Overcoming Obstacles: The Entrepreneur's Journey to Fitness and Success

In business, if you walk into a room and you're a man or a woman who takes care of themselves and they look healthy, as soon as you walk into that room, people think there's a person with integrity who does what they say they're going to do and they show up because look like they're of the 5% or the 3% of society. And they do this while running a business. There's false narrative that many people can use to not do for themselves is like, my kids come first, my family comes first, I have to ask my wife or my husband for permission as to whether or not I can prioritize myself. Those are just narratives for us to avoid the work that we need to do on ourselves. Excuses that we can logically tell ourselves that are valid enough to be like, well, I'm just gonna go do it with kids, rather than like, no, this is about me and my health and myself bettering myself. And that's who it's about. I'm not just working with people in their 40s, but generally like people who are like the high performers, whether they're entrepreneurs or they're employees. They're the overachievers, they're the high performers. Real estate agents, entrepreneurs, CEOs. I kind of learned a valuable lesson of some people can be very draining. You're not in alignment with them and you have to deal with them on a regular basis.

Good day and welcome to the Wealthy Entrepreneur podcast. I am your host, Bob Govreau. The Wealthy Entrepreneur is the place where we dissect the elements that contribute to entrepreneurial success, from mindset and leadership to profits and revenue. Today we are going to have a special guest, a personal relation of mine, my actual my trainer, who has definitely helped transform my physical abilities and my physical fitness over the last few years. So I'm really excited to share some of his insights with you today. His name is Tom Mouland, also known as Tom the Trainer, a very successful personal trainer who's evolved and has online fitness programs and has had quite the entrepreneurial journey himself. And I'll get him to share some of that with you. But this episode is really going to be focusing on your personal performance ability through fitness and I'm excited for him to share those insights with you and some things that have definitely transformed my entrepreneurial journey by making sure that I'm prepared and ready to excel physically to support my mental. So without further ado, I'm going to invite my good friend Tom Mullen, Tom the Trainer, into the show today. Tom, welcome to the show. All right, guys, so really excited not. Not just to bring Tom in today, but Tom and I. And I'll share a little bit along this conversation as well. But Tom and I have worked personally together. He's definitely made a huge impact on my fitness level, my mental performance level, just by being in, you know, the best shape of my life, I would say in my 40s, which is pretty cool to say. But anyway, we'll. We'll talk about some of that along the way, because I want to definitely share my insights. But, Tom, thanks for joining. Would love for you to maybe share a little bit about your entrepreneurial journey, because I know it's got some twists and turns along the way, so, you know, you know, take it away.

Yeah, thanks, buddy. Appreciate that. And I'm glad that you kind of gave me a little bit of props before we got started there because, you know, had not too much yet. I mean, I mean, I'm going to see you on Tuesday, and I dictate your workouts. So you're a smart man, right?

That is true. That is true.

Awesome. So, yeah, I'm. I'm Tom Wooland, owner, operator, head coach, CEO of Tom the Trainer Fitness Limited. And I've got, like, a little bit of an interesting backstory. It has led me to where I am today. And I think all probably entrepreneurs can kind of resonate with always just kind of looking forward, always moving forward, overcoming obstacles and things like that, because that just really is entrepreneurship in a nutshell. And I think, like, I have this, like, saying that I listen to in my vision video every single morning is like, you are fortunate to be solving the problems that you're facing today because people less fortunate than you aren't solving these problems. Right. And I came about resilience. How would I put it? Quite naturally, I guess I was kind of, like, born into being a resilient man, per se. So, yeah, I can kind of take things back, like, right from right to the beginning is. There's really no other way to put it, but I was really just kind of born into, like, a life of. Of chaos. You know, I grew up with a single mom who was on assistance, you know, welfare in Canada. Single mom who kind of, like, had her demons, I guess I would say some mental health issues, some addiction issues, things like that. So that was just always, like, really just kind of toxic and chaotic and highs and lows constantly. And I think maybe, like, her addictive personality was also, like, addicted to the toxicity. So I grew up in that environment constantly, you know, Never really kind of knowing, like, when the next freak out was going to be or what it was going to be about long. You're going to have to listen to screaming and all that kind of stuff. And so as a young man, you know, I. I was often a little bit of like an introvert. Pretty quiet, always kind of depressed. I was like, overweight. My father wasn't really in the picture, which I'm fortunate, to be honest to say that he wasn't because he wasn't really a good man himself either, which I learned later on in life by kind of going to try to connect with him and kind of getting to know him and realized that he was kind of the type of person who just needs to win every interaction with everyone around him, which kind of led him to live in a pretty lonely life in his later years as well. So I wasn't missing out on much with him not being around. But having said that, I was living in this household full of chaos and toxicity, constantly with a single mother who just kind of like thrived or really kind of, I guess, enjoyed that. So as I was growing up in that environment without getting too far into the weeds and the details on all that stuff, like when I was young, I think I was 12, maybe 13, I fell in love with action stars. 80s baby, right.

