On Getting Your First Pull-Up with Angela Gargano

You're listening to the PT Proffitt podcast, episode number 190. Today I'm sitting down with Angela Gargano and we're talking all about getting your first pull up. 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 to increase client performance in 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. What's up coach? Thank you so much for pushing play on another episode of the PT Profit Podcast. I'm your host, Beverly Simpson, and if this is the first time you're hanging out with me today, welcome. I'm really excited that you're here today. We had an incredible guest, Angela Gargano, who is a fierce athlete, coach, international fitness model and speaker. So before becoming a full time multi passionate entrepreneur, she worked as a biochemist at Brown University, which she shares and talks about inside of this episode. She so generously shares her journey from all of the peaks, all of the valleys. And she talks all about how she threw away her lab coat and goggles in 2013 to open up her own gym in Rhode Island. She has multiple lives in the athletic and entrepreneurial space, defying all odds and setbacks, which she shares inside of this episode today to help her become and stay authentic and relatable in the public eye. Angela has now competed on on American Ninja Warrior four times. She won the title of Miss Fitness America in 2016 and created an online fitness empire for women called Song Feels Good, where she teaches women to ditch the scale and focus on strength and feeling as a way to measure progress. She's also helped over 500 women conquer their pull ups with her online program, the Pull Up Revolution. In the summer of 2021, she appeared all over the world as the Oxygen magazine cover girl and she spoke about tearing her ACL on the Ninja Warrior course and coming back 11 months later, stronger than ever. She actually shares about this inside of the podcast. In addition to sharing her journey, she talks to us about the most common misconceptions about landing the pull up and how to actually help your client get one if that's one of their goals. So without further ado, let's go ahead and roll that interview. What's up, Angela? Thank you so much for joining me on this show today. How are you?

So great. Thank you so much for having me. I'm pumped to chat. All things training program, all that stuff.

I love it. I cannot wait. So for those of you who are listening and haven't had the pleasure of meeting Angela or knowing anything about your work, I'd love for you to share with us a little bit about who you are, who you serve and how you got there.

Awesome. Yeah. So my name is Angela Gargano. I'm actually a four time American Ninja Warrior. I've been on three different covers on Ms. Fitness America 2016. And I also have a program called Pull Up Revolution, which has helped over 500 women get their first Pull Up. So that's the main business that I have there with that. And yeah, it's interesting journey. I didn't start off doing any of that. I started off as a biochemist. So I was a biochemist for a good, like three years. Like lab coat, goggles, hazmat. No way. Yeah. Very different shifts. And I went from that to owning my own gym, to working in the city with the best of the best and learning from the best. That's when my Pull up program developed. And you know, obviously within the pandemic, I already had everything online, so everything kind of, you know, took off even more. Even though since I already had it online and now I'm here in Austin, Texas, so I've kind of been a little bit everywhere.

Oh my gosh. That's amazing. Okay, so can you share with us a little bit about how you went from bio. Bio lab coat to into fitness? Were you always into sports? Sports? How did that come about?

Yeah, so, you know, I went to, you know, college for biochemistry, but I also was there to do college gymnastics. So I was on a gymnastics team. I was, you know, NCAA college athlete. And after graduating, I just kind of thought that what I needed to do was stick to whatever my degree was. My mom had always told me, like, being a trainer is not a real job. I asked her if I could be in the circus one time. She's like, not a real job. Like, you know, all those things, you're like, oh, I have to stick to like what I went to school for. But what I started realizing after college gymnastics was over was that I honestly had no idea what the hell I was doing in a gym. Like, really? Like, everyone's like, oh, you're so fit. Like you were a gymnast. I'm like, yeah. But I never learned how to work out in a gym. When I got in the gym, everything to me was super foreign. And I was Confused. And I honestly, like, was really discouraged because I'm like, I'm in here. My coach isn't telling me what to do. I have no event or, you know, or competition that I'm planning for. I'm just kind of like, in here, like, what's happening? So I started trying to figure out what that next piece was and what to do. So I actually started doing fitness competitions, but the ones where you're, like, flipping around on stage and then doing the posing. But what was so great about that is I had somebody who decided that they would sponsor me, and they were giving me my workouts, and they were also guiding me along my food journey and things like that. All things that I had no idea how to do, even though, like, you would assume, again, being a college gymnast, that I would know any of those things. So I started learning from that process and from that. People started asking me. They're like, oh, what are you doing? You're looking really good. You're really taking care of yourself. Like, they really take notice as to what you were doing. Especially when I was working in that biochem lab, because a lot of people were not very healthy just focusing on their craft and things along those lines. So I started helping them, you know, bit by bit. And I started realizing, you know, I really think that I can make a greater impact and help people more instead of being in a lab, but by actually helping them along their journey to, you know, whatever they want to do for, whether it be, you know, they want to do fitness competition, they just get stronger things along those lines. So definitely the transition came when I started seeing the impact I could have on people just based on what I was learning and the skills that I was developing from this process for myself.

