Manning Sumner: Private Strength & Conditioning Coach | The Business Blast Podcast #905

All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Manning Sumner with us. He is a private strength and conditioning coach and founder CEO of Legacy Fit LLC. So welcome to the show.

Welcome. Thank you, man.

Thanks for coming on. So the first one we ask on this show, man, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?

Huh, there's a lot of them, but, uh, but I think that it all goes back to, uh, I broke my back twice. Um, I broke my back, uh, my junior year in high school, and it was a very trying time, and, and And it was a lot of self-discovery of what I could will myself to do and come back and be stronger than ever. And I was able to do that, come back and heal the injury and then play in college football. And then I actually did it again. So when I did it again in college, the same injury, again, it was a very trying time. Took a while to kind of get out of that depressed state and push forward and keep going and change the direction of my dreams. Because in the beginning it was, you know, NFL, wanting to be a football player, and then having to like kind of reinvent yourself and figure out what you're going to do with your life. So, I think anytime I have any kind of adversity or obstacles or failures, I look back on that time and I say to myself, if I can get through that, I can get through anything.

Dude, absolutely, man. I feel like that's like the toughest thing with sports, dude, is you never— you just never know, dude. Like, you, you could like be incredible, right? And like, the next thing you know, you're injured and like everything is completely different and it's over.

Like, you're, you know, like, because you, you know, when you're a little kid and your dad's throwing the football to you and you're watching it on TV, I mean, that's your dream. Like, that's That's everything. And when that's taken away from you instantly, like it's gone, then it puts you in an interesting predicament, in a dark place. But I think if you can pull yourself out of it and use the things you've learned through sports and through the injury to help you just be a better person, or, you know, in my case, maybe a better businessman.

So, um, so my next one for you is, what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?

So I didn't learn this, you know, in a certification or my exercise science health promotions degree or anything like that. But I would say consistency would be my most valuable piece of information for people in the fitness industry because I think that, you know, everybody wants to come up with the 21-day plan and the 30-day challenge and the you know, 90 days to the, to your new self and, and all this stuff. And we don't, we're never consistent with things. And to me, the way to achieve your goals, whether it's fitness or business or relationships, you have to be consistent with your effort, with, um, your attitude, with, with what you're doing on a daily basis. And I hear it all the time, like people tell me, you know, I've been dieting for 2 weeks and and nothing's happening. And I'm just like, well, I've been dieting for, you know, 30 years and I'm still, you know, working on it. So it never stops. And that's what— and anytime I see success in my professional athletes or my clients that are business people, what I notice about the most is their consistency. It's not them being amazing for 1 week and then I don't see them for 2 weeks and then they come back. It's the people that are, are, and, and again, and consistency doesn't have to mean every day. It can actually mean whatever fits in your routine. And so I just had that conversation with someone today about, um, she was like, I can't, I don't have an hour to work out. And I said, well, how much time do you have? And she was like, I could probably do 15 minutes. And I said, well, do 15 minutes every single day. And I said, you'll see a difference. I said, but if you keep focusing on the fact that you can't do an hour, then you're never going to do anything, and then nothing's going to happen. So consistency would be it.

Yeah, man, dude, I couldn't agree. Like, focus and consistency. And there's this one, um, there's this— I, I'm not gonna say it's a quote, but I heard this, uh, from this guy. Do you know Tim Ferriss? Have you ever heard?

Yeah, of course. Yep.

Yep. I heard this from him where he said, I think it was like this, it's like If you don't have like 15 minutes every day to meditate, then you should meditate for 4 hours every day.

Something like that.

So it's like, and I don't know this person's like, I have no clue what her schedule is like or anything. So I'm not speaking to her necessarily, but I just think it's like we have to make time. Like for me, dude, if I don't run or go for a walk in the morning, my whole day is like messed up. Like I need that as like a release.

Of course, right?

So like I just make the time for it, dude. Like, if I have podcasts or calls or work all day and it starts at 7 AM and I need to get my run, I'll wake up at 5 instead of normally waking up at 6. Like, but that's just me. So I feel like at the same time, we do, you know, make things a priority that are important to us. And yeah, I just— so I would say I feel like we got to make an hour, dude, for alone time or something, dude.

You got it. You know, but in this, in this particular case, to give her defense, you know, single mom.