That was like the Schwarzenegger of the world.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Schwarzenegger, Jean Claude Van Damme and Rocky or Sylvester Stallone and. Right. Like, that was image of man when we grew up. We're of similar age, so I grew up, I watched a lot of movies and obviously, like, the action stars were kind of my favorites. Arnold was my favorite. And somebody gave me a book, I think, for Christmas, which was Arnold's biography, and I read it. And obviously through Arnold's history, if you know, much of his history is, at least in this biography, it says that, you know, he grew up with a lot of challenge with his father and stuff. And his father was like a really aggressive man. And as Arnold got older, he kind of fell. He kind of had this like, vision of like, he was going to become the bodybuilder, right? He was going to be successful, he was going to go to America and he was going to accomplish. So that really kind of gave me hope as a young man that, like, you could, like, it didn't matter. It didn't matter where you were, what you were born into, the cards that you were dealt, that you could just kind of like pave your own path, per se. Right. So many a night after listening to my mother's berates, you know, I'd lay in bed just thinking, like, one day I'll be successful enough to write a book so that, like, kids like me will realize that they can overcome. Right. Similar to what Arnold's book did for me, just kind of gave me hope per se. So that was kind of where I really first fell in love with fitness and stuff too, was within those influences. And then you fast forward through that through into high school and stuff. I moved out on my own at a really young age. Like, for the first time, I moved out when I was 13. I was in and out of the household, but for the most part, more out of the household than within. It got through, you know, high school and everything and made some poor decisions at that age.

Because young people don't make poor decisions.

Right. Especially. Especially young people who, in an environment where they didn't really have maybe the best of leadership. Right. So, yeah, so I had. I was. I was a little bit mixed up, I guess I would say. And I remember when I was a teenager and in high school and stuff, like, I would always. I still loved fitness and it probably kept me out of some of the trouble that the other kids around me were getting into because I was in the weight room after school while they were doing stuff. And some of the stories that I heard, it definitely kept me out of trouble. It was like, it was a good thing. I was not there for that. I was lifting weights. Right. So, yeah, so. But I always, like, thought I wanted to be a personal trainer because I just loved it. Right. I was a really heavyset, overweight young man, and I transformed myself in grade 10 to being like a skinny, fat young man. But I had the confidence to have, like to actually get my first girlfriend ever in grade 10.

Right.

So fitness really kind of changed and molded my life. So I loved it and nerded out on it and used to want to be a personal trainer. But I felt like back then it's like, well, that's probably going to bring on a life of hardship and financial struggle.

You were really thinking about that in grade 10. You were thinking, you know what if I become this personal trainer, it's probably going to be not as financially rewarding as. As I would like it to be.

Yeah. Because growing up, my best friend from grade two onward, his dad owned a construction company. And they were almost like my surrogate family. That showed me, like, there is a better life out there if you work hard. And I've always been somebody who has asked People who have what I want for advice.

So Kevin's dad, rich dad, poor dad, right? Like that's.

Yeah, yeah. And I get goosebumps when you say that because I read that book and I was like, wow, I can relate to this. Right?

Yeah, for sure.

So I used to ask Kevin's dad when we were going to their 50 foot yacht and driving in their Beamers and their Volvos and their high end cars, like, how do I get what you have? Right. I had aspirations of success. How do I get what you have?

And he said, just steal it and then you have it. Yeah, it's just that easy.

He was like, don't work hard, don't have goals, don't stay focused, you know what I mean? All those kinds of things. So I had aspirations of being financially successful due to the life that I saw through them and I honestly don't know where I would be today if it wasn't for them. Like at my wedding they showed up and I was like, you guys are sitting at my family table. They're like, what do you mean? I was like, no, you guys are sitting at my family table. Like, I love you guys. Right? So they had a massive impact, but. So I didn't think you could be financially successful. And back then, unless maybe you were training Hollywood actors or something, it probably wasn't the greatest gig pre Internet because we're old.

Easy, easy. You're old.

So anyways, carried on, kept through life and whatnot and got into sales and those kinds of things and got a girlfriend and kind of like fell in love, per se. And her family was really good to me and they were of a higher class than maybe I grew up in, which wasn't hard to beat, per se. Right. You know, as far as like, you know, class and quality of life. So went through that and her and I separated and I was really kind of heartbroken from that and I took off because I felt like I was losing like the family that, you know, I didn't have, I guess I would say, right? So I went to B.C. to meet my dad, blew my back up, struggled with that for seven, eight years. Walking with a limp. Really was in a bad mental state out there. After nearly a decade of living out there in pain, excruciating pain, constantly. I waited till my son Maddox turned 4 and I moved back home to Ontario because I needed to be there for him and, and wouldn't leave him as an infant. Right. So I made my way back and started serving tables here as I was doing out there. And I was in a really bad spot out there, mentally. I was all alone. I was banged up with my back. Birthdays, Christmases, all those things. It was just like me. I'd get my son for like, a couple hours and send him back home. So I literally, like, woke up every day out there and dropped an F bomb every time I opened my eyes. I was just like, another day, this sucks was in my mind. So eventually I was just like, I can't do this anywhere. You know, there's got to be something better for me. And I went back home, started serving here, and I was working hard, you know, making decent money as a server because I worked all the hours. So I've always been a hard worker. And then I wound up, I fell into a job as a personal training manager at Good Life Fitness. So, like, I had the opportunity in my 30s to, like, do what I always wanted to do, and I was just like, I'm going for it. So I went for it. And it was a grind. As a personal training manager, I was doing that job and serving tables. I was working like 90 hours a week while doing the two. Burnt out really, really hard because I had a team of trainers that didn't really want to listen to me. But if I were looking back, I probably wasn't a great leader. So maybe that's why they didn't take my leadership. So anyways, I stepped down and I was like, I just want to be a personal trainer. I just want to be a personal trainer. I don't want to leave people who don't want to listen to me. And I took everything that I was teaching those personal trainers and I just applied it, and I was the number one trainer in the entire country in the month of March, 2017. Kind of like, I'll just show them. I'll just. I'll just show them because I have a little bit of an ego, as you know.