You know, you're bringing up such a very powerful point that I think is a misconception and worth reiterating is two things. First is that there's such. At least in the personal training community, I'll say that there's such a desire to want to work with athletes because they tend to be the top 1% of performers, but. Or in performance. But people forget that even coaches need coaches. And sometimes athletes are just following, like, they're just disciplined. They have the discipline, but they don't necessarily have the science behind what it is that they're doing. And so they end up, you know, oftentimes just like a gen. General population, active person.

Yeah, people don't realize that at all. And again, I think it's. It was super interesting, like, for myself, again, and Also, again, recognizing that when I got into that gym, like, I really felt lost. Like, my. My identity was athletics and again, was my coach telling me exactly what to do, where I needed to be. And I. First of all, I love that. Like, I love. I love that I was like, tell me what to do. Tell me where to be. But, yeah, as you start to learn more about, like, why it is that we were doing what we were doing or maybe things that we could have improved on, that our coaches gave us, that we can do even better now, I think that's super important for people to know as well. And definitely going back to. Even with athletes, you know, if you're training an athlete, I even now, like, I take them back to the basics to make sure they really kind of understand the whole entire foundation of it. Instead of going into these, like, big explosive things right away, let's go take it back to basics. Let's take it back to the beginning. Let's make sure you have a strong foundation and core. Let's make sure that we're working on all those basics first and then kind of jump into the more intense, you know, fun, like, type of things.

Yeah. So now you were also mentioning that you were talking about pull ups. Like, how did you get into. Can you talk a little bit more about how that evolution from helping people to getting really specific on one skill acquisition component or I guess one skill development that you really like, focus and double down on?

For sure. And what's interesting is a lot of, you know, coaches will hear this as niching down. Like, I didn't even know that's what I was doing. At first. I didn't know it was niching down. But what I saw was that all the. A lot of women would come to me and want to train with me, and they were like, oh, my God, it's so cool that you're on Ninja Warrior. All I want to be able to do is a pull up. And it just that literally that same thing kept coming back to me over and over and over again. So every time I'd be like, well, then let's get your pull up. Like, why not? And the training became based around getting their pull up. But with getting a pull up, it is working your entire body. You are working on your shoulders, your core, and your glutes. So you still need to work everything while you are on that goal of getting your pull up. But what I saw so much about when they were getting their pull up is they became more excited to come into the gym because instead of Them coming in now to lose weight and look on the esthetics and things along those lines. They're coming in to get a skill, which makes it really exciting, right? They're coming into. To have this goal to get there. And along their journey, they lost weight, they toned up, they felt more confident. It all. All the stuff that they like, probably you see all the time that people want, they got it along their journey. And I started to see how when they did get their pull up, wow, like, it really changed their life. It changed their perspective. You know, they got their pull up now maybe they're excited and they might want to go try kettlebell swing now. Maybe they, oh, maybe. Maybe I can, you know, do run a marathon. So I decided to niche down to it because I saw how much it was needed to, you know, not focus on aesthetics, not focus on the bikini body. I like that it was a different shift. It also makes it very clear on, like, what we're showing up to do. Right. We're showing up to get you that pull up and that's what we're going to work towards. So you get. Each day, like, we're getting a little step closer to that movement, which gets you excited to see that progressive goal happen. It's. It could be just like with anything with, let's say if you are like lifting heavy instead, like, let's say it's completely opposite from pull ups. You. A lot of times the trainer will come and be like, okay, cool. Our goal is to get you that PR that you want to get to, right? So it's like you find that PR for yourself. So, yeah, niche down to that. And I think that it was. What was also very interesting is I looked up and try to see what there was out there for this already because that's the first thing you do. You know, anytime you're trying to do something, I'm like, let me see what everyone else is doing. Let's see, like, what's out there. There was nothing out there for females that was really approachable, that was online in order to help someone get their pull up. There was literally nothing out there. Maybe like one or two, like, kind of like, type of situations. I was like, this is an opportunity right here. Like, I definitely need to take it. I enjoy doing it. And then from them coming to me for that niche later on, they might. They. They do work with me for other different things, but they come in. A lot of them are like, I'm going to get that pull up. Um, so I feel like it's Been a really cool journey and I really, again, enjoy every single person coming in to get it because it's just so much more than that.

So it's so good. So now something I'm curious about for you because here I'll talk a lot about specificity in explaining or specificity in demonstrating the problem and then showing how your solution is the fastest, most efficient way possible. So I'm curious, with the pull up, did you have any type of resistance or work to do around shifting the goal from aesthetics or common goals to helping them see that there was a performance goal that they could actually achieve? Was there work there for you or was it literally just everyone came to you said, no, I'm ready to do a pull up?

