I spent the whole call, like, explaining to her how amazing that is that she's recognizing these patterns without anyone having to tell her. But that's so dope because this is what I mean by the final line is that's not a yes, man. That's a good coach. See what I mean?

That's a good coach, right? So, like, a really good example. Like, if we're talking about clients, right, one of them on. line clients. Shout out to Jordan, right? This guy wouldn't read, could not meditate. And meditation is a practice that I encourage everyone to do, right? It's not for everyone, that's fine, but give it a go, okay? It's really good to be able to be in control of your mind rather than that way around. Trust me on that one, right? He now meditates every day, bro. Like, it rocked my boat because I don't know what he was like, you know what, dude, I'm meditating

every day now. I was like, dude, just try it once or twice a week. He was like, I'm doing it every day, bro. I was like, I, that's hectic. You sure you want me to hold you to that standard? And he was like, yeah. I was like, I'll watch that, bro. Okay, I'll hold you that standard. But if you fail, that's okay. Right. If he managed two or three days a week, that's good, right? Okay. So there's like, there's wiggle room here. Yeah. And meditating, meditating, meditate. And now all of a sudden, his awareness is just, it's gone like, think of the big bang. Think of the explosion factor, right? It literally has gone from that thing. He's like, dude, I see what you mean when you say, the more you know, the more you wish you didn't see.

You know, and I'm like, yeah, man. Now you actually can see X, Y, Z Z. I can see, you know, that actually doing this is so bad for me, you know, seeing X, Y, and Z doing explicit X, Y, and Z things, you know, in the bathroom at the club or whatever. It's like, I've seen it. I never pay much mind to it. But now I'm like, I see you. Can I see?

That's not something I want to be around because look at the kind of behavior perpetuates, how I feel. And he starts to do this like internal audit in his head. And I'm like, bro, progress. And that goes down, like pull it all the way into the gym, right? You're getting in there. You're getting his sessions in every week.

Right. Do you think the more advanced you get, the harder you have to train to achieve less. Yeah. Okay, so a big guy like me has to train twice as hard as a smaller fella to get one third of the gains. A large diminution returns. Yep, exactly. But I know that if I go to the chin four days a week and I train and I train hard

and I push myself sometimes the weight's not going to PV every single week and I'm not freaking out about that because look if all you've got in the tank is 40% and you give you a full 40 good on you because you're giving me the 100 of what you had that day but that's awareness yeah exactly that's awareness right so I go in there and I train and I'm not like oh you know I can't believe it in PB on this or that I'm like bro you hit your four sessions this week nice well I'll tell people be good work man okay, that's really good stuff. You know, and it reflects in your physique, right?

That's why it's so cool with the rise of AI. I find this so funny because a lot of, this is a comic, I love ruffling feathers, but fuck it. I'm the no BS guy. A lot of coaches go, there's AI angs and I go, yeah, because you're a shit coach. That's why, because all you do is chuck meal plans, macros and go, hey, do this. Yeah. Yeah, of course you're going to go out of business, Big Cat.

Yeah. Of course you are. But you're a hands-on coach. It's actually like, yo, okay, we're going to build the community or we're going to get together or we're going to jump on cause and we're going to break it down like a fraction with what's going on. You're safe as houses. You're safe as houses, mate, you know, because you're literally pulling out excellence

in an individual. And it is the most fulfilling thing on earth, by far, you know. But as a coach, like this is me speaking from the coaching standpoint for any listeners, I've got to be careful because too much empathy is a bad thing. In what way? Explain that for the listeners. So essentially as a coach, you've also got to understand that you are their coach, right? You've got to make sure that they are doing the best they can with what they have.

