Elite High Performance Coaching Techniques and Achieving Personal Goals with Emanuel 'Coach Pow' Parris

You're listening to the PT Profit podcast, episode number 284. Today, Beverly is interviewing Coach Pow about high performance coaching techniques and achieving personal goals. Are you ready? Let's get started.

Hi, I'm Beverly Simpson, former fitness manager turned online personal training business owner. And this podcast is where smart fitness professionals, including trainers and clinicians, discover how but to increase client performance and movement, package and position their products and services and get out of their own way so that they can increase their revenue to live a life that they love without sleazy sales. Welcome to the PT Profit podcast.

So today I am recording the intro for you for this awesome episode with Emmanuel Coach Pow Paris, who I actually know through an Edmonton connection. He's a great guy, really funny. And he discusses his unique approach to high performance training, which combines hypertrophy training, strength training, and mobility work. He emphasizes the importance of addressing areas like rib cage and pelvis mobility and incorporating gait into exercise selection. Coach Pow also highlights the significance of strength and mobility for maintaining movement quality and navigating through life life. He shares his assessment process for creating training programs and common goals that clients come to him with. Coach Powell also touches on the importance of understanding the language of the individual and tailoring coaching to their needs. I think you're gonna really like this episode. If you do, please share it on social media and rate. 5 stars. Let's dive in.

Thank you so much for joining me on the show today. How are you?

I'm well. I'm well. It is 10am here in Playa del Carmen and I could be sweatier.

Well, it's freezing cold here in New York, so we are all bundled up.

Where in New York are you?

So I used to train out of Chelsea in Manhattan, but when I gave birth to two babies, we moved to Westchester. So we're in Westchester now.

Ah, awesome. Awesome. All right.

Okay. So I'm really excited to dive in. We got some really awesome things. So for those of you who are tuning in and have not had the pleasure of being introduced to your work, can you share with us a little bit about who you are, who you serve and how you got there?

Who I am. I'm just another human being existing on this planet and who is alive, doing what I'm passionate about. And that is, you know, I. I sit before you as a high performance coach and consultant. I work with a handful of professional athletes, mostly in the. In the ice show, the ice dance we call the NHL. So I work with a handful of NHL players all the way down to the grassroots Level athletes. I've had experiences, lovely experiences working with rugby union to men's, women's artistic gymnastics, track and field, football, varsity levels, soccer. So I, I myself am a huge proponent of physical literacy through sport as I grew up playing various sports, eventually culminated in being a member of the 4 by 100 meter relay team at the 2008 Olympics. You know, had got a bronze medal at Commonwealth games and so on and so forth. But right now I bill it as a high performance coach and I am also doing fitness consultation fitness for my favorite, another one of my favorite communities and that's the general population.

Oh my gosh, I love it. Okay, so you had mentioned right before we hit record on this, which I really, I'm really interested in diving into, is you were talking about how you're about to carry 12 individuals through a really high performance protocol that really incorporates the philosophies that you have developed potentially, I'm, I'm assuming through your years of experience in your self body transformation as well as working with the 1% of the 1%. So I'd love for you to share just a little bit more on your particular movement and performance philosophies that you think is different than what we are traditionally used to seeing.

Well, I've definitely seen a huge benefit in, in the ad, what I like to call the admixture of hypertrophy training or training for growth, for muscle size, training for strength and mobility through the carefully selected list of exercises. I believe that the attention to areas like the rib cage and rib cage mobility to the pelvis and getting that thing moving both left and right hemispheres of the pelvis, to even addressing gait in your exercise selection is huge. And that has allowed me to not only put on size, gain strength, but also preserve or even improve movement quality. So at 41 years old, you know, I'm still setting personal best in the gym. I am still breaking through certain mobility mobil eties, you know, getting very close to middle splits, front splits and even with calisthenic movements. So I'm a huge proponent of carefully. I don't like randomness unless it is a phase. My unloading phase is what I like to call the hardcore play phase where I investigate and I see what I would like to incorporate in my next training block. But definitely I don't like to compromise any of the aforementioned things. So I always make sure that I'm programming strength to some degree, programming the repetition method which allows for some volumization and getting bigger as long as the, the food Intake is adequate and, and mobility. I don't like to compromise mobility because I believe that if you want to continue moving through this, through this, this existence with great strength, that there is also great responsibility. I kind of pulled that from, I think, Spider Man. I think Uncle Ben said that to Peter Parker. He says with great, I think he says with great strength comes great responsibility. Was that. I think that might have been the catchphrase there. So I say the same thing as it applies to mobility.

