Balancing "Fun Foods" And Losing Weight

What is going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Eric Roberts Fitness Podcast. Hope you're doing well. Today we are joined with my brother, my brother from another mother, my guy Pat. What's going on, baby?

How you doing, man? Cheers.

Cheers.

I, uh, we did a leg day earlier and I almost literally died. I almost passed out. No exaggeration. It was—

it's—

we're in South Florida right now and it's very humid. Uh, I was sweating a lot. We did a Very heavy set of squats, a very heavy set of deadlifts.

Are those going to be on our— really quickly, are those going to be on our socials?

Maybe, maybe we can put those in our socials in some capacity, maybe the full workout, clips of it, maybe a combo of all.

Might even be on this YouTube channel.

Who knows?

True. Go to our, uh, go to our Instagram, um, or TikTok @ericrobertsfitness, @gainsbypat and check it out because that was, uh, that was a tough workout. Keep going. But I wanted to mention that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Uh, but yeah, that was a great workout. I, uh, we worked up to 365 for barbell RDLs. And, uh, we did 315 and it was like, all right, this is easy. Eric was like, bro, that's too easy for you. Went up in weight again by 5, 10 pounds. That was still pretty easy. And he was like, bro, 365. And I was like, dog, I'm— shit, I haven't done that for a minute, but, uh, I'm down. He did 6 and then he was like, bro, you're doing it too easy. You got to go for like 10. And I got to like 7 or he said 8.

Yeah.

And I got to 7 and I like legit went to failure, probably past failure and then almost passed out right after.

Yeah. Yeah. It was, uh, It was good.

It was great.

It was a good lift.

It was. It was a good lift.

I know, it was the best one I've done in a while. But that's even, even like starting off really quickly, that's a— and we were talking about this, but so many people go into their workouts and they do 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 exercises, and after 2 exercises we were toast. Tapped.

And we only did, we only did 6 working sets up to that point. That's the crazy part too. We're just grinding with it.

That was our 6th working set. Yeah, we did 3 working sets of a Safety bar squat. And then it was a 6-5-3 rep range. We were just kind of fucking around seeing what we had. And then we did the RDL. Yeah. Yeah. We were trying to go heavy for the, for the strength there. And then we went to RDLs. We did 295, 315, 365, which was a big jump. That was a big jump.

That was ambitious as hell. That was so ambitious, but it worked.

I'm glad.

I mean, yeah, I'm glad, but all right. So Eric, uh, is very disciplined with his meals. Like he had 2 very quality meals to start the day. He's on his game. I woke up, had like a meal with just like some protein and like minimal carbs. And I had like a very quick protein bar and we worked out at like 1 essentially. So I didn't eat that much beforehand. And so that was me being an idiot. And then Eric, uh, the best pal that he is, I was in the process of like almost passing out, walking to the bathroom. And then he comes in the bathroom with a Kirkland Sport, a knockoff Gatorade and, uh, saved the day. Shout out Kirkland. Shout out Kirkland.

Free advertising.

Yeah, yeah, shout out to them. Uh, but yeah, that saved the day.

But that's a good—

that's a good lesson too.

Yeah, it's a good lesson because if you do— if you guys do— so those 2 things, if you don't eat enough beforehand and you like try to go do a heavy fucking workout, it's gonna be pretty tough for you to like make sure you get in, you know, make sure you, you get through that workout because you're gonna deplete all of your glycogen storage. And if you deplete your glycogen, you're gonna be fucked and you're gonna be lightheaded, dizzy, nauseous, all that stuff. Or not be able to push yourself.

As much during the workout. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's almost equal.

Yeah, yeah, true. Yeah, yeah. So that, and you know, so what I gave him, that Kirk— it's like a Gatorade just with a bunch of sugar, which is funny because anybody who was a client of mine in person— Linda, when you listen to this, my coach Linda, her first session she was like on the floor just like you were. So I had to give her a fucking Clementine and she ate it. She finished. That's how I knew she was a savage. She didn't quit.

I'm like, okay. I've heard about Linda.

She's a beast.

I've heard about Linda. Shout out to Linda.

Shout out to Linda.

Shout out to Linda. Yeah, shout out to Linda.

But yeah, like you, you have some of that quick sugar and that's how you can keep pushing. So those 2 things, if you're feeling like shit, make sure you have carbs. Um, make sure you have carbs beforehand.

But yeah, that was great. Um, yeah, we're here, uh, in South Florida. Uh, this is where I live. Eric came down to visit. He hit me up like a month ago and he was like, what's good? Uh, I'm about to be down there. Let's link up. We linked up this time last year in South Florida, got a nice dinner. Yeah, but we hadn't worked out together, so we had to get a workout in, kick it for the day. We were gonna go to the beach, but it is, uh, monsooning outside. Hurricane potentially. Yeah, this is, uh, that's what you get in South Florida.

You know, sometimes all of you guys who are on audio only, like, yeah, just visualize a tsunami hurricane going on. Fucking rain.

Yeah, you can hear it.

Anybody who knows me, I'm very much like, I love the beach. That's like my happy place. And I was like, oh sweet, I'm gonna lift my guy Pat. Like, I can't wait.

We're gonna do some content. It's gonna be a great day. It's gonna be a great day.

And I'm like, fuck, I'm not going to the beach.

So it was tragic. It was nice earlier too. That's the sad part.

That's Florida, man. I know I should have got out there earlier, but it is not. It's all good.

Made some good content today. Yeah, making some right now. Yeah, we're making it right now and, uh, some other videos. But, uh, yeah, where are we, uh, where do we want to go with this? We're going to answer questions. We're going to talk about— we're going to talk—

yeah, well, since it's your first time on the pod, just talk, talk a little bit about yourself. How about that? Because everybody knows Everybody knows Eric. So talk a little bit about yourself and give them a, you know, a little backstory, give them just about you. And then we can also just kind of chitchat about how, you know, we met and so on.

So I think that's a fun, that's a fun story.

Yeah. Yeah.

Remember the first time we FaceTimed? I was like, he's a homie for sure. Um, all right. So I'm trying to think of how far back to go. Uh, I'll do a very quick intro of like, uh, how I got into fitness and then go from there. Um, so I grew up playing basketball. I was like the smallest kid when I was like a freshman in high school. I was like 5'2, 98 pounds. And it was ridiculous. And so I knew I needed to get stronger, hoping that I would get taller. And so I was like just attacking the weight room. Like that's all I did was just like, 'cause I like still wasn't that skilled at basketball, but I was like, work on that. And I was like, either way, I gotta get stronger.

Why were you, okay, so like you knew the weight room was the answer.

Like you knew, okay, okay. Yeah. And like, that was one thing, you've talked about this, but it's like you can control the controllables. Like I'm not gonna be as athletic as the next guy, but I can do my best. And if like coaches see me working hard with shit, And they're gonna be like, ah, like he, you know, it's someone you want around the team and everything.

Yep.

So anyway, like worked really hard with it. Ended up only growing like 6, 7 more inches in life, but we're here now. And so kept like working out and like, I love playing basketball and I went and played basketball for a year. But even when I was in high school and like that first year in college, I like loved the process of getting better, not necessarily actually playing the game, as weird as that might sound. Like I love being in the gym. I love getting stronger. I love getting better with drills. Um, so anyway, I played basketball in college for a year, and then, uh, our team went 0-24. My college team, shout out Muskingum, uh, and I didn't play at all. I didn't play. I was like, all right, it's time to hang it up. So I got like halfway through the season, and, um, I would just like go lift before the games. I was like, I'm not gonna play either way. I did that in high school.

Well, so I did in high school, but I like, I started like, everyone was like, bro, what are you doing lifting before the— I remember my coach was like, Are you gonna be able to play? I'm like, yeah, I'm good. Yeah, literally, I was like, I was good, bro.

That's savage. My guy wanted to pump out there. I respect it. I respect it, bro. I respect it. Um, but it's crazy because like NBA teams and college teams do it like after the games now too. And like even before, they'll do different like— yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, so yeah, so playing college for a year, once I decided— I like realized I wasn't gonna play anymore, I was like, I need something to occupy my time because my time was so filled with basketball and I didn't want to just like drink all the time and that'd be all I did. Uh, so I was like, I'm gonna start getting into lifting a lot. Met a homie in college that was like big into bodybuilding. He kind of like showed me the way. I was on— when I actually first started lifting, I would alternate days between a chest day and an arm day.

That's it.

And that was it.

Typical 19-year-old split.

Yep, exactly. Uh, so then after that, I took that whole summer, like got like abs for the first time, was like super into it, went to college, uh, started doing like personal training, just like spent all my time on fitness. I got my degree in finance, but I just like spent all my time doing fitness shit, like Personal training.

So was that like through?

It was through the college.

Was it? Was it?

It was like at the gym.

Did you apply for it or?

I applied for it and I only did it for like a very short period of time and then I got a different job at the gym where I was like in charge of like hiring and hiring new employees and then scheduling out like who was going to work at different times. So it was like paying a lot more and it was like more of like a management role and I thought I was going to go into business. I got my degrees in finance. I was like, I feel like this is like a better thing. But I still spent all my time on like learning nutrition, learning like lifting shit.

