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Being STRONG is more than just how much weight you can lift.
The Strong New York Podcast is dedicated to inspiring you to become your strongest self- in the gym, in business, in relationships and in life.
Join Kenny as he sits down with his strong as fuck buddies and shoots the shit on what it takes to be strong willed, strong minded and physically strong. Season one features everyone from entrepreneurs and local business owners to doctors and industry leaders in the fitness and wellness space.
With over a decade of experience, Kenny Santucci has made himself known as one of New York City’s top trainers and a thought leader in the health and wellness industry. After transforming his life at 15 years old through fitness, Kenny made it his mission to transform the lives of those around him.
Kenny has trained some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, including Jon Bon Jovi, Liev Schreiber, and Frank Ocean, and has been tapped as a fitness expert sharing his training approach with Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, Runner's World, SHAPE, Well+Good, among other publications.
Kenny is the creator of STRONG New York, NYC's only Health and Fitness Expo. Strong New York is an immersive day of workouts, wellness experiences, panel discussions, and inspiring conversations with the best in-class wellness professionals, industry leaders, and change makers who are sharing their expertise on today's hottest wellness trends and first-hand experiences on how to optimize your overall health and life.
You can find Kenny at The Strength Club, his private training and group strength training facility in the heart of Manhattan located on 28th and 5th Ave in New York City.
All right. Welcome back to another episode of the Strong New York podcast. I'm your host, Kenny Santucci, and as always, we are powered by Celsius. Celsius live fit 'cause. That's what we're trying to do. We're gonna crack a couple of these babies open, but I'm sitting here with a real New Yorker, and when we talk about strength in New York City, well, there's one guy who's been doing it longer than most.
I met this gentleman, God, well, over 10 years ago, right? Yeah, yeah. More than that. Yeah. He had a little event called, uh, that was flexing the city, flexing the city. He was one of the first guys to do like a big CrossFit competition out here, and he has since evolved his business into something that we're gonna get into, uh, in a little bit.
But without further ado, my buddy Sean, past Sean, thank you so much for making the trek all the way from Long Island. Thank you for the city. I'm happy to be here. You're doing a lot right now. I, I noticed like a lot of, you know, you're putting yourself out there. Right. We are in our later years, as most would say, but we're, we're still trying to do the thing, and I think it's important to still do the thing.
Mm-hmm. Right. You're still working the floor, you're still creating your own content, you're putting yourself out there. What keeps you going? Well, I think that that starts with the problem I'm trying to solve. So for people who don't know, uh, my name is Dr. Trump. You told 'em that. Mm-hmm. I'm the founder of a company called Active Life, where I wrote a book about how fitness professionals can sell ethically.
I speak on stages so that trainers can learn how to help people get outta chronic pain. The problem that we face is there's over 50 million people in the United States alone who struggle with chronic pain. 36% of those people will develop depression. 44% will develop anxiety and cost the United States more money per year than diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
Mm-hmm. Combined. And I think that we can. Develop the trainer into being the person who can solve that problem. So what keeps me going is the vision of a world where chronic pain is a thing of the past. You know, I love that because two things I wanna bring up. One is, uh, this past week me and Christie went to Austin Arthur.
Arthur Brooks. Arthur Brooks, okay. Arthur Brooks spoke about, he's a Harvard professor. He wrote a book, he's one of these talking heads on social media. Um, and he was speaking about having a North star, right? Mm-hmm. What, what is the reason why you get out of bed and what keeps you going? Because the struggles of a business are very hard, but if you, if there is it, it can't be about power.
It can't be about money. It can't be about vanity. It can't be about these things that like people think they want. It has to be some sort of service to other people. And I talk about this a lot, and I, I always say, like for me, I was heavy as a kid. I understand how upset and depressed. You know, just angry with yourself that you could get.
Um, and two weeks ago, or three weeks ago, I was down at, um, Ben Polsky's gym. And Ben's whole philosophy is like, there's four ways that you become unsuccess or you, you won't become successful. And it's basically like your mindset, your energy levels, physical pain through the body. Mm-hmm. And that brings me circle back to what you were saying about physical pain through the body.
People start to live with chronic pain and think it's normal. Oh, I don't do that because that hurts me. Well, you don't want to get out of that pain. They don't even know what feeling good is. And there's so many people, and I, I think part of the job of a trainer, because you were a physical therapist and a chiropractor mm-hmm.
And a lot of people are like, oh, I'm gonna go to my chiropractor. But then what's the follow up to the chiropractor? What do you, what are you doing? Because my father was one of these people, he'd go see his chiropractor, get his back, cracked his back would, he's like, oh, I feel good for a couple days, and then go back to being a miserable fuck.
He'd be pissed off in the morning 'cause he'd get outta bed in pain. He'd go to bed at night because he was in pain. And so many people deal with this. Mm-hmm. And I talk about that and my whole philosophy is like, well, if I could get more people feeling good, I felt like shit. When I was fat outta shape, I felt uncomfortable.
I didn't wanna feel like that. When I started to get into shape, I feel a thousand times better. Right. The days I eat right. And I exercise, my days are always so much better. And I just had a woman on who speaks about how much more open we are to, uh, change and to better performance after an ec after a workout.
So, so your whole initiative, I know you've been doing the active life thing for a long time and it, I, I took I think one of your first courses at You came early. Yeah. Very. You came in the beta testing base. Yeah. And we were doing like heavy carries and stuff and it was simple shit mm-hmm. That people are even doing now with like high rocks and stuff.
You could do it at a high level, you do it at a low level. Mm-hmm. But you were one of the very first people I know that. Um, Andy Galpin, and a lot of these guys are talking now about like grip strength and you know, being able to carry your body weight. But you were doing that I feel like before a lot of this, yeah.
2014 man. Yeah. So it, here's the thing, right? What you're describing about chronic pain, it's so common that people think it's normal, but it's common, not normal. And they're different. Yeah. Yeah. Just because it's, it's kind of like obesity. Mm-hmm. It's common, it's not normal. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And, and so if we start to normalize things that are not normal, we run the risk of living the life that we would have to live if that thing was normal, which for people in chronic pain is they compromise.
That's the big thing. They're not actually, I imagine you deal with aches and pains on a regular basis. You trained jiujitsu. I've, I've trained standup martial arts. I bang my head into the floor as a CrossFitter for years. Played sports growing up, I. I deal with pain on a fairly regular basis. It's not actually about getting out of pain, it's about being able to live the life that you would live, even if pain wasn't a thing.
Mm-hmm. And that's where people get stuck. Yeah. Now when it comes to the stuff you're talking about, like the, the heavy carries and exercise is simple, man. Yeah, yeah. People have made it complicated, but like pick up heavy shit, carry it around, put it down, pick it up again, and you're probably gonna be better off for it afterwards.
Yeah. And I think, I think where we've done a disservice as the fitness industry is we've convinced everybody that it has to be a vanity play. That it has to be about looking good and taking your shirt off and all that stuff when I think the actual real benefit happens right away when you feel good during a class, when you're working out with somebody.
You know, we, I was talking about this yesterday. I was on a podcast with the guys from Cafe and Kilos, Denny yesterday, and we hits and a couple other guys, and we were talking about. You know, anybody in the CrossFit space, whether it was Rich Froning or the old lady down the block who just started CrossFit, the best part about it's a community.
So it's like that feel good communal aspect. And that's what I try to do with the event is like create this community aspect that I feel like doesn't exist amongst so many different modalities. Pilates, yoga. Mm-hmm. Weight training, high rocks, whatever modality you're training, whatever, uh, workout you're doing there.
We're all under the same mindset that I want to continuously do this. I want to eat right. I want to hang out with people who share the same mindset as me. That's why you go join a club. Like all these dinner clubs and stuff, you want to be around other people who probably kinda have the same income as you.