It's going to come. It's going to come to me because I love Spider man and I love Marvel.

Yeah, yeah. Uncle Ben says that to him, I think, before he show them, before he passes. And it's like it resonated with me. And I apply that to certain things that are like my centrums. If I can say that in with my training, you know, get stronger because strength is your retirement plan. That's what you're going to use to navigate through space in life. You know, unfortunately, we see, we. That example is seen in the geriatric community and not just in that community, but for example, in the elderly. You start to see that, that tissue atrophy. They don't have the muscle, the strength to propel themselves through space. So then what happens is they slow down and ultimately and unfortunately culminating in no movement whatsoever. So I say be as strong as you can, within reason, and be as mobile as you can so that it doesn't infringe upon your ability to navigate through life.

So what are the type of assessments, what are the type of assessments that you take in when you are creating a training program for say, the general population? So you had mentioned, and what I heard you say is that we prioritize strength and then you also add in the volume component for hypertrophy. So how do you decide what the different programming components need to go and what blocks?

So I look at, it's. If you think in terms of like drip phasing, what would you want to have first? Right? And I say like, for example, you would probably want to have someone master the fundamentals before moving to something complex. So I'll just, I'll take a step backwards. I will look at what is. In the event where I'm doing customized training programs, I'll. The assessment is going to be very individualized because I understand that everyone has their own unique bio individuality and trauma, so on and so forth, that will determine how they manage their center of mass and so on and so forth and their breathing patterns. So that's something that I Will assess and usually I want to grab information on where do they manage their center of mass. Is it very far forward? If we see that, we're probably going to end up seeing someone who is having issues with rotation. Because when I find when center of mass is really held forward, you start to see certain things like the rib cage flaring, the pelvis tilting, even the visual or the head trying to move in order to maintain the visual system, or 90 degrees or taking a look at the horizon. So you address that and you build your exercises around that. If someone is very used to being in the, in the front of their foot and leaning forward, feeling like they're always in a rush to locomote, I will start to program exercises that allow them to bring their center of mass back closer towards the heels, really building an awareness of what we call like the exhalation skeleton. So being able to drop the diaphragm. So some of the things, if I have to program a group, I will still actually dive into that. So an example with this program that I'll be launching, the online training partner service, though it is one program, I will be touching base with every individual, obviously through questionnaires and then short phone calls just to get a little bit more information to see where I need to create a little bit of a modification. You know, an example, some, some of the individuals may not be performing a bilateral deadlift. Some of them, I may actually have them doing an asymmetrical front back stance and you know, trying to drive a little bit more hip internal rotation on the working side, you know, that kind of stuff, you know, because sometimes find individuals in a bilateral deadlift, the asymmetry is so intense that we're just going to keep pushing them into that. But if I can get them to isolate in a staggered stance, then we get to address, we can address some areas a little bit more with more range, focus or less, depending on what our goal is.

So speaking of goals, what are some of the common goals that people come to you for when they are looking for training?

Generally it's to be. Become more, what I say, athletic. And by definition I feel like athletic is the ability to move from one side of the body to the next. It's also to be able to organize your segments in space to solve movement problems, you know, reacting to your environment. So a lot of people come to me with that as the main focus. But then the minors would be in increasing strength, muscle mass and you know, obviously those with the latter, the, the, the latter, I would say aesthetics.

So my Question for you is when they come to you athletic and I'm, I'm going to speak specifically to your general population component. Right. If they're like, hey, I have an athletic goal, do you typically see that in the form of like, you know, they want to run a marathon or they have some type of athletic aspiration or is it more of like pain management? Like oh my gosh, I, I'm going to be living alone, my kids are out of the house, so on and so forth. Like one. How do they know that they have an athletic goal?