Mm-hmm.

So anyway, fast forward, loved fitness side of things, like learned a lot, got in really good shape, got strong, blah blah blah. Had a finance job, hated it, was working like just the 9 to— it ended up being like an 8 to 6 grind. It was like working with like personal finance and like taxes and all this shit. It was just in a cubicle in Columbus, Ohio. And one of my best friends like ran his own business and he was like, bro, like I don't think you're happy. You should start your own business and do something with fitness. And I was like, in my head, I didn't think there was any money to be made or like any possibility of, of doing anything with it. So I was like, I'm there, what's the point? And then finally one day I just got fed up with work. I was like, bro, I would literally like get paid half of what I'm making right now. Like, as long as I can pay my bills and get Chipotle, I don't— I would, I would rather just be fulfilled and do, do fitness stuff.

Yeah.

So that was like 2018, and ever since then, like, got into the fitness grind. So First couple years I was making fitness content, it was just on Instagram and I would post like infographs. I would occasionally post some workout videos, but I was like posting every single day. Didn't grow at all the first few years at all. But like built my coaching business up a little bit. And then in 2019, Gary Vee was talking all about TikTok. So I was like, shit, I gotta jump on TikTok. So I started just posting random like tips about like dumbbell, dumbbell. If you wanna grow your back, do dumbbell rows.

Yeah.

It was like just very like baseline level shit. And that was the golden era of TikTok or the beginning of the golden era. So I had posted like, I posted one video about like growing your quads with front squats, got like 200,000 views. I was like, oh, and I'd been posting on Instagram for 2 years, grew maybe 200 followers.

Yeah.

In a matter of like 2 weeks, I grew like 10,000 followers on TikTok. I was like, oh, that's the answer.

Yeah.

So that year, then 20, like 2019 to 2020, I just went crazy on TikTok. Like that was like grind mode for me, biggest grind mode. And in that year I like quadrupled my business. That was like the craziest jump that I've had.

Damn.

Um, and then since then, just awesome. It was cool as shit. It was crazy. And like, that was around the same time I met Eric, was like 2020, because we posted like kind of our demeanor with videos. And I think a lot of the stuff we post about like what to focus on to actually make progress, like what actually leads to progress, was along the same like thought process. Uh, and so then people started commenting on probably both our videos where they were like, yo, I fucking love your and Eric's content. So me and Eric like linked up and talked, and we'll talk about that in a second. But yeah, ever since then, just been growing my own fitness coaching business, social medias. A lot of what I talk about is like how to balance out like having fun with still making progress. That's probably something too we can talk about where it's like there, you still have to work hard with that. And I think that's something I miss out of my content. And me and Eric talk, have talked about that, talked about the last couple days. Yeah, like I enjoy going out and getting drinks. I enjoy traveling. I eat out a lot. Like, I definitely like in the streets, but there's also a lot of work that goes into that. Like, you have to be disciplined with enough stuff to be able to have like the fun and still make progress with any aspect of life, fitness and the business side of things. So, so yeah, the last, last couple of years has been gradually growing. I'm trying to think what else. Fuck. From Ohio, I moved to LA for a couple of years. Moved to Florida, and now we're here.

Yeah, yeah. No, it's it's and it's funny because when we linked up, like a lot of people know, like even on this podcast, like I don't bring people on this podcast. Like I don't bring people on this podcast because like I don't really fuck with that many people. And so it's like I bring my clients on and Clubhouse members and stuff. But um no, I was like I don't even know how we how we even really connected via FaceTime. Like we I think just one day we were just like yo we should FaceTime.

Yeah, it was like it was like a Saturday afternoon. Yeah, I remember that. I was walking out.

Yeah, one of my walks.

Bro, it was like a 2-hour FaceTime though.

Yeah, I remember that.

So you were like the first person I talked to that also was doing the same thing, and it was cool because I was like way undercharging clients at that point in time. I remember that. I told you I was like charging people, yeah, like $100 for a one-on-one client, and you were like, bro, what are you doing? And I was like, shit, man, I didn't know. Yeah. And, um, yeah, we just like chopped it up, talked about like how we got in into the whole like fitness space, like the business side of things, kind of what our goals were. Um, and ever since then, I was like, it just like felt right. Like, it was just a homie that could talk about anything. And Eric's like one of the coolest dudes because he literally— I'm trying to word this in the correct way— he like doesn't care about anyone else. Like, he doesn't judge other people for shit. He just wants people to be happy and like work hard with their shit. And he's like full steam ahead on his own thing. Like, it's like really dope to be around people like that. Like, he'll hype people up, he'll hype me up on shit. But again, like, I'm in the streets a lot. Like, I have to wait. Again, I work hard with stuff, but like, Eric is not a judgmental person. He'll be like, yeah, you could probably like, you should probably like grind a little bit more. But he's like not judging at all.

But I think that's one of the things about like, I've like with your content, it's like people will see like, oh, but Eric, you don't drink and Pat drinks. I'm like, so?

Yeah, true. Who fucking cares?

Exactly. But it's cool because I think there's There's a million different ways. And even like, even like we talk about from like a business or just from like a life perspective, right? It's like there's a million ways to do it. Like, you got to find the right way.

Yeah.

You got to find the right way for you.

For sure.

You know what I mean? And I think, and even like we were talking, like there was some, like we were talking about how some people I listened to were like, oh, you shouldn't take a week-long vacation. And I'm like, I love like that one week-long vacation a year I take. I fucking cherish that thing. And it's like a great time for me. And so even something as simple as that where it's like Different things work for different people, but there's a couple, there's a couple of things that like you have to do no matter what. There's a couple things you have to do and, and yeah, have your fun, do your thing. Or like the way I think of this is like everybody knows me, knows I'm a big Kobe fan. You're a basketball fan too. So it's like—

LeBron.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

So it's like I remember Kobe and Shaq and Kobe was just like, I'm doing nothing. Yeah. He's like, I'm doing nothing but working. I'm doing nothing but basketball. I'm doing nothing but Like that's it. And then Shaq would say he was like, yeah, I was basketball and we would do our thing. But he was like, I would go to the strip clubs and I would go out.

And it's like, wild boys.

It's just the, it's the two dynamics, but they won 3 championships together. You know what I mean? And so it's like, there's multiple ways to get to where you want to be. It just all depends on who you are as a person. And I think that's important for the people who listen to this. It's like, you don't have to do something a certain way. You don't have to be a certain way. You don't have to act a certain way. You don't have to Like, I don't have to be Pat and Pat doesn't have to be me. Like, we can both do our thing and, you know, help people. Because that's the thing too. There's so many people that will resonate with you versus me, me versus you.

Yeah.

Like, I think I'm, I'm, I'm like, sometimes I'm pretty fucking hardcore and like, I'm just pretty like, yo, get the fuck on your shit. And like, I'm just very much like, and some people might be like, well, fuck that. I don't like, I don't know if I can, I don't know if I can vibe with that. And I respect that. And it's like, maybe someone, you know, would vibe with you a little bit more. So for sure, something—

people need different things. And like you said, they relate and vibe to different characteristics and have different lifestyles.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So no, I love it, man. What were you gonna say?

I was gonna say, but I think overall a lot of what we do is similar though, or a lot of like what we believe in is similar, like especially with fitness, with fat loss. Like it's all the same concepts that we believe in. It's just like it's communicated differently in our content and kind of how we enact it and how we, you know, go about coaching probably a little bit. Uh, yeah, I mean, but that's what—

and we were talking about this earlier, but like, that's why I think people think like with, with Pat, it's like they see him make a, make a video about fun foods or drinking, like, oh well, he just— and I'm like, no, like 90% of the time he's on his shit, bro, and he's dialed in. He's like eating good and he's, you know what I mean? It's like, because you can't do the things that you do with the progress that you've seen otherwise, right?

No, not at all.

And that's where I think it's, it's important for people to—

I'm super intentional with my shit. Like, even when I go out, like, I I do like to go out, but I'm like, there's shit I have to get done day to day. Like, I need to post. Like, if I don't post a piece of content a day, like, I will be anxious as hell the whole time. Like, we just now— it got to be like 3 o'clock, I didn't post any content, and I was about to like go outside, man. Bro, I gotta record some shit really fast. And then luckily we made the RDL video. Check out, check out the video if you haven't seen the video. Uh, and I was like, thank God we like did a collab video. But yeah, like, you got to get shit done or else you're not going to move the needle. Like, I don't feel fulfilled Like that, for me, going out and like having fun foods and doing all that stuff would not feel as good or be as fun if I wasn't like actually making progress with life, with my business, and like with my body. Like, I would just— it wouldn't be as fun. It was not fun. It's just not fun then.