That, you know, you're into the same shit. It's like, it's a meetup group for people. I mean, that's how Comic-Con got started. Mm-hmm. It was a bunch of fucking dorks Who collected comic books? I was one of 'em. I went to the first one they ever had. Listen, the Dork who created it was at your event. Yeah. Gar is a stud.
Yeah. It's the best. Listen, people who people haven't been I'll speak right to the camera. Your, your event. This event is a must be at, I've been at your event since you were in the basement of Solace. Yeah. Yeah. And now you take over the glass house, 4,000 to 5,000 people come through. I don't think you can call yourself someone who's serious about health and fitness in New York if you don't go.
Yeah. I mean, that that was the, that was the idea behind it. I think you crushed that event. Yeah. And I, like, I've been, I've told you appreciate, I like, it's, it's prideful to tell people you're my friend. 'cause of how fucking awesome that thing has become. Yeah. Thank you. So that's cool. Yeah. Uh, but the. The thing about fitness is like, yeah, there's the glamor to it, and then there's also, there's this all or nothing mentality that people who don't do it have.
Mm-hmm. There's the fear that if I don't train at all, I mean if I, if I train the wrong way, I might as well just not train at all. And that's backwards. That's what I think. The fitness industry, frankly, has a lot to explain, uh, to the general public. We have some culpability in that. When we get stuck in this bubble of, I've been in fitness for 20 plus years, you've been in fitness for 20 plus years, our friends have, and then the stranger on the internet who wants to criticize what we talk about.
Now we get into the debate with that person when now the person who's watching that from a third party is like, I don't even know what's upside down. Yeah, yeah. I don't know what's up. And the reality is we need to just get out there and show them. If you just do something, you are so much closer to where you wanna be than doing nothing.
Yeah. And that's why for a while, even for myself, I shit on this and shit on that. And every once in a while I'll still fucking poke fun at some stuff, but. Whether you're using an app, you know, I think there's great apps out there, whether you are using an at home performance piece of equipment, if you're just rowing or walking or whatever, just do something.
Something will be the gateway drug. Because I tell PE everyone, even if you start with Pilates, yoga, whatever it is, you'll eventually get to this point where it's like, okay, what's the next level up? Mm-hmm. What's the next level up? And everyone arrives at that. Oh shit, I actually have to lift weights. Yep.
And that's where we come in, is like, oh shit, I need to learn how to do this stuff. Um, or you go to a big box gym, right? Like, I belong to two big box gyms here in the city. I got one in New Jersey. I, I love going to gyms. I love supporting what other people are doing that do the same thing as me. And I think that's where that scarcity mentality comes in.
With a lot of people in the fitness industry, there were for years, nobody would go to other people's gyms. Mm-hmm. You know. Two years ago, I took out a bunch of guys who own gyms here in the city and I was like, Hey, listen, we're not gonna do this alone. The goal isn't for me to steal your clients or your trainers.
I don't give a fuck to have them. There are millions of other people in the city who don't even think about eating, right. Who don't even think about the gym, who never even had a gym membership. That's the person I want. So I go, we need to collectively come together and say, Hey, we're doing this thing. We want you in on it.
Mm-hmm. You know? And I think that's where the world starts to change because I mean, even right now we have, there are so many people, I just heard this statistic the other day, that the average woman who doesn't get government support Yeah. Doesn't get snap, weighs like 140 pounds. The average woman who gets government support mm-hmm.
Weighs 211 pounds. Yeah. Which is fucking crazy. So it's like, alright, if the government's gonna support certain things, why don't they support gyms? Because if now they see this influx of people who are like, Hey, I need a gym membership. Right. Government subsidized. We, when they talk about jacking up the taxes and stuff, it's like, Hey, why don't you give us, why isn't this part of like the curriculum?
Well, that exercise part of, I can answer, I think I can answer that for you in a few ways. And I've actually never, I only I've ever spoken about this on a podcast before, so this'll be fun. I was speaking at an event in upstate New York a few years ago. We worked with the gym and we helped their personal training department go from like $18,000 a month to $73,000 a month.
Wow. With 60% of the staff. Right. That's great. A gold of all gyms. Really? Yes. One of the things we had them do is when people walked in, they scanned a a code and it asked them, which is most important to you, is becoming, you know, getting the body to be stage ready, losing weight, learning the equipment or getting outta pain, getting outta pain, got more votes and everything else.
Really, and it worked out. We were training the trainers to teach people to get outta pain. That's great. It was awesome. That's a good idea. Thank you. And so I speak in an event that this gym owner is putting on, and before me, before I speak goes Liz Clark. You know who Liz Clark is? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So she's the, she was the, uh, president of SSA at the time.
I figured what they call themselves now, FHA or whatever. Yeah, HFA. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And someone raised her hand and they were like, Hey, uh, why isn't personal training covered by health insurance? And she's, she's a lobbyist, so she's like, oh, we're on that. I'm, you're not fucking on that, but we're on that.
We're gonna make that happen. So I come up and I'm like, look, I didn't plan to talk about this day. I talk, my plan was to talk to you about how to make a personal training session So good that it's a marketing tool. Mm-hmm. But I want you guys to think for a second about why personal training isn't covered by health insurance.
I'm not even gonna convince you. I'm gonna let you convince yourself. Imagine that right now there's somebody walking into your gym. They have a hundred million people watching a live stream of what their experience is, a hundred million people, and there's someone else spinning a hopper, and out of that hopper is going to come, whichever trainer in your gym pops outta the hopper.
Mm-hmm. Do you want that session aired to a hundred million people at the same time? Raise your hand if you feel good about that. Yeah. No hands went up and I was like, stop asking for fucking handouts. Stop asking for insurance to cover what you do. It's not good enough. And that's not true for everybody.
Mm-hmm. But it was true for everybody in that room. Yeah. Who failed to put their hand in the head. Yeah. Yeah. The reason why health insurance and government is not subsidizing fitness is because unfortunately, as an aggregate, the fitness industry doesn't beat a pair of sneakers in the sidewalk. So they'd be better off saying, Hey, here's a pair of sneakers.
Go use them. Actively, they'd be better off making basketball courts more accessible. They'd be better off. Mm-hmm. Building public spaces where people can be physically active and it's safe. Yeah. Uh, as far as the, as far as the meth goes, but even here in the city, right, like, there's so much that goes into, uh, a lot of these parks and the streets and all this other bullshit.
I mean, you can't leave your car outside for more than five minutes without getting a fucking ticket on it. Mm-hmm. There should be more areas. I mean, like Madison Square Parks here, it's like if there was a little area where people could work out a hundred percent parks and stuff. I mean, I think that should be a city rec.
I start with Miami or one of these cities that's a little bit more user friendly and they do have that. I think you start here, it's already in la Yeah. It's, it's, no, but Miami got it too. They have a couple public areas and stuff. Yeah. I look, I think, uh, I wanna be clear. I think, I think that. The slu, like I'm, my thing is overcoming chronic pain using fitness as healthcare.
Mm-hmm. And I don't think there's anybody better situated to do that than the trainer, than the gym. That doesn't mean it's what you have to do if you're a trainer. And it doesn't mean that I believe a pair of sneakers is gonna be the trainer. That's not what I'm saying. Mm-hmm. But I'm saying I wanna make sure they understand if we Yeah.
If we're gonna subsidize anything. It's like the little denomin you start there. Right. And, and the other thing is this, um, the, like going back to the whole snap thing, I think it's a really interesting talking point. I went, I did, I did a little bit of a deep dive into that. And I think the weight for the women ended, Adam Corolla said 1 41.