Yeah, I think it actually came a lot easier because a lot of the people who came to me were really sick of that aesthetic goal. They're sick of it. They're like, I'm so sick of this. I'm so sick of like coming in and weighing myself and worrying about all that stuff. I'm ready for something else. I'm ready for a change. I'm ready to focus on getting stronger. Because stronger not only looks good, it feels good. Right? So they, a lot of them came to me already wanting that change and just being basically over all the stuff that they were seeing already. So it was actually pretty easy to get them into coming into it. And again, it makes it a lot easier to come in and saying we're going to work on this specific skill because they know what they're there to get, which I think is really important. Obviously they get, they get all those other different things that we focus on that one thing. And as for messaging, I really started to. So I did it so many times. I taught again, so that the program I have now I've literally had for, yikes, maybe like seven, eight years. I've had it for a long time. Right? I've had it for a very long time. And before that I was teaching it in person. So I learned a lot about the language, the things they were saying, the doubts that they had. And I literally took the words from their mouth, their words from their mouth, the things they were saying. And I use that for my audience because somebody else probably feels exactly the same exact way. So for example, I'm just too happy to get my pull up. I'm like never going to be able. I'm too heavy. Okay, cool. Let me debunk that. Let me tell you why you're not too heavy. Let me tell you what's actually happening and then explaining the process, explaining that, you know, there's a mind body connection situation that happens with your lot. Right. And you don't really use it all the time. Right. Or I keep doing pull ups in the pull up band and as soon as I get off, nothing, like I don't have anything. Okay, cool. My, my topic to them would be like, let me tell you why the pull up band is not going to work for you and what you can do instead of. Right. And then you're really kind of pinpointing exactly the situations that they're in that are having issues with. Because I know that when there was one and there was another one and another one that there's more out there having the same issue. So I really pinpoint that the pain points they had there specifically with the pull up and I think that helped to kind of make it again easier to come in. And again, a lot of people when I ask them why, like why are you here? Why are you here for pull ups? They're like, I'm just so tired of like trying to come in here to get a six pack or whatever. I want just something cool to. I want to feel strong and something to focus on.

So you're starting to go into it and you were starting to blow my mind a little bit. So I'd love for you to expand a little bit more on some of the common misconceptions around building a. Building a pull up and getting to that first pull up. What are some of the things that people say and what, what's the process? What, how should we start thinking about it or how could we start thinking?

So I get really frustrated because when you go online, you always see they have the same couple movements that you'll see in articles. They'd be like, do these three movements. It's like doing an ISO hold on the bar where you just like kind of hold do an eccentric where you're going really slow and essentially band pull ups. Like basically the same three things like everywhere. Okay, cool, that's great. Right?

But I'm saying cool. All stuff I do.

Yeah. Okay, cool. That's great. That's great. That's awesome. You know, it's awesome that you're doing that, but like, let's dig a little deeper. Let's look a little deeper as to why that's not working for anybody. Okay. So really. Okay, so like number one, the pull up band great tool. I don't want to tell people never to use the pull up and great tool. However, it helps you with the hardest part of the pull up, which is the bottom, it flings you up there. It gets you right at that bottom piece. And most people are stuck at that bottom piece. They're stuck from here to here. The rest of it's pretty easy. For a lot of people, it's literally this little piece that they cannot get. So the band just flings you up. So you're not actually building strength. The band's just throwing you up there. So what we make sure we do in the program that I have is that we actually make sure we get off the band as much as possible, or we're only using the band in a different capacity, where you're only going to get a couple reps out of it, where I force you literally to think about focusing on the bottom piece of that pull up. So that's the first thing that I feel like is major. The bands, I'm not saying they don't work, but if you're doing that, they may. They probably don't work. You know what I mean? There's a different way to do it. There's a different way to get it. Um, so I focus. I break down the pull up for my client in different phases and we focus on, you know, you might just be focusing with me as a client with just the bottom piece. We're not even thinking about going all the way up. We're like, let's just focus on the first piece and get that without the band and things along those lines. Um, number two, the eccentric pull up again. Great. I love the eccentric pull up. This is when you go really, really slow coming down from the pull up. And what it actually does is actually. It sounds scary, but it like rips the muscles a little bit more. It helps you develop that strength. You need to get the pull up up. What most people do is they go really slow at the bottom, they drop. Same piece, right? Same problem. They can't now get up from the beginning of it. But what's tough is that when you're telling somebody on that article to just do like, just do this really slow. I mean, every freaking client that I've had try and do that, they just drop because they don't have the strength to lower down slow yet. And that becomes frustrating. A little scary, right? Because you're up there and you're like, it told me to lower down slow. And I'm like. I'm like, I can't do that. It's too hard. So I walk them through ways to do that where they can use their foot on a stool with the guide and just kind of go slow and use their foot as they start to feel like they're going to drop. Okay, we'll put your foot on something and help you lower yourself nice and low to the ground. So I'll get a lot of these things that I'm seeing that were, you know, again, misconceptions on how to get your pull up. The band is not the way. And then also knowing again that the pull up is a full body movement. So you need to work on everything. If you don't have a strong core, it's going to be tough. If you're not squeezing your glutes, it's going to like and have your butt nice and strong, it's going to be a little bit tougher. So with my program, we break it down into a three step process. So we talk about mobility, stability and strength and then we work on a lot of stuff that again isn't even you doing the pull up first. Like a lot of like accessory work and things along those lines to help you get there. But yeah, I just again, I think that most people, what they do to get their pull up is just hop on the band and that's there's a much better way to get you there faster. That's not as frustrating. Yeah.

And I'm laughing because sometimes people, myself included, good thing I'm not training people anymore. But I, people are like, oh, I'm going slow 4321.

Oh yeah, yeah, exactly. Like no, no, like, no. Like literally as slow as humanly possible. And it seems weird, right? The different way of training people always like want to just like do fast things and squat and whatever. But like a lot of times those slow things that you incorporate into your training are ridiculously beneficial.