You're pivoting, maneuvering around them, right? But you're not overstepping your own boundaries. Because if you do that, you're right. rocking up to work with the glass half empty, bro. Now, if your glass is half empty, yeah, okay, we can look at it half full. Just follow me with the half empty thing, right? Do you think you're going to give your best to the people who deserve it, who are paying you? No, exactly. That's where that, I call it, detached empathy comes from, is I care about you, and I actually do want the best for you. But, handhold and won't get you there.

the hand holding will not get you there because what happens in the liquid of your hand. You're going to walk in front of the bus. And you're going to be like, oh, Ryan, why weren't you holding my hand? I'm like, the whole premise was to teach you that I don't need to hold your hand. But there's like, they get some point in everyone's journey where confidence builds so much that ego takes over and hubris is bread.

Right? Which is, hubris is, I know what I'm doing. Straight away. Right. And I always caveat. with everyone I work with or anyone I talk to. I said, I will tell you if you're ready or not. Because everything that has been prescribed to you is being done for you,

has been done by myself or has been taught to me by someone who has done it. And then I've gone and done it. And if it hasn't, I'll go hire the person to teach me how to do it. Straight away. I'll be like, okay, you need to teach me how to do this, right? So when they go through those rough times and those tricky situations, whatever it is, it's like I can fully resonate. and I can see, look, the awareness is growing here.

Now, if your awareness is growing, it's only a matter of a time, it's only literally a matter of time, if your awareness is here, and let's say, let's just talk physical progress, if your awareness is here, your physical progress is here around nutrition and training, it's only a matter of time before this starts to increase your physical progress, your understanding around nutrition, whatever it may be, because of your awareness. Because your awareness will kick in and go, hey, are you aware of this? almost like a nagging wife, you know, like my missus, right? She's nagging me in the evening.

It's like, yeah, I can hear you, right? Like your mind is literally telling you, yo, go, yo, yo. And then all of a sudden you go, okay, I need to meet that standard. And it's not the standard that the coach is set. It's the awareness of the self, you know, so you're actually pursuing excellence in your own realm of human endeavor. It's a beautiful thing. And this is why these like six week challenges and fat loss, quick fads don't actually

work is because they focus on the physical element and not the self-awareness element and that's why they always end up back in the same position or worse is because they haven't dealt with with the mindset around the actions and behaviors, the food or the or the training that that they need to do consistently over years to actually get the result that they want. It's baffling and I was having a conversation with a lady. She's a lovely lady, naive, I was like, how are you doing on your journey, right? You know, like I was trying to do a budge, you know, like kids play rugby, it's awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome.

And I'm doing really well. I'm like, really? That's fucking awesome. And if I'm like, that's awesome, I actually mean it, right? If someone's doing well, I'm gasped up to hear it. I genuinely am, right? And I mean that. And I'm doing so well.

I was like, awesome. And she's like, I've lost this amount of weight, you know. this, this and this and I'm going to the gym. And I was like, that's so sick. So like your understanding around food is increased and stuff? No, I'm just taking a Zen pic. Okay. Now I'm not going to go on a rant about a Zen pic right now.

I'm going to curb that one. She's going off, she's on Zembek, but not doing any of the actions and behaviors like resistance training or high protein diet or anything like that. So exactly, right? So I said to her, I said, do you know what's so awesome about what you told me is that you're going to the gym?

Yeah, yeah. That's it. That is awesome. Because she's like, oh, well, I'm not eating that much now. And I was like, because you're taking a Zen pic. When you stop taking a Zen pic, you're going to be unaware. You're not going to be able to control your cravings. I'm not even going to go into the side effects, right, of his epic.

But you're not going to be able to control your cravings. You're not going to have nutritional understanding. Right. And then you're probably going to throw the gym out of there, which is the best thing about what you've told me, you're going to throw the gym out of there because you're like, well, I'm coming to the gym, but I'm gaining weight and this and that. And the other thing that's like, why? No, hon.

Take the ozempic throat in the bin, you know? Take the o'clock because it's this, for example, if I was to run a six-week challenge, right? The only goal would be to actually get these people honestly into the mixer long time. Yeah, that's true. Well, that's, that's, like, so I'm not against six-week challenges and I'm not against those Zembek. I'm not against any of that, but the whole idea is to create them pathways to a larger pathway, which is you've changed your lifestyle, you've changed your mindset, you're in this for the long haul. Whereas the thing with the six week challenge, it's the opposite way.

