Welcome to Perfectly Unfinished Conversations, an Iron Lab podcast,  with hosts Coach Jo Churchill and Coach Kim Berube. This inaugural episode is all about getting to know the hosts, what Iron Lab is about, and why the Perfectly Unfinished Conversations podcast exists. Coach Jo and Coach Kim take us into their world, showing us how they built Iron Lab and inviting us into their minds and daily lives so we can know them better, and through them, learn about ourselves.

Coach Kim and Coach Jo come from wildly different backgrounds in terms of athleticism and sports but share a similar passion for fitness, movement, and living life. When they came together in 2022 to found Iron Lab, their combined philosophies melded together so well that the business seemed as though it was always destined to be. What they share in this episode is their vision of Eat, Sleep, Train, Live which emphasizes not just whole body wellness, but whole being balance. Iron Lab is inclusive of age, gender, size, and ability, and when Kim and Jo conceived of Perfectly Unfinished Conversations, it was a way to continue getting to know their clients and supporters on the east, sleep, train, live journey, and to demonstrate that they too are on that same journey. So join Kim and Jo to learn what drives them, what conversations they’ll be sharing, and why a “B Minus” mentality is how they maintain momentum in a world that demands unattainable perfection.

—

—

Coach Jo: [00:00:08] Welcome to Perfectly Unfinished Conversations, the Iron Lab podcast with Coach Jo.

 

Coach Kim: [00:00:13] And Coach Kim.

 

Coach Jo: [00:00:15] Where you ride shotgun with us as we have raw, real, unfiltered and unfinished conversations about trying to eat, sleep, train, and live with some integrity in a messy, imperfect life.

 

Coach Kim: [00:00:27] We're all about creating a strong support system, taking radical personal responsibility, having fun, and being authentic. And one of the most common themes you're going to find in this podcast is the idea that we create positive momentum in our life by doing what we call B minus work.

 

Coach Jo: [00:00:45] We are making gains and getting ahead and loving life without self-sabotaging our goals by striving for perfection. We get it done by moving ahead.

 

Coach Kim: [00:00:55] Before we're ready, when we

 

Coach Jo: [00:00:57] aren't feeling like it

 

Coach Kim: [00:00:58] and without hesitation.

 

Coach Jo: [00:01:00] Be sure to subscribe now on Apple or Spotify so you don't miss a single episode. [both] It's good enough. Let's go.

 

Coach Kim: [00:01:11] Hi. All right. Welcome to the very first episode of Perfectly Unfinished Conversations, the Iron Lab podcast. Yeah, I'm Coach Kim,

 

Coach Jo: [00:01:22] I'm Coach Jo.

 

Coach Kim: [00:01:23] And we're super excited to have you here. We're really thrilled that finally we've got this thing up and running.

 

Coach Jo: [00:01:31] It has been a little seed in our brains for probably a year and a half. And it's nice to just finally get it out here and get it going. Yeah. At least. So I guess we'll just briefly introduce ourselves. And this is our very, very first episode. It's just all about introducing you to the Iron Lab podcast, which is Perfectly Unfinished Conversations. I'm Coach Jo.

 

Coach Kim: [00:01:52] We said that already.

 

Coach Jo: [00:01:54] Yes. So I guess I could say, you know, like personal stories so you guys can get to know us a little bit further. I've been an athlete most of my life. I played volleyball for university up to five years. I assistant coached university and high school levels, and then just kind of went into what I love to do, which was moving my body through a brief hiatus of working oil field, quick cash, quick traveling in order to, you know, just live my life after schooling was over. But then I came back to what I love the most and that was moving my body. So that's basically a quick history about me.

 

Coach Kim: [00:02:28] Yeah. I'm gonna ask you a question about that, because for most people that don't know you, you know, let's dial it back just a little bit. We opened Iron Lab in January 2022 right after Covid. 2022.

 

Coach Jo: [00:02:44] Yep.

 

Coach Kim: [00:02:44] Right after Covid. It seems like--

 

Coach Jo: [00:02:47] -- literally one month later, masks were abolished.

 

Coach Kim: [00:02:49] That's right. Yeah. Like literally yes, there were still some cleaning protocols etc. that we needed to do in the gym. We have been coaches, I've been a coach since 2016, fitness and strength coach, added nutrition, added life coaching. You have been a coach, as you were saying, since you were a younger woman, always coaching athletes. Group, team sports.

 

Coach Jo: [00:03:15] Yeah.