And I also think— and we're gonna dive into Q&A here in a second as well. Who knows how long this podcast will be. So, um, I also think too, like, speak on— because you can speak on this because I don't, I don't go out, I don't drink, I really don't. Like, I'll, I'll go out to Chick-fil-A late here and there, but it's like I get the same shit, right? And so it's like, speak about what actual like moderation looks like. Cause I think you're a good person to talk about this because for me it's like, I'm so on the, you know what I mean?

So I think moderation, you still have to be so intentional with it. I think that's the thing. So it's like, there's 2 different types of moderation I think about. It's like, or 2 different things. It's like maybe you have one day where you're just like eating like literally whatever you want, or you have like a week where that happens. Like when I was in Italy, I had a week where I was just like, I'm drinking every day. I'm eating every day. I'm going ham. And then like, you have— but you have to get back to the shit ASAP. Like ASAP. Like you have to draw a fine line in the sand and be like, no matter what, I don't give a fuck what this person's doing. I don't care what's going on in life. Like I'm gonna be on my game with nutrition, get workouts in. So there's— that's like the 2 kind of extremes right there. But then on a day-to-day basis, like the way I always go about it is like I'll save, I don't know, 500 to 1,000 calories for like fun shit when I'm like going out.

Mm-hmm.

And like, there's some days, yes, you like go over calories. You've talked about that in videos where it's like if you go over, like, you can't— there's nothing you can do. Like, just get back on track the next day. And it's like such a cliché thing to say, like, oh, just get back on track. But like, if you really like build—

Absolutely.

It is so fucking cliché. But if you actually like make that a hard habit and like get back on track the next day, and then yeah, at night, I think it's when you actually are going out, I think it can be tough at times, especially when you're like actually having fun and it's like, fuck, like you're drunk and then you like want to keep drinking and people are doing stuff. And then when you're drunk, you want to get food. I think it's definitely like an acquired skill. Like you— and that's where I'm happy I do it a lot because I've like learned how to kind of tailor it and like reel it in at times. And I know like, all right, when I go out, like probably like 4 or 5 drinks is probably the max I'm gonna have tonight. There definitely are nights where I'm just like, forget it. Like I'm just gonna do whatever. But most of the time it's very intentional. Well, you know what?

You know what? I think I'm sorry to cut you off, but you know what, you know what, I think like when you do have those nights, that is probably not after you've already had a weekend or two.

Absolutely not.

But this is where I think people fuck up because they're like, they might have a night like that, but like the weekend before was like that, and the weekend before was like that, and the day before was like that. So it's like, that might happen for you, but like that's after 6 weeks of you being dialed, and then you have one of those nights, and then You have 6 more weeks of being dialed. That's where I think people, they misunderstand like what that actually is.

Yeah. So, so here's how I go about it. It's like, I'll have like 2 of late. It's been like 2 to 4 nights, but like 2, 2-ish nights per week. Um, you're going to cut back to 2. Cutting back to 1. I'm cutting back to 1. Um, but one night where our one night, one night where I'll have like 1,000 calories I'm working with where I'll like go out and like, I think it's also like picking and choosing what you want. Like when I drink, the meal I have is like mad healthy. Like I still will get like a grilled chicken salad and then I'll be like, all right, well, I want to have like 6, 7 drinks tonight. So I'm gonna have a grilled chicken salad. So it's like picking and choosing kind of what you want. And I think there's, there's different, uh, it's being intentional. It's like different choices that you make. So like other times I might go out and I'll be like, I want ice cream. So I'm probably not going to get too many drinks. Like it's just not going to happen.

Or a heavy entree.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, or a heavy entree, or like I rarely get an appetizer, like unless I'm just like, oh, I'm big on appetizers. Yeah, I could tell with those chips earlier.

Yeah, bro, bro, I'm telling you, I fuck with appetizers. Oh man, dude, when I go to Chipotle, I get, I get 2 burritos with those chips, bro.

That, those are good. Yeah, they are really good. Yeah, that's fine. Um, yeah, that's like basically what I mean by it is like most of, most of time you do have to be on your game with stuff. And even on the days when you are going to have fun foods and going to enjoy yourself, like, there has to be moderation. And it is about fitting it within calorie goals. Like, that's ultimately the biggest thing. And I think that's where, like, we talk about the same stuff. Like, you could work in, like, some ice cream into a day. You can work in drinks into the day. But I think it's like having the first couple meals in the day, or whatever, 2 meals, 1 to 2 meals, be like higher protein, low calorie, super filling, high volume.

Talk about that. Like, what would your breakfast What does your breakfast and lunch look like if you're going out to dinner on a Saturday night?

Breakfast would be, uh—

And, and not doing a leg day where you're gonna pass out.

Yeah, yeah, like actual, like actual, like normal day. Um, I would probably do like Greek yogurt, fruit, um, some kind of like eggs, like egg white scramble with like ham or like turkey in it, and then like a protein shake. And now I'd have like carrots or cucumbers as a snack. Like throughout that time. And then at lunch it would be like a big-ass salad or like just like some kind of protein, like ground turkey, ground beef, with, um, with probably like a piece of fruit, like an apple or banana, and then like veggies on the side. Like super, like literally only protein and veggies for the most part, and then maybe a little bit of fruit. And then I'd save like 1,000, 1,500 calories for like the nighttime, and then I can like kind of do whatever the fuck I want at that point. Smart.

And that's how— that's, that's the only way you can Oh, it is. That is the only way.

Yeah, you can't have like— because if you go out, no one's gonna go out to eat and have like 400 or 500 calories to work with. Like, sure, you get the healthiest shit on the menu, but like, it's—

But like, it's—

I would just rather have a meal at home then. Like, I guess if you are going out to meet friends, like, yes, you can do it, and that's dope. Like, I've done that before. Like, I'll be like, all right, I do want to stay on my game, but I already kind of ate a lot earlier, so I'll like just get something super healthy and kick it. Like, you can do that, and that's perfectly fine, but it like I would rather go out and like actually enjoy the meal from going out and doing shit. So I'd rather just like delay gratification, delay the, the fun shit till later in the day.

Yeah, yeah.

And have that. So that's kind of what it looks like on those days.

Yeah, I like that. Cool. All right, sweet. Let's fire up some Q&A.

All right, let's get it popping.

Yeah, let's see what we got, um, for a little Q&A. It stopped raining a little bit, so that's South Florida, man.

We might go skinny dipping.

Dude, I wanted to get jet skis today, actually.

Bro, I love Jet skis too, man.

You know, the first time I ever did one was in Mexico.

It's a good place.

Hit that shit hard, bro. That shit was nice.

I think in Cabo the last time.

That's where I was. Yeah, I was in Cabo.

Oh yeah, that's fun. Yeah. All right, let's see what some good ones are.

Yeah, let's pick one.

We'll rock it. Uh, we just talked about that. Uh, Thoughts on the weight loss shot craze? Simaglutide, Ozempic.

You pick this one, bro.

Easy out or good start?

Have you— so I'll ask you this, have you listened to Jordan Seitz podcast on this?

I haven't.

Well, so when you get— if you guys listening, if you want to go listen to Jordan Seitz podcast on this, he brought on 2 doctors who are both like weight loss professionals.

That's a way better, uh, person to talk about it than us.

Yeah, I, I will, I will give my brief 2 cents, and, and this is stemming somewhat from what I listened to on those 2 doctors on his podcast. Um, there, there absolutely can be some positive benefits to, to those shots. Like, there has been studies to show It's like, it does help with like, basically what I guess they were kind of calling it was like the food noise, where it's like if all you think about is food, right?

I feel that.

And so there's also been some like studies to show it's like it can help with like the lesser addiction type feeling, right? So, um, as of right now, I mean, they're— but here's the thing, if you're gonna do that, you have to do it under like a real medical professional. Because people are just getting them and like fucking selling them like black market for fucking weight loss shots. And I'm like—

They're treating it like Vyvanse or like—

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's, it's, it's a real thing. Like, you have to make sure. And, and there's, there's people like they said, like, is it an easy out? I don't, I don't, I don't know if it's an easy out. My thing is like, have people lost weight before without weight loss shots? It's like, yeah. I mean, for sure, right? It's like, so do you need it? No, like, I don't think you need it. And by the way, it's like you'll have to take it every day for the rest of your life because if you don't— so the main thing behind it, the main mechanism is it makes you less hungry, so it has you eat less calories. So that's the main thing behind it. Like, I've heard people where they're like, oh, you'd like— after dinner they're not fucking starving anymore, and like, so they eat less calories. So that's the— It's not just like a magical like fat loss thing. It's like it makes you eat less calories. Um, but you know, so with that being said, it's like that's the mechanism it allows you to lose weight from. Is it something that I would just like be really quick to jump on? No. I personally— and, and there's, there's the argument of like, oh well, you— I take fish oil every day, so what's the fucking difference? And it's like, I mean, I guess there could be an argument for that where it's like, You take creatine every single day.

Yeah.