It's like a lot of people do the six week challenge so then they can be finished. And then it's like, you've missed the first for the trees. The whole point of the six weeks challenge is to get you started, not for you to finish at the, at the six week challenge. Like, you're doing it the wrong way. It's like that that's an introduction into the rest of your life versus at the finish line. Yeah. And like I don't I don't believe in like a snake oil kind of like, oh, it's a sneaky up. It's like no, if I launch a challenge. Yeah, you can be your front of them. I want you in the mixer. 100%. That's the truth. Yeah. Don't get how many people buy into it or whatever. Yeah. Cool, whatever results you on the situation. I want you for six months. Yeah. I want you to see a whole. I think six, I think six months is is like,

now so when I used to sell my online coaching it was six months it was always six months now when I think about it even back then I I still think that's not enough time it's the low end mate the low end I'm thinking like like the the best clients I have had I've been with me for at least two two two and a half two years two and a half years and now like even then like and it's it's a difficult one because I'm I'm never one that's like uh I don't want to try and just keep someone, you know, in my vicinity for the rest of my life so they can continue to pay me. I'm like if you're no longer need the service and you have everything that you need, like if you want to stay because you enjoy the community aspect of it and you enjoy all that and you're helping other people in community, happy day, stay. But you don't need to stay because you, like you said, you have that self-awareness now.

And, you know, the physical aspect has caught up with that. but it's caught up with it because you took time to do to work. Yeah, I agree. Like most of my clients that I have, my right or dies, you know, shout out to all of them. They've been with me for over a year. And when they get to that six-month-mile, and this is why I always say to them, I say, I will tell you when you're really and when you're not. And I'm not going to bullshit you, right?

Literally, in my bio, no BS. Because if you got it all nailed down, you don't need me. That's okay. Yeah. That's like I'm happy for you. Yeah. My service isn't supposed to provide everyone everything.

It's a service. No, and exactly that. And on top of it, it's not ethical. Yeah. In my opinion, right? I don't think it's ethical, right? If someone is nailing everything down and I look at it. But what I would say is if they're nailing everything down and they still decide that they still want to work with you, that's different than needing.

That's totally different. exactly what I was about to say, right? So, and they're nailing everything down. And this is what I mean by this journey, is they get sick and they go, holy shit, I'm capable of this and now, the other. And I'm like, yeah, can you see it now? Can you see what I can see in you? And they go, yeah.

And I go, awesome. And then they go, this is just the beginning, bro. Like, let's go. You know? And that's a beautiful thing. right so the six week challenge thing anyone listening i'll tell you the truth i'll only run that six week challenge to find the people who really really really actually want to change their lives who really want to lose a lot of weight who really want to understand the gym who really want to

understand food understand mindset and really build themselves into someone that they that they can see themselves loving it to so many people that just don't really love themselves and then they wonder why they can't find love elsewhere isn't it difficult though because like let's you advertise or your market a six week challenge the type of people that are going to come into your your your vicinity is going to essentially be people who are probably looking for the result or the fix of their lives in six weeks and i know it's your job then to kind of change their mindset to a to a long-term pursue but i agree i agree it's like when people like i know when i have someone who comes in and like like like Carl I know this is I know this isn't the quick fix I know I've

tried all them things I know I'm going to have to commit to this long long term it's like I'm ready to commit for to six months a year whatever it is it's like yes I know that person is serious about change and it makes so much easier and I know that like you know you like you still have to do the work as a coach regardless of whether that's someone knows that they what they need or someone who doesn't know what they need and trying to convince them to see things differently yeah it's it's it's it's you're right because the I'm a guy right so I just go off like logic right so I try my best to think this through but a six-week challenge right I said 20 you say no are you