 

Coach Kim: [00:03:15] But what have you got going on? What's the offer? Why? What's the hook? The catch that has you, you love to move your body, but why do you want to serve other people? What draws you to this?

 

Coach Jo: [00:03:28] I would say easiest answer is when I see somebody do something they never have done before, and I see that initial reaction off their face that they just, they got it, they did it. And I was a part of that process to help them get through that barrier? And I find fitness, there are so many of these moments where people have to push through the comfort zone levels. So naturally I love to move my body. It's always been one of my favorite things to do. So in order to incorporate helping people, seeing them excel and then moving their bodies at the exact same time was like, all in.

 

Coach Kim: [00:04:04] Okay, perfect. So this is where Jo and I are different. One of the things that I think makes us a really strong team is we share a lot of things. We're both very direct communicators. We both love working hard. Our skill sets are slightly different. Jo, I always say she loves to do the spreadsheets, I prefer to do kind of promotion, marketing, social media, that kind of stuff, but we make a really good team. However, we're very different because I was not an athlete. I was a farm kid. I've always been strong. I've always loved nature. And being outside, I knew I was strong, but I didn't enjoy really team sports. I didn't really enjoy being coached. I said I was the kind of kid that took it personally if you had some feedback for me, I was the kid who would think you that you hated me or that I wasn't good enough. I would internalize it. So for me, coaching came much later in my life and it was as a direct result of my own health and mental health journey and being a mother and being perimenopausal and coming to terms with the fact that my health was a mess. And I began this fitness journey, and I just ended up falling in love with the people and the process and then moved this direction. So very, very different starting, very different experiences with being coached and becoming coaches. But we also are, you know, we're on the same page. We're living the same dream here.

 

Coach Jo: [00:05:45] Yeah, we're sisters from the heart. So now you know the backstory of us. And then ultimately we both decided, we were working at a same company together and post, the way the world, Covid and everything kind of wound up, Kim and I just we've always been close because we have that, we just, we're very similar on so many mental levels that we just were drawn to each other. So it was a no-brainer for us to maybe do our own thing. And like she said, post Covid, we just said, you know what? I think that was like the biggest leap we took because it was a facility, an in-house facility, but we knew that people needed connection. They needed to be with other people. We were tired of being separated from the Covid years. So, and we took that leap, and frightening, but we knew it needed to happen. So from that huge leap, what was born was Iron Lab.

 

Coach Kim: [00:06:38] That's right. Yeah. I always like to tell the story like we did never, we never had the intention to create this together. Jo was coming off maternity leave, I think, and, during the Covid years, and then was living about 30 minutes away, still lives about 30 minutes away from the gym, but was coaching people in multiple time slots throughout the day, which was just depleting, right? It's just hard to be present from five in the morning, six in the morning, to a group of people and then come back 4 or 5, 6 p.m. and coach again. I was having the same struggle with a few people coaching in small group settings, but opening with classes and then closing with classes and just burning the candle at both ends. And literally it was mid-November, I want to say, where I reached out basically and said, I can't do this. Like I'm too old to burn the candle at both ends. And I know she's busy with babies and, you know, young kids and in the thick of it that way with raising children and trying to run this business. And I said, is there any way that we could, like, figure out how to team up, share resources, and balance out our life? And literally within six weeks we had found a space. It was literally divine intervention. Found a space, incorporated a company, came up with kind of a philosophy and values and what we would like it to look like, and by the end of January, so probably six, eight, ten weeks, within ten weeks, we had an open business. Like it was insanely fast and totally not planned. And it has been magical. It's been a shit ton of work and magical.

 

Coach Jo: [00:08:18] Yeah, it's interesting because January 30th is when we opened and we were kind of like, well, here we go. But divine intervention, I think you hit it, the nail on the head, because everything, everyone's like, wasn't it a lot of work? But really things just happened and it just kept going and the ball just kept rolling and things kept happening in our laps. And we just knew we were positive about the whole experience. And then boom, we had in-house training facility. So we started with just 2200ft² in a shop bay and one bathroom, one office, a mezzanine that was storage and scary stairs to step up to it. Big enough space that we could hold up to 19 people in a session if we wanted. And our sessions are strategically, I wouldn't say it's group fitness classes, I would say it's personal training group classes because we're very hands-on and we want to make sure people are doing everything safe.

 

Coach Kim: [00:09:12] Yeah, yeah. And we've got an amazing team of people. That's one of the things, you know, when we are talking about creating the vision that was Iron Lab, I think that that was the thing that we were so clear about is how we wanted the vibe to be. We wanted it to be--

 

Coach Jo: [00:09:29] -- we had a mood board!