Right? So it's like, I don't know if there's a right answer. I don't wanna say I'm not against it or for it. You talked earlier about like, I'm not judgmental. I really don't give a fuck if you do it or don't. I don't think it's an easy out, but I also think on that same note, like, I feel like there's a lot of people who, and this is almost like with weight loss surgery sometimes, and I can just speak on this because I know I've coached so many clients, like, they'll get the weight loss surgery, but they won't actually change their habits along with it, so they would gain the weight back. And so my thing is this, on the bottom line— this is kind of rambling, but on the bottom line, it's like, no matter what the fuck you do, you have to change your habits. You have to exercise more. You have to eat less calories. You have to eat more protein. You have to get good sleep. Like, all of this comes back to the same core shit.

Yeah.

I don't know that I'm for or against the weight loss injections. I just think no matter what, you have to be doing those things. Beyond that, I would probably speak with a medical professional that is certified in weight loss, that is actually going to take into consideration all aspects of you. Because for example, it's like, oh, Eric, well, I'm fucking starving. It's like, you're eating 40 grams of protein. Like, of course you're starving. Like, Not drinking water, not having veggies, not sleeping, you know what I mean? So it's like, you really have to look at it from a much more— I don't like the word holistic because like, I don't know, I just fucking—

It's like a taboo word. Yeah, it's like different.

I don't— yeah, I know. Yeah, yeah, just look at the full picture before you go and make a decision. And again, consult with a real medical professional before actually fucking doing any of that because there are some serious side effects that could come from it. And when I say serious, like, there's like, you know, you're gonna get fucking really bad indigestion, really bad diarrhea. Like, you know, you can go look it up if you want to, but it's a real thing. So that would be my 2 cents on it. What do you think?

Um, similar kind of thing. I think like either way your habits have to change. You know who Alberto Nunez is, like the natural bodybuilder?

I think so.

So when I was like kind of getting into fitness, he was talking about like jumping on steroids in one period of time, and he was like, why would I do that when I'm not like nailing my nutrition? I'm not working out as hard as I could be. I'm not like getting enough sleep. I'm not doing all these things anyway. So why would I jump on this just to like speed up progress when like inevitably I need to be doing this stuff either way and can probably maximize my progress. So I think it's that where it's like, before you take, like, again, I don't know, like the side effects. I don't know, like the health things that are associated with it.

That's the, that's the one big thing we're like saying here.

Like, we're not— I don't really, I don't know that much about it. I just think either way, like until you get like the— you're going to have to face those same things no matter what if you actually want to make the progress you want to. Like, it doesn't matter if you're— if someone wants to get like jacked as hell, like if you take steroids, yes, it's obviously going to speed that up. But if you're, if you're not like maximizing all those things or doing them at least decently well, like you're not, you're not going to look how you want.

Yeah.

Um, same thing with that. Like, I think that's kind of my interpretation of it. Like, ultimately, like, I think people, uh, it's almost with like some diets sometimes, it's It's like sometimes people just do it because they think it's gonna make them lose weight super quick and they don't have to do literally anything else.

And the other thing I'll say on this too, if you're taking it to— if you're taking it to lose the last 10 pounds to get shredded, fucking idiotic.

Yeah, it's not worth it at all.

Fucking idiotic. No, no, you could be— you could be more here.

We're on the podcast.

Yeah, I know, it's like that— that would be fucking stupid. That, that I can say for a fact. If you're taking it for solely vanity reasons to get more shredded, you're a fucking moron. Don't do that because that is— it's not healthy. The side effects aren't worth it. And again, that's just something that I think is gonna do more harm than good in the long run. So that I can say for sure. The other shit we said earlier, it's more speculation, opinion. Like, and again, if you wanna go check out that podcast with, uh, With Jordan Syatt and the doctors on there, you can feel free to go ahead too.

But that's what I'd say. Yeah.

All right.

All right. I like it. Uh, how long did it take for you guys to achieve your current physiques?

My entire life. I mean, I started working out when I was 16. I am now 27. So 11 years. Yeah. Right. And I mean, I would say the most progress I made was probably from 16 to 20. After 20—

Since then, When's like the period of time you've made the most progress with your body, you feel like?

Aesthetically? Yeah.

Dude, I mean, it's, it's tough as fuck after that.

That's what I'm saying.

It's really tough. Like, you— there's the very diminishing returns after that.

Yeah, yeah. And that's where, like, I don't want to, like, discourage people, but like—

It is though, bro. Like, it's about, like, maintaining. And then I think it's like picking different goals and, like, yeah, trying to get better, stronger with certain exercises, bringing up somebody parts a little bit more. Like, it becomes kind of like a—

And that's where, for me, I, I— there was a period of time where I focused so much on aesthetics. Like, that's all I gave a fuck about.

Yeah.

And it burnt me the fuck out because I was like, my biceps grew, uh, a 4th of an inch, and I'm like, holy shit, you know what I mean? And it's like, I was just— I would look in the mirror every single day and be like, oh, did my back grow even more? And like, so my thing is more towards performance-based goals. Like we were talking about this earlier, like, you know, the strength-based goals, like whether it's like squats, deadlifts, like that kind of stuff. Like that's really where my focus has kind of shifted to. Um, or even like, like my focus is, this is gonna, like, my focus is making sure each workout I'm trying to take it as close to failure as I can. It's not even about the aesthetics. It's not even about the, the, the, the, you know, building muscle. Like all that is true, but like it's more about just just the day-to-day process.

Like grind every day. Yeah.

That's for me, I, I think I've made much more progress in trying to make, like you saw how— oh shit, damn. Uh, like you, you saw how I work out today. It's like I try to bring it to every single workout. Like I try to do that every single time. So it's like, that's, that would be my biggest progress. What would you say?

Um, I think it's for sure the first like 3, 4 years I started lifting, like I went from like 150 and I like bulked all the way up to like 230, bro. Like, and I'm 5'9, so I was like a bowling ball at that point in time. Um, and then since then, uh, probably like last summer, like beginning of 2022 to like this time last year was the most progress I made. Like, I got a ton stronger with deadlifts, squats. Like, that was the leanest I ever was. Like, probably like just best I looked and also probably strongest at that weight. Um, and so much of that was like getting enough sleep, like making sure I was on track with nutrition, like getting steps in. The simple basic shit. Like the simple stuff, like tracking all my workouts, like getting, Yeah, like just having a set program I was following week to week, like that was the biggest thing. Now, now for me, I go— again, talking about shit earlier— I feel like I go through seasons where like I'll be out and about and doing more stuff and like traveling. Like I just got back from Italy for 5 weeks and like there, like I was generally trying to maintain, but there wasn't like shit I was gonna really, really accomplish there.

Yeah.

From a fitness standpoint. Now I'm like kind of back into a groove of like just almost wanting to get back to where I was last year. And then I think the biggest thing, it just makes me feel good going to get a workout. And like, I know I'm not gonna make a ton, ton, ton more progress now. Like I've built a pretty good foundation. Like, yes, I could get leaner at different points in time.

Yeah.

I could focus on building a little more muscle at different points. But it's like, I don't know. I think between that, like once you get to a certain time in your lifting and fitness journey, like you're not gonna build a ton more muscle. And I think that's where it's like there's other focuses of life. Like when I started growing my business, I was like, I'm not gonna be the gym for 2 hours. Like, I'm gonna be here for, you know, an hour, maybe an hour 15, and then like I want to work on my business. Like, I want to get other stuff done, or I want to like spend time with friends or go out, go do stuff. So I think that's— it's like sometimes it's like about just maintaining once you get to a certain point.

Yeah, well, that's the thing, there can be different goals.

Like, you know what I mean?

Like, I think, I think so many times people freak out because they're like, they're not making the most progress ever humanly possible, and it's like Bro, that's okay. You know what I mean? Like, you're— if you're not your leanest ever, like, that's okay, right? Especially with social media. We talked about this earlier, but like, especially with social media, like, you think like you have to look a certain way all year round. Like, go ahead.

That's what sucks too, because like some of the— it doesn't suck, and that's like our job to kind of be even better with our content and kind of keep pushing like that realistic approach to fitness, but, uh, more realistic. Uh, but yeah, you see like the top like fitness influencers and people like be completely shredded year-round and all that type of shit. And I think it gives people— and you made a video about it— but it gives people like a false reality of what actually your body should look like on a regular basis.

Yeah, if you're not on steroids.

True, true. Yeah, it's not your entire life and all that kind of shit. You're not spending that much time in the gym. Let's see here.

What else we got on this, on the Q&A? Mm-hmm. This has been a good podcast so far.

Yeah, it's been fun.

Fucking pouring down rain again.

Wow.

You can't— I can't even see outside. That's crazy. Fine, damn. Yo, find a question.

I'm gonna show— Uh, okay.

Uh, um, damn, that's crazy.

That is wild.

Yo, you can't even fucking see outside, it's raining. Bro, look at these boats! Are they out there?

Yo, I gotta see this shit. Yo, yo, they—

sorry for the people who— if you're on— if If you're not on YouTube, just go to YouTube at the 35-minute mark and look at what we're talking about.

Dog, that boat is like opening too. That one, the small one right here.

Yeah, it's going under the drawbridge, bro.