Now I'm curious, do you see when you're working on the ex, on building strength and you're using exercises like lap pull downs or rows or any of the, or seated rows or stand dumbbell rows, whatever it is. Do you notice that people still drop out in that part? Are they still able to associate that mind lack connection that you were talk, talking about?

So that's like another piece of what we talk about. It's like now it's like, okay, when you make them train, you make sure you're telling them like when you're doing that movement. Let's think, let's think about it. It sounds so silly but like, let's think about it because a lot of times, again, I've had insane crossfit strong people who can't do a pull up. And it's not because they don't have that muscle there. It's just because their mind and body have never connected to it. So making sure that you are when you're doing the lap. I have a lot of people do like single arm lap pull downs because you can tap it and then kind of try and get the connection to be like, okay, cool. That's where I'm supposed to be. Like, you touch it. Like if I was training them, I would actually touch that area.

Okay, cool.

Do you feel this right here? And kind of getting them to understand a little bit more about why they're doing what they're doing in order. Because again, the goal is to get the pull up. Because what a lot of times people do with like lap pull downs or even like they're just doing it. They're just like. It's just like, you know, they're going really fast and not really thinking about it and all that stuff like that. But again, when you're here to try and get a skill, let's try and understand what we're doing with our body. So, yeah, a lot of times it's that connection.

Yeah. And lap pull down. So many people are just using their shoulders.

Oh, yeah. They're just. Right. They're literally just pulling up with it. Like they're like, it's not their fault. You know what I mean? It's like, it's hard to. You see a video of someone just doing it, like, oh, okay. I like to just do it like that. But there's a lot more to think about when you're doing it.

How long are the. How long is the training block and you know, how fast can do you typically. And I know this varies, but how fast do people typically get their first pull up?

Yeah, so I've had somebody get it in 14 days, which is great. Awesome. And. And I get. Most people do get it at the end of the 30 days, if they are doing it, if they're doing the program and they follow it in order, a lot of them will get it by the end of the 30 days. But yeah, like you said, it varies. Some people they get it in 30 days, some days they get it in 60 days. And it just depends also on the other stuff that you're doing. Right. Because it's like you could be doing, for example, my program, but then people aren't telling me that they're, you know, running six or seven miles every day as well. So that also can like kind of make the process a little slower only because with the process, like something like this where you're getting a skill, you actually need to rest hard. Like you need to rest your body needs the time to like develop that muscle and stuff like that. And if you're just going, going, going, going, you can actually lose some of the strength. So it just really depends on how much time you're willing to put into it. Are you willing to do the program to a T like each day and really trust the process? Are you going to try and do too much? But yeah, I've had people get it 14 days and people get it in 30 days and they, like I said, I've had people who just takes a little bit longer. But the people who stick to it, they always get it. They always get it so good.

Now do you have a position on position and grip?

Oh, okay. Yeah. So I teach people the classic pull up. Obviously, what's so cool about the pull up and the push up, right? You can change your hand just a little bit, completely change the muscle group. So cool. Like awesome. Like, you know, you only need your body and like with the push up, you can get your triceps here, right? Or you can a little wider and now it's your chest. Like, that's so cool. Like you just need to use your body and you can do it in different ways. So the classic pull up is hands over the bar. I have people start with a classic pull up with their hands like a teeny bit further than shoulder width apart. Because I want them to do that, like get their lot to work. And I make them do the hardest one first because, like, once you get that, the rest of them you'll get like, no problem. Like that's, that's got the hardest one first. So we did the classic one. There's the chin up, obviously hands under that a lot of people do. This is a lot easier for a lot of people because if you think about it in your everyday life, you're maybe picking up things, right? So it's like you're actually the motions, but you're not really doing this like at all, like throughout the day, like ever. So this makes it a little bit easier. So there's like the chin up, there's like the wider pull up, right? But I teach the classic pull up and then we incorporate some of those different grip strengths and the different ways of the pull up in it as we go. But I always tell people, I like people to get the classic pull up first because once you get that the rest of them are like cake.

What's the difference between thumb over the bar, under the bar?

So, okay, this is such a controversy with some. There's like a whole article that I read on this before too. I was a gymnast. So, like, I love putting my thumb over the bar. Like, I just feel good. I feel comfortable. It feels good to me. Um, what a lot of people say is that when you have your thumb under the bar, it can help to activate your lats a little bit better. You're also like, more secure the grips more, you know, it's just more secure in the ball. Ball bar. And if you are trying to maybe get a muscle up later on for like a lot of crossfitters, they always say that it's like you want your thumb under the bar because later on your muscle up would be you turning under. But there's no like real study saying, like, what's technically right and wrong? So you literally could do whatever feels comfortable for you. I always have my clients try a little bit of both. Like, try it with your hand over the bar. Try your thumbs under the bar. Let's just see how it feels. Sometimes this is uncomfortable at first. Like, cool. Do a few here, a few there and just kind of mess around with it.

How do you do your pull ups over the bar, over?

Yeah, I mean, it's like gymnastics. Like, that's just like. I don't know. That's just the way I. That's the way I used to like flow and do mine. So it's just the way I like to keep it. It feels comfortable for me, but if I had to put my hand under the bar, I will. It just feels weird to me.

