Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 10 - Laurie Christine King: Making the most of Covid-19, Dieting, Becoming an Authority.

Episode Date: March 31, 2020

In this episode, Laurie Christine King (LCK) stops in for a chat. We talk about a TON of valuable topics, including:Maximizing your home workouts (do's and dont's)Dieting, hormones, stress, and therapy.Establishing yourself as an authority in the fitness space, the RIGHT way.For Information on Laurie, and Paragon's NEW programming, click HERE!You can find LCK and her work HERE:InstagramHer Website, Blogs, E-Books and More!YoutubeSupport the Show.

Welcome into the Dynamic Dialogues podcast. Guys, I'm your host, Danny Matrenga, and today I have the pleasure of sharing Lori Christine King with you. She's one of the best female coaches in the space. She's one of the best coaches in the space, period. She knows her stuff from the 12 years she spent in the trenches coaching. Combine that with the fact that she's published over 3,000 blogs, tons of YouTube content, tons of Instagram content, and she's a dietetics grad. She really knows her stuff.

On top of that, she's just a good, integrous fitness professional, and she's also the owner of Paragon Performance Training. So pay attention because we're going to highlight some of the special things she's doing to help people through this COVID-19 situation. But that's it. Enjoy today's interview with Lori Christine King. So, Lori, what's up? How's it going? We are surviving and thriving here in beautiful, sunny Austin, Texas. After two and a half weeks of rain, we finally got some sunshine. So that's helped the whole being trapped inside of our houses and, you know not being able to leave so super grateful for that today are you officially

on shelter in place yes yeah we have been shelter in place it hit in dallas first and then it's usually austin it's been like a couple days behind so um everything that dallas does we're usually it's a day or two delayed but yeah we've been on shelter in place for quite a few days now as well. And you've been doing lots of conditioning and jumping workouts? I'll tell you what, man. So for people that don't know me, like I come from a CrossFit background and, you know, I competed at CrossFit regionals in 2016. And like the idea of telling me, hey, I want you to go in your living room and do air squats and burpees for time.

Like I'd rather kill myself. Like I literally I can't hang. Yeah, I think it's interesting, too, because if you look at the general population, most of them probably aren't qualified to be jumping anyway. And I think the default for not having equipment and you let me know what you think. But the default for not having equipment, and you let me know what you think, but the default for not having equipment is do everything faster, try to jump as much as you can, and try to take as minimal rest as possible. Yep. I would say I could summarize the grand majority of workouts that are out in the space right now, right? Because it's like, okay, we're all suddenly at home.

And if you look on any online retailers, whether it's Rogue Fitness, whether it's Fringe Sports, even if you go to local stores, like everybody is sold out of dumbbells. Everybody's sold out of squat racks. And so like, God bless like me two months ago, because I happened to invest like quite a few thousand dollars in a full home gym setup. Because for the first time in my life,

I actually live in a home rather than, you know, like if this had happened six months ago, I'd still be in a 500 square foot studio, you know, trying to make it work. But so like, I was thankful enough to invest in stuff, but right now, you know, it's like, okay, well, gyms suddenly closed their doors. So now we have fitness professionals that are scrambling to, you know, provide for their people because it's like, people don't understand right now. It's a very simple transaction, right? People go, oh, well, I'm not using my gym, so I should just cancel my membership. And it's like, well, whoa, whoa, whoa, like slow your roll. Like most people, like I know plenty of CrossFit gym owners that have 20,000, 30,000 a month leases that they still have

to pay. So if all their memberships peel out because they're like, oh, well, gyms are closed. I can't use my membership right now. So I'm going to just cancel my subscription or membership. It's like, well, fuck, man, fast forward three, four months from now and those companies might not be able to reopen their doors, right? And so you have all these people that are looking at the situation, trying to make it work. And so it's like, okay, well, how do we put out free body weight workouts? How do we put out some workouts for people that do have, you know, some dumbbells or kettlebells or even plenty of places are doing a very smart thing. And they're, they're leasing out their equipment in the gym that they can't use right now to

their members, which is so, so great. But so you're suddenly seeing this flux of like anybody that, you know, has done a push up in their life is suddenly like, hey, have my free body weight program, like have my free, you know, for time. And it's like, well, hey, like, you know what, like something is better than nothing. But like for your people that want to get strong and for your people that want to hit PRs and see progression in the gym over time and for your people that like give a fuck what they look like and like want to work towards a good physique, which disclaimer, that's most people like most people work out to a have fun and like feel good. But most people want to look good naked, right? And so it's like those randomized workouts don't work. There's a reason why you go to the gym and you're following training cycles. Or if you're,

you know, in a strength cycle, it's like, hey, you know, if you back squat 200 pounds this week, you know, I want you to go 205 the next and then 210 the next. And so it's scary kind of because it's like, man, you're going to have all these people that are doing, you know, kind of some, some shitty workouts at home. And again, it's like, are you making the best of what you have? Yes. But then I think you're really seeing professionals in the space like us shine where like my, my gym program is called Paragon Training Methods, but it's like, we started scrambling and it was like, okay, how do we make a progressive overload cycle? Because we're going to be in this, you know, for a couple months, this isn't going to be two weeks from now. Okay. Like we're back to usual. It's like, this is probably going to be quite a few more months of, you know,

not having access to gyms and stuff. And so we came up with a 60 minute progressive overload and hypertrophy program. And, you know up with a 60 minute progressive overload and hypertrophy program. And, you know, for people, if that's really techie speak, muscle building program that people can do from home. And so our biggest obstacle was, okay, well, if you, you know, most people, even if they do have weights, they don't necessarily have, you know, like in my home gym, I'm like, sweet, I have fives all the way to 45s. Well, most people are super grateful right now to have, you know, two pairs, maybe three pairs to their name. And so we were able to figure out a way to program so that even if you have two to three pairs of dumbbells,

you can make it work, you can still get stronger, still keep working on any sort of, you know, the sequels and stuff like that. So we're launching that here, it'll be March 30th. It's a Monday and we're so, so hyped about it. Because again, we saw a need that nobody was doing. And then we decided, oh my God, like, let's figure out how to make it work. Because same thing, you know, again, all of these workouts are shorter too. And it's like, well, what about catering for the people that love spending that hour in the gym? And, you know, it's like you can do a lot of work in 30 minutes, but like at the end of the day, time is time and there's no escaping that need to get time under tension. There's no need, you know, there's no way to escape that

need for getting in those reps and, you know, putting in that volume and stuff like that. So I think there's an incredible opportunity for those that do follow, you know, evidence-based programming and really pay attention to research and stuff like that. But I think that it's definitely going to be hard for people to, again, sort through kind of the riffraff to find good programming these next few months. your website in the show notes because I'll drop this episode on Monday. So anybody who's listening can check it out on Monday. But to the point you made about making sure that we use the time we have wisely, I don't think anybody right now is in a situation where they need to rush their workouts. Many of us have additional time. And as far as manipulating training variables, I think something people immediately default to when they're doing body weight is maximizing speed and like you said, trying to leave the ground. And when you actually coach people, like if you take somebody who's never done a just slow, controlled, rear foot elevated split squat, and you have them do 12 reps with just the weight of their own body, it's going to wreck them. And I see people out there in the space like, okay, exercise one, alternate split lunge jumps. And it's like, okay, motherfucker, I've been training for seven years. I hate that exercise.