 

Coach Kim: [00:09:30] We did. We had a mood board of colors and brick and black and dark and sexy and edgy--

 

Coach Jo: [00:09:36] --neon lights--

 

Coach Kim: [00:09:37] -- yeah, and but also inclusive and safe. And we wanted everyone to come. Anyone can come and be welcome here. Any skill level, any mobility challenge, rehab, any proficiency. We can work with athletes who are what you would probably consider senior level or more advanced, as well as anyone who was ready to come back like I had been and begin some kind of a strength reclamation or a starting journey of fitness and health. And so that was kind of the basis for the gym. And then we took it a little further with how we started to build on with the team. And essentially it's sort of been, in a way, law of attraction.

 

Coach Jo: [00:10:21] Yeah, I agree.

 

Coach Kim: [00:10:22] Like we just have attracted amazing people.

 

Coach Jo: [00:10:26] Yeah, exactly. And what kind of came out of our formulation of Iron Lab was that the philosophy of the gym has always been eat, sleep, train, and you got to live. And we're huge proponents that life is worth living and restriction is not a part of any of our philosophy. If you're restricting in any way in your life, then you are guaranteed to want to binge on that exact same thing that you've been pulling away. We want people to be able to live their life and not starve themselves, and they want them to be able to eat food. We want them to be able to sleep like a baby. And when we train, we come in and we train safely and also hard sometimes, right, to get that big resilience push.

 

Coach Kim: [00:11:10] I think that is it. Like it's like that is what makes a well-rounded person. You know, we eat, we sleep, we train, we live. And within that life component is all things. It's relationships. It's, you know, quality of life span, quality of life experience. Like not necessarily balance because I don't think we really believe in balance. I think we believe in like you just handle what comes your way. And sometimes things are off balance. And sometimes we do a better job of managing than others. But you're exactly right that you know, you have to eat, you have to sleep well in order to be well. You have to train. You have to move your body. You are a human being, a really sturdy survival of the fittest human being is strong and we are not currently very strong. And so the eat sleep train live model was really like this, it should encapsulate a whole life.

 

Coach Jo: [00:12:15] Yeah, I agree and I think that's what people are, like, they come to us is because there's a lot less pressure on them to perform a certain way. And I truly believe perfectionism is the number one killer of all motivation or discipline. And we allow people to be unperfect when they walk in our doors. You can come in a hot mess, your hair flipping out like crazy, mascara, whatever. Like it doesn't matter what you look like. You can have your life crazy. But when you come in our doors, we got you.

 

Coach Kim: [00:12:48] And this is a perfect segue into the idea that we do B minus work, and B minus work was a concept that was introduced to me through the life coach school, and she talks about it as there's never going to be a perfect time, you're never going to be perfectly ready, you're never going to be completely prepared. And if you're waiting for that before you begin, you're going to be waiting a long time. You're going to be missing the opportunities to accomplish all the things. And so this idea of B minus work is that we do whatever it takes to get it done, even when it doesn't have that glossy shine, even when we don't look amazing, even when--

 

Coach Jo: [00:13:31] -- we don't feel like it.

 

Coach Kim: [00:13:32] Yeah. You don't feel like it or you don't feel ready. Or it's maybe you're not even in physically in a great place to do something, but you're proceeding anyways.

 

Coach Jo: [00:13:43] And that's why we wanted to, you know, get into the podcast essentially too, or what led us to get into the podcast, is that there is a lot of imposter syndrome that surrounds, you know, trying to elevate yourself in many ways. And I know there was a little bit for us with even just starting the podcast alone, was that, are we good enough? Who's going to want to listen to us?

 

Coach Kim: [00:14:08] When there's so much value and content out in the world, when you can consume literally anything you want--

 

Coach Jo: [00:14:15] -- you just got to search it--

 

Coach Kim: [00:14:17] -- that what could we possibly have to offer? But I think what we bring to the table is the fact that we span, I would say 30s, 40s, 50s, right? Our team.

 

Coach Jo: [00:14:26] Just so you guys are aware, we are 15 years apart, Kim and I.

 

Coach Kim: [00:14:29] Yeah. So Jo's 39, just had her 39th birthday. I am getting ready to turn 54 on Friday. We're both Gemini. We talk about this and - not that we're huge astrological sign people - but it's kind of cool that we share so much in common. But we're 15 years apart, which means that we also kind of span the spectrum of our clientele. Our whole team is who we work with, other than the fact that we don't have any dudes on our team anymore. We basically, like we do have a co-ed clientele, we are coaching really great guys as well as girls, but we are who we are. And that's who you are, right?