Yeah. I think it was like one 70 or 1 74. But it's still a huge spread. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. So it's, why aren't we only subsidizing things that are additive to our lives? Why, why is soda available for subsidy? Why are processed foods available for subsidy? Why aren't organic apples available for subsidy?
It keeps the cycle going. It, I think that's the, that's possible. I think it comes down to, well, well you have food deserts, you have this and this, and it's how do we get the food there? I'm like, well, that's the problem to solve. Mm-hmm. Right. Like that's the problem to solve. Yeah. I don't think, I mean, do you believe in this like evil puppet master over the years?
No. It's incentives. Yeah. Yeah. It's, uh, George Carlin said it once, he's like, you don't have to get a bunch of rich people into a room to talk about the conspiracy. When the incentives align. They're just gonna act that way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I get, and I, I think that too, because there are so many people that believe in a lot of these, like conspiracy theories to get everyone to keep their mouth shut.
Mm-hmm. And to agree on one thing, it's crazy, is almost impossible. Yeah. Yeah. And, and not to mention like. We have to fall in line with that. Yeah. We'd have to be like, oh yeah, I'm so stupid. I'll just do with it. That's the thing that people don't want to talk about, unfortunately. And the thing that I think we help our clients with the most is personal responsibility.
Yeah. You know, I get a lot of crap from the market because I talk about how to solve these problems, and they're like, oh, sure, help trainers get rich. Helping people who can afford to work with them. But what about everybody else? I'm like, I'm not here to solve everybody's problems. Mm-hmm. But if we had a fitness industry where the average pay wasn't $19 an hour and it was actually closer to 50, 60, $70 an hour, and we're also talking about program design time, not just the time on the floor with the trainer.
We'd have smarter people, we'd have people who have more determination, more perseverance. Yeah. Getting into the fitness space, and we'd be taken more seriously. Well, and then I believe just like if you work in the, um, in the real estate industry, right? It's the, the. The barrier of entry is very low. Mm-hmm.
Similar to like being a trainer, when I could go online, I'm not saying I could, but there are a lot of people who are like, well, I was born with abs. I look pretty good. Mm-hmm. I got a great ass. Uh, yeah. Let me go online, take a bunch of pictures and tell everybody to buy my programming. Mm-hmm. I look at it the same way I look at defunding the police.
If you fund it, the more Yeah. You'd get a better quality police officer. Make it harder to get the job. Yeah. And it's the same thing with a trainer. It's like, if, if the barrier of entry was a little bit higher, then you wouldn't have as many, you know, low level Yeah. Employees and you have better people.
Look, the average trainer who comes to us when they come in, the biggest obstacle that they have, they know that they want to help people overcome pain. They have clients, they're dealing with aches and pains for years, and they're like, oh, we can keep modifying like this. Mm-hmm. And that's good, but they're frustrated.
They want to be able to help them get outta pain. The biggest issue they have when they come to us is. They don't think they can afford it. The average trainer who comes in is making like $3,200 a month when they come to work with us. Mm-hmm. That's across the country. If you're making $3,200 in New York City, you are living on somebody's couch.
Yeah, yeah. Right. By the time that they're done with their first year with us, the average person's making $7,600 and they're working fewer hours with clients who they enjoy working with. Mm-hmm. But it's a problem. It takes a while to get there. It does. You don't just like, you don't just, one of the things that drives me nuts, 'cause I hear what you're describing, is the way that businesses market to the trainer about how to get to what we're both talking about.
Being able to actually have a career doing this. It's meant to sound like it's fast and easy and the same trainer who would tell the client who needs to lose 50 pounds, it's not gonna be fast and it's not gonna be easy falls for that stupid shit. Mm-hmm. It's not gonna be fast for you either, and it's not gonna be easy for you either.
Yeah. You need to have three things. You gotta have, uh, a problem that you solve that people think is valuable. People aren't gonna pay a lot of money to get another pullup, not one-on-one at least. Mm-hmm. They might join a gym, but they're not gonna be paying you premium to get another pullup to increase their snatch.
Yeah. Yeah. None of that. There's are few and far between the family. Right. So that's, it's gotta be a valuable problem. Mm-hmm. Second is there have to be a lot of people who have that problem. So if you're, I don't know why I can't make a bunch of money, I'm helping people lose weight. It's like, well now we come to the third thing.
There can't be a lot of people offering that solution. So you need to be in a situation where you can make real promises to real people with real problems. Mm-hmm. Then you can solve where there aren't a ton of other people who can provide the same, the same thing. Well, I, you know, I'm preparing to have a big coaches meeting with my staff, both here and in New Jersey, and one of the points that I brought up to them and I continuously bring up to them is, how do we add value?
You need to one, solve the problem. Mm-hmm. Right. That we're guessing most people have. I think a big problem that most people have is accountability. They, you know, they're like, I wanna join a gym. I want to go, like, it's very hard for the average person to get off their couch or leave work or get outta bed in the morning and be like, I'm gonna go straight to the gym.
It takes a very strong-willed person, very mentally strong person to do that. The average person doesn't have that ability? No. So one, how do we keep them accountable? Mm-hmm. How do we provide for them and keep them consistent? And then how do you add value? Like, what is the reason why they would come?
Because it's, it can't, like I said, it can't be this vanity play. It can't be like, oh, I wanna be able to wear a bikini by summer. It's like, yeah, those people exist, but few and far between. What value, how much better could you make them feel on a daily basis? That's the problem we have to solve. And if somebody had already solved it.
Then we'd all be using that answer. But the problem is for each individual, I think it's different and you have to be there for that person because personal training is a a billion dollar business. Mm-hmm. You know, uh, there are companies online. I mean, there, I just saw an article in a Fit Insider.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are getting dumped into wellness projects and, you know, fitness startups and things like that. There. People want this stuff. I don't think there's that many people who are actually engaging in it. Like, I feel like it's the same people who are doing fitness. Is there more people in engaging, in working out and exercising from your standpoint?
Well, I don't know if you asked this question that's strong or if Eddie Herman asked this question in Strong, but one of you did and it was the questions of the panel of. Are more people working out or are the same people who are working out just doing more shit? Yeah. Yeah. And I think the answer falls more into the ladder.
I think it's more that people who are already in it are just doing more. Yeah. Yeah. Now we cold plunging and red lights, all the stuff and all that bullshit. I mean, I talked to, uh, Matthew Uck Moic Ball Okay. Last week. I dunno if you know who they're, Matthew owns a company called Escape Fitness. Mo owns Sweat Works Escape Fitness.
So they make equipment. Yeah. Equipment. Yeah. And then, and then Mo owns Sweat Works, which does a bunch of the, uh, the back of the, the tech backbone of companies like Peloton. Okay. Big company. So I actually have one of those escape boxes. I love that. Fucking Yeah. It's a good company. Yeah. So their, their podcast is called Lift.
And we were talking about the red light rooms, the recovery rooms and stuff like that, that gyms are putting in. And I, my my argument was like, that's never gonna beat this. Yeah. Like the, who are you putting that in for? And once you start doing that, it's a race to the bottom, like every other fitness thing is.
Mm-hmm. Because now the new model comes out, the gym down the block has the new model, and they're charging less money than you are charging. Yeah. You have to go get the new model and lower your prices if that's your value prop. Well, as a guy who owns gyms, right? Mm-hmm. And you know, actually next week when I go down to Florida, I'm, I lined up like three or four different interviews with a couple different gym owners.
Nice. And obviously in Miami, everything's the new, the shiny the better. Mm-hmm. The newer piece of equipment, the updated series, whatever it may be, so many people are like, oh, why don't you have a sauna and a coal plunge? I'm like, the drain on your wallet. Mm-hmm. For the return on investment is never there.