Well, I guess how would I know? Would be through questionnaire, through interview, just asking questions, getting them to dive deep. Most of the individuals who come to me know somewhat like my background somewhat know that I was a speed based athlete, speed power based athlete. So they come to me looking to sprint or wanting to learn how to sprint. There are individuals who come to me with, with pathology, with some issues that we have to deal with. And you know, I always make sure that I have a good performance enhancement team. And I don't mean performance illegitimate performance enhancements, but performance enhancement team by way of a therapist who is either close to them or someone who could deal with them via online. You know, I'm a huge proponent of right now three individuals. There's Alex Effort, Connor Harris and David Gray. David Gray Rehab. So I usually send people their way when I know that it's outside of my scope. But I've studied a bit under Alex effort at his resilient training program and I'm always buying David Gray's stuff. I love it. You know, I love it.

Yeah, I could hear based on your. Alex Zephyr was on the show, so was David Gray and no way. Yeah, yeah, they were.

That's awesome.

Alex broke down his virtual assessment for us. Yeah, yeah. I could hear the language. I was like, oh, I can. I know. I could hear like, oh, okay. So we really care about the science of training and biomechanics, which I feel like a lot of people miss that or you know, and, and through no faults of their own. Right. Where this is amazing of, of education is getting out to the masses now. So when I. Yeah, hey, when I was in the gym, we didn't.

Yeah, well, I came from like, I started with like the, the FRC community back in like 2014. I don't know if you remember.

Oh, I do. Yes.

Yeah. Dr. Andreaspina and Dr. Shivers. Yeah, 2014. It was a 2014. 2014 or 2015. Is certified with them like before they were popular.

I remember that too. I think they came to my gym like I was.

No way.

Yeah, well, back in those days. Or it's like that's for how you got certified. They came to you?

Yeah, yeah. Oh my goodness. Yeah. I went to them in Toronto or in Vaughan, Ontario. And after that it was like DNS, the dynamic neuromuscular stabilization. Then I was kind of like in limbo for a while because I'm like, I don't know about these systems, they're good. But I wasn't finding like things were changing, you know, and it wasn't just, it wasn't just a. Oh, a lack of being consistent. It was just finding like there was something missing. And it's not that they were bad, it's just I needed more. There was, I think a lot of issues are multifactorial. So like there's an emotional side that you have to deal with. So I went and did cognitive behavioral therapy training and or certification and then I started diving into other areas and eventually landing on like a Dr. Pat Davidson. He was rethinking the big patterns to Alex and David and, and so many others. And then, you know, my exercise programming just got significantly better, you know, and it started with myself like having a couple bumps and bruises, shoulder pains, ankle pain, ankle injury, knee injury. And all of these things just started to disappear. And then it just started training like an animal again, you know, and it's just like, wow, 41 years old, I'm doing this. No PEDs, you know, teach their own. But I know people always would accuse me of that, but it's like I know what I'm doing and I've taken a 60 year old client to lift more than he has, more than he's ever done. At 21 years old, I have a 14 year old who's doing a 60 pound. Chin up, like additional weight. And it's like when you, when you know the individual who you're working with, you know, and the communication is there, you under and they understand how to interpret the whispers before they become screams, then you're creating a monster. Right? Because they know when it's time to take a break. They know when it's time to, you know, you could see, even say they know when it's time to eat or they know when it's time to work harder. You know, they know when it's time to dig deep. So that's a large part of like my coaching too. It's not just writing down a recommended amount of sets and reps and rests and stuff. There's there's education beyond that that's divulged during the conversations that we have, which are very, very meaningful.

Yeah, I'd love for you to dive a little bit more into that because I think that what happens to a lot of people is that there is this, There is a, A. I don't know. I'll find the word. But what happens is that there is a gap between learning information and then actually integrating it and implementing it and then understanding what's happening based on the. Of information. So I'm curious for you specifically, the transfer, the transference of information into implementation with your clients. How were you able to assess, for lack of a better word, the, the difference between, hey, I need to stay, I need to stay in the process here, I need to keep trying it, I need to test and tweak versus coming to the understanding of like, no, there's something missing, there's something more. I need to go deeper. How have you been able to know the difference for yourself?