 

Coach Jo: [00:15:13] Yeah, we're just a solid team of women at the moment. And actually I was saying to Kim, I think before, we usually have staff meetings once a month, I said, it really feels great. I feel like we've found our people. Like I feel like now we're just rolling from month to month. We've got, everyone got, everyone has everybody's back. They're all supporting each other. And it just feels good to be, to have such a great supporting cast here at the facility, because we are now a team of nine, which is crazy for me to think like that, that we went from just Kim and I opening / closing shifts to now having a full roster of sessions, and now we have our seniors class. Like it's just, it's just been really awesome. So that's going to lead us into, and I'll ask you this question, Kim, and you can share with everybody, what is the mission with the Perfectly Unfinished Conversations: it's good enough, let's go podcast?

 

Coach Kim: [00:16:07] So I think that, you know, when we talked about this idea from the very beginning, it was the fact that we've bonded really closely with our members. We truly love our people. But there's never enough time to see everybody, to share quality time with everybody. And a podcast, number one, is a way to communicate. It's a way to communicate who we are, what we're talking about in our private conversations. We are so transparent. We are so authentic, who we are on the floor, who we are behind closed doors, they're the same people. And so, you know, there, of course, that said, there are days where you're not feeling it and you're still putting on your best face to work with people. But that's life, you know, like, when you're professional, you're going to have to pull up your little girl panties and big girl panties, whatever. You gotta pull up your underwear and get to it, right? So that part. But the podcast was going to be a couple of things. One, it was going to be a way for you to get more time with us and for us to be able to be super honest and clear about the things that we're struggling with in our life, the things that we find important, the things that we're talking about behind closed doors.

 

Coach Jo: [00:17:23] Because we're human too.

 

Coach Kim: [00:17:24] Because we are you. And it's a way for us to encourage and uplift and make you laugh and pull on your heartstrings. And so that's part of it. The other part was, we get a chance, we've got such beautifully loyal people, our members, like there are people who have been with us since the day we opened our doors.

 

Coach Jo: [00:17:48] Before we even opened our doors.

 

Coach Kim: [00:17:50] Totally. There are people who come back twice a day. They come for a class in the morning, and then they come back for yoga at night. Like we have got the most loyal, loving, devoted people. They look after each other, they look after us. And this was just another way to give them more of us, when we really don't have much more to give as far as time or energy on the floor. And so it was about providing free access to ideas and content and thoughts and, yeah.

 

Coach Jo: [00:18:22] And also, I would say one of the biggest drivers too, what Kim had said is obviously I would consider the main driver, but there's been so many times, even the original side, because we have expanded to a bigger bay, but in the original tiny single office, it'd be her and I just having these huge, heartfelt, scientific-driven, ending diet dogma conversations where we just were venting and talking and emotionally like it was just on fire. And we're like, I wish we had that recorded. I wish someone could listen to exactly what that sounded like. And they can hear, you know, real people talking because a lot, and then Kim hit it a little bit, where we deal with a lot of the exact same things as everybody else. And, you know, it's great to share our own experiences for either how we were, how we were able to overcome a lot of these, or just how we're still trying to get through it.

 

Coach Kim: [00:19:16] Yeah, absolutely. And so when you look at like today, you know, you came in and were venting about how challenging summer is for you as a female business owner with a child who's eight and a child who's four, and child care for summer, and what that's going to look like for you. Plus, how do you fill your own cup when you're chasing kids and trying to create this like, fun summer life and still be available to the business and keep working at the business when you're being pulled in all these directions? Very, very relatable. And despite what's going on in your personal life, you still are employing the strategies that work in order to eat, sleep, train, live. Right? And so that's relatable. Me, at 54, I'm not through menopause yet. And so this whole like trying to navigate this changing body and a changing life in the way that I have lots more time and energy to give to my people, but my people all have independence and adulthood, and I've got grandkids whose parents are looking after them, and so I have so much more time. But then the challenges are different, right? I've got more like physical kinds of things that I'm managing and dealing with, and aging and, you know, like, not that I'm struggling hard, but there are moments I'm struggling and that is also relatable for who our people are. And so it's just good to have honest conversations and recognize the fact that, and I say this all the time, where there is no part of me that feels like training today. None. I don't feel like it, but it's done. And it's done because of B minus work. It's done because I've built that relationship with myself. It's done because I've got those habits in place. And that is all part of the strategy that we want to share with you, because you're doing it and I'm doing it.