What's your pull up record? How many pull ups can you do in a row without stopping?

The most I ever did was 26, but I have not, I have not like, tried to max out mine and forever. It's interesting. People always ask me that question. I'm like, it's cool to know that, like, I can do that many at some point in my life probably again. But my goal is like, how many can I get for you? You know what I mean? Like, I want to be as a coach, like, it's so cool, like, what I can do and I want to like, inspire them, but also, like, I also want to show that, like, I can get you, like, your goal pull ups. You know what I mean?

So now, since you've been working on pull ups specifically for the last seven to eight years, I'm curious what has been the hardest case that you like challenges that you have faced when training clients and how have you dealt with it?

Hmm. The hardest part, I think would be probably to just getting them to stay consistent and trust the process. I think that's really hard sometimes. Cause it's like they want to do all these other things or do most. I mean, most from what I'm seeing for most people that came to me, like, they're doing too much and I'm like, less. We need to do less. And they're like, what, like what we got to do, like, not as much so that we can get you, like, to your goal. So I think that's probably the biggest thing that I see. And there's a few people who. I think there's like two people who. It just took them a long time to get it. I'm not sure exactly like, what it was because they were doing a lot of the things that I was, you know, helping them through. But I, I honestly think a lot of it had to do with. Mentally. They just like, there's a lot of mental stuff that goes into the process. So I did like, a lot of work on, like, trying to get them to just get out of their head so they can finally get it. Yeah.

People underestimate that it's the invisible components. And I think that's true in building a business as well. Like when we're dealing with skill acquisition, we hear, we often hear a lot of Compare your day one to someone else's day 100. But the same is true about someone else's day one. Your day one is not the same as someone else's day one because everyone is starting at a different point.

A.

And I think people, people miss that.

I couldn't agree more with that. And especially in business. Right. You know, this is like, I had to put a lot of work into this. Like you said, like in business and pull ups. I feel like they're very much aligned. It's like they're going to be. You're going to have great days, you're going to have horrible days and you're like, I don't know what I'm doing days. You just have to, like, keep persisting and trying things. I also think, like, making sure that you, you know, stick to a certain thing in your business just for a good amount of time before you start to, like, just pivot and change everything, like right away, like, stick to something. I, I highly encourage, like, yeah, you finding your thing, sticking to it for as long as you can, and then all the Other things that you want to do. Like, in your business, you'll be able to do that. Like, now I have a core program now I have a full body. Like, I have all that stuff after, like. Right. But I still focus on that one thing, and I crash crushed it really good. So that all that stuff kind of ties in after.

So. Good. Now, do you ever get bored with, you know, your programming and doing the stuff of, you know, just talking about the same thing over and over again? How do you keep it interesting for yourself?

Oh, I mean, absolutely, I get bored. I think that, like, that's anything, right? Like, you're like, okay, I talk about the same thing that I've talked about before again. But then I normally see, like, you know, you have a new person that comes in and you see that. That they're successful because of that. Um, luckily, like, I went from a while, like, I was actually coaching them full out, like, on the programs to, like, it's a do it yourself program now. So, like, I'm not talking as much about it, but I am, like, pushing it. But normally I literally. Yeah, you have to realize that, especially because most of my business comes from social media. It's just like, there's. I might have said that same thing, like, two weeks ago, but someone else on that page may have not ever seen it. So it's like, all right, cool. Let me just. Dude, I can literally. Sometimes I just post the same thing. I literally take the same exact thing that I made and I post it again. Or other times, like, I'm like, oh, I'm inspired today. I'm gonna make a video on the same exact thing. But I'm just gonna, like, look a little different and maybe say a few things that are a little bit different. But yeah, it obviously, you know, if you want to know the reality of it, yeah, you're gonna get sick of it. I've had people who are literally, like, business coaches and stuff like that. Like, I'm sick of talking about niching down or I'm sick about whatever, but, you know, that's. It's part of the process and teaching. Yeah.

I always tell people that if you're bored entire or if you're sick of talking about it, then you're probably onto something finally.

You're like, I know this so well that I can literally, like, I know exactly what you're thinking. I know exactly what issues you're having. I mean. Yeah, exactly. And it's like sticking to that extent, especially with your business, and knowing again that once you get so good. I mean I see it with so many great entrepreneurs, they, that one thing they're known for, that one thing they're like crushing and. But then they maybe write a book or they go do this and then all that works now because they had that one thing they like really put that extra time into.

So true. So good. Now I'm curious what the level, what the experience was like for you to go from ninja warrior covers high performance to something that, you know, to working with people that are active but maybe not quite, you know, as 1% of the top athletes. Like, what was that experience like for you? Was that hard to transition? What brought you to that?