No. It's not there. Well, we should go back and talk about what you're talking about with your team tomorrow. Do you have a, do you already have a planned how they can add more value? No, I don't. So my question is to them, what do you, where have you seen. You guys add value and how can we add more? Well, I'll share with you what we do, and I, I don't, I don't suggest that we've cracked the code and that everyone should do what we do.
Yeah. But it's working. I mean, like we, we have a waiting list. We're four times the price of the next most expensive gym in our town. Mm-hmm. And we're opening our second location. Yeah. We know what every single client identifies as success for themselves. So it's, you ask them what they feel success is, what does success look like for you?
If we do a great job and you do a great job here, what's different about your life as a result, Uhhuh. And they might say like, oh, I'm able to go on a hike in Patagonia. Oh, I'm able to cook for three hours without having to sit down. I'm able to walk down the whatever, whatever it's, and then we say, okay, we need to make sure that you're able to do that.
And. We need to put that on the calendar. And then everything that our team does is in the direction of the client being able to do those things. Mm-hmm. Everyone on staff knows what that client's trying to accomplish. And so when they're having conversations with the client, they're not just about how you feel 'em today, how is that workout?
You're getting stronger. Great job. It's, Hey, how's your confidence that you're going to be able to do this? And as people become more and more aware of what they're working towards and there's meaning to it, it it just, it's easy for them to continue to come in. It's easy for them to continue to pay, and it's easy for them to justify working with us instead of going somewhere else where they would've to motivate themselves.
Yeah. So to, to make it really simple, understanding not just like, what's your client's goal? How does their life look different when they achieve that goal? And then working them towards that life, not that goal. Well, even for yourself, right? Because I'm sure you probably haven't paid for a gym in a long time.
Mm-hmm. Um, but. Are there things in your life that you pay a premium for, that you're like, you know what, if this was $10,000 more, I'd still pay for it. Yeah. So for instance, like me, like I got a new car last year mm-hmm. And I haven't had a car in 10 years, 'cause I've been living here and now I have the gym in Jersey, so I gotta go back and forth.
My car costs me a thousand dollars a month. Mm-hmm. Not to mention what I pay for the lot and mm-hmm. Tolls and all the other bullshit, insurance, gas in everything. Right. So it probably cost me an extra $3,000 a month mm-hmm. For my car. Mm-hmm. But every time I get in this thing, I mean, get Ask Chrisy, I'm like, I fucking love this thing.
Yeah. You get, I got a Land Cruiser. Okay. And I'm, and I love like, the idea behind a land cruiser, like you could drive it into a fucking wall, back it up and drive it off. Um, so for me it's like, it's the same way I look at my clothes. I, I just want everything to be more functional, like function over fashion for me.
Mm-hmm. Um, but. You know, I'm, I said, I was like, if it was a couple extra a hundred bucks, I wouldn't even mind paying for it. Mm-hmm. The same way I look at gym memberships, right. Like, I, there's a gym two blocks up from my apartment. I pay for the services in my building. They suck the gym in my building.
It's absolutely shit. I tried to work with them to like change it out and stuff, but they're horrible. But there's a gym two blocks up. I'm like, two 50 a month, no problem. Mm-hmm. Because I like the gym. It's got great equipment, you know, and it's two blocks from my apartment. Yeah. And when I'm here, I'm doing what he's doing.
I'm cleaning up, I'm putting shit away. I'm, so, it's like every once in a while, it's like eating at your own restaurant every fucking day. Yeah. Yeah. So for me, I'm like, all right, ival. Those are the things I value. What are, what are some of the things in your life that you value, that you're paying attention?
There's a lot. I mean, one of the things I, I did. Paid for three times a week, one-on-one training for martial arts. Okay. Because I was like, I don't, I don't need you do that too. I don't need some 16-year-old to show up here and kick the shit outta me, my own from a porch, uh, when my daughters are of the age, right?
Mm-hmm. So I went and learned how to take care of myself. Uh, I get a haircut every Friday. Missed last Friday. So I look a little, little, little scratch today. No, I mean, I, I'm just gonna say, you always are like, put together. We'll be there tomorrow. Yeah. Listen, when I started going to the guy, it was 17 bucks a haircut.
Yeah. And one day fight breaks out at the barbershop. He's like, can you believe that happened? I'm like, yeah, man, I, I can actually, it's $17 for a haircut. He's like, what do you recommend? I do. I'm like, Jack your prices up. He's like, really? Everything. I would lose all my clients. I'm like, no, bro. Those clients, yeah.
The ones who just tussled in the back. Yeah. I think that's okay. Now I pay 45 bucks a haircut every single Friday. Uh, my food, I don't skimp on food. You know, I got four kids, my wife, myself, I buy a half a cow from Onic Farms every single year. Sits in our freezer, it costs like 3000 bucks. And I wouldn't do it any other way.
You gotta gimme that number 'cause I would do that too. I'll, I'll get you connected. You could buy a half a cow, a full cow, a quarter cow, or a box a month, or just steaks. Do it however you want. That's great. Yeah, it's awesome. I love that This episode is powered by Celsius. Now, whether you're in the gym or you're on the run, or hey, you're just doing a podcast, grab yourself a can of Celsius and live fit.
Um, my clothes, I mean, I'm wearing jeans and a sweatshirt right now, but they're, are those vivos? Uh, no, these are regos. Uh, there's so many companies. Yeah. So I got, you know, let me, the jeans are comfortable. They feel good to be in the sweatshirt is my own company. I'm wearing my own brand. Yeah. It's like we're not buying cheap crap.
There's, to me, I don't spend money on a lot of things. And so when I do spend money on those things, I want them to be the best version of those things I can get my hands on. Are you, uh, are you like a luxury guy? Do you like watches and shit like that? Not. You know, I'm not, I'm not into that. 'cause I just, I'd lose them.
Yeah. You know, I, I've never been like a, a name, like a no. A brand guy, designer, fashion shit. I, I literally own nothing. Designer. Yeah. For me it's about the experience. So it's like, like this year, um, I really wanted to see active life, take a big step forward. Mm-hmm. A big step. I'm like, the only way I can take a big step is if I'm not the guy.
Like, I can be the guy, but I can't be the guy doing all the things. Mm-hmm. I can't pull that lever. Push that button. Yeah. Take that call. So I, uh, I told the staff, I'm like, I'm out January and February, like, just not gonna be here. Mm-hmm. I went, I took my family to Granada, Spain. Okay. And we lived in Spain from January 1st until February 14th.
What did you do with the kids? With school? Just took 'em out. Damn. Wait, listen. They're gonna learn a lot more. Yeah. Walking the streets of Granada. Agree. I agree. Uh, so. Like that was expensive. You know, we got a house with a sick view and walking distance to town and to the, like, that's the kind of stuff I wanna spend my money on.
Yeah. Yeah. Uh, but if I, like a gym is gonna open in my town soon, I actually heard. Mm-hmm. I'll probably join. The only reason I don't go to the other gyms in town is because I used to run that training department, and when we opened our own place, they didn't want me to be a client there anymore, so I Okay.
What's gonna open up over by you? I heard a crunch. A crunch? Yeah. Okay. I'm not like buzzing about a crunch. Yeah, yeah. But I'll take it. Yeah. No. For me, even I, I've never been like a Gold's Gym guy, but this, we, this past week we went out to, um, Austin. Mm-hmm. They opened up this beautiful brand new gold gym.
It had all gym 80 equipment mm-hmm. And hammer string stuff. And I'm like, they did a really fucking nice job with this place. Traditionally for me, I always like, I've never been a, a, a commercial gym guy. Mm-hmm. I'd rather always support them on the past Yeah. Type shops. Um, but I think people are starting to realize like, hey, okay.