Oh yeah, see, I kind of—

Mother of 3, 2-year-old, 3-year-old, 9-year-old, full-time job. Like, you know, life happens.

I get it.

Yeah, yeah.

So I can't, I can't even relate closely. I get it. The only thing I could think of is like run with the stroller, but that might not be safe. So either way, so the next one I got for you, and I think, you know, you kind of answered in that other one, but what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.

Yeah, so for me, it's about not being complacent, um, with your successes. So what I mean by that is, is, um, what I've found is that a lot of people celebrate their successes too much. I'm not saying you shouldn't be grateful for your success or grateful for improving and things like that, but you shouldn't like party about it and you shouldn't focus on that. You should focus on— there's always room for improvement in your business no matter what. There's strengths, weaknesses, there's things you can do better. And so as a business owner or even as an employee, always look to continue the success and make it better. So strive to do more than you've already done. And then that goes also into your failures. A lot of people, they focus on what they didn't do and they focus on their failure, and so they sit in that space and instead of getting out of that space and keep moving forward and keep trying to, to make it better. So for me, it's about not celebrating your successes too much and then not dwelling on your failures too much. Mm-hmm.

And then if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?

Um, don't stress. Uh, don't, don't worry about things that are not in your control. So something that, you know, I'm 41 now and something I feel like I've really, really— it's helped my stress levels, my worry levels, my anxiety levels, that anything that I can't physically control, that's not in my hands that I can change the scenario, I shouldn't worry about it. Because at the end of the day, it's gonna happen if it's gonna happen, and if I can't control it, I can't control it. And I think in my younger years, you know, you worry, you get all anxious about stuff. And so I think it's created a lot more peace in my life, a lot more just, I'm just like kind of, going through it, knowing that if it's going to happen, it's going to happen. And, and, uh, you know, you still prepare and you do everything in your power to make it happen. But again, if it's out of your control, you know, if you did everything that you can do and you can't do anything else, then just, just let it go. Like, just, just enjoy the moment, you know, enjoy it. Trust the process.

Absolutely, man. Dude, I was actually having a conversation with somebody earlier today about that, where like what you should do is like make a list, like a line down the middle of a paper, make a list of the things you can control and the ones you can't. And then like literally forget about the ones that you can't control. Because I think, yeah, it's like, it's like, dude, it's like one of those things that a lot of people, I think it causes them, which leads into the next one I'm going to ask you, it causes them to be not like happy because they're trying to control things that are literally not in their control. Like, I think a majority of people do that.

Oh, 100%. And, and I was one of them, like, and, and, and I'm, and again, I'm not perfect, so you You fall into that sometimes and then you got to pull yourself out and, and just, I call it checking yourself. Sometimes you got to check yourself, you know.

Yeah, absolutely. So perfect lead way. Uh, next one is, in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?

Uh, that you're not going to be happy all the time, you know. Yeah, I think the key to happiness is to maybe not focus on yourself being happy all the time, but make make it a point to make other— make it a point to make those around you happy. So something that, again, in my later years that I've really gotten to, I guess, realize is that it's not about me. Like, I can't make everything about me. I can't be that, you know, narcissist or selfish and think that everything has to do with me. You know, something has— some things, people's responses The way someone answers the phone, what your wife does to you in the morning, like it might not have anything to do with you. So instead, you know, how do you react to that? How do you make that other person feel? And if you're constantly trying to make others feel good about themselves and lift other people up, empower people, and, and make them happy, then I'm almost— I almost guarantee that you're going to be happy. And that's something that I've enjoyed doing lately is just making people smile around me, making sure I ask them how they're doing, and it makes me feel better. And even if I'm down and out or not in a great mood, I'm still happy because I know that I'm, I guess, being productive in making others happy.

And then what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?

So I've been really big on audiobooks lately.

Me too.