I think it's so rewarding, honestly, it's just so rewarding. There's something so special about it. You get this great connection with somebody and you know, again, every, if you're an online trainer or in person trainer, like remembering that these people are human and it's so cool to see them overcome these things and overcome these like limiting beliefs that they can't be an athlete like that. Like, why not? Like why can't you? I don't care what age you are. So I actually, I didn't really have a hard time transitioning because I just feel like I was so grateful for them and they're so grateful too. And I just love seeing that these different like aha. Moments that they get and that spark that they get each time they, you know, accomplish something a little bit more in the gym or they're just showing up for themselves. Right. This woman right now, all she wanted to do is just start showing up for herself. And I'm so excited. When I go on there, I just see like, did it again. Got it. Woohoo. Got it done. Like that stuff just makes me really exciting. Exciting. Yeah. There's just something to be said about just working for, with the general public that I think is just amazing.

I know it's such a good way to, to look at it. I think it's really, it's, it's powerful in that way. And I'm also wondering, do people feel intimidated ever or have they felt intimidated to work with you? Have you had to like cross over those barriers of like. No, no. You can do it too at your current level?

Oh, absolutely. I mean I've had so many people who are like, yeah, I'm a little intimate. But what's cool is someone had told me once I thought this was great. They're like, you're intimidating but approachable. So it's like, I think because of maybe the way I do my content and stuff like that. Like I'm very friendly about it. So I'm not like wow, like whatever. I'm always like making jokes or like talking about like life on top of that as well. Right. So they feel like as much as it's a little bit intimidating, they feel like they can approach me and they feel like they like I'm going to push them because I really like care and I know that I can get there. So I think there is something, a beauty in that being a little bit intimidating, like wow. Like, but also like approachable enough where people can come up to you and they don't feel weird about like asking you stuff. But yeah, I've had, I think also too when people ask me like about the pull up situation, they're like, I just want to do a pull up. And when I'm like, no, yeah, why not? Let's do it. They're a little bit shocked that I say that. I'm like, yeah, you can do it.

Yeah, I mean I, I would. What's that experience like too when you get to work with someone who has never felt like it was possible for them and then they actually achieve it, like that must be.

Oh, it's unreal. I mean the amount of pull up. I mean I have literally hundreds of pull up videos before and after. My favorite part is when they do the. Because I make them video it the, the when they get the pull up. Like one of my clients, Betsy From Egypt, she's 60 something years old, she just got it and she literally posted this video in the group. She comes down and her face is like, let's go.

Yeah, that's so rewarding and fulfilling.

It really is.

So now for you, you know, what's next for you? As a high achiever who's accomplished a lot that many people are still working on. And by the way, you can do it. What's next for you? What's the next on your.

Yeah, so we're really, so I'm really focusing on still the pull up program. We're actually going to. Since things are like now open, we're going to do some pull up workshops. So we're going to come to different gyms like all around and I want it to be for females only. So we're going to come in and say, hey, I want to do this workshop for your females and just do like a really nice breakdown of it again. Make them feel like they know that they can do it. So I'm excited to like Go in person and do that. I'm also doing a bunch of different speaking, talking about my journey and the things that I've gone through to help people and make it a little bit easier. Because I mean, as much as we just, just talked about all this stuff, right, you know, I didn't have a chance to talk about all that. Like the, you know, the moments you're like, oh shit, like what am I doing? Like, you know, yeah, dive in. Like, yeah, when things went wrong, like, I mean, literally so much has gone wrong. So the speaking is going to be a lot on, on that and showing how you can to keep going like along the journey with it. And then I'm writing a book right now which is kind of a piece of the speaking. It's called what if It All Goes right. So it's all tied into the pull up and the journey and the business and stuff like that, which is pretty cool.

That's so good because so many people are focused on what, what if it all goes wrong and you get what you focus on.

Oh, absolutely. And it's like also I think that sometimes people don't think, they don't even know what right looks like. Like what is right look like. Like everything's going wrong. But are you taking a second to be like, what would write even look like for you? I think that's what really changed things for me. I sat down and I was like, I don't even know what right is. Like, what what is what is right? What would it look like if it was going right for me? So I think really getting clear on that can really help you on the journey. Instead of, like you said, thinking about all the stuff that could go wrong that's, you know, and it's just, it's going to go wrong like it always does.

Oh, always does, Always does, always does that. I'm also curious too. In your speaking gigs and when you go and speak to gyms, will you also help coaches on coaching their clients to get there?

Absolutely. I'm hoping that again it will be a group of females, whether that be like coaches are looking to learn or people or females within the gym who are looking to, to get their first pull up. I like like the idea of them being together because you should always be learning. Just like you were saying with coaching, like, I'm always going to different workshops and learning from different people all the time. There might be like that one little cue that I give you that you can give to your client or that that client is like, oh shit, that's it that you can use over and over and over again. So it's always important to keep refining. You don't know everything. I don't know everything. Like I learn all the time. So I always make sure that I'm going in. But yeah, so I'm hoping to be coaches and stuff like that. But again, primarily female focus so that, you know, they can feel a lot less intimidated and be in a safe space where they're not like, oh my God, I'd be in here with a bunch of bros. You're like cranking out pull ups, you know. Yeah.

I think as, as professionals and as coaches, I think that women or people tend to underestimate how intimidating it can be for beginners. I'll say women and beginners. I think of my husband. He hates going into the gym.

Absolutely. I mean, I think guys are a little bit. They. Yeah, a lot of guys. Sometimes they'll say stuff to me. Might have gotten this before with clients before where they're like, I have to get in shape before I like, yes, I can go to the gym before I go to the gym. And I'm like, wait, yeah, yes, I heard that.