You know, and it's good because there's a price point for everybody. Mm-hmm. I like a gym where it's a little bit more boutique. My friend, uh, I know a buddy of mine who's opened up a gym this weekend. We're go, we're, I'm bringing a bunch of people out. Uh, they have three gyms in New Jersey. Uh, they're a little bit pricier than the, a regular commercial gym, but it's a, it's a great gym, but mm-hmm.
They put a lot into it. Are you seeing a lot of places in Long Island opening up and you're like, all right, how's everybody gonna survive? Or is the hope that more people are gonna start to engage in fitness? I think there's enough people to engage in fitness. Yeah. That when these places open up, everybody is gonna be able to be fine.
Yeah. The issue I see is that right now, the people who are actually delivering the fitness, the coach in most places. Isn't making enough money to stay the coach. Mm-hmm. And even if they're staying the coach without the money, it's 'cause they're doing something else to make a living, which means they're not the best coach they could be.
Yeah. I'd like to see the fitness industry really level up and create careers for coaches without having to work 32 to 35 floor hours a week to make enough money. I mean, you worked at Equinox. I worked at Equinox. Yeah. You, the more you do, the more you get paid and eventually you just burn, you burn out.
Yeah. And the way that most of that stuff works is if I'm the PTM, the personal training manager, I hit my bonus, I get paid, I don't hit my bonus, I'm eating ramen. Mm-hmm. Right. It's like it's, it's feast and famine for these people Yeah. In these businesses. And so if I'm the personal training manager and you are my best performing trainer, and I'm six sessions away from making bonus, I'm not gonna go to Liz.
Who's getting her ass kicked every month doing nine sessions a week and be like, Hey, you can get six more before the month's out. I'll be like, Kenny, can you squeeze six? And you're gonna say, yeah, I can squeeze six. And then you're gonna get those six. And over time, you and I are gonna resent each other because I keep leaning on you.
You're getting paid. I feel like, why wouldn't you be happy? Yeah. Yeah. And you're like, bro, get someone else to do some sessions around here. And there's just a cap on it. So we teach at least our, our, our thesis is that a trainer needs to be able to, like anybody, if you can't live your housing costs with 30% of what you earn or less, you can't do that thing for a career.
Well, I listen, I think that's a problem across the board in all industries now, maybe. I think there's so many people I'm focused on one. Yeah. But there's so many people have different jobs in every industry. Mm-hmm. That they're like, I need a second job. I mean, I was talking to a woman the other day. It's like she's got a full-time job and she's got a side hustle.
And, and it's impressive. She's like two kids. I'm like, how the fuck do you have time? Well, I think that, I think people like you, people like me, have the unique opportunity to turn that around. Mm. We're, we're trying, we're both trying to create something that's more meaningful than a place where people can come and work out.
And we can make a buck. Of course. Yeah. And so if our staff can make the kind of living where they don't have to work any other job, and our expectation is that they're gonna be so excellent at this, that they're hard for us to replace. So we pay them enough that they want to stay, we treat them the way that they want to stay.
We can show other business owners that they can do the same thing. Yeah. Nobody who works at Active Life has another job. Mm-hmm. No, I te I, somebody was asking me, they were like, oh, now that Manny's the mayor, he's gonna require everybody to get paid $3 an hour. I'm like, I'm already paying everybody over three an hour.
Yeah. I go, that's not the problem. I go, the problem is getting taxed more. Yeah. That becomes the fucking issue. And it's not, not like I gotta worry about the 2% because it's not like I'm making fucking $5 million a year, but Yeah. For the, yeah. I, yeah. Hopefully, um, well, pretty soon they'll be taxing you on revenue, not on profit, which is in I'm, I, I mean, I don't know if that's true.
I'm just, it it makes sense for that fucking mindset. Yeah. There's a bigger thing I think for people who are excited about, like the socialism of the, the government movement. If you take the person who is successful, who worked their way to being successful, not even talking about like a nepo baby, right?
If somebody's looking at a business owner who's making a lot of money, and they're like, that's the person who's the problem, you'll never become that person. Anything like that person. Yeah. Yeah. And if you got to meet those people, you'd be like, oh, these are actually the most charitable giving mm-hmm.
Unselfish people I've ever met, but. If you cast them as bad and you think like that's where we've gotta take from, you'll never get anywhere near the level that they're at. Yeah. And that's really what you want. You want the freedom that you think that those people have. Well, and I think that's another problem is that we have this idea that success is now evil.
Mm-hmm. I have clients who are billionaires and worth hundreds of millions of dollars, who worked their ass off, who came from nothing. Mm-hmm. But I also have clients who are fucking nepo babies who never had to fucking have a job like this guy. Right. And they're, the actual problem is somebody who's never had to work for it, who never earned it, you know?
And when people are like, oh, they have to give all their money away. It's always somebody who has the same amount of money telling everybody else to give their money away. Even, even in that world, even with the Nebo baby who's got all the money, who you know, didn't earn it on their own. Right. They're not the reason that the person who's not earning enough isn't earning enough.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course. Like I, I were you, you probably had a similar experience. I spent 80 to 90 hours a week in the gym. Yeah, I still did in my clinic, but, and earned $30,000 a year for it. Yeah. Yeah. Like I did that for years and it was never, oh man, LeBron James makes too much money. That's why I can't make money.
It, the reason I ended up being successful is because I was surrounded by people who would consistently say, what do you think you need to change? What do you think you need to do different? I read a book years ago. You read a book? I think it was called Book. Yeah. No, I actually just listened to it. I didn't read it all right.
Um, but it was called Most Millionaires. Okay. I believe. And it was just how the average American millionaire. Was just somebody who saved and worked. Mm-hmm. And everybody thinks that most millionaires are these celebrities or mm-hmm. And a lot of those people that get fast cash end up losing it. Yeah.
Because they don't know what to do with it. But somebody who grinds and works their ass off and does what you did, you kind of climbs your way up the ladder. Those are the people who stay millionaires. I hope so. Because, yeah, because, but you, you know what it's like, you know, Rogan had said something on a podcast one time, he goes, I never want to be broke again, because I know what that feels like.
Mm-hmm. And then I was talking to somebody the other day and they, I forget where else I heard it, but they were basically saying that everyone should be broke at least once. Mm-hmm. You should know what it feels like to walk into a Starbucks and not be able to order what you want. Yep. Or not be able to pay for what you want, because it's a, it's a cheap luxury.
But it's still six, seven, $8, whatever it is for a fucking coffee now at Starbucks. But to know that you can't afford that and that you need to work for it, and you can't just go and like, stomp your feet and yell at the fucking government that you can't afford it. It's like, well, or how's this? Go get a fucking job.
Work your ass off. And how many jobs have you had as a younger guy or even later on in life that you didn't wanna work, but you were like, I need to have this job to make money. Yeah. A lot. A lot. I didn't wanna be a busboy. No. Right. I I, I didn't wanna be a bartender. I wouldn't even wanna be a security guard.
I didn't want to hang sheet rock. I didn't wanna fucking mow lawns. Right. There was a lot of shit I did in it. The, what's interesting that I, that I see a lot is as trainers start to make more money mm-hmm. Trainers are my favorite people. Let me just put that out there because I think that they have such an opportunity to help other people, and it's so cool to watch 'em be successful as we see trainers start to go from 3,230 $400 a month to 6,000, 7,000, 10,000, $12,000 a month.
What comes up is when does this end? Mm-hmm. Like when does the bottom fall out? And so the reason why I think it's useful, what you're describing to go from here to here, wherever here is, and wherever here is, is because you get to experience every single emotion on the ladder. You get to feel what it's like to make this much money and be able to do these things.