saying that women don't go off logic right no I'm saying they're not necessarily logistically based but let's fucking go if we want to have that debate I'm so ready for it bro I'm gonna I'm gonna put that on my Instagram I'm gonna cut that on my Instagram for for the engagement. Get a few more blue-haired crazy is attacking me. Oh, please get a few more blue-haired, send them my way because it's like, they're so uninformed,

misinformed and so indoctrinated, it's hilarious. You know, it's almost like, you don't need to watch TV, just go watch a carrot. All right, we digress, we digress from the blue-haired, yeah, the broccoli hair teenagers, yeah, yeah, we've kind of gone off on one there. But in that situation.

That could go off, that could go off for a while. Yeah, we can end up going on a round about that. But let's say, more like, let's say, 20 people in for a six-week challenge. The main goal there is this. I want these people to do really well in the challenge, but I want their awareness to be bred in, look, it's a finite amount of time to breathe their awareness. But if I can't breathe their awareness in that time, those are the people that I want. If I can't, and even a little bit of awareness is there, and then you finish the six weeks challenge,

and you know, you feel a bit better about it and stuff like that. Okay, cool. That's a good thing. Now, is it the, the be all an end? Like, is this really where you're going to get the result?

No, but did it improve? Did it help you? Did it cause a catalyst of change somewhere? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then, okay, like I'm happy with that. That's awesome. But the people that, you know,

I'm looking for the people that I want to work and the people that want to work with me or people who know like, okay, I want to achieve my vision of success. And you can ask anyone I've worked with. I never ever say, this is what your vision of success is. I always say, tell me what you envision is successful. And write it down. And I'll shut up. And then they'll write it down.

And I'll say, don't tell me what you're doing. Or break it down. break it down into pieces and I'll go and reverse engineer that for you no problem right because for me seeing someone like you know I can list off a bunch of kinds but seeing these people get to like the three month mark going like for example my client Jordan going bro seeing that like explosion of awareness I mean seeing the progress physically and mentally and in the business space the guy's now a leader in his job you know he's like a boss boss, the literal boss, not like a boss, you know what I mean for any listeners out there,

for any slang, you know, it's because that self-awareness got bred. And even though self-awareness got bred first, guess what caught up so fast? Yeah, yeah. That's the bamboo tree. Yep, exactly, the bamboo tree. And when it comes to trying to settle someone with regard to that, it's, okay, cool, I'm more than happy to settle your mind. That's not a problem.

Because I'll have tangible markers. Not bullshit. I won't make something up. Here's a tangible marker. Do you know why binging on the chocolate in the evening was a bad idea? I won't say anything. I'll be like it's not a loaded question. You're not in any trouble.

There's no such thing as a silly answer. Yeah, it was because I starve myself the whole day. You know, and then I came home and the whole. hubby put some chalky on on the counter and I just saw it and I couldn't help it. You know, boom, and I went for it. And I'm aware that if I space my meals out a little bit better, you know, maybe volumeize my foods a little bit, I probably would have only had maybe half that bar of chocolate and that would have been a lot better.

I'm like, awesome. Let's get you back in that crucible. Let's get the hubby to get you another bit of chalky. Come back. Make sure you space your meals out and see what happens. you know and to see that kind of growth that's where like people become amazing people become excellent people step into the version of themselves that they deserve to be and everyone listening you you deserve to be the best version of yourself like genuinely speaking you deserve to be the

best version of yourself right and when it comes to for example this seems to be a very common thread love and relationships let me say this Right? And this has everything to do with the gym. Love yourself enough and respect yourself enough to care about yourself enough. And once you start to do that and you start to feel like, hey, I don't necessarily need, you know, a little cheeky excursion here or there, if you know what I mean. All of a sudden, you're going to start to be able to sort the weed from the chaff in your life and you're not going to have to. have meaningless relationships or pointless futile situations. Instead, there's going to be meaning behind it. Why? Because you know how to actually receive and give love to the hardest person

yourself. When you can do that, then you can start to develop the archetype of love that you're looking for in the world. And then it will appear. But if, like I always say this to people, how do you expect someone to love you if you can't even tell me how you love you? How do you love you? Oh, I don't I get up whenever I want, you know, I stay up late all the time, you know, a doom scroll, which I did an experiment on, and I'm going to post a real about that. The whole of last week is super interesting, so stay tuned for that, right? Well, I doomscrawl the whole night, whatever. And it's like, is that showing yourself love?