It's hard. And I'm well-trained and fairly coordinated. And that's an exercise that I would rarely have anybody do because the difficulty curve is so high. And that's an exercise that I would rarely have anybody do because the difficulty curve is so high. And you have a situation where you've got a lot of people who could get a lot more out of, like you said, using basic tools of progressive overload, like manipulating tempo, perhaps modifying some positions, changing exercise selection around so that they can make exercises or at least muscle groups work harder with a set of 10s, a set of 25s, a set of 35s. And I think that's probably the direction people need to go is, okay, can I get a couple bands here that will provide resistance? Can I

get my hands on a couple dumbbells over the next few weeks? Or can I just learn to train with my body weight in an intelligent manner using smart rest periods smart tempos smart positions rather than just saying what are the only six exercises i know that i can do with my body weight um and just pounding back pre-workout and doing them as fast as i can with no rest because that's i know uh i loved your instagram post regarding you don't need pre-workout for your home workout i literally died it's It's true though. I mean, I can say it because I've done it. Like I'm in the same boat as you. I have several thousand dollars worth of equipment in the garage gym right now. So I have no room to talk. Like I can slam

two scoops of pre-workout and go hit a legit lift. But like you've got Mary Muffintop at home pounding back a bang while her husband's in the other room, you know, working on the laptop. And it's like anything to maintain normalcy, I understand. But like, it's kind of the joke that like, okay, we probably don't need it for these workouts. But at the same time, I know for a fact, everybody's still doing it. That's one thing they're not going to give up. And it just seems so silly that that's what we maintain. I think though that this is one thing, you know, because it's like over the years, I've really trained myself to really just always keep my eyes open and look for opportunity, right? So it's like, that's where your greatest successes come from is, you know, seeing things and then, you know, as a coach fulfilling things that,

you know, fill that void and stuff like that. And, you know, I've always previously been the coach that was known for like, hey, when you crush yourself because you're going and you're doing spin class six days a week and you're not eating enough food and you're chronically under recovering and so you're hitting spin class and Orange Theory and CrossFit and just going so hard in the paint. And then all of a sudden, it's like, oh, cool. Well, congrats. You tanked out your thyroid, tanked out your sex hormones.

Now you don't have a menstrual cycle. I think there is great opportunity right now because, again, when you're working out at your home space, it's just different. You have kids. I don't have kids, obviously. But most people have kids that your kid is just floundering around while you're trying to get your gains and, you know, all this stuff. And so it's like, it's just really hard to focus on like really bringing that same intensity as if you're in, say, a Cross people really walk away from this situation in better health because a, you know, like I think a lot of people are so worried right now. I'm like,

oh my God, I'm going to gain weight and all this stuff. And it's like, I think a lot of people are still going to come out of this on the better end because if there's somebody that, you know, they spent the past couple of years just really crushing high intensity exercise, I think their body's going to get a really good break. And, you know, again, it's like the intensity that they're bringing to the workout, they're going to have to learn to train smarter and just do things, you know, with more attention to detail. And exactly as you said, you know, like, rather than doing stuff for time, it suddenly becomes, okay, well, can I add pauses when I'm doing my squats? Or can I add a three second or a six second or even a 10 second

tempo on something, even if you only have, you know, a 10 or 20, you know, 20 pound dumbbell, it's going to crush you if you do enough reps. So I'm just so interested to see, you know, how long this all ends up going on, because I really do. I think we're going to come out on a way different side than we expected. But I think a lot of people, when all this is said and done, are going to have a fun opportunity to evaluate, oh, like I actually feel really good now. And then I go back to spin class for the first day or go to Orange Theory, you know, for the first day. And I feel like trash after, like maybe this modality wasn't right for me, right?

Because like sometimes like you have to get away from it to comprehend how it makes you feel. And so like with me, that was CrossFit 100% where it was like my normal was, oh, hey, like I feel like trash 24-7, 365. My joints always ache. I'm never hungry because I'm so under-recovered and so over-trained. I don't have a sex drive. You know, my hormones are super fucked. And it was like, when I finally got away from that, I was like,

you know, present day now, like with our Paragon programs, it's like, I feel better when I leave the gym rather than, you know, it used to be like, even like brain fog and like, just feeling like a zombie was my biggest thing where it was like, at whatever time of day I decided to go to the gym is when my work day ended because I couldn't take, you know, late night client calls or I couldn't send emails. You know, it's like I would stare at the screen, but nothing's happening. So I, like I said, I just think there's so much interesting opportunity. I'm so like looking forward to see how things shake out for people. Yeah. And I want to dive into that too, because to your point, people are going to let off the cortisol pedal. They're going to let off the intensity pedal. They might actually

get to a point where they achieve like what was years of backlog super compensation. And they're like, I actually look better because I'm sleeping more and I'm stressed less. And if you have that mindset, right. And you're accepting life as it comes to you now, and you realize like, I'm going to do the best I can with the equipment that I have, hopefully with a properly put together program and just see where it goes. I think people will be pleasantly surprised. That's something I definitely want to highlight. I think more people than not. So many people, and again, I speak because I lived in this camp for years and years of my life.

But it's like I came from the space of like when we were training competitively for regionals, we trained seven days a week. And so it was like Thursdays and Sundays were still, you know, like it was like 45 minutes of swimming and then like some gymnastics and skill work. But like, let's let's call it what it is. Like I fucking trained seven days a week. And so when I started to be like, Oh, like my body's busted and this isn't working anymore. You know, it, it was crazy to me because when I started working with my business partner, Brian, and he was just doing one-on-one programming for me, it was like, Hey, like I promise if you

invest in me and you trust me that you could only work out four to five times a week for, you know, 50 to 60 minutes. And I promise that I can make you look better than you do now doing, you know, three to four hours of programming every single day. And so it's like, I don't know how I bought in. I know that there was a period of time where it was like, I don't really believe you, but I mean, I guess I'll try this thing. Right. And if it doesn't work, like I can go back. But it was like, that's, that's what our programming does for present day is like, it gives people back that quality of life because it's like, fuck man. Like if yes, everybody enjoys spending time in the gym, but at the end of the day, if the outcome that you get from 60 minutes and the physical appearance and outcome that you get from, you know, two to three

hours of training is the same. Well, why wouldn't you go spend that extra one or two hours and invest it in your work or invest in your spouse or invest it in your kids and your family and being a really awesome, you know, mom or dad, like, well, why would you do more work if you're not really going to see a huge, you know, ROI on that time investment, right? It really isn't any different from financial investing. If you had an investment platform or product that was like, hey, this is going to return as much or more money to you with a lot less work on your end, would you be down? Everybody in the world would be like, yeah, I want to make more money on less time. But the minute you say, hey, I'm going to give you training that you can actually recover

from because, right, you only get the gains that you can recover from. Your training is only as good as your recovery. People are all of a sudden up in arms because it is, it's counterintuitive. And with that, like, I think people are having to accept that now. And if they have the right mindset, they can implement some smart training practices. But what are some lifestyle and nutritional practices you would recommend people implement now, given that they have more time, perhaps given that they are going to be cooking from home. Maybe they can implement some lifestyle stuff that they normally would say, oh, you know, I just don't have the time to, you know, really give that the attention that it would

need. Now we have the time, the excuses are off the table. So if people were in a situation where they'd be receptive, what are three or four things you would say they could work on that they could take with them when we go back to normalcy? Yeah. So, and I want to give the disclaimer too, like you have to respect where you're at. And so it's like every single person is going through different personal stresses. And so, you know, the person that just lost their job yesterday is going to have a totally different set of goals than it's like, I made an Instagram story today, but it was like, God bless America guys. Like it's been, you know, two weeks of the world, you know, the world being super weird. And it's like, today was literally the first day that I was like, I am going to wash and straighten my hair. Like, heck yeah. This is where I'm at.