And you have to learn how to budget with this much money to do these things, and you make more. And it's like, is this all gonna go away? And eventually you get to become the person who understands how to make that much money. Anytime you wanted to. Right. Like if, if, if everything went to hell in a hand basket right now, and my company was gone, God forbid Right.
Knock on wood for me to get to making a few million dollars a year again, and I don't even mean personally, I mean, in a business I know how to do that. Mm-hmm. That's not a hard thing for me to do anymore. You could replicate it. What's that? You could replicate it. Yes. So when someone says like, I don't know how to get to a hundred thousand dollars, I know how to do that.
I've done that in my sleep. Mm-hmm. I, it took me eight years of making 30. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To get there. Yep. And then there are people who make tens of millions, hundreds of millions, like you described, who would look at the problems that I'm having and be like, dude, this is so simple. Why don't you just do this?
So it never ends. And it's not about the money, it's about being able to solve different kinds of problems mm-hmm. That level you up as a human. I agree. And I, I, I can't, I can't. What do you think the turning point was for you in your business? Because you started out as. You know Cairo? Mm-hmm. Physical therapist.
You got into the CrossFit space, you owned a gym. Mm-hmm. You know, then you started your company, but there were definitely some years of struggle there. Yeah. Where it's like you had to figure it out. What do you think the tipping point of the turning point was for you? I think you were there, I think you were there.
Um, flex on the beach. 2018. I think it was 2018. No, 20, 20 17. It was either 16 or 17. Doesn't matter the year before it rained. And every year we did it, it had grown and grown and grown, including the year that it rained, but it rained like two thirds of the way through the event. I'm like, well, we're gonna go like, no, no, no.
Noble. Like, just train. You're fine. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, we're not giving away a million dollars to the champ here. Right. Like, if you wanna stop, stop. You paid a hundred bucks. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, um, the next year we expected it to grow again. It didn't. Yeah. Uh, in fact, it lost 26,000, 26 or $27,000 the next year.
And I remember I'm still making like $30,000 a year, working 80, 90 hour weeks. I got a kid now and my wife had saved $15,000 and put it into the bank account so that we could one day buy a house. I owed $13,000 to the people who we had made commitments to. Yeah. So I had to come home and I, dude, I fucking cried like a, like a child afraid my wife was gonna leave me.
Yeah. Because I'm like, I lost almost all of the money that you've saved, and I'm sorry. And like, she hugged me. She's like, you my penny stock. We'll figure it out. Uh, and that was like a, my wife deserves better from me. My kid deserves better from me. I'm better than this. Something has to change. That was the huge.
Turning point for me. Yeah. Then things started to get better. They weren't good yet. Hired a mentor and he goes, Sean, if you want to be more successful in business, you have to become a better person. I was like, what are you talking about, dude? I treat everybody how I want to be treated. He's like, that's the problem.
You're a fucking psychopath. People don't wanna be treated like you. Yeah. It's like, oh, okay. How do they wanna be treated? He's like, that's your, you gotta find out. Like, how do I find out? I was like, you ask, how do I ask? He's like, now you're asking better questions. So that was the first year I ever meet a hundred thousand dollars.
Where'd you find this guy? He was a member of my gym. No shit. Yep. Was it like a life coach or something? No, he just sold the business for eight figures and I was like, he probably knows stuff. Yeah. So he like, the thought was, he's gonna teach me business. He taught me no business. No business. Yeah. He was like, you just are a poorly managed adult and that's why you're struggling.
Did you listen to Laird Hamilton and Gabby Reese talk about the guy that they hired? No. So they had hired a guy, I forget I was it Quin or somebody? Somebody like Uber famous and they basically, he did the same thing. Mm-hmm. They thought he was gonna come in and teach them how to get better. Mm-hmm.
Strength and conditioning and their sport. And they were like, no. He made us like, he's like, oh, you're sleep this way, sleep this way. Mm-hmm. Oh, when you go here, do this. Like, and he had them doing obscure shit and then they were like, it all made sense at the end. He shaped their identity. Yeah. That we, we have a mutual friend, I won't name her in case she doesn't wanna be named, who is talking to me about all these aches and pains she's having.
Yeah. And she's like, do you think peptides will work for me? Do you think physical therapy? Do you think this? I'm like, slow down. What's the biggest stressor in your life right now? She's like, it's my business, like far away my business. Yeah. So I said, okay, let's stress about your business. When we start talking about our business mm-hmm.
She's like, what? Like what is this A psychology call, like a life coaching call. What are you doing? I'm like, I'm just taking a call on a Sunday from someone who's a mutual friend. Yeah, yeah. With somebody else. And, uh, I was like, everything the physical therapist is doing with you is right. They're doing anything wrong.
The reason you're not getting better is you have all these issues in your business that are becoming bleed over issues into your life mm-hmm. That are causing you to live in constant fight or flight. So you're not recovering, you're not sleeping the way you think you're sleeping, you're not digesting the way you think you need to digest.
How do we solve the smallest business problem? Mm-hmm. We solved the smallest business problem. I said, what's the next business problem? We solved the next business problem. And two weeks later she's like, yeah. Feels so much better. Better. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, oh, that's cool. Yeah. I, I think people don't realize how much stress mm-hmm.
In your nervous system takes a beating when you're not dude, doing the things you need to do. Someone ran through, uh, blue Zones, which I've, I think that there's some nonsense to Blue Zones. Yeah. But they ran through chat, GPT. Like, organize all the data from Blue Zones and tell me what the defining factor that actually helps these people live so long is, and it was like all the stuff is nonsense.
Chronic stress. Yeah. The less chronic stress these people have, the longer they live and the easier they live that long. I 100% believeable and there is, and, and this is where our business is coming in, there are ways to diminish that stress mm-hmm. By exercise and moving more and things like that. When I am coming here with a full head of steam and I'm pissed off and I'm angry and I feel like shit, a little bit of movement or a little bit of rest, or the two things that will constantly help me, it's That works for you and it's good that that works for you.
Yeah. That usually doesn't work for me. Yeah. Because I'm just like, no, they're gonna solve the fucking problem. This is not helping me solve the problem. Being here. Moving weight like that we're, I love lifting weight. Helps me stay calm on a regular basis. Mm-hmm. Um, but I think this is where, what helps you Going for a walk by myself, like laying down by myself.
Just thinking, being allowed to just like have all of the thoughts go through my head and evaluate them. Ask myself, is that a real thought? Mm-hmm. Or is that just something that popped up? Do you have to act on that? Do you not have to act on that? I'll give you an example. Recently got sued by a, yeah.
Small claims court, but still get sued by this chick who says she was in a photo shoot in 2021 and we used the photo without the license. I'm like, lady, how do you think I got the photo? I paid a guy to go do a photo shoot. He got releases from you and I bought the photos from him. Mm-hmm. Now I don't have the releases.
Never got 'em. 2021. Life was crazy. He said he had 'em, whatever he, he back and forth. Right. Okay. The first thing that comes up for me is I have to kill her. Like she has to be off. Yeah. You know, I That would be easy. Huh? That would easy. But I got the letter and it was like, it's, it was for $5,000. It wasn't like a huge thing, but I'm like, no, it's the principle of it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the first thing I did was hire a lawyer who cost me $6,800 to not pay her $5,000, because that was my impulse. Mm-hmm. I'm like, no, we're in a fist fight. We're gonna win. I'm not gonna pay you a dollar. I'll pay 20 grand to pay you nothing. Yeah, yeah. Right. I'm, I'm kind of an asshole like that too, but, so that was the wrong decision.