Well, great question. Like, all these questions agree, but that one's like the tough one. There's some parts that I'd say might even be like, I don't want to say immutable, but it's. I'd say checklist. Like the checklist that I used to have, which perhaps is a bit outdated, is like I. My checklist would be on kind of biomarkers. So biomarkers within biomarkers would be hr, hrv, like heart rate variability would be like certain subjective and objective measures like quality of sleep, things like that. And so, for example, when I make a change to my program, I try not to make too many changes. Try and put one thing in at a time. Sometimes it's too. But let's say I put one thing in the basket. So I change one thing. I'm going to always touch base with my, my checklist. So those biomarkers, those objective and subjective measures, just to see how those are being influenced. Now, at the same time, I have other jobs, and that's going to be to keep things consistent in my life, like the nutrition consistent, even the people I hang around, the levels of stress that I'm exposed to, you know, so that way I can kind of get a good. I can get a better idea as to how this new change is influencing me, you know, on a biochemical level, on a psychological level, like, how do I feel about this? Do I like it or do I not like it? Am I enjoying it? You know, the other one would even be like kind of a synchronization thing. And synchronization would be, you know, how, like, am I. Do I feel like I'm getting better at this movement or worse? Or is it influencing other. Other. I'd say even landmark positions that I would like to achieve or. Or that I. I maintained or never had, you know, so how would I say this? An example like a staggered stance rdl. And the intent is trying to drive more internal rotation on the working leg side. Well, let's say I'm lacking that ir and it shows up in certain exercises. Well, when I bring that staggered stance RDL in the program, after enough time of stabilizing and actualizing, or I believe I give. Let's say I believe it takes, you know, three weeks, four weeks to stabilize and actualize or at least stabilize the performance. Is it improving my IR when I lay down and perform that leg raise, you know, or is it improving that IR when I'm performing a certain action like cutting, if I'm on the field? So little things like that video performance is a huge one. That's a big one. And what else Recruitment. Recruitment would be, am I getting stronger in the exercise? Is there. Is there any. Am I getting stronger the exercise also, is it hurting something else?

Well, how long do you give it before you decide whether or not you're. You're actually recruiting, you're. You're getting stronger?

Two months. Two months? Yeah. I gave it two months. I'm not a big fan. I used to switch things up so quickly and that. I think some of that came from a coaching experience I had when I was a sprinter. My coach used to believe. And I was like, this guy is the genius. Did not say he isn't. But it doesn't mean I have to agree with everything the genius believes. But he would say, I've never met an individual like you, you know, Emmanuel Paris, who is so. Who gets so stale from a workout. So you'd say, I'd give you a workout, and let's say we would repeat this microcycle. We would do it week one, week two. By week three, I'd have to switch it up on you because you're no longer reacting to these workouts. Your first session, you're crushing it. Second session, excuse me, it'd be three weeks. Second session, you absolutely destroy the workout. You're running the fastest you've ever run, and then by week three, you all of a sudden just kind of dip down. I don't know if it's your level of excitement or whatever. So I have to. So I was the one athlete out of six who was always getting new workouts every three weeks, you know, and then when I start, when I retired from sprinting and I got into, you know, really diving in deep and designing my programs, strength training and bodybuilding and such, I would always switch my workouts up really quickly. But I noticed like, I wasn't giving myself enough time to improve in the exercise in those areas. I was just kind of loading. I was just going after like the, the, the, this, the peripheral muscle fatigue and you know, not giving myself enough time for the CNS to really absorb what it was that I was doing. So I just started spending more time and like, the beauty of it is it's just amazing. I get to stretch things out longer, like use something and really get all the juice out of it, you know.

So, so I'm curious for you, you know, as an athlete, have you been an athlete your whole life?

Yeah.

Okay.

So unfortunately, yeah.