No comment, no comment. Carry on, sir.

But I also set big goals as soon as I became a trainer. Like, when I became a trainer, when I was getting my training certificate, like, there was a level 6 trainer who was teaching it, and she was like, there's only three of us in the entire country. There's only three level six trainers in the entire country. And I'm like, cool, I gotta do that, right? And it's like, I know I'm going to be the number one trainer in the country, and I'm going to be the top trainer in the region, and I'm going to be the best at what I do. And I had those goals as soon as I got into that role. And lo and behold, I put my. My nose, my chin down and I went for it and I did it. I was number, like I said, Number one trainer. In the month of March 2017, I won all kinds of awards with Good Life Fitness. I was a top trainer, top 10 trainer twice. I was the first and only level F personal trainer in the city, which is an accomplishment through service standards, education and performance. I was on my way to becoming the first and only level 6. I had all the credentials to do it. And the Pandemic hit and I was already dabbling in online fitness at that point in time because my girlfriend knew a guy who was online and he was doing really well, and he became a business coach. So I hired him and it just kind of blew up while I was still doing Good Life Fitness. And the Pandemic came along and I just went all in on that. I didn't just sit around, I went all in.

We probably didn't really have much of a choice either. Right. It was like the gyms were. The physical gyms were closed, at least for a short period of time.

Well, they were closed for the better part of a year during that.

Yeah. Or more.

But I did have a choice, per se. I think we always have a choice. Right, right. You know, but.

But I think my point is, you know, staying in the existing role, being the trainer in the physical space wasn't really an option. So you had to, you had to choose a different option, whatever that was going to be.

Right, Yeah, I feel it. And, well, for clarity on that, though, is like, I just got paid to stay at home because the government gave Good Life a subsidy and, and Good Life paid its employees to stay home. So, you know, of. I'm the only trainer who decided to take that time and make it an opportune time to, like, I'm sitting at home and getting paid. How do I advance myself here? And I worked just as hard in front of my computer as I would have if I was on the gym floor at Good Life over the whole entire pandemic, hired business mentors, took courses like, and just leveled myself up. And then what happened over that period of time is I started, I got into online coaching a little bit more aggressively, built my business up to being very successful, so that by the time we came back from the pandemic, I was able to leave. And there's an interesting story there as well that I can kind of get into is when I built up my online Coaching. The regional managers had changed at Good Life, and we reopened for a little bit. When we reopened, we went back, my old regional manager was gone, and everyone knew I was doing online coaching, and it was a service that they didn't offer because I asked before I did it. And that was all well and fine. Well, when I came back and there was a new regional manager, he didn't have a. Quite understanding of what I was doing, and he sat me down and was like, we know we said it was okay. We know we said we were behind you. We know we said you could do this, but we've changed our mind. And you've got 12 days to decide. You either close down your online coaching business and you can give us all your clients and you can coach them or train them here, or you can leave. And I'm like, sweet, I just bought a house.

So what did you do?

Yeah, so I'm like, sweet, I just bought a house, just got a mortgage, which is something I thought I'd never accomplish in my life. At one point in time, hired a business coach who was extremely expensive and got this ultimatum. So I'm like, freaking out. Well, on day 11, they shut down the country again. They shut down all the gyms again. I had to decide by day 12. On day 11, they shut down. Let's postpone that and kick the can down the road, I guess. Right. And then over the next six months, I just went all in on Tom the Trainer Fitness and built it up to the point where when I came back, I was just like, I'm okay to leave, actually. Right.

Right. Yeah.

I'll see you later. Yeah.

So. So let's talk about Tom the Trainer Fitness a little bit. So as a personal investor in your fitness programs, in. In working one on one with you, for sure, I could say, you know, it's interesting hearing you talk about coaches, right. Finding somebody who's been there and done that. And that's exactly what I did when I. When I was approaching 40. I think it was actually six months before I turned 40. I knew we were going, we're going to have a big celebration on my 40th. I was like, oh, man, wouldn't it be great if on my 40th birthday I could just be in the best shape of my life? And I remember I was like, well, who the hell is going to do that? And, you know, you look at a lot of different trainers and no judgment here, guys, in any way, shape or form, but when you're looking at hiring somebody you want to hire the person that's been there, done that. And when I saw Tom, I was like, tom is an absolute monster. And you can't really tell with the hoodie on right now because he looks pretty laid back here. But. But Tom is absolutely jacked as a human being and a pretty intimidating silhouette when you see Tom in the gym. And I looked at Tom and I said, you know what? This is somebody who's done what it is that I want to do. Maybe I could never look like Tom, but maybe he knows how to start the process of me getting there. And I know in that six month period, I remember going to my 40th birthday, which we went down to Nashville and we had a. An absolute blast with a great group of people. And everybody was like, jesus, Bob, like, you're absolutely ripped right now. And you know, that was really, that was my goal, was sort of short term of that. But, you know, I think Tom has referenced it many times. You find the person that you know has done it and you hire them to help you do it too. And this all lead in Tom to say, you know, I know you've worked with a lot of people over your time. You've had a number of transformations. You've got a massive social following where you share some of those transformations. Can you just share, maybe not even specific incidents, but like, how many people have you worked with? How many people have you completely transformed their lives? Like, including me as, as one of them.