The same thing. It was like the past day or two for me is really where I settled in and said, oh, like I don't feel as stressed and anxious. And like, okay, like now, you know, a couple weeks in, I finally feel like I'm finding my new stride and I'm finding a routine and, you know, just kind of like figuring it out. But it's like, you talked a routine and, you know, just kind of like figuring it out. But it's like, you talked to me last week, like, fuck man, like we were in survival mode and, you know, running an online program that requires people to be able to go to gyms and then suddenly they can't use your program. Like you better believe last week was like just straight up fuckery. Right. And so I want to, I just want to throw that out. Cause it's like,

I also want to be receptive to the people that are still deep in the shit right now. And like I said, like I hold a kindly, you know, it was like, I was walking around with like a plastic bag over my head and you know, it was like, it was doing okay. But now, you know, like I said, I'm just in a little more calm. And so I don't think that right now, even content-wise to social media, right? I'm not posting content about fat loss. I'm not posting content about tracking macros. I just don't think that's where people are at right now. It's not where I'm at right now.

It's like I'm looking for the big rocks. And so to circle back to your initial question, it's like, I think that a very good one, and it's so basic, but ironically, the things that pay the biggest dividends are the basic things that people, you know, people want nutrient timing and people want the sexy, you know, pre-workout, post-workout protocols. And it's like, really the things that pay the biggest dividends are the very, very basic habits. And so to me, the ones that come to mind is, you know, the very, very basic habits. And so to me, the ones that come to mind is, you know, every single meal, could we have a protein, a carb and a fat? And I'll even dissect this because normally my answer, you know, when this goes back to normalcy, it's like, I want every single meal to be a

protein, a carb, a fat, a fruit and a veggie. Well, produce is kind of hard to come by. And so I think thankfully, like here in Austin, grocery store selection has actually been pretty decent. But it's like, even for me right now, like my goal is like, well, can I get a serving of fruit? And can I get a serving of vegetables just once a day? But like I said, normally, three to four times a day, you know, would kind of be my protocol. So it's like, can your, you know, let's say you're sitting down for lunch. Could you have some grass fed beef? Could you have rice as your carbohydrate? And could we have some avocado or olive oil for fat, right? Like that would be a really basic goal where it's like, again, I don't think that weighing and measuring and track for so many people right now, it's like, let's really get back to that

basic of just how to build a good meal. The next one would be, and I actually was supposed to talk about this today, but you know, making sure you're getting in adequate fiber. So there's so many things in our body. It's like if your digestion's off, everything's off. And so even if we talk about your thyroid, which that regulates your sleep, your metabolism, so many things in the body, it's like, well, your body does a lot of thyroid hormone conversion right in the gut. So if you're not getting enough fiber and not getting enough water, well, you're going to start to see thyroid function get a little wonky. Even for us, like sex hormones in females, it's like normally we excrete excess estrogen in the body through our daily bowel movements. And so again, if you're not paying attention to your

food, you're not getting tons of fiber, you're not going to be passing bowel movements on the daily. So again, we're kind of sliding towards hormone imbalances. So I think that getting in fiber from sources like black beans or avocados or berries, sweet potatoes, instant oatmeal, I think that making sure we're securing a minimum 25, 35 grams right now is another huge rock. This is one that until the cows come home, I still suck suck at but it's like i literally have friends that will text me and be like hey lck you drink water today i'm like sure enough no because it's like well when you're when you're recording videos when you're doing creative work it's like it just doesn't register like oh right like we're all complicated houseplants with

emotions that you know should do a thing called drinking fucking water. And the same thing, you know, are you chugging caffeine all day or are you actually drinking fluids and liquids and staying hydrated? So water would be another great one. I think now more than ever, like people don't have an excuse to not sleep at night. Right. So it's like we talk about like the biggest ROI you could possibly get is like, if you're in a fat loss phase and you're not sleeping, like good fucking luck. If you're just trying to feel good and you're not sleeping at night, good fucking luck. If you're trying to improve your hormones at night, but you're not sleeping, you know? So I think now more than ever, it's like having a good bedtime routine and having good sleep

hygiene where it's like, hey, you know, every single night at 10 p.m., I'm going to get in my bed. And, you know, even if I don't fall asleep right away, at least I made the action of getting there, right? So I'd say, you know, doing what you can to prioritize eight, nine, even 10 hours of sleep, like most of us run around in a sleep deficit. But if we're training, you know, if we're exercising, if we're just being a normal person, it's like that sleep is so, so important. So sleep would probably be, you know, be my next one. But then I would say lastly, just getting in movement, right? So it's like making sure, I know like I've had to be a lot more conscientious because it's like, I haven't even been walking my dog as much simply just because for the past couple of weeks, it's been raining. But you know, it's, it's super easy if you're working from a computer, if you're working from home, you know, to be like,

oh, it's 8pm and I've taken 3000 steps a day and I should really be getting, you know, seven, eight, nine, 10,000 steps. So I think even, you know, a good goal of just getting seven to 8,000 steps a day and having, I've always been a Garmin fan. So I have a Garmin Phoenix 5S that, you know, I kind of keep tabs on my steps, but it's like, I've had to become more intentional about basically morning and night. I take, you know, 15, 20 minute walk with my dog. And then, you know, it's like maybe every hour or 90 minutes, you know, I take a break from work, I get up, I take my dog out, you know, even if it's just like down to the sidewalk and back, you know, just kind of intentionally getting those steps. Because otherwise it's like, well, I don't think it's healthy to endorse people to be like, hey,

just pace around your house. No, you know, it's like, no, like, let's actually go get real forms of movement because especially being cooped up inside, again, it's like, man, like get, get that sunshine on your skin, you know, your skin, if it's like man like get get that sunshine on your sit you know your skin if it's possible get that natural source of vitamin d um because it's gonna it's gonna help mood levels as well and um this ended up being a lengthy list so we'll we'll keep going but it's no there's no shortage of things on this list that i don't think add value but i think what people need to realize is you have two pretty high level fitness professionals that could riff on the minutiae all day. But we're talking about walking, sleeping, getting fiber, getting sunlight. And not just for you, but literally for us, we're all kind of in this

unique boat where things aren't coming super easy right now. And we need to get back to basics. And everybody wants to get lost, kind of in the forest for the trees type thing. They want to get lost in the weeds, the minutia, the small little baby bits and details. But these are the things that to your point pay the greatest dividends. And now it's an incredible time to practice and implement them. I'll let you keep going though, because I know this list for you could be quite long. Hey guys, just wanted to take a quick second to say thanks so much for listening to the podcast. And if you're finding value, it would mean the world to me if you would share it on your social media. Simply screenshot whatever platform you're listening to and share the episode to your

Instagram story or share it to Facebook. But be sure to tag me so I can say thanks and we can chat it up about what you liked and how I can continue to improve. Thanks so much for supporting the podcast and enjoy the rest of the episode. I think my last one was just something that, you know, we've been working on building out a new program right now. But it's like a lot of people feel overwhelmed by the news and a lot of people feel overwhelmed by social media and by being on their phone and stuff like that. And so I know I've caught myself doing this a couple of times the past few days and they're like, okay, like we need to shut this down. But it's like, if I'm bored, I'll find myself like opening my phone, scrolling Instagram. And it's like, oh, cool. So we're just we're just running on drips right now where we're,

you know, looking for notifications and stuff like that. But even, you know, for our members, it's like, we've had so many people, there's one quote that like stuck to me, but it was just, my phone is toxic right now. And so I think now more than ever, it's like helping people choose what to pay attention to. And, you know, it's like, again, it can be easy to go down the rabbit hole of, oh my God, all these things are happening. you know, it's like, again, it can be easy to go down the rabbit hole of, oh, my God, all these things are happening. You know, are we doing enough? And it's like, whoa, like, let's dial it back. Let's have a certain amount of time that we allow ourselves to spend on the phone. And, you know, again, for people like us where it's like, okay, well, our businesses rely on social media. So like that need to be on the phone might be a little bit more, but I think just really practicing good digital wellness and, you know, having cutoffs on it's like, I think for me, because again, our city has just been a little bit slower on implementing stuff. And so it's like, usually I'll spend like max of 10 minutes a day and just kind of get caught up on like, okay, what's happening in Travis County? What's going down in Austin, Texas? Is there anything else you need to know? Okay, cool. You know,