You know, as an athlete and as someone who has the, you know, who has the experience of always just being in an athletic state of mind, what has the transition been like working with people who potentially don't have the same drive as you do? Like, they get tired, they like to it like, how have you found empathy and, and been able to motivate your people to take action when they don't feel like it?

Crazy is I've. Until recently, you will probably say they won't believe me when I. With this answer, but until recently, I haven't really had those experiences with clients who were like, I. Where I'd have to like, you know, crack the whip. I don't know if it's just my demeanor or whatever, but I, I do err on the side of like, caution more than anything. I'm not like a hardcore drill sergeant trainer. There are times I could be the coddler for the most part with even my general pop clients. They're, they're, excuse my language, they're bad at it, you know, like, they love to put in the work. And sometimes they're like, I want more. And I'm like, hey, you're gonna wait until like, yes, or you're going to wait until the next training phase. I want you to finish this out. We'll keep, you know, monitoring your, your objective and subjective measures, you know, because right now there's a few things you might want to fix before you work harder. But I've been pretty good with the, the, the tribe that I have right now. There are two who I have in the fold, you know, where I look at their adherence charts, and they're like, moods down, willingness to train low. They're still putting in, they're still logging their workouts. Do I think they can work harder? Yeah, but they're new, so we'll see. We'll see. You know, it's like, perhaps I'll say my answer for that is I'm always getting on phone calls with my clients, and I let them talk, and if I hear something that needs to be addressed that perhaps they haven't seen or they haven't highlighted, then, you know, I'll bring that up. And a lot of times it's, let's say, lack of effort in the gym or consistency is, like, due to them not dealing with something outside of the arena. And by the arena, I mean the gym. You know, so poor sleep quality or poor stress management, lack of mental resiliency. So you address that and let them go. Let them go. But, you know, you unleash them again, and they're like, all right.

Yeah. It's interesting, right? In the fitness space, you see this dichotomy, right? We. We tend to be dogmatic and extreme, and it's either like, hey, you know, all or nothing, or this sense of, like, you know, this sense of like, hey, you know, cuddly cuddling. A better word for lack of a better word. Right. And it's not either or is bad. It's more about finding the people that are going to resonate and speak to you and want your love of expertise and. And discipline. Because we have, like, if we. We have to. You want something different, you got to do something different. Like just.

Yeah, yeah, that is very true. And you also said something that. That just speaks to me very well. And that's the. It's like you have to learn the language of the individual you're working with. I have some clients where they. They. I could tell if they sense any kind of coddling, they lose trust. They're kind of like, whoa, what I can get away with with this, I don't like to hear that. Whereas others are like, yes, in this point in time, I don't need that pressure of you coming down on me with the jackhammer. You know, if you can just show me some empathy, this would be kindly appreciated right now. So, you know, just being able to. To understand the language of the individual you're working with. I think more often than not, people understand my language before they come to me. So then I end up with a really good fit.

Yeah, yeah.

I say I can't help everybody. I can help the right people. But the right right is in this case is. Is subjective. If you're the right fit for my. For what I do well, we work well together.

Yeah. So good. And I think that that part of that just comes with the conviction of knowing that what you do works and being okay with helping the people you. That you're mean. And a lot of new coaches, it's hard to have that type of conviction when they just don't have the reps under their belt yet. They will.

Yeah. This is true. I have reps. Someone the other day called me an OG in this fitness thing, but that's also relative. Like, to, like when someone is born. I told someone the other day, I've been lifting since I was like, you're gonna laugh. Five years old, I am gonna laugh.

That is crazy.

Yeah. My mother bought me the Hulk, this Hulk Hogan workout set. It had like three pound dumbbells. You know, there was wristband, sweatbands, a headband, skipping rope, cassette. And I worked out on that thing like you wouldn't believe. And then I got in my closet, started doing pull ups, which is. I tell people, which is why I'm. I'm rather good at doing pull ups. And it just. It just never stops, you know?

Yeah. So I'm curious for you, you know, since you've been lifting since five, right. How. And you mentioned now that you're 41, so over four decades, right? Or time.