Uh, I could have written her letter myself. I could have calmly handled that all myself. Mm-hmm. When we ended up going to court, I went myself, I didn't bring a lawyer with me. I was calm, but I only got that by going on like an hour long walk by myself. Mm-hmm. Thinking about like, why are you angry about this?
Like, why, why do you really care about this? And the reason I really cared about it was like, I just don't want someone to think that they can get one over on me. That was it. And so it's like, okay, so let's say she does get one over on you. Let's say the judge comes down and says, you were wrong, Sean.
She's right. Even though she has zero damages to show for you owe her five grand. Does does that change anything about who I am, how our company operates? What's different the next day? Because that happened? Yeah. The answer, nothing. So why are you making, why are you allowing this to occupy your brain all day every day?
Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, I know, I mean, there's definitely times that shit eats away at me. I mean, I was arguing day in and day out with uh, con Edison and then I got a letter from a woman who never even took class here who said that we threw away something that belonged to her here. And I was like, yeah. And I got a bill from the Better Business, uh, of Letter from the Better Business Bureau.
I was like, what? People still use that? Yeah, we go through the system, we're like, this woman's never even fucking been here. Mm-hmm. And it was just nonsense. But yeah, I get the same way. I mean, but so for, for some people, like maybe for you coming in and working out solves that. Yeah. For me that would be a bad workout that day.
Uh, I'd be frustrated that it was a bad workout the whole time I was working, I'd be thinking about the thing. Mm-hmm. And then afterwards I'd be like, why did you go work out instead of thinking about the thing and solving the thing? So that would be a spiral for me. Mm-hmm. For a lot of people coming in and blowing off that steam is great.
Yeah. It's, it's just not how I operate. Uh, and I think that that's another really good thing for coaches to be thinking about when, when they're talking to clients is asking them, how do you best process this kind of stress? And if they say, go in for a walk, it's like, well then instead of training today, why don't you go for a walk?
Mm-hmm. And then you'll come in and train tomorrow. And if they say, I need to work out, great. Get in here. Let's do. But I think that's an area where we as fitness professionals and all I have, have a tendency to take our own experiences and project them onto other people and think that that's gonna work for them.
And when people get listened to and offered solutions that meet them where they are, they're more than happy to pay a premium for it. So I noticed you've been doing a lot of stuff on the, uh, boardwalk in Long Beach asking about fitness I know. Stuff. And then you've been doing out here one, I'm sure you've gotten some people getting pissed off because I thought I was gonna get stabbed today.
Yeah. Because it's a little close to the, uh, the right wing kind of agenda or, which is crazy. Yeah. Which, I mean, anything that may, I had a hat that said Make America Strong again. Just Yeah. Kind of ripping off some good marketing. Um, I don't wanna wear that around here. No. Uh, but what's the, what's the goal with it?
What is, so first things first may. Of 2024, I ordered a podium, a green screen, uh, Sean Pasti for President Make America healthy again. And in June, RFK came on and started making America healthy again. So I didn't get to use any of that. I have a purple hat that says Make America healthy again. That I ordered before RFK was in the administration.
And my buddy Larry was like, you better run with that. 'cause it's a good saying. Yeah. I'm not suggesting for one second that they got it from me. Yeah, yeah. It's just that's where my head was, right? Yeah. I think everybody was starting to point in that direction. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, so the reason I do that is.
There's several. One, I'll start with the selfish one, so people don't think I'm full of shit. I want people to know I'm really fucking good at what I do. Mm-hmm. I'm really good at it. So when people come to ask me questions and bring their problems, I'm able to have conversations with them that I think for a lot of people are aspirational level, question asking and conversation back and forth.
I want them to know I've got it like that. Mm-hmm. Second, I want people who are out in public who don't think that they have a way to actually get healthy again. To get advice that they don't have to get from the internet and not know if it's someone who just woke up with abs and was like, we, cell fitness program.
Mm-hmm. So I get to really help people that way. I like, it's been really cool. There was one chick, uh, Chrissy, who came up to me on the boardwalk. She's like, I'm intimidated by the weights. I don't know what to do in the gym. I joined like, I really dunno what to do. I'm like, why don't you hire a trainer nurse?
She's like, they're expensive and I don't really think they're that good. I was like, okay, if I set aside some time and offer it to you for free, would you allow me to take you through your first training session? I was like, yeah. So she came in, we documented the whole thing, and now she understands how to use weights.
That's great. Which is super cool. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, and then the last reason is there are, well probably not the last one, but the next good one. There are people online who are looking for just basic information. They're not looking for science-based fitness, they're not looking for, according to studies. I don't know.
The studies. Yeah. Yeah. I can apply the content from the studies if someone wants to tell it to me better than the next person, but I'm not, I'm not quoting studies on the boardwalk. No. 'cause I know people think, I don't believe there's all these people who are reading all these studies, dude. Headlines.
Headlines. Everyone. Everyone is a science-based lifter. A science-based trainer, science-based. And a random study mm-hmm. Is just that. Well, it's very random. It's like if I took the three of us, right? Oh, uh. I read a study about three guys in a gym and every one of them was able to bench press 2 25. It's like, alright.
Could I get a little more background on that? You know what, uh, science-based lifting reminds me of like the whole science-based movement. You remember the Indiana Jones movie when the guy pulls out the Swords and he's and Indiana Jones fucking shoots him. Yeah. It's like Jack's people and then science-based.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like it works. Yeah. Yeah. Arnold didn't read the research. I know. He just went and lifted. Mm-hmm. Right. Uh, and I don't think there's nothing wrong with him. It's just, it's just this, this thought process around like everything you've been doing is wrong. Oh yeah. It's been working. Yeah, it's been working.
Yeah. Why don't you research why it's working instead of researching what would work. I don't know if you saw, uh, you know the bro science guy Don Ti? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I dunno. His real name. Mike something. Yeah. Yeah. He made an amazing video, like 22 minute long of a guy. Actually, I, I like Mike Ertel. He is under a lot of crap right now.
Yeah. He is taking a lot of shit. Nick Shaw, his business partner is a friend of mine. Mm-hmm. No, no shade in their direction at all. I like those guys. The video that Dom TTI made that was like science based versus bro science based, bro science always win. It was like this 22 minute video. Yeah. That had me cackling really crushed it and I'm like, yeah, that, that's, that's all true.
Yeah. No, I mean for me it's like I get asked a lot of questions and then people are like, well, what do you think? I go, well, here, lemme put it to you this way. I've had the privilege of working out with Michael Hern a couple times. Mm-hmm. There are so many people that are like, oh, he doesn't know what he is doing.
He doesn't know what he is doing. I go, lemme tell you something, that guy is only 60. He looks better than anyone else who've ever seen. Right. Like, unbelievable. The guy's been a bodybuilder for. 40 years. Yeah, 50 years looks absolutely insane. Whatever he's doing, I want to do that. Yeah. And I don't give a fuck what the science-based guys say, because I don't, anybody who's science-based doesn't look half as good as Henry.
No. Well, what I love is like that in the longevity space. Like this is how you live for a hundred years. My thing is like, you wanna learn how to live for a hundred years? Talk to somebody who did it. Yeah. Yeah. But there's none, there's none of them left. So everybody else is guessing. Yeah. Yeah. Right. None of the people who live to a hundred years are writing books about how they did it.
'cause they just woke up and we're the person who would. Mm-hmm. This episode is powered by Celsius. Now, whether you're in the gym or you're on the run, or hey, you're just doing a podcast, grab yourself a can of Celsius and live fit. Perfect example, just from the studies that I've seen ak the, the 42 years I've been alive.
My father never drank, smoked, never drank. My other uncle never did anything. I've never seen him smoke a cigarette. I've never seen him have a drink. I've never seen him do. The only person who's still alive is my dad's oldest brother, who's 83. Mm-hmm. I've never seen him sober. I've never seen him without a cigar in his mouth.