and then kind of moving on. But same thing with social media. It's like, I think it can be an icky trap for a lot of people if it's like, cool, well, I'm doing workouts outside my normal comfort zone. I may or may not be buying the foods that I'm normally accustomed to buying. So my diet's super off, you know, maybe I'm stress eating. And then here I'm getting on Instagram, looking at, scrolling through, you know, pictures and videos of super fit chicks with six packs and, you know, all that's like, that gets to be a really icky and toxic spiral. And I do like, people are struggling right now on, on the nutrition and the stress eating and, you know, just stressing about the workout stuff. So I think like the digital wellness of, like I said, just like not even having it, or even,

you know, for me, one thing I've recently implemented is one day a week where it's like, I don't get on social media. I, you know, it's like, I might hop on for a max of 20 minutes because there's still things for my businesses I have to post, but like, that's it. Right. Like, it's like Sabbath from the phone. So I think that's, um, that's just so important. It is. And something I've noticed right now is if I, and I'm with you, I spend a lot of time on my phone for the same reasons, but particularly now, because I'm deep into the news cycle, I want to see what's going on, or I'm just bored when I'm at my most anxious and I feel the worst. I find my phone is in my hands.

when I'm at my most anxious and I feel the worst, I find my phone is in my hands. Yes, 100. Yeah, when I'm starting to like detach and accept where I'm at and be okay with things, I'm outside going for a walk with a buddy six feet apart. And just remembering now, probably more so than ever, the toxicity of social media, the toxicity of the news cycle, the toxicity of being on your phone is going to contribute more so to making this worse than it has to be and practicing that digital hygiene, kind of cleaning the slate. Like, you're not really, you're refreshing your feed to see the same crap you've seen all day. Like, put it down, do something constructive and productive that

makes you happy and brings you joy. You brought something up, though, that I thought was interesting. And it's big rocks focused, but a lot of people right now are still trying to lose fat and diet. Do you think that that's something that most people should just put on pause? Or do you think that there's a way to do it right in all of this with everything going on right now? I love that question um so there was i i love on social media stirring the pot right because i like i'm a tried and true enneagram a like if something needs to be said like i'm not afraid to see it you know or to to say it and stayed on social media. And so that was something last week, it was like, how in the fuck are we in the middle of, you know, such a big global issue. And here we have people being concerned about fat loss and all of this stuff. So I think, you know, to get back to your question, it's like, there is a time and place. And I think at the end of the day, you know,

it's like, we have, we're going to be on this planet for a long time. I don't think that now is an appropriate time to be worrying about the caloric deficit because it's like, when we talk about dieting, like that's when you're most prone to getting injured. It's when you're most prone to getting sick. So if, you know, if the worst thing that happens during these next few months is that maybe you gain three to four pounds, I still would like to say that's better than the alternative of getting sick and dying. So I think there's this weird thing where it's like people right now are, they're having old fears that are suddenly coming into play. Right. And so like, I think the biggest question I keep hearing is like, how do I stay out of the kitchen? Because I just want

to eat everything in sight and I'm so stressed out. And so I think like, I love following a lot of psychology accounts and, you know, various psychologists on Instagram and stuff. And so I saw a post the other day that was talking about like, during times of great stress, we start reverting back to earlier versions of ourselves. Or we go back to old habits that, you know, maybe we didn't even know we have anymore. And so I think for a lot of people, that's what's happening is it's like, well, okay, you know, if we break that down, right, like, let's break down stress eating. It's like, well, A, you're not overeating or we're not binging on broccoli and protein and stuff like that. It's like, you're overeating the hyperpalatable stuff. And so inevitably, it's part of that. It's a super easy fix. It's like, go through your kitchen and you need to purge the cookies, the candy,

the ice cream, the bullshit, because A, if it's in the house, it's going to be eaten. But again, somewhere in your time, you've made that narrative of, oh, these foods provide me comfort. And you think that they're going to address the thing. So it's like, A, if you're somebody that you're struggling with this stress eating, well, we need to clean out the house and we need a Marie Kondo, you know, or pantry or fridge or freezer or whatever. But two, it's like, well, okay, you know, really breaking down when is that stress eating happening?

Because it often happens on those days where it's like, oh, well, you didn't eat all day and suddenly it's 4 p.m. and you're starving and you're dealing with a little blood sugar. And then all of a sudden, again, it's insatiable hunger. We can't stop putting food in our mouth. So A, just again, basic wellness tip of are we getting up and having a breakfast, a lunch, a dinner? Are we having set and organized times that we're eating food? So like there's our second one. And then the third one is really just addressing, hey, what am I stressed about? And how do we actually work through it? I think now more than ever, the advice I keep giving people is like, hey, you know, there's so many

great online therapy and, you know, counseling accounts. Can you, can you, is this the time that you finally start handling your shit? And we see, you know, we, we get with talk space or better help or stuff like that. And again, like I say that lovingly, because I used to be the person where it's like, I didn't, I didn't have a licensed therapist that I was working with regularly. And then I started being the CEO of MindHealth and realizing, whoa, I've got some unhealthy habits and unhealthy patterns. Like I want to break these and get through them. So for people that are really struggling right now, I just can't say enough, like, please don't be afraid to hire help because all of these are virtual right now. Right. So it's just like a Zoom call or, you know, certain organizations, you can literally just text somebody 24-7-365 and just kind of, you know, again, start to

unpack your emotional backpack of like, why am I stressed? What am I going through? And more importantly, getting the tools and the professional tools at that, right? It's not like, oh, hey, you know, if you talk to a significant other friend, like you can, yeah, unload your backpack a little bit. It's like professionals can actually help you work through, okay, well, where is this coming from? Where did this narrative originate from? And you start to work through it. So I think that like, that's just so, so important during this time. And so for people that are struggling, you know, again, like stress eating isn't the only thing. A lot of people I've also heard is like, man, well now more than ever, like I just, you know, I want

to go train. So now I find myself, I have all this free time, so I'm working out way too much. And it's like, well, well, same thing. Like, where is that coming from? Because all of these also stem from a place of where, why do we not have trust with our body? Right. For so many people, it's like, oh, like I'm getting 10,000 steps a day. I'm doing, you know, 30 to 60 minutes of this program, but I'm still so terrified I'm going to get fat right now or I'm going to gain weight. And it's like, okay, like let's hold space for that feeling because it's completely valid. But again, why do we feel like the actions that we're doing aren't enough? Or how does this work in relation to what you were already doing? Because for me,

it's like, I feel like ever since being on the shelter in place, it's like, I'm actually being more active than I was when I was just in my normal routine and out and about. Because it's like, now I want to be outside. So it's like, it's not quick walks. It's like, I want to go walk for 30 minutes and just, you know, be out and about and stuff like that. So I think for a lot of people, there's just so, there's so many variables that we need to look at and address. And again, it's like, if we're feeling really, really stressed out or anxious, it's like now more than ever, like what a perfect time. We all have our shit, right? Like what a perfect time to really start diving into working

with a professional or hiring a coach to help you on the programming front or, you know, with your nutrition stuff. There's just so much opportunity here, right? Yeah, I actually agree completely. You hit on like five things that I think, one, I hold closely to my own heart because I've lived through them. But the one that really resonates right now is this idea that for a long time, there's been a stigmatization around working with a psychological professional, particularly with men, but just in general. And people are willing to approach things like physical fitness or even nutrition. But what we don't realize often is a lot of our barriers are psychological.