Yeah. Thanks, I appreciate that. And I think something that's really important too, just to caveat with that as well, is like, when you're looking for a coach. Yeah. You want them to be like the been there, done it. Absolutely. But do you connect with the person too? Do you know what I mean? You and I are a phenomenal fit. We're both entrepreneurs. We're at different stages in our entrepreneurial journey and all that kind of stuff, but we're both entrepreneurs. We get it. We get each other. You know what I mean? And therefore you stayed with me as long as you have and there's probably been opportunity where you can go to a different trainer, but it's like, well, why would I go to a different trainer when this guy and I have this good rapport and this great relationship and we kind of get each other, Right?

Yeah. Well, it's funny too, just on that, right, Renewal season just happened for us, Right. And it's always interesting because, you know, when I get to renewal time again, Tom and I get along famously. I work with Tom one on one, twice A week. And, you know, my kids are at the age they've got gym memberships, like, I should be spending time with them. And, you know, we even had this conversation where I was like, am I giving up my commitment and my accountability partner of twice a week to, you know, go do something with my kids who may or may not show up? Like, am I. I'm like, you know, I just need to do that. If. If my kids are going to the gym, I can go do that extra. Maybe I'm seven days a week, and I'm just an absolute animal in my commitment level. But you know what? I can't give up that basic sort of amount and that commitment. And, you know, it's so important for everybody to have this sort of commitment to themselves and. And finding that person that, you know, you can go through that experience with. So, not to interrupt you, Tom, but, you know, these are things that people should be thinking about.

No, and I love that you mentioned that, to be honest with you, man, because obviously, like, there's this, like, false narrative that many people can use to not do for themselves is like, you know, well, you know, my kids from come first. My family comes first. I have to ask my wife or my husband for permission as to whether or I can prioritize myself. And often those are just narratives for us to avoid the work that we need to do on ourselves. There are excuses that we can logically tell ourselves that are valid enough to be like, whoa, I'm just gonna go do it with kids, rather than like, no, this is about me and my health and myself and bettering myself. And that's who it's about. So I'm glad that you brought that.

Up indirectly, though, right? Like, indirectly. It's like, I. You have to take care of your health to be there and be present for your, you know, your family, your kids. You know, what are you. What sort of role model are you being if I go? Well, you know, it's easier than going to meet Tom at the gym is just hitting the snooze button, right? And, you know, I have a busy schedule. Tom knows that, you know, every now and again in advance, I have to say, tom, I'm not going to be in town this day or whatever, and. And we'll. We'll either reschedule or we'll just. I'll hit the gym somewhere else. But it's never a. I'm going to just sleep in situation here because of the commitment I need to have to everybody in my life to make sure that my Health is taken care of. You know, and for so many entrepreneurs who are living and, sorry, Tom, I'm totally ranting off, off you here, but there's so many entrepreneurs who are listening to this right now who are thinking, you know what? I have worked out and I should probably do it too. But you know what? I'll get to that next month and I'll do this in the fall or I'll do it, you know, New Year's resolution. I'll probably get a good deal somewhere for gym membership that I'll never use. And it's, it's like, guys, you need to have this commitment to yourself, one as a leader for everybody around you. Like, my team knows how committed I am to my health and fitness, right? And we were just talking about this yesterday. I've not had a sick day in five years. You know, I don't know that I've ever had one. And entrepreneurs, we don't get those days. We go to work not feeling well. But I can tell you, you know, if I ever have the sniffles, for example, my, my body is just better able to handle it. And now my kids go to the gym and they're, you know, they're 17 and 15. Why do they go to the gym? Because they see mom and dad are committed to this, this health thing too, and they're committed to themselves. And, you know, and I also grabbed a trainer who, that if I didn't show up and hit the snooze button, he's going to track me down and I'm terrified of him, you know, so. But guys, it honestly, like, it's the commitment to ourselves. And if you can't commit to yourselves, how are you going to commit to going through the resilience of being an entrepreneur? You know, doubling down on reinvesting in your business, developing your team. You know, your team looks at you as a leader and you have to lead them in so many ways. And your personal commitment to your health is one of those. End rant. Tom, let's go back to your transformations.

Yeah, no worries. Well, and I think too, like in business, if you walk into a room and you're a man or a woman who takes care of themselves and they look healthy. As soon as you walk into that room, people think there's a person with integrity who does what they say they're going to do, and they show up because look like they're of the 5% or the 3% of society, and they do this while running a business. This is a person that I'd probably like to do business with because I know they show up right 100%.

And I can tell you, you know, like, I, I have the privilege and the honor to sit at some pretty awesome tables with some very successful entrepreneurs and 99% of the people that are there fit that profile, Tom, that you just described. It's like, you know, we go to these events and it's like there's major health focused events now. Like, there's no partying. It's like, how can we get better focus? How can we focus on our health? How do we breathe better? How do we, you know, meditate? Not that I can, that I participate in a lot of that stuff, but it's like you can appreciate it that everybody's got to find their zone to get themselves in the position to succeed. And it's super important. Anyway, back to your transformations.