To be, you know, full disclosure, um, I'm actually getting kind of obsessed with them. But, um, I, I'm not a big— it's funny, I'm not a big reader, so audiobooks has been a real blessing. Um, I like to buy the book afterwards and then, you know, take notes and stuff, or like highlight the things that I remember in the, in the audio. And then sometimes I'll actually listen to audio while I have the book open. But so there's a lot of them. Um, the Advantage would be one that sticks out as far as business goes, but I, but I think probably the number one would be, as of late, um, probably about 3 years ago, I read the E-Myth Seminar, um, Taking Charge of Your Business and Your Life by Michael E. Gerber. And I guess the number one thing I learned from it was creating systems. And so, you know, I own gyms and I own a franchise system. And so for me to— in the book, it describes how you have to create extraordinary systems in order for your business to be able to duplicate your business and in order for you not to be there. And that's something that has, I mean, just given me so much freedom because now I have I have, you know, 3 locations that I'm not at and they're thriving and they're doing well and I'm not even there. And people told me for years that I couldn't do that, you know, that, that, that, that was not possible. You know, the gym is you, you know, you're the gym. If you're not there, then it's going to fail. And so to create systems where a business can thrive with you, with you not being there is really cool. And then he also has like a bunch of follow-up books and it talks about how once you've created the system, you have to develop and put your energy into other people that are implementing the system. So now it's been a kind of a point to empower those that are implementing your systems. So it's about building good teams and, and making sure you have the right people on your staff to implement the systems that you put in place.

Absolutely, man. Um, and then what is your favorite quote and why?

I'm a quote person too. I kind of have, like, literally wake up and Google, like, if a word pops in my head, I'll just like put it in Google and then just start reading articles and quotes and stuff about it. So I love quotes. We have quotes all over the walls at my gym, but I guess the number one one would be attitude is everything. And it's a simple quote, it kind of It's pretty self-explanatory, but I think that one thing that we can always control is our attitude. And so, again, it goes back to what I said earlier, like, you know, sometimes you got to check yourself. You got to check your attitude at the door. You know, you got to look in the mirror and say, you know, get out of that bad mood and put a smile on your face. And if you're tired, you know, stop telling yourself you're tired and keep going. So attitude is everything.

Mm-hmm, dude. Thank you so much for coming on. I really liked what you said about the systems. I know the E-Myth, um, I think the one I'm actually in the middle of listening to it again. It's the E-Myth Revisited, I believe.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, and have you done Mastery yet?

No, wait, Mastery by Robert Greene?

No, it's the same. It's Michael E. Gerber. It's, uh, the E-Myth, uh, Mastery, I think is the name of it.

Oh no, no. See, I gotta go more into his—

got like 4 of them.

Okay. Yeah, I just, I know that The E-Myth has been very pivotal for a lot of people's businesses. Um, so I've been, um, yeah, just the whole systems things. There's another, there's another book by a different author called Built to Sell. Um, that's really enlightening on systems. It's about basically speaks on this like story about this like ad agency that offered like everything and, and it was like doing well, but then what they did is they removed everything from their offerings except for design. And then they just focused on building systems around, around becoming the best design agency ever. And then they were able to build and scale and then sell the company. And that's because it wasn't like scattered and just like offering everything. It was like focused and systematized, and that's how you can actually sell a company.

Exactly. And that's what the E-Myth is all about, is that what's your end goal? Like, your, your end goal if you own a business Your end goal has to be to sell. Like, eventually you want to sell. So if you're not setting up a business to sell, then you're kind of like, like on a hamster wheel and you're just working, working, working, working, working, working. That's it.

Absolutely. Um, so yeah, man, dude, thanks for coming on. Last one.

Thanks for having me.

Um, where can people find you online?

Um, I guess, uh, Instagram @manningsumner and, uh, and then my business one is @nodaysoff. And, um, that would probably be the easiest place. Perfect. All about the gram these days, you know.

Yeah, dude, that's a great one too. No Days Off, that's a sick one.

Yeah, so No Days Off is, is our mantra. So, you know, like I created Legacy Fit is like our Nike, and then No Days Off is our Just Do It, and, um, and the Pitbull logo is our, is our Nike swoosh, you know. Yeah, I love it. It's, it just, it's a great startup piece because it's about not taking a day off on you. So our motto and our mantra and like what we live by is more than fitness. It's about waking up every single day and being the best version of you that you can be every single day, no matter what you're doing, you know, whether you're going to the gym or you're taking your family on vacation. Just be, just be the best you can be every single day. So that's what no days off means.

Absolutely, man. Dude, thank you again for coming on. We really appreciate it.

Thanks for having me.

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