And working with a professional, getting some help, this is something that I do. I've shared it with my audience before, but I think it's worth reiterating. I don't have everything completely together. I get psychological help. I have a therapist. It helps me manage a lot of these stressors, particularly now because so many people want to try to continue dieting. But now we have additional psychological stressors, additional physiological stressors, and it might not, it just might not be worth it.

But maybe now, like you said, is the time that if ever there was a time to reach out for help, to say, hey, I'm going to work on these psychological things. I'm going to hire the nutrition coach. I'm going to start the smart home programming or start working with a coach one-on-one because now I need support. of people's lives than ever because we're in this uncertain time. And this idea that asking for support or needing support, a lot of people need support. They're just afraid to ask. Now is not the time, I think, to be afraid to ask. I think now would be the time to finally give in to that and just say, okay, I'm relinquishing this perception that I have to have control and I'm just going to get the help I need. Because there's nothing wrong with it, particularly now when there's so many people who are available, willing and excited to help. Yep. And I think too, like, again, getting back to like seeking professional help, it's like, for so many people to get back to kind of, you know, is this an appropriate time for weight loss

and, you know, stuff like that. It's like, for a lot of people, the irony is that, you know, if you're not happy with your body exactly how it looks now, you know, as a coach, I could make you lose that 10 pounds, that 20 pounds, that 30 pounds. But you're still not going to look in the mirror and be happy unless you start to work on that mindset right now. And so I think that, especially with, you know, nutrition and fitness coaching, it's so interesting because it's like, you're working one-on-one with these people, but it's like, as I, you know, I've been coaching now for 12 plus years, but it's like the farther along through coaching I got, the more and more I found myself being like, Hey, you know what? I'm actually not the best professional to be working with you right now. Like, I really think, you know, I can give you a lot of really great tools and I can

teach you the basics and foundations, but the job that you're asking me to do as your coach is really out of my scope. I'm not equipped to give you the tools that you actually need to get through this. Hopefully, that shed some light. something, uh, the past few years that I've just become such a big fan of. And I think it's not talked about enough. No, I, I completely agree. And I've worked with a lot of people in a lot of different places that have a lot of different goals, but the number one variable that keeps people from reaching them is right between the ears.

It's the mentality, it's the mindset, it's all that stuff. And granted, trainers are motivators, we're enthusiastic, coaches like to help lift people up. But there's just some stuff that people might need help with that is, like you said, slightly outside of our scope of practice. And being brave enough to work through those things, particularly at a time like this will probably pay dividends forever. And it's just really, really valuable. And it makes the fitness stuff come that much easier. And I think too, like a lot of people, I love talking about this, especially on like YouTube, where I can actually be long form, but it's like a lot of people don't realize on social media, that's like a lot of the times you're looking at pictures and videos that aren't even

real, right? You're looking at people that they dieted for three to six months. They got super duper lean or super duper shredded. You know, they did a photo shoot. And it's like, again, like if I think about it, I have probably 800 plus pictures to my name from former photo shoots where it's like, well, fuck man. Like I don't look like those photos, right? So just getting back to the digital wellness thing, it's like, I think now more than ever, it's so hard to really just be at home and love your body and not, you know, find yourself in the comparison trap because it's like, well, fuck man,

when you're getting on social media, all you're scrolling through is fake news, right? And same thing, you know, it's like even, you know, people, if we're looking at celebrities or this and that, it's like celebrities are the worst source of any sort of nutritional or fitness advice or stuff like that. So it's like, I think now more than ever, like, fuck, man, like body image and mental health stuff is just so hard present today. It is. And it's something that we see all the time. And think it did i do think it disproportionately

affects and targets the female audience for whatever reason but i think men are starting to feel it more now than ever like i i see it too and and one of the things that was shocking to me and again it's for men it always comes back to like drug use in the space because steroids are much much more prevalent with men but i'm not going to name names, but I see a lot of like these young dudes that are associated with these like clothing brands or supplement companies that are really popular, particularly with new lifters. And, you know, they put these quote unquote athletes. I try to use the term loosely because parading around in a body is not athletic at all. It's just like you look good, but I don't know if that qualifies you to call yourself an athlete, but whatever. Everybody

wants to call themselves a ex-sponsored athlete, so whatever. These kids, they see these guys, and they see these physiques, particularly young men, but they don't realize that a lot of that is propped up by drug use. And so it can create these inadequacy complexes where young men now are starting to go through a lot of what women have gone through for decades with this comparison trap. And it's ramping up exponentially quicker than ever because I see way more young, young men using drugs, posting the highlight reels on Instagram, whatever you want to call it. They're behind these kind of high powered brands and authorities in the space that young people look up to. And it can mean that from essentially the time you start your fitness journey,

you're in a comparison trap until you either give up or you're willing to step away and accept that, none of that shit is real, which is hard for a young man to do because a lot of the reason people get into it is because they look up to these people and they kind of pray to false idols, if you will. Yeah. Well, and especially like females, you talk about, it's like, it's going to be very rare that a female could walk around 24, 7, 365 with a six pack. You know, it's like, I've always said anything that a man has to do, a female has to do even better, right?

Like we're just two totally different species. And so it's like, our nutritional needs are different because we have a menstrual cycle, but our, you know, our bodies are built to bear children. So it's like, it's, I don't want to say it's easier to be shredded as a dude, because again, it's all hard work, but it's like, it a little bit it is it is though i would say that you know a guy could walk around with a six pack you know 365 days a year and like just look very strong look very athletic but for a female it's like talk about like number one ping to be on my radar is it's like, if you have, you know, if you're just fucking diced as a female 24, 7, 365, probably not natty. Right. And same thing. It's like, if you're a female and you're posting up pictures and it's like, Oh, sweet crotch vein, like same thing.

Oh, probably not natty. Right. Um, so I think there's just, again, it's like people that's, that's always like one of the things i hate about coaching is it's like hey well you know i follow x athlete and their hashtag body goals i just want to look like them that's like okay cool well like step one you're a you need their genetics you know some people just you know i have a one of my friends's like, we joke about all the time, but it's like, Alex could be 165 pounds or he could be 185 pounds. So has the same exact six pack, super fucking swole. It's like the only thing that changes for him, if he happens to, you know, put on a little more weight is like, you know, from the side, he's thicker. But other than that, you know, if you put up pictures, because we coach for a long time, it's like, he just has

really great genetics. He has great biceps, great fucking six pack. And it just, you know, it is what it is. And so, you know, it's like, A, you've got the genetics card, but B, it's like, cool. Well, you know, that CrossFit Games athlete or that bodybuilder, sorry, like hate to tell you, they're probably, you know, taking some super supplements of some kind. And, you know, I don't know what they're taking, but just letting you know, that's super common. And, you know, people don't believe that because it's like, oh, no, I know them in real life. They'd never do that. And it's like, motherfucker, like at the end of the day, sex sells and you better believe again, you know, it's like, if this is a person that sells programs or they sell nutrition coaching, you know, it's

like, you cannot be unfit and probably do your job very well. You know, people don't care about that part of the equations, you could have the best programs in the world. But if you don't have the physique that they desire, they don't, you know, aspire to look like you and be like you. That's a really hard sell as unfortunate as that should be, right? as that should be, right? No, it's true. I mean, I've spent the majority of my early training career working in health clubs with a lot of different trainers. And what you would find is most people were drawn to the trainer who had the physique that most resembled what they wanted to look like. It was almost never, ever, there was never a situation where they picked out the trainer who had the credentials that matched what they wanted, that had the perhaps personality and the tact to deal with their situation the way that they wanted. They were like, no, that's the body. It's the closest to what I, unless they're older.