Yeah, they need to stay there.

Yeah, for sure, for sure.

You need to park it though. Dude, that's tough. That's an understatement. That's rough.

Yeah. All right, what we got?

Uh, what is the best way to get through your first plateau? I haven't been able to increase weight in weeks. So we can talk about plateau with like probably losing weight and like in the gym.

Yeah.

Let's start with like losing weight, like weight loss plateaus.

So with the weight loss plateau, plateau, my biggest thing is just most people aren't actually in a weight loss plateau. That's my biggest thing because of one of these reasons. Like I always tell people, if you think you're in a weight loss plateau, you got to check off all of these boxes. Number one, you have to check off, have you actually been We talked about, have you actually been 90% consistent for the past 28 days? And when I say 90% consistent, I mean you've hit your calories or stayed under your calories at least 28 out of the last 31 days. If you haven't done that, you're not in a weight loss plateau. You just are not consistent enough. And that's just the bottom line. So get, get that first and then come back and ask after that. Number 2, are you actually weighing your food, counting your calories? On a food scale. That would be the second part of the, of the plateau to this. If you're not doing that, you're not in a plateau. Start doing that and you'll see progress. Number 3, have your measurements gone down in that time period? So if they have gone down, you're not in a weight loss plateau. You like, you're, you're still losing body fat. You're not in a fat loss plateau, I should say. You might be in a weight loss plateau, but not a fat loss plateau. And then number 4, have, um, your progress pictures changed in the past 4 weeks. If they have, you're not in a fat loss plateau. You're still losing body fat regardless of what the scale says. And so those 4 things on the checklist for me, if you've actually done that, you're a fucking unicorn. And, uh, you can— if that happens, you would then just either— and this is, it's actually really simple.

Yeah.

You would either decrease your calories by 100 to 150 per day, or you would increase your steps by 3,000 to 6,000 per day, or add in 2 to 3 sessions of cardio per week at 20 to 30 minutes of low intensity steady state. But again, here's the issue. If you're not, for example, if you're not being consistent with what you're doing right now, you dropping 100 calories isn't going to do dick for you because you're not going to be consistent with that either. So it's not going to matter. Right? So that's why I like those couple of things for me.

What would you say? Uh, I mean, you hit the nail on the head. I think that, With calories too, like when I set goals for calories for clients, I at one point in my coaching, if they weren't making progress, I was just like very quick to just like drop calories down. I was like, oh, it's not fucking working at that amount. So like, I'll just drop it down. That was like probably the first couple of years.

Yup.

And then I like kind of understood like the psychology of people even more. And it's like most of the time it's because they're not being consistent with it. And if they, if they are being consistent with that calorie goal, Either they're going to be like, yo, like, I'm really working hard and doing it. And sometimes even people say that and they probably still could do a better job. But yeah, most of the time, if you are like actually lock in and like stop bullshitting and like actually track it and like be intentional, like you will start to make progress. And then I think it's just like having the right expectations of how long progress takes. Like we've both posted different clients that like over the course of 6 months they lose 25 pounds. Then we do the math on it. It's like, yo, they lost on average a pound a week. Or it's like, you know, someone loses like 15 pounds in 6 months, but they just started lifting and their body changes so much. Someone's gonna be like, holy shit, it looks like you lost like 40 pounds. But really, like, scale weight, they only lost 15.

Yeah.

But because they started building muscle, started like actually just losing mostly body fat, like, they look a lot different even though scale weight has gone down a ton. So I think it's like setting realistic expectations and like understanding what good progress is and like going after the right goal, like actual fat loss. Because I think so many people set a goal of losing, you know, 15, 20 pounds, and when they're not like perfectly on track to do that shit, they like start spazzing out about it. And so I think you got to kind of reassess what like progress is and what that looks like before you deem it that you hit a plateau, because like you're probably well on the way. It's just like maybe you had a month where you didn't lose 5 pounds, like, because a lot of times people do any diet, like the first month you will end up losing— if you're actually on your shit, you're gonna lose like 6 to 10 pounds right away. Like, even like people, when they do low-carb shit, obviously you're low-carb, so like you lose a lot more weight quickly with that. And then the next month, whether you're doing low-carb or like tracking calories, like you're probably gonna lose weight relatively quickly. Maybe at first if you're like completely locked in, and then like the next month if you don't make the same amount of progress, then people like freak out. And it's like, well, if you average it out, you're still like on a good trajectory. So yeah, I think it's, it's those couple things to me are like things to think about.

I think it's so important about this because So this literally happened this morning. I was talking to one of my, one of my Clubhouse members, G, and she was, she was just super upset about the progress she wasn't making. And so I was like, G, tell me about what's going on. She's like, well, I'm like, what? So she started on June 5th. We're on June 23rd today. I'm like, G, what'd you weigh when you first— and she literally all she was like, yeah, like, you know, I'm just not seeing the progress I want to see. And like, you know, I'm being like super consistent.

It's been 2 weeks, dog.

Oh wait. Oh wait. Okay. So she was— that's a whole part of it in itself.

But I was like, no worries.

So like, you know, what was your body weight when you first started? She's like, well, I was around like 200. I'm like, what do you like weigh right now? She's like, well, I'm around 195. And I'm like—

Bro!

I'm like, gee, you've lost 5 pounds in 2 weeks? And she's like, well, when you put it like that— and I'm like, I was like, if I would have told you when you first started this on June 5th you would lose 5 pounds in 2 weeks, you'd probably probably be fucking stoked, right? She's like, oh, she's like, that's all I wanted. I'm like, and now you're here and you think the progress isn't good enough?

Yeah, it's tough. People—

Stop being an asshole to yourself.

People play themselves, man. They get in their own heads. People play themselves. You literally use—

it's almost like we play this up, we want these things so bad in our head, and then when they actually get here, we're like, no, that's not enough though. And I'm like, no, you—

Which also is like psychology of people. Like, I've been there. But yeah, I think it's like taking a step We were just talking about that, like, being— taking a step back and like being appreciative of like progress made in life and like actually like having like goals and kind of seeing where you're on, where you're at in the path of, you know, making stuff happen. Um, yeah, I think that's a big time thing that people go through too. It's like they make a certain amount of progress and they like feel like they're not good enough.

Yeah, yeah, it's, it's good enough.

It's good enough.

You're—

Shot G, you're doing your thing. Yes, keep going.

She was, she was crushing it. She's gonna do well.

Shout out to her. Yeah.

So yeah, that would be for the weight loss part of it. For the, for the strength training part of it.

A lot of factors with that too. Cause it's like, if you're in a fat loss phase, like energy might not be as high sometimes, you know, maybe it's not like a proper program in place. Like you could be doing way too many exercises. Like it could be that it could be like, you're, you're maybe working out too many days. You're not getting enough rest. You're not getting enough sleep. Like calories aren't high enough. Like there's so many different factors with It, um, well, it's funny because every—

I think every episode in this podcast I say, I'm like, you need to get on a real strength training program.

That is it though.

Like, it's the bottom line. Like, yeah. And it's funny because people like— and you know, I was telling you this, but everybody— and I think everybody knows this too— but everybody who signed up for the Clubhouse on my birthday got a phone call with me. And like, everyone was just like— I've asked, look, you know why? They're like, oh yeah, well, you just say all the time you get on a proper program, so here I am. And I'm like, Fucking good. Yeah, I mean, it's like, and people think that like, like how, like how long you've been doing this since you were 19?

Uh, lifting? Yeah, like consistently training. How old are you? Uh, 29. 10 years.

10 years. I've been doing this 11 years. Yeah, right. So it's like, yeah, you, you guys think like we just have these like 10, 11 years of experience and we're just like, you know what I mean, like just fucking whacking it off over here. Like, dude, like, like, yeah, I get it. If you want to make your own shit, make your own shit. That's up to But like, you gotta understand, this is not just like, uh, willy-nilly, I'll throw spaghetti at the wall and see what the fuck sticks. Like that, that question, like a strength training plateau, I answered it not too far back on my podcast if you want to go listen to it. But that really just comes down to you. You probably are not on a proper program because like, I'm just gonna be real with you, like most of the clients that I have, like when they're on a proper program, they keep getting better, stronger over time, and they keep making progress.

Like, even in a fat loss phase, like, majority of it— like, I had a client, Mark, I just posted about it on my story. He's like mid-40s, had never like actually lifted like with the program and never focused on the shit we focus on. And bro, he's like gotten crazy strong in the last 6 months and like looks completely different. Like, that's the name of the game. It's like focusing on the, you know, main compound exercises, actually tracking like weights, reps. I think it's another thing too, like, people just arbitrarily think they hit a plateau with their strength as well. And it's like similar thing with like losing weight and like scale weight not going down. It's like, all right, well, are you actually tracking calories? Like what's— do you know like why or why not you're not making progress? Or why, you know, it's same thing with strength training. Like you gotta track weights, reps, and have an idea of kind of where you're at. So then you can understand like what the next step is to keep getting better. I think even that's like one step.