Yeah. Yeah.

You know, at the end of the day sometimes, you know, movement is movement. So how do you keep yourself entertained and, and not bored and continue to, to, you know, stay committed to the craft?

I investigate every so often. Like I, I say I play, and there are times where I emphasize sprinting speed, and I'm on the track more than in the gym. Other times it's the other way around. I'm on the. I'm in the gym more than on the track, or I'm in the calisthenics arena more than the gym and the track. So I'm always playing around. I really enjoy lifting, though. I enjoy the powerlifting side with that. There are times where my training is a major in strength, a minor in bodybuilding, and. And with that, mobility is always a part of it. And at other times, my major is in hypertrophy, and my minor is in strength. Sometimes the strength, you know, that those parameters are barely even in the program. So it's like there's always this cool wave, you know, followed by a little transmutation period. And I think that's what keeps me fresh in the gym. You know, I do get bored from time to time, but I am, I'm now willing to accept the boredom when it's necessary.

Yeah. So how, now that you are, you know, you've retired from sprinting, what are some of your own personal athletic performance goals that you keep in mind? Like, do you keep, do you, are you just maintenance now or do you have, do you give yourself goals?

Yeah, I give myself goals. I've, I'm, I've been growing. I'm 238 pounds right now. When I was a sprinter, I was 200, just a little under or over 200. I fluctuated between like 198 and 203 pounds. And I'm enjoying this like bulking phase, you know, testing the bulk, the slow, progressive bulk where, you know, I say, you don't end up looking like a milk bag you're booking. So I'm having fun with that. I'm also having fun, you know, right Now I'm chasing 500 on the bench press. And you know, I was at 415 two years ago. Just recently I hit 455 on, on the bench and little things like that. You know, I hit a 725 deadlift. That was a mate. Like, it was huge for me. Excuse me, I should elaborate that that was trap bar. 650 on conventional. And I can't remember. I don't even want to talk about my sumo because I'll get laughed at. I don't Sumo deadlift. I call it a squat stance deadlift. I'm having fun with, with some powerlifting numbers or trying to increase those numbers and at the same time improve my 20, my 30 meter sprint, you know, even up to a 40 meter sprint. I don't think I'll survive 100 meters of running fast. The risk of, the risk of blowing A gasket at 238 pounds is up there.

Are you gonna get on the platform?

The platform powerlifting? Oh, I'm strongly considering it. I'm strongly considering it. Pardon?

Let's get some white lights on the meat.

Yeah, I know. I have a friend at the gym who says that all the time. He's like, you get me the three white lights. Yeah, strongly considering it. I train alone and that's starting to weigh on me now. Like, I really like, I've trained alone for so many years, you know, and when I say alone alone, I'm talking not even music, like, just me in the gym. I'm in there doing my workout. Not Listening to anything. Same thing. On the track. I, for the most part, I train by myself, especially in my college days, train by myself. Sometimes I train in the evening, outside in the dark, doing my sprints, you know, particularly in the general preparedness phase, when it's not about speed, but just getting the work in. And I grew accustomed to doing that. But now that the name of the game is like, lift heavy, you need a spot, perhaps somebody to like, you know, give you the slap on the back. So I think if I find another individual who's also into or going after the same thing, that it could be great.

That's why I think I'm talking to you.

Pardon?

How do you prevent people from talking to you when you're in the gym training by yourself?

Yeah, it happens a lot. I'm pretty good at. If someone. If I'm distracted for a moment, I can regain focus as soon as I touch the bench or put my hands on a bar, it's like. It's as if someone said, runners, on your marks, you know, And I think I know that that's one of the. One of the reasons was the ability to go from, hey, I'm nervous, I'm afraid, to hearing the command and then that. Changing your conscious response to the. The situation at hand. Exactly. But it happens a lot. Like, anybody who sees me in the gym, not anybody, but a lot of times people will either ask me the very same question you did or want to come talk to me and ask me, you know, what are the best exercises for chest or traps, my shoulders, or how do I increase my bench or my squat. The general, like, I. I like to. To answer, give short answers, or tell people to message me on Instagram, you know, say, hey, I'm in my set right now, or I'm about to perform, send me a message, and I'd love to respond to you, you know.