When they're older, that's when they make the right decision because they fucking learn the lesson. That's the thing. But they find somebody that looks young. They're like, I want to look like that. And nobody wants to burst the bubble of, well, one, to your point, they have the genetics for it. And two wants to burst the bubble of, well, one, to your point, they have the genetics for it.

And two, they maybe are on some super supplements. And once you burst that bubble, it brings people down to earth and they become a lot more realistic with what they can accomplish. And I found they have a much healthier relationship with fitness and aspirational body goals, if you will. But it takes like one to two years of getting burned by that side of the industry before you realize like, no matter how much of their clothing I buy, of their supplements that I take, of their programs that I do, no matter how fucking much

money I put into this or time or energy, I'm never going to look like that. What's the jig? And then they realize there's an entire side of this industry that kind of preys on that primitive sex selves, that idea that we know you want to look like this. And even though we know you can't, you don't. And we're going to play you until you figure it out. Dude, talk about fucking nutrition coaching companies, right? Because it's like, I can name three off the top of my head that clearly we're not going to do today.

But it's like, you know, it's like people, all these athletes make money from having discount codes, right? So it's like, oh, hey, here's my code, Sarah10. You know, use this for my nutrition plan or my nutrition program. It's like, a lot of people don't realize like, hey, motherfucker, these Olympic athletes that you follow or these high level athletes, like they're not following these templates. They're not following these things. Right. So I think that's just such an important conversation point as well. Cause it's like, unfortunately, exactly like you said, you know, it's like people really admire an athlete. They really admire this person. So they start doing all the things that they think that person does. Right. And it's like,

be really careful with that nutrition coaching piece because they don't typically follow the things they say they follow and that goes for supplements too you know a lot of times they're not using the the greens and reds powders that you know they're pushing and stuff like that i'm gonna i'm gonna cut myself off here because i get very heated about the greens powder um you did you did say something though about like just looking up to people in the space. And this is actually one of the biggest reasons I wanted to talk to you. And that's because I've been a content consumer for years in the space. And I, for whatever reason, I don't follow as many female coaches as male coaches, probably because the

industry is very saturated with male coaches. And I believe it's easier for male coaches as male coaches, probably because the industry is very saturated with male coaches. And I believe it's easier for male coaches to navigate the space, find people to look up to and follow. And I don't think there's a lot of women in the space that do it right. Not because they can't, but because there's so much confusion and there's so much of a desire to objectify yourself, to build a platform based around your body. And one kudos to you i think you've done the best job of all of the female coaches i've seen that actually coach people not people that say they're a fucking online coach because that anybody can say that and giving a meal plan doesn't make you a coach but i feel that one you have the education you put content into the space that's valuable and actionable that people can save and go

back to and look at. And it's not just cheap engagement, likes, follows, whatever. It's really quality stuff. And I work with mostly female clients. I've hired a lot of female trainers when I manage gyms. And I just think that there's something to be said for doing this the right way. when I manage gyms. And I just think that there's something to be said for doing this the right way. And I would love if you could highlight things that you think younger female coaches, coaches who are new to the space that are female, even males, really doesn't matter. Whatever your parts

are, there's a lot that people can learn from what you've done because I think you've done it the right way. But what are the big rocks that young, potentially female coaches should be focusing on to build a reputable brand, to build a reputation for doing this the right way and not kind of falling into this pit of, well, I don't know what to do. So here's a picture of my ass. I love this question so much. So I've been doing this social media thing. It's just been a little bit over two years now. And so when I started all of this and I started saying, hey, I really want to start adding value to the space. I really want to start putting out content. That was actually one of my core values is I don't want to be known for being a butt on social media. I want to be known for being a very smart, a very intelligible

coach that's putting value to the space and not just bearing pictures and the bent over how many angles of my ass I can get. So that was just such an important core value. And so I've always come from the place of the Gary Vee model in that I hold tightly that I don't think there should be a barrier of entry to people living their best life. And so I don't ever want finances and money to be a reason why people can't love their body and be super comfortable in their skin and be strong and be healthy and all of that stuff. And so if I really look back, the past two years, I've published over 300 plus blogs and they're always, they're very short style, similar to Instagram. So a lot of times, you know, if you were to go to my Instagram, you know, it's 2,200 characters, it's super short, super concise. And so there's

definitely, you know, topics on when you go to my website that I've taken them longer for them. And I, you know, I've thrown in different research studies and PubMed and this and that. But it's really just, you know, every single day it was looking at, does this add value and how can I bring things to the space? And so don't get me wrong. You know, it's like, I do try to balance it out and you're going to see videos of my dog or you're going to see, you know, just me on my skateboard and being me and, you know, just living in love and life, but really just putting out content because it's like a lot of people say, oh, well, I don't need to put out content. You know, all these companies already have it and all these coaches already write about all these things.

And it's like, well, that's great, but your followers don't necessarily follow those companies or those people. So it's still on you to put out that content, right? And so really where all of this came from for me was I found that coaching clients one-on-one, I was having the same conversation over and over and over again, right? Where it was like, oh, look, Becky, it looks like we didn't hit enough protein this week. Here's options on how we can better do that. Here's high sources of know, here you go. And so it was like, when I was having these conversations over and over and over again, I thought, well, shoot, like, why don't I put this together in a more formal way so that, you know, after I get off that client call or after I wrap

up that email, I can just shoot them that resource. Right. And so that was really where my social media and Instagram following started was, you know, I was just blogging about things that my clients needed. And I really came from a place of kind of making it a client database that, you know, anything they were struggling with. Well, oh, cool. My coach has me taken care of. I can just go to their page. Cool. It's here. Oh, great. Awesome. Like this week, I'm going to hit my fiber goals because I read this piece. Right. And so over time, you know, those, I started expanding into different things. And so I started writing more on topics. I was super passionate about like thyroid issues. When I transitioned off of birth control, like that was the trip from hell. And so here I was, it was like, well, fuck man. Like if I'm struggling, I know other people are struggling

in too. And, you know, so I just started putting together content and giving it away free, you know, kind of play it Oprah and give it away like candy. But it's like, whenever I used to mentor coaches, it'd be like, oh, well, I'm just worried that, you know, what if the information I'm putting out is wrong or, you know, whatever. And it's like, motherfucker, like you're a coach. So you can't have those conversations with clients, but then say, you can't write it down for others to see, right? Like it needs to go both ways. Like that's you, you need to step up, you need to do your research and then you need to come, you know, it's like, again, well, can your content, can you back it up with PubMed research? Can you, canations in it if that's something you're concerned about?

But really being credible and just being known for, hey, well, I really trust Lori because when I go to her website, she's providing resources and she's providing ways to find more content. So it really just fast forward a couple of years and it's like, well, holy shit, now we're 300 pages deep. But it's like any problem, whether it's, you know, low testosterone, whether it's menstrual dysfunction and missing periods, whether it's, Hey, I just really suck at protein and need to get more, you know, it's like chances of me writing a blog on that are probably about 98% because now I live in the, you know, this fear of like, fuck, what haven't I written about? Right. because now I live in the, you know, this fear of like, fuck, what haven't I written about? Right.