You have to have a plan for like, if you want to get better with bench press, you have to have a plan for that. You can't just go in and do 3 sets of 8 to 10. It's like, Yeah, no shit, you're gonna hit a fucking plateau. Like, if that's one thing I can give you, I think so many people are doing way too many reps, not actually focusing on strength work. Yeah, that's why you eventually hit a plateau, because your newbie gains kind of just like fizzle out. And because when you're a newbie, you can do 5 reps, 10 reps, you can do any reps and you'll get stronger.

And you'll see progress.

Exactly, exactly. But after that newbie gains phase, you've got to dial it in the real program. And if you're not doing specific strength work, you're not usually gonna get stronger because you're not doing specific strength work. So true.

Yeah. And there's other components to it too. And it's like, do you want— obviously it's a shit ton more, but if it is, it like, do you want to get better with bench? Then it's like, all right, well, you probably obviously like need to do less, or they have like lower reps, like more strength rep range, but then also like working more on triceps, like working more on some of those other like secondary muscles that impact it. And again, that's where like an actual proper strength training comes into play because most people just go in like fuck around and wonder why there's no progress.

Like in the clubhouse, for example, like, like the first— I mean, we have like various different programs, but like let's just take like the monthly workout programs that we have. From like January to March, it was very strength-focused, and then from April to probably about July, August is gonna be a little bit more like hypertrophy-focused, and then September to December is gonna to kind of be more like power building focused. But it's like you have a specific focus and priority for what you're doing in that workout.

Yeah.

Again, it's not just let me go in and just fucking do some shit because there's differences that you would do and there's different reps and how many sets and how many exercises. Like there's just, there's a lot that goes into it. And like most people don't, you don't think of it because it's not your fucking job to think about it. Your job is to, you know, take care of your kids, go to work, make a living, Fuck, you know I mean? Like I get it, but that's why there's people like ourselves who do this for a living.

For sure.

Yeah. That's what's next, sir Pat.

Um, so question I asked you earlier, we were talking about earlier: What are characteristics of clients that have the most success for each of us? Yeah. Within like group coaching and one-on-one, what would you say?

I did a podcast on this a little a while ago. It's a great. It's a great question. I think one of the first things, and probably the most important. Thing is you have to be willing to change and try new things.

That's like I was gonna say, you have to be open mind to doing because I think so many people get in weight loss and have this like preconceived notions about like needing to do fasted cardio, needing to be low carb, needing to ba ba ba ba ba.

And not even so that, but also on top of that, I would say like people, I don't eat breakfast. I'm like, okay, maybe that's the fucking reason you're overeating at night.

Oh yeah, you know what I mean?

Like it's like the shit that you were doing, you every Everybody— this is one of the issues I think with just people in like society in general. You want what you want, but you want to do it your way. You can't do it your way and get to where you want to be because your way got you to where the fuck you are right now. So you have to be willing to change. You have to be open-minded to, to trying new things and to tracking calories, for example.

Yeah.

Backing off the HIIT cardio, going to more strength training. You have to be open-minded to take a different approach, because if not, you keep doing the same shit. What, Pat? If you keep doing the same shit, what are you gonna get?

In the streets forever. But no, you're gonna be fucking stuck. Like, and there's a— that's the other thing too. When someone like reaches out, it's like there's a reason you reached out. So like, why wouldn't you actually like try to implement the stuff we're working on? I think that always like kind of throws me like. And like threw me a lot. I think when I first started coaching and training people a lot, I was like, I don't understand. I used to be so hurt when people like didn't make progress, like didn't follow through. Like, one, that's on me to like get better as a, as a coach. But I think it's also like sometimes that's how people are as well. And like they're stubborn and don't want to change shit, but you have to. Like, if you're not fucking making the progress you want, something has to change.

Like— And the tough part about this is, and I'll show some empathy, like, like Change is very uncomfortable.

Very, super uncomfortable.

Very uncomfortable. And so it's like, you've been doing things a certain way. Like, you know, it's actually funny. Shout out my guy Herman. Like, you know, we just worked out together yesterday. And like, you know, like, it's funny because like he, when he joined, right, it's like, he just fully bought into the programs that we were doing in the clubhouse, like fully. He's like, do it to a T, push himself. And the kid's like, he's lost like 60 pounds at this point. By the way, him and his dad do it. His dad has like, his dad's a savage.

I saw him comment and say something about like, thanks for staying home with my dad and shit.

Yeah, shout out Herman's dad. Um, but like fully, like I'm thinking of people like that where it's like maybe in the past, cause Herman, he was, he's, he was a former like college football player. So like super strong, like already had a solid understanding of like working out. But like even with that, even with a very solid background, he's just still like fully put all of his chips into the program and like the kid's a walking example of like what it is to see progress, right?

Yeah.

So then that's what I mean. It's like, I get that change is very uncomfortable and you might be scared to like lose some of the progress that you made. But here's what I tell people too. It's like, if you're doing something right now and that's gotten you to where you are, and let's say maybe you have been consistent, so on and so forth, and you're scared to change over to this thing, start eating breakfast, do less cardio, do more strength training, you know, Work in fun foods, whatever it is. If you're scared to do that, well, guess what? Try it for 3 months and you could always just go back to what you were doing because you know where what you were doing got you.

Yeah, that's a good point.

You know what I mean?

You know where it got you.

So you could always go back if that's your safe, comfortable spot. Like, you could always go back there and do the same shit you're doing because you know where it's going to get you.

So for sure. I did. I was going to say too, like, if you like want to take the next level to our next step to— we're kind of talking about that with business stuff. It's like once you get to a certain point, once you grow to a certain point, like you have to move a little bit differently and like operate in a different way to like keep making strides and keep progressing. And I think like one of the big characteristics that I always see with people that make the most progress is like they are ready and want to change. Like something happened and they're like, yo, like fuck this shit. Like I'm at a point where like nothing has worked. Like this is the only thing that makes logical sense to me. Like I'm ready to like do it and ready to like attack it. I think a lot of times people—I was actually telling this to the guy Mark that made a lot of progress. We were talking about it because I had posted. One of my former clients sent me a text and she was like, "I did Weight Watchers with my mom and like I ate all the zero cal, like a bunch of zero point foods, and like I still like gained weight." And she was like, "You're right. Calorie deficit is the only thing that like actually works." And then I was talking to. Mark about it and he was like, I just don't understand that. He was like, it's literally like how you lose weight and don't. But he was coming from a place of like, all right, I'm ready to make a change. Like, let's do it. Let's make it happen. I think that's like a big one of the big things. I'm trying to think of other characteristics. I think someone that's like really engaged in the process too. Like, I have had clients where they're just like about their business. They'll execute on stuff, but like, it does make me happy. And I know someone's like actually wanting to make progress. If they're like, yo, I hit a new PR, hit a new low weigh-in, or I, you know, I have a question about this, like, that's when I'm like, all right, you're actually gonna make progress because you actually care about what you're doing.

Yeah, I tell that to people all the time too in the Clubhouse. I'm like, like, we— I do— I mean, we're in the group all the time. Like, we have a weekly Q&A. I'm like, ask your fucking questions.

Bro, yeah, like, I'll do my— I do my lives too, and I'm like, yo, you can literally ask me anything. Like, it will not be a dumb question. Like, I'm— we are here to help you. Like, we are completely here to help you. And like, it could be anything.

So I think that's a big one too, is just like ask the questions and like get the feedback, get the—

And get the most out of it. Like, that's what you signed up for, is like for us to guide you in any way possible. I— both of us like want to help people. Like, that's like what we're in— do this for, is like to help people make the most progress.

Yeah, that's a big one too. So we talked about this earlier, you know, we have 10+ years of experience for both of us. It's like, that's, that's what's valuable. Because number one, we've already fucked everything up. And so it's like, we can teach you from our fuck-ups. But then number two, we've gotten people the results. And so it's like, you're paying to just like, as opposed to you spending the next 3 years, because people will do this, you'll spend the next 3 years trying to make your own program, trying to come up with your calories, trying to do this, trying to do that, trying to, trying to do it on your own. And like, you won't get anywhere and you'll get super frustrated, super Super pissed off and like, then you'll sign up for coaching. It's like, yeah, just like you're paying. And by the way, it doesn't have to be paid, but like, we'll just use this as the example. Like, you're paying to like shorten the time to you to get results because of the— you're paying for the experience and the time shortage.

Yeah, that's what I tell people too. It's like you're investing in one, making progress now, and then like it's a skill that you learn for the rest of life. Like, it shortcuts everything. Like, you're getting— you're getting the information necessary. Like, we condense it into like a digestible way and like are there with you to support, you know, the journey throughout.

So because one of the things right now is like the internet. Yeah, fucking everything's on the internet.