Do they?

Yeah, they definitely do. They definitely do. They usually stand in front of me and say, okay, repeat, what's your Instagram handle? Or I type it in, and then I'll watch them, like, as they're writing the message. Yeah, yeah, So I get it. And I. I do my best to respond to everyone. I actually have people who usually write, I never thought you would respond to my question, or, wow, I didn't think you'd answer.

I know. That's why I asked you. Because a lot of people, they don't realize, like, they're intimidated to DM people. Like, we're used to DMing people. Or at least I am. Like, People in my space, in my world, like, I. I'll talk, I'll dm. Famous people, right?

Yeah.

If I. If they're doing something interesting and I care about. But most people don't. And they're intimidated to do that.

Yeah. Yeah. They're afraid of the possible result, like the rejection, possibly.

Who am I to be talking to, you know, Taylor Hansen or whoever the. The person is. Like, you're. As a coach, you are famous to these people. They just. You don't think of yourself that way.

Yeah. Question. How did you. How do you know David Gray and then, like, Alex and.

Oh, my gosh. So I was. Well, now we're interviewing me. So I was a former district fitness manager for Crunch, and I learned under Kyle Dobbs, so.

Oh, my gosh. Compound performance.

So. And I worked with Kyle Dobbs for a lot of my career. So when he left, he went to peak performance under Dr. Pat Davidson or with Dr. Pat Davidson and that Motley Crue to know is to love him. I moved into district fitness manager for Crunch, and then our worlds have just come back like that. So Kyle has been just a really, you know, pivotal person in my career.

Yeah.

So then. But what I was really good at in. At Crunch was sales. Like, sales, marketing and growing. Just. I went in that direction. He went training and then. Yeah, always continued to excel in training. And so that. That's how I got introduced to the world, to the space. And then I. I had met people through him, like Katie Sinclair, Jill Zimmerman.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my gosh.

Just kind of, like, snowballed in that regard.

Yeah. That's amazing.

Yeah.

I. I say that those. These names that you've mentioned that I mentioned are, like, some of the smartest in the industry. And it's. Sometimes I think, like, the state of. Of this fitness industry, particularly with like, the new wave of, like, fitness influencers, is, like, getting a bit scary because there's a lot of, like, someone gave me this term that I'm using. I hope it doesn't sound too bad, but it's like the incestuous repetition. Like, you see something, you grab it, you don't really understand it, but you use it. And then you tell everybody else to use it. You know, meanwhile, you never really understood it and who it was for. You know, we saw that with. Yeah, Keep Going.

We saw that with Keep Going.

We saw that with, like, the Prior, you know, with Never let your knees precede your toes. Way back in the day, I remember, like, you know, when I was new to coaching, that was people Started sounding off with that. And it was like, shoulders back and down, chin in, and, you know, all these things. You know, the shoulders backing out, pack it back and abduct the knees and as you're squatting to create space for the hips. And it was just like, wow, those things, perhaps they're. They were valid, but for certain people, not everyone.

Yeah.

And then it just, like, caused a bunch of other problems that now the really smart people are fixing the right way, but no one's listening to them as much as they should.

It's interesting. Right? So I think that what we're dealing with is two things or three things, really, in my opinion. Okay. So this is my opinion, which is that we have the law of polar polarity, which is that you cannot have light without the dark, essentially.

Right.

So social media is a blessing and a curse, and it has brought to light that echo chamber of a dogmatic approach where people have a very hard time. Like, they're comparing their. Their, you know, dark days to people's highlight reel or to things that are. That are, you know, photoshopped to. And they're creating unrealistic expectations around performance. Like, it's kind of created this echo chamber of like, oh, I just learned how to squat for the first time. Let me go get on the powerlifting. Let me go do a meet right where? Hold on. Okay. You wouldn't expect a toddler to run a marathon the first time they learned to walk. So why are you doing this in your business? Why are you doing this in your lifting practice? Right. So. Right. You know, social media has kind of exacerbated that, so created a huge, like, you know, area of opportunity for coaches to learn.