 

Coach Jo: [00:21:14] Yeah. And that's going to lead into a lot of our future podcasts and topics and themes is the stuff that we feel we're struggling with. Or we feel that our broad demographic between like 35 to 55 year old women, is around all of these issues and these areas to your body image and looking at yourself in the mirror, because I can tell you right now, I have those same issues sometimes, or the nearest fashion trend and how it doesn't fit my body or whatever, stuff that we want to talk about, like diets that you've done in the past, sleeping, like literally anything that encompasses a whole person. So we're talking holistically, the whole person, we want to hit all the areas, and we want to hit the uncomfortable areas and we want to have those deep conversations to, you know, even limiting beliefs and where things happen for both Kim and I when we were younger. And what led to this.

 

Coach Kim: [00:22:05] And even now.

 

Coach Jo: [00:22:06] And even now!

 

Coach Kim: [00:22:07] Yeah, totally, totally. And, you know, be, when you said something about, you know, being uncomfortable, like there's going to be F-bombs because that's who we are. And so, you know, like that's also part of the authentic part is that we, like I think we are you. We are you. That is the whole point. And we're you in this in the way that we are not perfect. We don't have it figured out. We're just struggling along like everybody else, trying to make choices that support who we want to be in the future. You know, the direction we want to go. So, you know, I think that we've done a pretty good job in introducing who we are and kind of what we want to do. You know, you're going to get to know us on a whole different level. Some of these stories, we've always, again, been really transparent and shared lots of our personal stuff. And so if you have known us a long time, there's not going to be any new revelations. But if you are new to us, you know you can look forward to a lot more honest conversation. Unfinished. Because, bitch, we gotta go.

 

Coach Jo: [00:23:16] Yeah, exactly. And like she said, tons and tons of F-bombs. So we were pretty green this first episode for you guys.

 

Coach Kim: [00:23:23] We'll stumble along, be patient with us. We'll stumble along. We're just so thankful for, again, for the people who come into the gym who train with us, but also the people, we have tons of clients who are remote, who work with us virtually. We're so grateful for that as well. And for you guys, for making time in your life to even just listen along and relate and maybe hopefully take away a little something.

 

Coach Jo: [00:23:49] Anything.

 

Coach Kim: [00:23:50] Now and then that just makes your life feel a little lighter and more fun and, you know, relatable.

 

Coach Jo: [00:23:56] Thank you so much for joining us here on our very, very, very first podcast episode. And make sure you subscribe. I believe we are all over the place. You can find us on Spotify, Apple Music, leave reviews, leave some ratings, connect with us on social media @Iron.Lab.Lacombe is where you will find us and we're just so grateful to get started. Thanks for being here.

 

Coach Kim: [00:24:19] So Iron.Lab.Lacombe. Yeah. Facebook. CoachJoChurch - J O, no E - CoachJoChurch on Instagram. CoachKimBerube - B E R U B E. You can find us on Instagram. That's, we'll include that all in the show notes I'm sure.

 

Coach Jo: [00:24:41] Yeah we will.

 

Coach Kim: [00:24:42] Okay. We're out.

 

Coach Jo: [00:24:42] Bye bye!

 

Coach Kim: [00:24:43] Thanks. See you soon.

Coach Jo: [00:24:46] You probably got a sense of who we are by now and what our personal approach is to developing a lifestyle that creates really great health and strength. Using a relational common sense coaching approach that is backed by knowledge and personal experience

Coach Kim: [00:25:01]There are a couple of ways that you can work with Jo or I, one on one, remote or you can actually train here at Iron Lab. 

Coach Jo: [00:25:09]The first is the Metabolic Blueprint, personalized coaching program, which is customized for your life and your body. 

Coach Kim: [00:25:16] We work together very closely either in person or remotely to help you conquer old diet drama and to get lasting results. 

Coach Jo: [00:25:26] Ideally, we'd love to teach you how to never buy a quick-fix diet program or app again. 

Coach Kim: [00:25:49] Next, there is the accelerator academy, which is up to 12 months of self-paced weekly bite-sized lessons and journaling exercises, that we’ve created to help you create the lifestyle habits that generate a true transformation. 

Coach Jo: [00:25:07] Find out more on our website: ironlablacombe.com/metabolic-blueprint