No worries. Well, I like this topic a little bit, but like, it's like success leaves clues and all the cliches, I'm full of cliches and all these things because like, whatever people relate to them. It's like, like, okay, so like the highest performing entrepreneurs at the highest levels and we all see them on social media and we all have access to them in this day and age and we see who those people are. Well, like they're all physically taking care of themselves. So like the ones who are performing at the highest level and not just like in their business, but in their life and their health and their mental capacity and you know, they can balance everything. They're all putting it as a priority. Right. Like there's a clue there.

Yeah, 100% I could say too, like, like back to your online piece. And I know that I've sort of suggested, yeah, I work with Tom in person two days a week. But when I first started working with Tom, I was also, I think three days a week on your app, which was amazing. So it was like walking through step by step instructions of pre established workouts and plans with weight set up with rep set up with particular instruction and videos on everything, which was super cool. I learned a lot of technical stuff about, you know, body building and power lifting that I never would have thought that I would have ever known. And guys, as entrepreneurs, you know, you see some of the most successful people, like meta. Right. You never see him without a black T shirt on because there's decision fatigue. And if you throw in decision fatigue in running a busy business and you don't have an accountability partner, so there's no reason to show up and Then you have to actually figure out what it is that you're going to do for yourself. You know, it becomes more of a, this is a nuisance situation. And that's why we, I approach it in a different way where it's like when I go and work with Tom, Tom just tells me this, Bob is what you're going to do today. And it's great. Like he might say, hey, do you want to do a push day, pull day, whatever. And then he's got the workout pre programmed and he tells me what to, what to do in those exercises, which is great because I don't have to think about it. I don't have to think about my technique technique. Thomas, you know, giving me feedback on that. And it's the same with his online program too, guys, where he will have people recording themselves doing certain lifts or different movements to make sure and give feedback. So, you know, super powerful to have this. And you know, on his online piece, not that I'm trying to really sell your services, Tom, but it sounds like it on the accountability piece as well. You know, even in the online space, he's checking in on you and saying are you doing what you said that you're going to do that you committed to yourself for. And you know what guys? Like this is just something that we need. Our health helps us as a foundation to our performance. And you know, I can tell you that with resilience being a major attribute to most entrepreneurs success story, we need to make sure that we are in the position to be as resilient and pos as possible. And you know, strong body, strong mind and it is, it is super important. Anyway, that's going to be enough out of me. But everybody's got to take care of their personal health. And I'm so excited that you're here to share this Tom, because truthfully, you know, it's just different level. And I can even tell you guys, since I started working with Tom, my entrepreneurship journey has gone to a different level. Not to say that Tom is completely responsible for that, but has been a major supporting character in making sure I'm ready to be able to do that, you know, and, and super powerful. Anyway, what do you. Do you have to say anything or what do you, what do you want to talk about?

No, it's all good, man. It's all awesome stuff. Well, it's funny when you talk about the decision fatigue, it's like I'm sitting here in a, in a. I own my own business with a studio in my basement where I Record all my stuff and, and I show up every single day and I put on my uniform while I go to work. I don't got to think about it. So we all have that decision fatigue as entrepreneurs. Back to transformation. So transformations. I've transformed over 346 clients and counting. I lost count at 346 because I wasn't tracking them in the beginning stages of my career, like when I was working with Good Life Fitness. So generally it's like I've helped over 346 men and women in their 40s parents lose 15 to 52 pounds in 90 days. Obviously keep it off for good. I've had some clients lose over a hundred pounds. I specialize mostly in starting it with people who want to lose weight and get ripped and have that transformation. But patting myself on the back here, I'm too jacked to actually do it. But so if you're watching visually, that's.

An air pat, but that's why he's terrifying everybody.

But you know, like, I could, I, I, I could teach it all. I teach muscle, gain massive amounts of muscle. It's really just dependent on like, generally people come to me to lose fat and get ripped and then, you know, from there, what are your goals? And I'm going to cater everything to you because that's what it's about. It's about you. Lately I've really been focusing my content to talking to people over 40. And lately I've really been trying to get my content to speaking to more like high performers. And that's really kind of in the last couple of years as to where I've been. And you're a little bit of like, you know, I can give you some credit for that in a sense of like, you and I started working together, right? And it was like, this is the kind of person that I enjoy working with most. Like, this is the person that I can have like a connection and a conversation with and like the mindset that we have and like who we are is like men and, and, and, and people and adults and how we behave and how we, like, we're just in alignment. So after I started working with you, I really kind of started focusing a little bit more on that where I'm not just working with people in their 40s, but generally like people who are like the high performers, whether they're entrepreneurs or their employees. They're the overachiever. They're the high performers. Real estate agents, entrepreneurs, CEOs. That's really who I'm specializing in helping now, back in the day, I would take on anyone and everyone. And back in the day, when I was doing that, I kind of learned a valuable lesson of, wow, some people can be very draining if you're not in alignment with them and you have to deal with them on a regular basis. So I kind of transitioned to specializing in who I work with now. But, yeah, I lost count at 346 transformations.