And so same thing, you know, let's say you're a fitness professional that you're more passionate about being in the gym and lifting and stuff like that. You know, it's like at the end of the day, I think like squat university is an amazing handle to look at, right. Because they have so many followers. I think I looked the other day and he's like quite a, you know, quite a couple of million followers. Every single day he has talked about the squat relentlessly. He hasn't talked about other topics, but the squat, like talk about being on brand, like every single piece. And he just kept going deeper and deeper and deeper. So it's like, you have to decide, you know, do you want to be niche market? And maybe you only talk about women's health or, Hey, like I love being in the gym. So I'm really going to talk about Olympic lifts and how to design that programming and how to have better form. You know, it's like, you have to

figure out what you want to talk about, but then you just create the content for that. And I think having a mix of, you know, equal parts, sharing your life and your story, because people want to know you, right? Like there's a reason why people prefer following people versus like even for Paragon, it's like, I think we have, you know, we're starting to creep up towards like 20,000 followers, but it's like still like people follow me and then maybe they follow Paragon, you know, maybe they don't, but people want to know the person and the name behind the face. So it's like put out educational content, but don't be afraid to share your story and your life because people want to connect with you too, right? I agree. And I think

the best way to be seen as an expert is to actually be an expert and put energy and effort into becoming an expert. And the space is clouded with a lot of crap. And I think you particularly have a handle on things like women's health, on things like hormones, particularly related to dieting and the female body. Are there places that you would recommend people look, whether they're male, female, enthusiast, coach, where they could go to kind of beyond what you've put into the space, where they could maybe, like you said, dig a little deeper into that? So it really depends what you're interested in. But like my number one suggestion is like, if you're a coach, like education isn't optional, right? And so like the past two years, if I really

analyze my life, it's like every single day I was listening to a minimum of one to two podcasts. day, I was listening to a minimum of one to two podcasts. Minimum, in addition to, you know, I have an entire bookshelf full of books, right? So it's like, I probably have six or seven books on thyroid health. I have six or seven books on, you know, women's health and like some of them far more valuable than others. But it's like, you know, it's like if I could digest it, it was like, that was always a priority for me. So it was like a minimum, I would say probably 60 to 90 minutes a day seeking that higher education. And certainly, you know, like if you have the ability to go,

you know, to go to school for something. So like, thankfully for me, you know, I have my degree in nutrition, dietetics, and I interned at hospitals and, you know, really got the full spectrum of like, I've worked one-on-one with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of coaches. In addition to, you know, having that, that real life practice, but it's like, you also just have to put in the time and the reps, right? So it's like, if I look back to, you know, coaching practices from 2015, 2016,

like I'd cringe, you know, they're awful, But it's like, as a coach, you have to be willing to learn. It's like, you're doing the best you can with what you have and what you had at the time was great. And then you keep doing better. And so same thing content wise, it's like my voice, if you look, when I first started my social media versus present day are two totally different animals. But it's like, I'm starting to hit the point where it's like, I'm actually a little burned out on just super straight educational content. And it's like, I'm starting to hit the point where it's like, I'm actually a little burned out on just super straight educational content. And it's like, I'm here to make motherfuckers laugh. Like, you know, I wrote a piece the other day, and it was just talking about like, how to be productive from home. And like, it's funny,

all 2200 characters from top to bottom are fucking funny. And so I think there's also to, you know, like with content and with finding your voice, you know, can you add your personality to the mix? Because I've always been the personality where it's like, hey, just saying, you know, if I go on your podcast, like I'm probably going to swear. I'm probably going to drop some curse words. We're going to have a really fun time. I still think one of my favorite podcasts I've ever done was with Ryan Fisher. And we were talking all about men's health and low testosterone.

And so like we're throwing jokes about wieners and low testosterone. And so like, we're throwing jokes about wieners, you know, 24 seven through this podcast, but then same thing, you know, women's health, just kind of having fun with it. So it's like really, you know, putting out content, seeking education and really working on just, you know, your ability to communicate. And then I would also say, you know, for these people that are new professionals getting started, it's like, figure out the format that you show up as your best self. And so for me, it's like, I would say written content is super safe, right? But for me, I decided this year, well, fuck man, I suck at being on video. It makes me anxious. Like I'm really uncomfortable behind camera.

And so for that reason, I just started, you know, I started a YouTube because it was like, hey, like this isn't going to be a weakness point for me anymore. Right. Like when people meet me in real life, like I'm so loud, so outgoing, you know, extrovert level 5,000. How do I transfer that into a better format? Because again again can I write funny content and super educational content totally but like my YouTube these past couple months like we are bringing the fucking heat because again it's like I'm bringing comedy I'm bringing my life but I'm also bringing just my personality to it um so I think that people just need to find their you know their strengths and like we were talking about off air it it's like, you're the same.

Like you murder on your videos for social media. And like, I love them. I enjoy watching them. They're so, you know, thoughtfully put together. I mean, so I think that's another talking point is it's like the idea that you're going to do the best you can with what you have and understand that, you know, it's going to get better over time. But, you know, it's like, I know that you invest a fair amount of financial dollars into the editing, the production,

the videographer, because video isn't cheap, right? It's super fucking expensive. But it's like, as you have the ability, up your ante and, you know, really have a brand for yourself where it's like for people with me, it's like, I'm very good about having repeat yourself where it's like for, for people with me, it's like, I, I'm very good about having repeat customers where it's like, oh, Hey, these people have bought my eBooks. They were one-on-one, you know, clients of mine in a former lifetime. Here they are in my gym programming, you know, I'm putting out apparel and they're buying that too. And, oh, Hey, we're launching this new thing. And, oh, Hey, look, that person's back here again. Right. And where that came from was that I've always over-delivered on anything that's ever come out

of me. And so again, we all start somewhere. And if you scroll back to the early parts of my Instagram or whatever, you'll be like, oh, I see what you mean about how we leveled the fuck up. But it's like even my ebook, my second one, it's 150 pages when you download it. It's 220 Google document pages that we compressed into that file, right? And do we tell people that? No, because people wouldn't want to buy a 220-page Bible on nutrition. But people know when you buy a product from me, you know, it's like I think I struggle sometimes because I look at people in this space and they'll be like, oh, cool. You know, you're selling

something for the same price tag as me. And the quality differences is incredible, right? Like I love research and development on what other coaches in this space are doing. And so there is a particular CrossFit athlete, she put out, it was some sort of like core and ab workout, you know, ebook or PDF or whatever. And like a shit you not like it was literally a Google document page with like folded font and like a picture on the cover. And it was selling for yeah, selling for $30 when it's like, here we pay a graphic designer and it's like, okay, well that was a $1,500 investment. It's made by a professional, you know, it's, it's absolutely beautiful from start to finish.

It's got all the touches. And so that would be like my, my other piece of advice is like really taking pride in anything that comes out of, you know, you as a brand and you as a person. And again, just over delivering and taking care of people going above and beyond. And that, like, I'd love to expand on that too, but it's like with our gym program, we had such an interesting predicament because again, it's like, well, cool. We have four programs. They all entail you being at a gym. And so when this whole coronavirus thing started going down, it was like, okay, how do we take

care of our people? Right. And so it's like right now, every single member of ours is getting free body weight workouts. They're getting free 30 minute dumbbell workouts. They're getting access to this new cycle we're throwing out. Right. And so it's like their payment didn't change, but here we are taking care of these people and making them feel seen and making them feel heard.

And so it's like, there's so many parts where it's like, if you're going to be a coach, But here we are taking care of these people and making them feel seen and making them feel heard. And so it's like there's so many parts where it's like if you're going to be a coach, you better be ready to bring it to the table because that's the difference between the good people and the bad people, right? Is that the people that really murder the space are the people that, you know, again, do people probably want my lifestyle and do they want to see the behind the scenes of, okay, well, you know what? Like if you asked me the last time I had a day off, frankly, I couldn't tell you, you know, it's like most of my days I work from six or seven in the morning until nine or 10 when I go to sleep. And do I still, you know, go live life and do I, you know,

go to the gym and stuff? Totally. But it's like, I gave up, you know, making, you know, working for another company and working under somebody. I gave that up and I was only working, you know, set amount of hours. And now I probably work 80 hours for myself, but I'm so hyped about it because I'm changing people's lives and you're truly seeing them full spectrum. You know, I have a fun job because I play in all parts of the field. I don't ever believe that you can have just fitness or just exercise. It's like, I'm all about filling the whole lifestyle of it all has to kind of collaborate and work together. So I think that's just like, I think I nailed your question about like advice for new people there.