Guy, knock on wood, I love him to death. He's 83 years old. He's the biggest fucking degenerate you've ever met, fed. No stress. And that's why my father right. Stressed outta his brains chain smoke, died at 69. My uncle, who never did anything ball of fucking stress his whole life died at 61. Mm-hmm. So if you ask me what I think, like we said, I mean, it's the stress.
It's, you could do everything right, but if you were not taking care of yourself on a daily basis, if you are, you know, not de-stressing mm-hmm. And finding whatever, whether it's fucking, or it's exercising or it's going for a walk. I like all three of those things. Yeah, me too. Me too. I can engage in all three as often as possible.
Yeah. Um, but. If you're not doing these things that you, and I think that's where I try to teach people to find something that makes 'em feel good. Like the other day, somebody's like, well, you're a trainer. Why are you smoking cigars? I'm like, 'cause it relaxes me. I want to, I love it. Yeah. Why? I don't give a fuck what fucking want do it.
I'm like, I am so chill when I'm fucking having a cigar. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, well, the, the, the, uh, this is, this is where I think trainers really have an opportunity is like, ask people the questions to help them get to know themselves. Mm-hmm. So well that they, their stress about who they thought they needed to be goes away.
Yeah. And then they can get amazing workouts. But what happens is nobody needs you to write them better workouts. They need you to help them execute whatever workouts in front of them. Mm-hmm. And a big way that we can do that is by helping them recognize who they are, accept their weaknesses, work on their strengths, not the opposite.
And just lean into that. You know what Ryan De. No, he founded a company called, uh, some, some, some marketing company. I don't remember what it was called. Doesn't matter. He talked about something called Achar. Uh, a character triangle. A character diamond. Your best characteristics like this is what you're uniquely good at.
Your weakness, your guiding principle and your quirk. He talked about Superman and he is like, when Superman came out, nobody liked him. Boring strength and guiding principle. And we're like, okay, so the good guy wins. Cool. They added a weakness kryptonite. And then they were like, oh, now women thought Superman was cool.
Like, oh, guys handsome. He's vulnerable though. He's he's vulnerable to, to kryptonite, so there's some suspense there. Guys hated him 'cause they couldn't beat him. They couldn't beat him. So then they added a quirk guy can't get checks. Right. Clark can can't talk to chicks. Yeah. Now guys were like, ah, Superman's awesome.
Can't get laid. Yeah. I could help him with that, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And everyone liked him. Well, now humanized him. Well, right. But so now what I'm talking about is we look at ourselves and we're like, okay, I am really good at this, but I'm really bad at this. This is what I really want to achieve. I have this quirk, I gotta work on this quirk and this thing I'm really bad at.
And it's like, no, you're focused on the two wrong things. Mm-hmm. Go all in on what you're already amazing at and become world class at it, and lean into your guiding principle and everything will work itself out. Yeah. I talked to my sister-in-law about this, like, she's going through a moment in her life and she keeps on thinking about what she's not right.
Like, oh, I, I don't have this, I used to have this, I don't have this anymore. I gotta get better at this. All that stuff. I'm like, do you, I think you're awesome because. Like you don't know these things and you do know these things and you're great at these things. And I like it for 'em. Mm-hmm. I think if we all leaned into our character diamond, we better off.
I like that. I like that idea a lot. I tend to self deprecate because I think there's sometimes people are like, oh my God. I mean, even people here, like you got everything. You're the, I'm like, okay, I'm clearly painting the wrong picture on social media that I have fucking money and all these things. And I think going back to like the whole CrossFit thing, one of the things that I admired or the person I admired, I always liked Jason Khalifa more than mm-hmm.
Froning because you've seen them lose and you've seen them win. And I think it's so important to. Not only share your successes online, like I think the, a big problem I see with trainers is that they all think they have to be like ballers. Mm-hmm. It's almost like the idea behind a rapper. Yeah. Yeah. Like you have to pretend that you're killing it and that you're doing so well and that you do all these things.
And that's why I, I self-deprecate sometimes, especially on the podcast and stuff, because I'm like, well, no, I, I lost my first two gyms. Mm-hmm. Right. And everybody was like, oh, you have two gyms. I go, yeah, but you didn't see the other two I lost. Mm-hmm. Right. And, you know, you don't see all the other bullshit.
So it's, it's good to paint a more realistic picture. 'cause then I think you do get more buy-in from other people. Yeah. Well, look, fronting was a client of mine, Khalifa and Froning, I both consider friends right now. And both of those guys have gone through so much failure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. On the way to where they are right now.
Mm-hmm. And they just, so, like Jason talks about it really well on his social. He talks about the stuff that's going on in his family. He talks about the stuff he goes through. He's gotten really good at that 'cause he's trying to lead men. But anyone who thinks that these guys don't struggle, no. We all struggle.
I struggle a lot on a regular basis. I am a ball of mm-hmm. Useless fucking energy sometimes for sure. But that's part of us. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, we've, we've chatted about a lot. Yeah. I wanted to sum up just a couple things with, uh, you know, one of the things that really stuck out to me was what you were saying about the value add mm-hmm.
With my trainers. Yeah. You know, I think that's super important is to like, ask people what, what they need. Mm-hmm. You know, and what they're trying to accomplish. And I think that's just a super important, uh, thing I want people to think about is like, how do we, how do we add value into other people's lives?
Not by what we want to instill into them, but what they actually want to tell us. Well, I'll tell you what, then I wrote a book called Turn Pro, the Fitness Professionals Guide to Ethical Sales and Career Fulfillment. Mm-hmm. And in that book, one of the things that we teach about selling is you have to understand these things about people.
So I will get you digital copies if you want, for your staff, or I can get you hard copies. Just we have 'em in time. And I'll send you a link so anyone who's listening to the podcast can download it for free. One of the things that I like to, uh, like to share a lot or some of the books I've read or some not read.
I listen to a lot of books. I, I mostly listen to books too. Yeah. I'm a driver and I like listening. Mm-hmm. Um, what are three books that probably shaped your life, shaped your career, shaped the way you think that you think most people could benefit from? You gotta be able to get through some dry stuff.
Okay. To get to what I, to what? I got that from. The Seven Habits of Highly, he Affected People by Stephen Covey. Okay. Was the first one. Um, blue Ocean Strategy. Okay. I forget who wrote that one. Have you read that? Yes. Okay. It's, um, yeah, I know, yes. A while ago. Yep. And the four agreements. Four agreements.
Yeah. Really, really short. One that's like an hour long read. Yeah. You can actually sit down and read that book. Okay. Uh, those three books have had more of an impact on me as a person and a business person than any other books I've read. Nice. Okay. And what else you wanna share with everybody? I want you to be our client.
I mean, straight up, like the, the reality is I want, the only way that we create a world where chronic pain is something that's in the past that people are compromising from is if you, the coaches who are watching this and listening to this. Come find out how you can do that with us. And there's a career for you doing it.
There is real money in a reasonable amount of time with clients who genuinely want and need your help. And my job as the CEO of the company, I'm, we have a map where everyone who works with us, who is passes a certain point in the education, gets on the map. My job is to bring an unreasonable amount of attention to that map so that their books of business fill with people who are seeking them out.
And where could everybody find it? The map, the information. Find me on Instagram with Dr. Sean Pasti. There we go. Simple and easy. Dr. Sean, thank you so much for coming by. Guys. Thank you for listening. Like, share, subscribe, um, YouTube, apple, or, uh, what else are we on? Spotify. Spotify. So thank you guys so much.
As always, we are powered by Celsius. Celsius. Thank you so much, and we will see you guys on the next episode. Thought in chunk now.