Well, and it's cool, too, right? And anybody listening can probably relate to this. When we first start out, we're taking everybody and everybody because we got bills to pay. We got to figure some stuff out in our lives, in our business, like, who do we want to work with? We maybe have an idea of it, but until we test it, we don't really know. And then all of a sudden, you hit some level of success where, you know, you get to start to choose what it is that you want to do because, you know, the. This financial security piece is taken care of, and now you're, you know, Maslow's hierarchy of needs. We're moving up the ladder, you know, and it's kind of nice, right? And you learn and you experience it, and, you know, these are some of the things, not that I necessarily love being in the spotlight, but I know it's something that I need to do, and it's something that, you know, now in my journey, I'm. I have the privilege to be able to do, and I say that strongly, the privilege to be able to communicate and share, you know, from experience and from learnings and stuff like that and really have an impact on people. You know, the podcast is a zero investment space for people to come in, learn from people like you and me and. And to share some insights. And it's amazing that as we continue down that journey, when we have some form of success, we can focus on areas that really are impactful for us. Now, I want to ask you, because I know not only does Tom help with the work outside, but initially I did lose 10 pounds right out of the gates, which I didn't think I had ten pounds to lose, but it did happen. And part of that was looking at foods and diet and everything. And I'm sure you have lots of thoughts related to diet, but what I wanted to grab from you is, you know, are there maybe two or three meals or. Or types of food or diet recommendations that you could make for somebody to get, you know, that 1% started or. Or at least so they could start to see some results?

Yeah. So obviously, like, nutrition can be like A little bit of a complex thing, but I think, like, if I were to prioritize it, knowing exactly who, like, your audience is for the podcast and who I'm primarily working. Working with is, like, the biggest thing that I think is most important when it comes to food is I look at the vitamins and the minerals that are present in food as well. Because as high performers, we need to have high energy, right? So we can't be, like, doing a lot of, like, you know, if it fits your macros, as long as it's, like, in line with my calories, like, I'll be fine. It's like, well, we need to thrive, right? We've placed ourselves. We have the privilege to live in an environment that we need to thrive and operate at a high level, and therefore, we need to fuel ourselves properly. So the biggest thing that I focus on is efficiency in preparation. So with my clients, it's like. And I do the same because I have to. It's out of necessity. And I eat the same way as I teach my clients to prep for photo shoots. It's like, I can prep three days worth of food in 12 minutes. Okay, now, I'm still gonna have things. Like, I can give you a list of things that I really kind of believe in. Right? Is like, you know, you're gonna need dairy, so like, some cheese in your. Some cheese or yogurt. Right? Eggs are superfood. Chicken and rice and red. Red meat as well. And then some, like, salmon, some fatty fish and stuff like that in there. But then also include things like honey nut Cheerios and Frosted Flakes with chocolate protein powder and oatmeal and stuff like that with, like, vanilla protein powder and peanut butter and berries and stuff like that so that you mentally don't feel like you're kind of dieting, right? I don't really feel the need to go into the cupboard and go turn into a trash panda and eat everything that my kids are supposed to have in their lunch tomorrow or whatever, because I had chocolate cereal today. What do you mean? So that's kind of a big overreaching. General focus of what I like to do with my nutrition is like, do you have everything you need to thrive and have good energy? Is it easy in preparation and fast to prepare and more convenient than anything else you can think of? Because often we do things out of convenience. And then mentally, do you have things in there that are going to not feel like you're running on an empty tank of willpower? And then, as you know, we do a Weekly cheat meal. So your willpower, it's like we're working towards a reward. We're working towards an end goal. Right. We're setting a goal, we work towards it and then we reward ourselves as we do in business. So we work for those six days. We stay focused on those six days. It's easy to follow because of the choices and the preparation that we put in place. But then at the end of it, I get to go have whatever I want with my family on Saturday night, or I've got a dinner outing, a business dinner outing, or I'm going to whatever, a birthday, barbecue, holidays, whatever. So it's very sustainable as you know.

Yeah. And impactful. Right. And I can tell you once again, when I first started working with Tom, I, I think I lost, you know, 10, 10 to 15 pounds within, I'm gonna say 30 days. And I was eating more than I'd ever eaten in my life. You know, I think there's maybe a misunderstanding too that, you know, you have to, there is a calorie in, calorie out sort of understanding. Right. That's just the science related to it. But when you, you do need to get enough calories in there and the right calories to support your body to be in a better position. And I was definitely under fueling my body at that time and sort of re characterized it. Now it's just become more of a, it's just a routine, a little bit more of a routine. And I. Everyone can always tighten up their diet, you know, like aside from those people that are super rigid and strict with it, which I admire and respect. Respect. But you know, I, I can't, I can't do it. But if I can get 90% versus 10%, you know, then you put yourself in a position to succeed. And I do a lot of steak and rice, I gotta tell you, and fish and rice. Thanks to Tom. I never really ate rice before, but you know, realizing that that is something that is powerful as part of your diet when it's mixed with the right thing. So anyway, super interesting. Diet can, as from my personal experience, have a big impact. Even if you don't think it will, it does. And it's, it's wild. Especially if you're looking at putting on muscle or losing, you know, burning fat. There's just different ways to approach it. So, so, and you, you do such a good job with your meal plans too, which is great.

Thanks. Well, and the other thing is too is like we could be eating foods that are going to cause for us to crash. Right? So like, and you don't necessarily only have to be eating rice or whatnot, but like potatoes, but like we're eating foods that aren't and we're not combining, we're not combining carbs and fats. Like everybody goes out for lunch and they go and they get the burrito or whatever and then at 2 o' clock in the afternoon after they've had the burrito, they're like head banging off their computer and like, you know, like they're not, they're head banging because they're falling asleep and like waking up off of their, off of their desk because of the crash.

Why did you have to chirp burrito. You know, that's what I do. Why did you have to pick on me like that?

So, so there's, there's impacts that happen with food and then. Well, because I knew.

Because I knew. Exactly. I get it.