Or is that you just treating yourself like a trash can? You said, get yourself back in charge of your own mind. What do you mean by that? So you know that famous saying, well, infamous because definitely not famous. I don't want to be famous. The mind is a brilliant slave, but a terrible master. So when you're in control of your mind, right, I think I posted a real about it the other day where I said, don't let shit things make you shit.

Yeah, I have this here. I have this here. Don't let, don't let life shit make you shit. Yes, that's it. Don't let life shit make you shit, right? because for every bad thing that happens to you is an opportunity for your origin story

or for the new chapter. So, oh, you know, I was born in poverty. I know what that's like. Oh, you know, all my friends died. I give what that. That's like. Now, there's two, there's two roots. No, there's not three.

No, there's not four. Guys and girls, there's two. There's, oh, you know, you know, life's so, I just can't get through. Okay. Victor, that's fine. Now if you want to help, you'll be like, I can't get through it, but I need to try. And then there's the other side, which is, this is the start. Or this is the origin story. This is the new chapter. You know what I mean? It's one or the other. And that's why I say,

if you're in control of your mind, you'll opt for the correct part. But it's not easy. This is where people get twisted. You want quick results? They're going to disappear quick. If you always chase what is cheap, free, and easy, you will always stay broke alone and with no result. Sorry, but it's the truth. That's why chasing the challenges and embracing suffering is really important when it comes to that personal grow. 100%. You know, I pitched you the other day when we were in the DMs with the Dostoevsky. Yeah.

Right. And there's another one which is pain and suffering are inevitable for someone with a big conscious and a deep heart. Right. So what is he essentially saying there? He's essentially saying like if you're experiencing the pain in your life, if you're experiencing some suffering, it actually means you probably got a big heart and a conscience because you're actually acknowledging, I'm in pain or I call someone pain, you know. And when it comes to being in the gym and, you know, suffering. so to speak, you know, going through the pain, you know, the Temple of Tin, as we call it.

Right. At least that's what I call. That's what I call it. No, I like it. Yeah, no. It's like, you're doing exactly what Emmanuel Kant would call his categorical imperative, which is you're serving yourself tomorrow today. You're making the version of you tomorrow better from the action you're taking today.

and that should be something you should patch yourself on the back for you know stacking those gym sessions when you feel like you're not making progress but your coach can see you are it's like okay you actually are making progress let's put that to the side that massive thing and let's actually look at this you've cultivated discipline right why because you're showing up and doing your sessions you're training hard you've cultivated resilience because irrespective of the way you feel which is not always accurate Yeah, I'm tired. I'm tired. The kids were messing. I got home late from work. My boss is a prick. Exactly. I don't even want to be here, but I'm here.

Exactly. And I would say if someone said that to me, and I've had people say that to me, I say, what a privilege. And they go, oh, no, come on, Ryan, it's not a privilege. And I go, let me explain what I mean about why that's a privilege. Because you have an opportunity to change that. Because you know that that's the case. Oh, my boss is a prick. I don't want to be. okay cool or it could be oh what an amazing thing because you've all these things going on at home all these kind of obstacles that could have prevented you from being here but you're here anyway even if you're given 40% to this session this session it's like that's is that not like the biggest win yet because it's like if you can do it when it's hard imagine what you can do when it's easy you defied the odds yeah and when I say you defied the odds you defied your own mental

odds. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You defied your own mental odds. And people, and this is where I'm having a bit of trouble is I train BJJ, I train Muay, I'm not a fighting coach. Yeah. I help people get, you know, an amazing shape with bulletproof mindset, but no bullshit, right? I'll tell you the truth. I'll be honest with you, but I care about you. But the premise behind me doing BJJ and wanting to compete in BJJ and fighting Muay Thai. is to show people to leave from the front. Not to say, hey, you can do my tie too. It's like, yeah, of course you can.