Absolutely. One of my favorite quotes is once you realize what you're capable of, you become unemployable. And, you know, I think for newbies, I would just follow suit and kind of reiterate what you're saying. It's very important to have aspirations. It's important to have role models. And it's very important to do things with integrity and to the best of your ability. but your ability is going to improve over time. So don't see something like what I produce or what you produce and think that you have to make it that perfect right out of the gate. Don't let that get in the way of practice because content creation is a skill. Do what you can to the best of your ability. Always make sure that your integrity is in check.

That's important. And then just put in the reps, like you said, just commit to it, commit to the grind. And eventually you're going to reach that place, but don't be paralyzed by fear. I think everything has to be perfect right out of the gate, but never sacrifice your integrity because I think that once you've done that, you kind of have lost whatever trajectory you had, you've done that, you kind of have lost whatever trajectory you had, whatever, however high you were going to go. When you start sacrificing integrity, that trajectory comes down quite a bit. And if you do it enough, you'll find yourself out of the industry very, very quickly. Or even if you do somehow, which, cause it does happen. We know people who it's happened for. We won't name names, but if you ascend to the highest level in this industry

by forfeiting your integrity, you might make it to the top, but the fall is going to be a lot worse. And that's going to happen to people that you never thought it would happen to. And you just try not to be one of those people by kind of always doing things the right way. Yep. And there's just so much potential right now, especially like, I feel like even more so than personal trainers, I think nutrition coaches are in a place to fucking destroy it right now because it's like nutrition coaching is all about connecting with the person and just making them feel safe and making them feel heard and, you know, helping them solve their own problems. And so it's like now more than ever, well, shoot, man, like if you're a nutrition coach, I don't know

that going forward out of all this, I will be so interested to see if nutrition coaching via email continues to be a thing. Because it's like, if I still was working one-on-one with nutrition clients right now, every single person would be getting, you know, a 30 to 60 minute FaceTime or Zoom call or whatever it is. So that you're physically, you know, staring in the eyeballs of the person you're coaching and just being there for them. So it's like, you know, if you look at the past couple of years, you've seen such an explosion of, you know, people used to check in with clients via phone calls and then they realized, oh, well, if I move this to email, I can have way more clients and I can do mass

volumes of people. And like I said, it's just like, I think that this whole coronavirus situation is going to cause so many ripples and so many changes, but I don't think you're going to continue to see companies where coaches have, you know, 150, 175 email clients. Like, I just don't think that's it because people now more than ever need to be supported and they need that next level. And so very similarly, I think a good analogy is, you know, CrossFit gyms in 2005, 2010, 2015, it was like the dirtier your gym, the more CrossFit you are, right? Like the more grungier, the better.

And then it's like present day, oh, hey, we have this problem where we need people washing their hands and being clean. I am so interested to see CrossFit gyms step up their game after this because I don't think that the old grimy OG CrossFit gym model is going to survive after all of this because it can't, because it's not safe anymore, right? So similarly, I think you're going to see something

like that happen with all these people that try to do the very hands-off, the very mass quantity coaching, I just don't think it's going to fly anymore. And so I'm so intrigued because again, it's like, even if you're trapped in your house, a Zoom call or a FaceTime, like, oh my God, like it feels like a fresh breath of air, right? Because it's like, even for me, I'm like, well, fuck man. Thankfully I have a dog, but it's like, I don't even know what day we're on anymore, but I haven't seen people's like, even for me, I'm like, well, fuck man. Thankfully I have a dog, but it's like, I don't even know what day we're on anymore, but I haven't seen people for like, you know, a couple of weeks now. I think I ran to get a thyroid prescription the other day and it was like, I found myself like stroking conversation with like the sales clerk.

Cause it was just like, oh, it's nice to just converse with people. Fuck. So I think that, that you know if people really take advantage i don't think there's a time like a more perfect time if somebody's been on the fence to want to get into coaching like fuck man here you go because if you can make it work right now i promise to god you know a couple months when this is all said and done like you're you're ready you've dealt with it when it's at its hardest. So we know you're going to murder it once we're all through this.

I completely agree. I think if anybody's working in the fitness space and they can make it through this, they can make it through everything. But to the point, like, I think there will be a ripple effect and almost a cleansing effect where we see a change in the tone of the industry,

how services are delivered. I think we're going to see a movement back towards personability, towards having a person behind it. And I think a lot of these companies that kind of built up mills of clients, whether it's nutrition, whether it's online programming, whatever, people want to know the person behind it now. They want to feel the support. And I think we're going to see fitness get cleansed. The good coaches are going to rise to the top. And I hope that, and I genuinely believe that we're going to be in a better place for it as an industry once we get to the other side of this craziness. Absolutely. So Lori, just to wrap things up, where can everybody find you? Where are the platforms that they can find your

content and connect with you on a deeper level so it's super easy because as long as you remember my name you're pretty much good to go so on instagram my handle is laurie christine king and our gym programming is paragon training methods on youtube same thing you can find me laurie christine, and then my website is my name as well. Okay, cool. And just a reminder, again, I want to reiterate to everybody, the Paragon stuff that's for home equipment with very little equipment is launching on Monday, correct? Yes. Which is when this podcast will launch. So if you've made it this far, you needn't go any farther than the show notes. You can link directly to that and it will take you, uh, probably just straight to the website. They

can find it on the website. Okay. Cool. 100. And if people have questions, like we've been putting it on blast on both handles. So if there's ever a time to slide into my DMS, yes. Um, because I'm definitely the person, like if you ever have slid into my DMs, like I love answering with like voice messages or even like sometimes videos, which is super fun, especially as my handle continues to grow because it's like people don't expect me to answer. And then here I am, you know, answering with a video message like, so definitely if there is ever a time to slide into my DMs, get it. So last thing before I let you go, if you have one piece of advice for

people right now with everything going on, what would it be? Start right now because it's never going, you know, the perfect time is never going to arrive. There's always going to be shit going on. So if it's, Hey, I've always wanted to start a podcast, just do it because over time, you're going to be able to afford higher quality, you know, editing and having a producer to handle all of it, right? You're going to get more comfortable behind the mic. For me, even video wise, I used to be the person where it'd be every three seconds, you know, as a filler. And so it was like, well, after spending enough time editing and hating myself because I had to keep chopping it out, well, now I don't see,

um, behind the camera anymore. Right. Um, but whether that's, again, you know, you want to start finally doing one-on-one training and helping people, you know, really love fitness. If you're wanting to help people, you know, get into nutrition coaching, it's like the biggest thing is that if you know that you can help people, you're doing a disservice to the world by not sharing your gifts. Everybody sucks when they start.

So the sooner you start, the sooner you can start really crushing and murdering whatever it is you're passionate about. I love that. I think that's perfect. I think that is a good place to end. And so guys, again, Lori Christine King on Instagram, YouTube, Paragon Performance on the interwebs as well as Instagram. Thanks again, Lori. I appreciate it.

So guys, that's it. That concludes today's episode with Lori King. Again, be sure to follow her on Instagram at Lori Christine King. Check out her YouTube. Check out her program company, Paragon. She's also got some apparel on her website that's pretty damn dope. She is just plain and simple one of the good ones, particularly in a space dominated by people who often lack that oh-so-important integrity. I think Lori brings it to the table in spades. I feel fortunate enough to call her a friend, and I am so grateful that we got to share her expertise with you today.

Some more exciting interviews chambered, but I'll talk about those next week on the next episode of the Dynamic Dialogues podcast. But until then, y'all have a good one. And remember, it's always a good day to be a good person.