And that's what I was gonna say too. Like people, maybe they'll try to make their own program and try to come up with their calories, but that's only like one side of what they could be doing. Maybe they're gonna be like, oh shit, well this lifting thing isn't working because they did it for like a month and nothing happened, nothing happened. And then they'll do like all HIIT workouts, or they'll do like Pilates. And it's like, bro, like it's jumping around like that, it's definitely not gonna work. Yeah, big one. Yeah, same with like diets. Like people do different diets. And I think another thing, that's what I was getting to with the Mark story. He was like, he was like, why do you think like people do that? And I was like, I think sometimes people treat like counting calories as just like the next diet they're gonna try and not actually understanding like, yo, this is no matter what diet you do, it is all about the total calories. Like that's what leads to progress is being in a calorie deficit. And I think people treat like how we coach is like, oh, it's just like a new diet, like I'm gonna try this new diet sometimes, when really it's like, this is it, like this is how you make progress and don't. Obviously people make progress in different ways, and like we talked about, people accomplish goals in different ways, but yeah, I think understanding that is the education part.

Yeah, well, another one too, and this is anybody who was on my Clubhouse live yesterday, I, uh, shout out my guy Marley. Marley, he's gonna crush it, but, um, He was asking a question about counting calories, and he was kind of just like, ah, like, I don't really think I like— I don't want to count calories.

That's a question I was gonna— that someone like asked, and I was gonna actually ask you about. Yeah, let's dig into that.

Both of it. Um, he was kind of like, I don't want to count calories. And it wasn't— so what I'm about to say, this wasn't his reason, because what I'm gonna say is like, you, you just can't— like, 2 things: you can't quit, and you can't just be like, oh well, this is too hard, so I'm not gonna do it. Like, there has to be a level of mental fortitude. There has to be a level of grit. There has to be— there has to be the I'm not going to quit no matter what and I'm going to figure it out no matter what mentality. That's it. Like, because truthfully, if you do that, how can you not reach your goals at that point? If you take the mentality of no matter what, I'll figure it out, no matter what, I'll get it done, no matter what, if this isn't working, I'm going to find out what does work. Like, when you take that mentality with it, you can't— you can't— like, one of the number one things I think about when I wake up in the morning is, all right, how can I get people to not quit today? Just today. How can I get people to not quit? Because I know if they don't quit—

If you just keep ticking away, chipping away, chipping away. I mean, that's the name of the game with anything.

Yeah. So I think that for me was a big one. Just those two mentalities.

Um, I was gonna say something off of that. I don't fucking know. Yeah, all right, fuck it. Let's keep it pushing.

All right, what time, what time we got?

Uh, 5:39.

Okay, okay.

You wanna answer like a couple more?

Yeah.

All right.

Yeah, right. It stopped raining again. Let's go.

Yeah, looks like there's little boats out and about again.

That one dude was going through it in that little boat. That was tragic. Yeah.

That was horrifying.

That sucks.

All right. Oh, it's a good one. Uh, feeling a bit directionless. What's a good first step to starting a, starting a nutrition routine or starting kind of getting going like with nutrition and probably just in general? I mean, with fitness.

Okay. Was that with life or with fitness? I know.

Well, she said nutrition. Okay. Directionless.

Hmm, that's kind of tough. I mean, no context is kind of tough there.

True. Um, like, have you been working on different stuff? You've been trying— like we talked about, were you trying a bunch of different stuff? You literally just like haven't done anything for a while ever? Like, yeah, because what does it kind of look like?

And like, I'm thinking like, did you, did you make your fat loss goal but now you don't know what to do?

True.

Yeah, that's a good point.

It's like, yeah, we'll talk about that. Yeah, I like that one.

Yeah, because I think a lot of times people will like, they'll reach their fat loss And like, it can be very addicting to like see the scale go down each week, see your measurements go down each week, progress pictures side by side each, you know, each month. And you're like, that can be very addicting. And then when it's out of there, you're like, fuck, man. Fuck.

Yeah. I don't want to get—

what's the point? What's the point? Yeah. So what do you say about that?

Um, her being directionless. Um, generally speaking, I think like that's where probably having a coach or having some kind of direction kind of does help. So I think it's like figuring out what you want. I think that's the biggest thing. It's like, where, where, where do you want to get to? Like, what's the deal? What's ideal situation? And then I think it's kind of figuring out what the steps are to get there. And again, like, you can kind of do that on your own if you look at the right content or just do your own research. Like, you can kind of figure it out there. We'll talk about— I'll just say fat loss, I guess, because I think again there's like many different ways you go about it, but For fat loss, if you're just starting completely from scratch, like, I really think like just understanding and learning about calories is like the best first step that you could do. And it is tedious at first and like it does take time and like you do have to— it's like learning a new language. It is overwhelming. Yeah, it's overwhelming, all these things. But so is anything like when you first get started with it. Like if you start to try to learn the fucking piano, like anyone could do it, but like, yeah, you got to go through the steps to make it happen. So I really do think that's the best thing you could ever learn if you just want to kind of get the ball rolling. Like, make one change a day. Have one meal that's a fucking salad and a piece of fruit, and then keep having the other meals. Or maybe it's like, all right, I'm gonna keep eating all the same stuff, or maybe— and then maybe this one meal I'm gonna cut back on portions. Like, I'm gonna eat like half of it and then have like a veggie on the side.

Yeah.

But I really think the best thing is like under— like really taking the time, even if it does seem tedious. Like, give yourself plenty of time and like understand how to track calories, how many calories certain food tasks.

Because once you understand that, um, and don't expect to make progress during that time.

Yeah, no.

Which, by the way, you probably will. But when you have the expectation of not seeing progress, yeah, it takes a lot of the pressure off of you.

Completely agree. Completely agree.

Right? Like, so yeah, I like that. I'll take it from the perspective of like, if you've reached your fat loss goal and now you're like directionless, um, this is where I just lean heavily on performance-based goals. In the gym, in your workouts, because like you still, like you still gotta fuel yourself to hit PRs. You still gotta, you know, eat the right foods to, you know, to, to hit that deadlift goal, to hit that chin-up goal, to hit that bench press goal, to, you know, do a certain amount of reps with a certain amount of weight. You wanna hit 225 for 10 reps or whatever it is, right? Set those performance-based goals in your workouts because you can always set those. You can always have a, a better mile time.

Yeah.

You, you can always have, you You can always get stronger. You can, you know, you can always do these things. And so I think performance-based goals or setting like mental toughness goals. And that's where I think too, like even like something like 75 Hard, for example, you don't have to do 75 Hard, but like, and by the way, don't, don't do 75 Hard if you're, if you're using it for weight loss. That's fucking idiotic. Don't do that.

People do that a lot too, man. Stupid.

Andy, Andy says himself, he's like, it's not a fucking weight loss program. Can you guys stop doing it for that? Like, So, but, but if you're using it to like have a mental toughness goal, it's like a lot of the stuff I do now is like I challenge myself to not be a little bitch. Like I challenge myself to like live up to the person I think I'm like, I say I am in my head. Like, that's, that's my fulfillment. And again, this is where like this might vibe with some people, might not, but like that's my sense of fulfillment. When I wake up, I'm like, I want to prove I'm the motherfucker that I say I am. I don't need the aesthetics anymore. I don't need the PRs in the gym. Like they're cool, but like I'm doing this shit so I can have the mental fortitude and the confidence in myself to know I can fucking do whatever the fuck I want to do and accomplish anything I want to accomplish. So it's, it's, it's very much switched to like an internal thing for me. So if you're directionless, like that could be one source of direction for you. It's like, show the fuck up every— and that's cool too, because you show up every single day and try to fulfill that potential. But that's the cool part. Like, you're never going to fill that potential ever. Because even when you, even when you do get more skilled, well, you have more skills, so your potential is higher. So it's like this never-ending game of like every single day you can literally just like wake up and try to beat your next day and try to move closer to that. And it's a— that can give you, I think, a lot of direction. So yeah.

Yeah. From a 1,000% agree. And I think like I feel the most fulfilled when I'm just like getting up each day, showing up, like checking the things off the box that need to get done, getting into work, pushing myself, trying to get a little bit better, stronger, like performance side of things. I think, you know, if you've already lost fat and like want to keep progressing with your body in some way, different things that I've done with my clients are like, all right, we're gonna do like a muscle building phase now. Like, I think you have different phases where you can focus on that side of things. Or it's like, all right, trying to increase metabolism and like get to a point where the next time you do a fat loss phase, you're gonna like look even better. Like, I think it's kind of— there's different cycles to it if you want to go down that route. But I do think like you have to— It's a cycle. You have to— it is showing up for yourself. And that's something I talk about when people like apply for coaching and we're talking about the whole process. I'm like, yes, like it's great that you want to lose fat and like want to do this stuff, but oftentimes there's like deeper reasons why people want to make progress losing weight, losing fat. They want to be able to like be a good example for their kids. They want to like have more confidence with, you know, women, with their job, like with stuff they do. And it's like there's no better way to do that other than like showing up every single day. single day. And like you said, proving to yourself you actually can, you know, be that person. And then again, yeah, when you actually do make progress and look a lot better, you feel more confident too. Like, there's just a lot of different components to it. But yeah, if you're directionless, I think big picture is taking a step back, like, where are you at right now? What do you want to accomplish? And then giving yourself time to like get to that point.