Right, right, right. I was going to say it.

Yeah. But without the cognitive experience of being able to be discerning about, like, oh, this is for me. This is not for me. This is for my clients. It's not. Then it's. You can get wrapped up into that echo chamber of dogmatic approach.

Right, right, right.

And then, you know, and I also think to myself, when I was a new coach for myself, Right. I think we're also dealing. Point two is we're also dealing with human beings, and so be right. And so there's this. This. This.

Yeah, We.

We have this drive in us, and especially when you're new, it's like, no, no, no. I'm putting my stake in the ground, and I'm right.

Yeah, right. It's like, yeah.

Is it more important to be right here to actually help someone and then know what you're doing to do it.

This is very true.

You know, so.

So, yeah.

You know, and then I also think then the third thing is that. And then this just comes with doing reps, is that once you start to get convicted and, like, this is my way. This is who I help, then you can be discerning, and then you'll have that experience of like, oh, this is not for me. This is not. That's not my moment. My favorite modality. And. And then you. You lose this need to be right. And more like, well, I'm going to call in who I need and who needs right.

Yeah, that is well put. Beautiful. It's like, I guess you could say, you know, you mentioned the. The principle of polarity, but it's like, I guess as you move down, it was like the principle of polarity. But then what you'd mentioned towards the end was almost like, you got to be polarizing or not. You have to be. But. But then you can be polarizing.

Yeah.

And with that, it's like you've niched, but not for the sake of it being a gimmick, but because you know, where. Where you are good, you know, where you had the skin in the game has shown you where you're getting your results and what you do well, and then it's like, boom. Yeah. I love it.

So. So much of business growth and so much is. Is a. Is feels like a paradox. It's like, give, but not too. Too much.

Yeah. I won't lie. I'm struggling with that because you are. You know, how much do you give? You know, do you give it all? What's left?

Or, you know, it's like, don't be dogmatic. But then go all in on your way. So it's like, yeah. So it just. It's a paradox, right? It's. It's living in the end and not for me. And then being transparent with this is the end of, like, hey, I'm learning this voyeurism. This is what I'm doing. I once thought this, and now this. Right. That also comes from, like, hey, I'm not here to be right. I'm here to get results.

I like that a lot. I may quote you on that.

Yeah. Amen.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm not here to be right. I'm here to get results. Because it's like, hey, that just lets, you know. I. You know, there's fallibility. There's some cases. There's fallibility in what every and anybody is doing out there. It's okay. As long as you're willing to put your best foot forward regardless of whatever, like, potential consequences, there are failure. You learn, you extrapolate, you rediscover, and then you keep pushing, you know, and eventually you find what sticks.

Yes.

Hopefully you have. You have references and resources that allowed you to have context so that you're not completely in the dark and you have previous experiences and data that would kind of help guide you a little bit, but you have to be open.

Totally. So true. Yeah, this has been awesome. And so I definitely want to be. I want to be respectful of your time. So for those of you who are tuning in and they want to go deeper with you, what are some of the best places that I can send them?

You can send them to my Instagram, which is at thereal Coach Pal. You can also send them to my YouTube channel, which is also. Excuse me, sorry. That one is at CoachPow. So the reel is taken out of there. So at CoachPow on YouTube for my YouTube channel, and at the real Coach Pal for my Instagram. And those are the two places, you know, for example, on Instagram, DMing me, asking questions. I'll get back to you as soon as possible. It'll probably be within 24 hours or less. And on YouTube, I. On my DMs and Instagram, a lot of times I get individuals who say, hey, I. I don't know how to perform such and such exercise. Can you. Can you show me? So I'll go to the gym, film the exercise, if it's not already in my database, and I'll post it on. On YouTube, send them the link, we're good to go. So cool.

So cool. So cool. Okay, so we'll make sure that we link all of that up. So thank you so much, Coach Powell. I really appreciate it. Reporting into me and into the community and catch you later.

Awesome. Thank you very much.

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