I, I have heard that a lot. Or, or I need to get in shape before I start working with you.

We. What? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And it's like, no, like that's actually what's going to help you if you start to show up now and get the help you need now. Right. And I know it's a process for, for anybody to show up and do that. I think sometimes I feel people are fearful of judgment and I think a reminder to anybody, like, whether it be for like getting your pull up or opening your business, whatever it is, like that is, this is going to sound really messed up, but like no one cares. Like everyone's in their own little world doing their own little thing. No one's watching you and being like, oh my God, like she's not there yet or she's not doing that. Right. No one cares. Like they're in their own little world. So you just need to continue to show up and if anything they're going to get inspired by you showing up. And, and just like I did with my, my eating. Right. Like, I didn't think anyone was like caring or whatever. And then all of a sudden like, oh wait, she's eating pretty good. Can I ask you a question on that? You know what I mean? So actually, like, it starts to work in a different way.

Yeah. Focusing and doubling down on your own paper and on your Own stuff is honestly also what magnetizes you because you're just so focused on. This is my. And it doesn't mean that it's coming from a place of I'm better than. It's not that. It's just focusing on this is what I'm trying to accomplish. This is the process that I'm doing to accomplish it. And you're part of the journey or you're not. Either way, that's on you.

On the. That's fine. Yeah, absolutely.

So you were mentioning that some of the stuff that was hard that you had rock bottom, like, what. What. If you don't mind, will you.

Would you mind sharing?

Like, what was that like? And then how did you decide to keep going forward?

Yeah, I mean, there was obviously. There were so many bottom moments. And. Yeah, again, that's. That's why, like, part of the reason I'm writing the book and having the talk. Cause I want people to know that I feel. Like I said, people talk about the beginning, they talk about the end. You don't see the in between. You don't see the oh, shit moments that are pretty crazy. So I think the first one that sticks out to me is, you know, obviously I quit my job and stuff like that. That was interesting because I quit my biochemistry job. I'd saved up enough money so that I could just kind of figure things out and not, like, just go out and be like, shit. Because, I mean, at the end of the day, you still need money. I'm like, fuck. I don't want to be, like, running around trying to understand, like, what to do. And then I started teaching boot camp classes at a gymnastics gym. And in my mind, everything was just going to, like, take off, like, right away. Like, God, here I am. Like, I'm a trainer now. Like, whatever. And it was like, for months, it was like that one person in my boot camp class, like, over and over and over again. And I just remember sitting there being like, what am I going to do? Like, this is not. Like, I'm like, I don't know. Like, this is whatever. But I showed up for that one client in full for these boot camp classes always. And eventually he brought a friend. And then, okay, cool, that's awesome. And then, like, another friend came. And then it started to grow. But for months and months and months, I was sitting there like, oh, shit. Like, I don't know what the hell I'm going to do. Like, I don't know how I'm going to make enough money and how I'm going To make this work, then I want to open the gym, which is a whole other animal. Like, in my mind, I'm like, oh, you got a lot of clients. What do you do next? Obviously, like, you open a gym, like, not thinking that when you open a gym, you're an accountant, you're a janitor, you're now worrying about insurance, you're hiring people. It's a whole other thing. You're not just training people. It's like a whole other situation. So a lot of growing pains there. Learning about that, learning, you know, time to deal with the landlords, things going wrong, like, you know, all sorts of, like, situations that were happening within the gym, which are really tough. And then finally, when I felt like everything was going pretty well, pretty, pretty good. I was like, getting on Ninja Warrior and I was like, magazines and the gym was running. I'm like, cool, this is great. And then, boom. Tear my ACL on Ninja Warrior.

On Ninja Warrior.

On Ninja Warrior. Yeah. In front of everybody on national tv, like, lowest low and kind of like, like, like I need my body to do the. I'm doing. What am I gonna do? I'm, like, literally sitting there like, oh, my God, like, I can't do the magazine stuff anymore. I'm gonna. How am I gonna walk around in the gym? Because I can't now. My leg doesn't work all those things. So sitting there and just being like, oh, my God, like, what am I going to do? And I think that the biggest piece of that, whether it be tearing your ACL or like, switching jobs or losing your job or whatever it is that you're going through, it's. I was trying so hard to, like, resist that it was going wrong. I was like, no, like, I'm strong like that. Instead of just, like, sitting in it, like, you need to sometimes just, like, sit in your shit and, like, feel it. Like, feel whatever is happening, Sit there, know that you're human. Like, even if you're building a business, even if you're getting a pull up at the end of the day, we're a human, so we need to focus. Like, know that. So I had a really sit down and sink into it. And I quickly started realizing, like, I didn't want to own the gym anymore. I, like, it just was not what I expected to be. And knowing that I could change that and stuff like that, but that down moment that I had on that journey was exactly what I needed to push me forward. So knowing that those growing pains that you're going to have because you're going to have them. Stuff's going to go wrong. Like, whether it be you getting hurt or something. Yeah. Someone not paying you, whatever it is, it's going to go wrong. Instead of looking at it as a bad thing nowadays I look at it as, wow, like, this is going to be so much growth that I'm going to get from this and this is an opportunity to work on something else or understand a little bit more about it. So I feel like that was huge. Also, the online business was really tough to get into at first, right? Like, I had launches where I had like two people buy and I'm like, shit, like, same thing. What am I going to do? Like two people bought. But I think what kept me persisting is again knowing that. So there's two things, right? You should know when to persist and keep going with it. You should also know when it might be time to like, like, it's, this isn't working. And like, maybe I do need to change like, and pivot. But give it the opportunity. Give the, give it the chance it needs first. Like, try it out, like, throw the spaghetti on the wall, see what happens and eventually you'll see what sticks. I mean, there were so many things that I launched before the pull up program that failed over and over again. And then I finally threw that spaghetti on the wall and pull up stuck right there and was like, fuck, yeah, everybody want, like, that's what, that's what is going to work for me. So knowing that you're going to have the hard moments, you're going to have to know like, when you can, okay, maybe this is like, maybe I need to kind of check out and see if something else would work. But it's going to be a journey. It's not just going to like work right away. And even when it does work, there's still going to be stuff that you're going to run into.