Anyone can't, right? You can do B2J cool. But it's to say, hey, I'm putting myself in a situation that's uncomfortable. I'm new. I'm blue around, like blue around the ears or blue around the girls, whatever the expression is, right? And I'm putting myself out there. And every single time you do that, you get a huge full circle moment,

which is dope as hell. we were like oh my god i actually did that you know like go after this podcast dude you you specifically go watch the vlog there's one way i'm like walking past one of the posts i'm like i was on that and that's so cool you know like it was a full circle moment so by me doing these things in my life my personal little missions i am also trying to show that i will leave from the front your gym session is hard don't worry bro my gym session was hard too I had to hit the math today and some 60 kilo

tiny little black belt played with me like food and I'm like 110 KGs you know and it was super embarrassing but I learned a lot you know so and then in these little

quests you go on right you actually unlock so much knowledge around your mindset you know if we talk about BJJ now this isn't if you're not

a BJJ fan, this is still totally relevant for you in the gym. Right? Because with BJJ, the simple example is like two plus two is four, right? That's a static problem. Okay. You always add two plus two and it always come out as four. Now let's take BJJ, right? There's a problem. You need to solve it. Now as you begin to solve that problem in real time, the other person is trying to solve the same problem, which is on the opposite end. So what you have is not a static problem, but a constantly evolving problem, causing a bunch of things to happen. One, ridiculous amounts of neuroplasticity. And two, you have to solve a problem that's constantly evolving, which means you have to think under stress and under pressure. The kind of like,

alpha-covia to that is just got die physical consequences. You don't want to get caught at arm bar in front of just break, right? You know, so the point I'm trying to make there is it's the same in the gym, right? Let's say you're under the, let's say you're under the bar and you're doing a squat, okay? And it's the same weight as it was last week, but you paused in the hole. And then you explode it out there. You didn't use elastic energy, you stored momentum, anything of the sort, and you just paused in that hole. you just ground out that rep.

Massive, massive improvement, right? You're solving the problem, right? You're not trying to shortcut it. You're not call a repping anymore. You understand that, okay, me pausing down there, it's going to be harder for me, but it's going to lead to more evolution. You see?

So I try to kind of show that through my life, but my life is mine, right? So I'm not going to be like, okay, guys, I'm going to do a high rocks, because I'm not going to do a harox. I don't have anything against Harrox. I'm just not going to do one. Right?

But in other pursuits, I will do it and I will show you here you can lead from the front this way. Yeah, but I think that's really good for your clients or just other audience members. It's like when they see someone who's capable in one area, go and try something else and they see that it's struggle, it's difficult and they're still finding a way to do it. I think you can take inspiration regardless of what the pursuit is.

I think you can take inspiration from that, which is really, really good. Ryan, let's wrap this up and let the viewers know we're going to be doing this every single Wednesday this is this is episode one of what did I what did I call this new show

The shamrock and the springbok The shamrock and the springbok Are we agreed on that? Yeah, let's agree on that right now Well if you can think of a better name You can let me know in the meantime while I edit and post this But it will be uploaded

If anyone if anyone listening to this Has a better name drop in the comments Let us know let us know but we're going to do this every Wednesday and next week we're going to be talking all about culture. We're going to be discussing Sadia Khan which I'm going to send over to you as well.

Oh yeah. You'll love that. Ready for that one. All right folks. That was the shamrock in the springbok and the springbok episode one and many, many more to come. Ryan, have a wonderful day.

My brother. I appreciate you as always. Love, bro. Absolutely love.