Yeah, that's where I think too, like, sometimes a coach can help because it's like—

Big time. Like, you map things Even if it's for a period of time, like, even if it's just for a period of time and you're working with someone to get shit rolling again.

I agree. Yeah, maybe hit like 1 or 2 more and, uh, maybe—

How about this? How about this? There's not a ton more that are like— a lot of people showing love, so shout out to everyone showing love. Shout out to y'all. Um, how about we ask each other a question and then we'll wrap it up?

All right, all right, cool.

It can be, it can be fun or fitness related. Um, True. All right. Damn. Yeah, that's tough. We should have thought of these. Yeah, probably. I kind of put you on the spot. Yeah, big on the spot. Let's see. What are you— what's your biggest lesson from running your business slash coaching people over the last 5 years? Or like something that stands out, or if you could like give, you know, give someone advice if they're in that position, or just in general, like something that sticks out to you.

No, I think I have it. Um, it's, it's gonna take a lot more work than you ever thought in your life. I think that's probably my biggest thing. And I knew it was gonna be a lot of work, and I knew that I was gonna do it, but it's gonna take a lot more work than you ever thought. And the reason I say that is because, again, going back to expectations, if you think that going into it, it really won't be that bad. And, and I was— I think I'm a— I don't know if I want to say a rare breed, but like, I just knew I was going to do whatever. And I still will to this day. I'll do whatever it takes. I don't give a single fuck. I'll do whatever. But like, I just think if people can really think about whatever goal they want to accomplish It's gonna take way more work than— way more work than you think it's gonna take. When you actually get into it, it's actually not that fucking bad.

I agree.

It's not that fun.

We build a lot of stuff up in our heads.

Yeah, yeah. And that's where, like, if you think it's gonna happen fast or gonna happen easy, or like, if, if you think it's— if you don't think it's gonna be a lot of work, you're setting yourself up for failure. Because it's much like when people Like when people are like, I don't want to have any anxiety, and then when they have like the little bittiest of anxiety, they're like, oh, see, I told you, like, this is terrible. And it's like, well, yeah, like you set yourself up for that, bro.

Right.

Like you set yourself up for that. So I would probably say business, fitness, anything, it's going to take so much more work than you had ever thought, but it's going to be so much more fulfilling than you ever thought on the back end as well. It's just worth it every single time. time in every single aspect. Um, again, fitness, business, relationship, being a parent, whatever it is. And obviously neither one of us are parents, but just it all, it all flows together. It's like, yeah, it's gonna be really fucking hard, but Calvin is my son. Yeah, Calvin is the stepson. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There you go, there you go. So yeah, that would probably be, uh, that probably might— I'll ask you that and I'll come with a question.

Okay, okay. Um, kind of building off that, I was gonna say like you're capable of a lot more than you give yourself credit for. Like, I think people like have this, like they don't think they're worth anything or don't think they can actually accomplish stuff. And whether that's like the people around on a regular basis or if that's them not actually like setting goals for themselves, like I think that's one big time thing. Like there's so many people that have potential and like could look amazing, could feel amazing and do great things. And they have like different talents and have different You know, everyone can push themselves, but I just don't think they like deep down like really think that like they're the shit or could be the shit. And like everyone is the shit in their own way and like can be the best version of themselves. Yeah, I think that's one thing like that I wish I even earlier in my like business career I should have like thought that for myself. Like bro, like you, you're not thinking like highly enough of yourself and like where you could actually take this shit. And part of that is too you have to kind of go through those steps and be like, all right, I checked the box. I'm like, oh Oh damn, I actually made progress and got to this point. Then it's like, oh shit, like I can keep pushing and get to this point. Um, I think that's a big thing that people probably don't think highly enough of themselves.

Yeah, I like that. Um, cool. Let's see here. Um, I'm trying to decide if I want to go more like philosophical or just like a fun one.

Yeah, yeah, just— yeah, I think you can do a fun one too.

I know, I'm trying to decide. I like the philosophical ones though. Okay, if you could go back and change— I'll kind of piggyback— if you could go back and change one thing about your coaching career thus far to make it better, what would that one thing be?

Just one? Wow. Yeah, man.

Coaching, career, business, whatever.

Yeah, um, I probably would have— and I'm still, I mean, I'm still kind of in the same boat. Like, I probably would like cut off more distractions. Like, when I knew I was like really gaining traction on stuff, like in 2020, I was really on a roll, bro, until like probably like May, June. And then there's this girl I was dating and like things were kind of up and down, blah blah blah. Didn't put enough time, like as much time as I like really like wanted to at that time. Like that's probably when I was like the most hungry with shit and like just had like a little blip when like shit was kind of going awry with that and then kind of got off track with shit. And like that was completely a choice in those moments where like looking back I'm like, bro, I could probably get to keep momentum going better. And like there's been so many times, at least with my shit, I know— shout out to Eric, he's by far the most disciplined person I know for sure. Like this dude is a machine. He, uh, he's the man. I love this guy. He pushes me a ton. Uh, but that's one thing I think. Um, I think, I think probably just going harder on social media and like really pushing the envelope when like I knew shit was like really like with TikTok was like in the golden era of it. You could post anything. I think hammering home with that. Um, I think hiring people sooner and like getting help sooner. I think that was a big time thing. I was so just like controlling of my shit and I never thought anyone could actually do anything nearly as good as I could, or I didn't want to— like, I thought people would think differently of it if like someone else was helping them instead of me. And like, I just— like, I was just so such a control freak with that shit for way too long. Um, so that's another thing, like, could have done a better job serving— by doing that, I could have done a better job servicing the people I was actually working with because I wouldn't be trying to do everything at all times. Um, and could have ended up you know, probably helping more people. Um, I think that's mine. Yeah, bro, I think that's like the biggest thing that people that are like really ambitious struggle with at first. Like, I— it was such just like a mindfuck to hire for a while, especially for me, because like the—

my— like, dude, my team I have now, savage. Fucking killers, bro. Killers. Like Mary, Linda, Tara, and Angie. Like, you guys are fuck— uh, like just Absolute fucking savages. Like, and I'm just— I, I would not be, like you said, helping people. I couldn't help the people that we couldn't help the people that we help if that wasn't like— if they didn't help me, I'd— dude, I would be fucked, bro.

Yeah, I mean, so like, yeah, team that I have, like, yeah, Jason McKenzie and, uh, and Erica, like, I wouldn't— yeah, like, people in the member, uh, the group coaching program, I wouldn't be able to help them nearly as much, wouldn't be able to be there for them, like, wouldn't Like the challenges I've done, one-on-one stuff. Like, yeah, it just— I feel, feel like I'm doing a lot better job via the team that I have now.

100%, bro. And that's where, like, that was, that was a big thing. That was, that was mine. I didn't— I was so— and Linda, God bless her heart, for the longest fucking time—

how did you make your first hire? Like, how did that go? But like, how did I—

a client of mine for 2 and a half years, and then I was just like, she's, she's a killer. I knew, I knew that. I'm like, yeah, I need help in the Clubhouse, like, can you help me? And she's like, yeah. And I'm like, cool. And fucking ever since then, I don't know where the fuck I would be without Linda. But yeah, like, and she would beg me. She was like, can you just let me do more things? And I'm like, no, I got it.

Oh, you need someone like that. Because I— so Jason, the guy that he— my right-hand man, like, he's the man. He'll literally— he sent me a DM like nonstop for like a year, be like, bro, like, can I intern for you? Like, is there anything I can do for you? Like, I'll work for you in any capacity. And finally I was like, all right, yeah, like you can start to do stuff. And then he just kept asking for more work. He was like, bro, is there anything else I can help you with? Like, what else can I do? Like, game changer. You need people like that to kind of push you with it. Yeah, no, I make you feel comfortable with it. Yeah, yeah, that's a big-time thing.

Cool. My fucking phone's about to die. All right, well, where can the people find you? Got anything you want to shout out? Got anything you want to promote? Just tell people where they can find you, what you got going on.

All right, uh, Instagram Instagram, @gainsbypat. TikTok, @gainsbypat. So I do one-on-one coaching. We have our one-on-one coaching program. So work with people to help lose fat, build muscle, do so in a realistic way. And then we also have our group coaching program, Realistic Gains. So check that out. Those are the two things. Yeah, that's what we're kind of building, working on. And I'm excited for both Eric and I's journey as we continue to grow our brand on social media, help more people, and keep being homies for a long time.

Yeah, man. I'll drop that stuff here below in the show notes of the podcast, guys, if you, if you want to check it out. This is great.

Yeah, we're gonna get some good food. Thank you so much, Eric. Appreciate you. Love you, bro.

You guys enjoyed the podcast, feel free to— if you watched on YouTube, thank you so much. You can drop a comment down below on YouTube if you did enjoy. Um, you know, leave a review, hit us up on Instagram, TikTok, wherever. We appreciate you. And, um, thanks guys, we'll chat soon.

Much love.