Mm, so good. And I think, I think one of the things I'm really hearing from you is that it's, it really what it takes is knowing yourself and being able to. Because of the law of polarity, we cannot have one without the other. And so you have to be able to determine for yourself what is the. No, I'm going to push through and keep going versus actually let's try something else. And that is a very challenging thing to really tap into. I think that is a skill in itself.

Absolutely major skill that you definitely will have to dive into again. Like, just get ready to be uncomfortable. Like, it's not gonna. No one Said that growth and, you know, owning a business or getting a pull up, no one said it's gonna be easy. Get ready to be sit in that, you know, uncomfortableness and be excited for it again. Now when something, now when I get rejected or something goes wrong, it sucks still. But I'm like, all right, here we go. Like something's happened next. Like, I'm ready. Yeah.

I think that, I think ultimately too, and for me, sometimes people feel like this is. Can cause the shame spiral. But for me, I think of it more as an empowering moment for myself where I get to choose. While I might not be able to, to control or choose the circumstances, I do get to choose how I respond to them.

Absolutely. You ultimately do get a choice. It's your life. You get to decide. And you get to decide how you handle the situation. You get to decide if, like I said, if you're like all of a sudden like, I opened the gym for a couple years and you're like, that's not for me anymore. You get to decide, you know, you don't have to go with what anyone else says except for what you are truly feeling.

And I love what you said in terms of, you know, sometimes you just have to sit in it. You have to sit in the crap and sit in the shit. And I think that that is, is so true and how you get through it. So it's not even this sense of like, oh, we need to bypass it and go for toxic, you know, relentless positivity or whatever, right. It's about processing it and then choosing, and then choosing it again and again and again. And when it's hard and when it doesn't feel good in the moment and then just keep.

You know what's really cool is once you've been there, right? And you're going to be there again because you will. Like now you're there again. It's familiar. You're like, I've been here. I have more tools than I did when I happened the first time. You know what I mean? Yes. I think that's like, that's really important to know. So I tore that ACL in like 2000. Geez, what year was that? 2018, I think. And then. But I had torn it in college at one point I torn the other one. So this is the second AC compare. So coming back to it again, it was like, oh, I've actually been here before. Like, you know what I mean? That's just a great example of it. Again, this could be like, with anything that you're Going through. But instead of being like, oh God, I'm back here again. I'm so mad at myself, like, why did this happen? Instead, just being like, wait, I've been here before. This is actually familiar and I've navigated it before. Maybe I can use something that I learned from the last time. Again, obviously, like, you hear us saying this stuff and it's like, when you're in it, you're in it. So it's like sometimes you're like, nothing, like nothing can get through to you. But. But I do like to like, put those little nuggets and reminders to people just in case it like clicks and.

They'Re like, okay, so good. Angela, I want to be mindful of your time. So thank you so much for pouring into us today. It was so awesome to conn viewers, truly inspirational, warm, and just have so much to share and give. So I really appreciate it. So for those of you who want to work with you, want to go deeper with you, want to come here, you speak, want to come learn from you, what are some of the best places I can send them?

Yeah, so the best place is definitely. Check me out on Instagram. It's just at Angela underscore Gargano. Send me a message if you listen to this podcast. I always tell people when they listen to podcasts, if there's something that resonated or something you want to share, like send me a message. I literally read all of them. So I want to see, I want to, I want to know what resonated with you, might have helped you. And then for any type of like programming or anything along those lines, just ww.angela-gargano.com on there you'll find the Pull up program, the famous Pull up program, right? And any of the things that we might be doing, which will be again, the events, coming in person or any of the speaking and stuff like that. You can also book me to speak on there if that's something that you're looking, if you're looking for someone to come in and just chat. Whether it be about pull ups or just the journey, whatever it is my goal, my mission. And I think that's also really, really important about talking about here is like understanding your purpose. And you know, I think my purpose for sure is to share the journey that I've been on so that it can make it a little bit easier for somebody else. It's almost like I'm talking to that younger self who was there going through it and I like kind of wish I had somebody, like, give me some kind of, like, help with it. Like, that's literally who I love speaking to.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Of course.

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