There's impacts that happen with food, but then also with that as well. Like you're talking about the caloric balance or whatever of calories in versus calories out. But calories in versus calories out doesn't just mean I need to eat. If I eat less food than what I burn, I'm going to lose fat. Because there's hormonal things and we have adaptive metabolisms. Our metabolism slows down to prevent the threat of starvation, which is a key thing into my nutritional approach as to why we cycle calories and have that high caloric day once per week. Because if you are under eating, your body literally goes into survival starvation mode and holds on and actually dumps your muscle and slows your metabolism down even more. So it is always calories in, calories out. But like there's hormonal things that take place with our body based upon our decisions. So I thought I would add that in there as well because like some people literally just grind themselves into the ground trying to lose weight and they'll be like, I don't understand, I'm eating like 1500 calories. It's like, well, you should be eating 2000 calories.

Yeah. And maybe taking a few extra steps during the day.

Right?

Yeah, I know. We, we just had this conversation last week. I was like, oh, if I, if I wanted to burn, what do I need to do? And it was like, okay, well we've got to look at your, you've got to do some form of cardio and you've got to increase your step count. And we gave specifics and whatnot, which is something I talked about with My wife last night, Tom, actually, and she is very on board with long walks. So, you know, great accountability partner there to help with that. Let me ask you this. So, so thinking of somebody who's, who's watching this and is like, oh, yeah, you know, I really need to take the first step in doing this and maybe it is just going to the gym to, you know, assess your movement or maybe you're, you're committed to this and you only have a certain time of day that you can do it. What would be, you know, your top five sort of exercises that you would throw out there for anybody to increase their body movement, increase their energy and increase maybe their overall strength?

Yeah, I love that question. It's an amazing question actually. In onboarding and online when you come on to work with me in onboarding, as you know, we focus on these exercises and learning them very well because they are the most impactful exercises that you can do. But at the same time, they're the most skillful exercises that you need to do well. Right. So in my opinion, deadlifts, squats, bench press or overhead press rows and then like a vertical pulling, almost like a chin up style thing would be your top five. And obviously some planks and core work. So you get a bonus one in there as well, like planks and core. But you can get an amazing workout in, in a short amount of time. And as you know from running my programs, when we're looking for that big transformation in the beginning, you're primarily operating on those exercises for the majority of your workouts and then you slowly graduate. And I wish I had more time to talk about this because I'm a nerd and I have this galaxy brain progression model is how I start people and how I progress them through. Because you've gone through it. But we start out on the big return, big time return investment exercises, get very skillful at them. Nail the fundamentals down before we start progressing into different styles of workouts. Before you get into a style where you're in, where it's like, you gotta train the same as I do, man. Like we train like bodybuilders. Well, we didn't do that years ago. We started off with the fundamentals. And those fundamentals are your best that you can, that you can do.

Yeah. And I gotta be honest, for a long time we, Tom and I did leg day once a week and we have to, we have to bring it back to be honest, knowing that. But it's tough, you know, and, and I think guys, as entrepreneurs sometimes we Just we need to train ourselves to do hard things, you know, and, you know, I used to think of that on the way to the gym, you know, up, ready to go, going to meet Tom, and I'm like, I am doing this knowing that this is not going to be the most joyful part of my day, that it's actually really freaking hard. But how great is it that by 9:30 in the morning I've already got up, I'm ready for the day, I've got my mind in a good spot. I've done something that was really hard that I didn't want to do. I am ready to conquer the day. And, and those major exercises, you know, I never thought. And not that we do a lot of them because, you know, I'm also set, sensitive to the fact that I'm over 40 and I don't want to blow out my hips or my knees or anything like that as well. But I never would have thought in my lifetime I would be able to bench press two plates and sort of did it right. And because it was a progress of strength and being able to build yourself up and fundamentally working on those major exercises, super powerful.

And we did it with intention.

Absolutely right.

Like, it wasn't just like, okay, let's go in and do them. It's like, we did it. Like everything I do, like when I say I Galaxy brand my programs, you know, it it's like. So it's like from the rep ranges to the speed that we move, to how long we're focusing on certain exercises before we start progressing into heavier weights and different tempos and all those things, like, it's all intentionally designed to get you to the point where like, hey, I can safely bench two and a quarter. I can safely. You know, I had a bad back injury that I didn't mention in the beginning here just because I wanted to kind of briefly summarize some of the obstacles I've overcome. But people can listen to my podcast if they want to. It's Tom the trainer fitness over 40. But anyways, it's like, like I was able to deadlift 465 and squat 405 pounds. I didn't do that. Haphazardly throwing weight on a bar and seeing how, right, we build ourselves up to those things. And fitness is the same as our entrepreneur journey. We're slowly building and overcoming and accomplishing and getting stronger and becoming more resilient. And then we look back at it the same way we do with our business. We look back four years ago Three years ago, five years ago. And we go, wow, look at how far I've grown, right? Look at how far I've developed by flexing the. I can do this. I'm resilient muscle each and every single day, whether it's in our business or our fitness or whatever life hands us.

And see, like, your intention with this may have been different than mine. And this is why again, decision fatigue league. Tom has the right intention. I maybe didn't have the best of intentions. My intention was to Never let my 17 year old son lift more than me. And you know, this is why I needed to learn how to bench press weight because I needed to make sure he couldn't bench press more than me. And you know, he's within five, he was within five pounds. And I was like, okay, this is, this is it. I'm not lifting more than two plates per side. This is ridiculous. So we've never really, he's never really proved it out. So my intention was to beat him and it's worked. So thank you for that.

Well, that's something that I think is really cool that I think like, you know, fathers and parents like, you know, and the value of like what it does for our kids is like, how about the fact that like, you know, in the summertime you show up with him and you know, you guys work out together and like that's like a bonding moment. Like, that's like something that you guys have connected over on an extremely deep level. And like for me doing that, it's like, you know, I've spoken to friends and stuff and be like, those are some of the most rewarding sessions that I'll ever do because it's Bob and his son and like they're, and I'm teaching them both and there's that healthy competition and there's that connection and like I'm like part of that. So I get to experience that because we work together in person. But there is that avenue as well as, like when you're working with me online is like, like, don't underestimate the impacts that this stuff can have on your life and your relationships.

Yep, for sure. And, and thank you for giving extra credit. I wouldn't think that the relationships is deep there. It's very superficial that I want to be better than him and he wants to be better than me. But that's okay. No, we, we have a wonderful relationship and it does go deeper than that. But you know, that, that is, that part is somewhat fun too, you know, like the fact that I am 42 and I'm able to compete with my extremely in great shape 17 year old who, you know, who is not worried about his knees or his back or anything, willing to do whatever, you know, to continue to get stronger and that I can, I'm in the position that I can do that. And you know, it's, it's pretty great. And that's because it's, you know, you have to commit to it once again. You have to commit to yourself to get yourself in the right position so that you can succeed. Last thing I want to ask you, Tom, you know, what would advice be for anybody who is looking like, back to where I found you? And I was like, tom, I want to work with you to help transform me. What's the best advice that you could give someone who's thinking about that right now? What's the, what's the one step they can take forward to helping transform their life?

Like looking to work with a trainer or just looking to take a step on their own?

You know, either way, to be honest, like, I think everybody's going to be different, but what's, what's one action item that they could, they could take?

Well, I will say this and obviously it's going to sound like a shameless plug or whatever, but the value that you'll get from hiring an expert, and I'm sure many of your audience does so in hiring business coaches and mentors and all of that, because that's what leads to success. I did this the wrong way until I was in my 30s and I became a trainer. And it was my job to learn from the, the best in the world on how to do this. And I was like, I was doing this all wrong for 30 years. Imagine what I could have accomplished had I done it right. And I hire experts in, you know me, I hire experts. If I want to do paid ads on Facebook, I'm going to hire a paid ads guy. My Mustang I take to a Mustang specialist. I don't take it to Canadian Tire. I go to the experts. So I would say the value, it's like, don't undervalue that. And then I guess like the next thing that I would say to that is like, take bloody action. I think so many people just postpone and just do whatever it is that you can and you commit to. I think also as like successful people, we can overanalyze. And I think like, we've probably learned that success in business comes from not being perfect, but being good enough. And don't get like, don't go down this rabbit hole of like, what about this and what about that? What about that? Just schedule out time three days per week. That, that's your non negotiable. And you're going to the gym and get in and move. That's probably the most impactful thing that I can say. But the value of hiring an expert obviously just goes without saying. Right?

Tom, this has been awesome. Thank you for all your insights. If people were looking to get a hold of you, like I know how to get a hold of you, but where would, where would people be able to find you?

Yeah. So I've got a few channels. So like on Instagram, it's tomthetrainer fitness. Fairly large following 40 something thousand people on Facebook. If you're more into Facebook, which a lot of my audience appears to be is more into Facebook than Instagram is Tommouland. And then there's also tons of free value in my podcast itself that's called Tom the Trainer Fitness. Tom the trainer's fitness over 40, but. And I'm on LinkedIn as well. Ommuland. So Tom Moulin on LinkedIn and Facebook, Tom the Trainer Fitness on Instagram. And you can always just kind of send me a dm even if you just want to become part of my free Facebook group. That's got all kinds of value in there as well. I've always just had the intention as, you know, be good to people, be kind to people, help as many people as you can and like, karma just kind of takes care of you in return. Right. So even if you're not looking for training, but you want some more free resources and things like that that can help. I've got tons of those as well. Masterclasses, cheat sheets for, for metabolism boosting, you name it. I've got all kinds of free goodies that I give away to people.

Amazing. Well, Tom, thanks for joining me today, my man. Appreciate you not just for being here, but for helping me on my fitness journey. It's been, it's been awesome. Excited to have another year locked in and ready to go for me, you know, like that commitment for me to make sure that I stay on this journey and with. And with you as well. So appreciate you, brother. Always. Guys, this has been the Wealthy Entrepreneur podcast. We will put all the links to Tom's channels in here so that you can check his stuff out. He's always offering free great content. I laugh at it because some of the things he talks about. He also corrects me on. I feel like maybe I'm the source of half his content anyway. Just the negative stuff. You know what? We're here to empower entrepreneurs to have the financial confidence to make informed decisions so that we together can change the world. If there's been some insights that Tom has shared today, or maybe even some of the discussion we've had and you feel others would benefit from hearing, please share this information out again. We're here to help support entrepreneurs on their journey. Leave us some comments. Give us a like. Make sure you give us a follow so that you can see the episode coming out next week. We have an episode every single week. But once again, grateful for everybody who joined us today. Look forward to seeing you again next week. I'm your host, Bob Govreau. Great to have you here today.