Unmasking Greatness
Join Fitness/LifeStyle Expert & Mentor Chris Kakouras talk about maximizing your health, business, mindset, and overall life! Let's get better together as I bring on amazing guest to interview and learn from!
Unmasking Greatness
Interview IFBB Pro Austin Hodges: GLP-1s, Diet Fads, and Finding Your Coach
Ever wondered why some people transform their physiques while others stay stuck despite their best efforts? This episode with professional bodybuilder and coach Austin Hodges unlocks the secrets that separate successful fitness journeys from frustrating cycles of failure.
Austin's story begins with adversity—three consecutive knee surgeries that ended his athletic career. Rather than accepting defeat, he channeled his competitive drive into bodybuilding, eventually becoming a pro despite physical limitations many would consider career-ending. His resilience offers a powerful reminder that our greatest challenges often reveal unexpected paths to excellence.
The conversation tackles nutrition myths head-on, examining why popular diets like keto and carnivore initially work but ultimately fail many people. "Every diet needs an exit strategy," Austin explains, highlighting why sustainable approaches beat quick fixes every time. For those struggling with plateaus, both coaches emphasize the critical importance of accurate tracking—you can't improve what you don't measure. Surprisingly, many people aren't eating enough rather than eating too much, sabotaging their metabolism and progress.
Austin and Chris provide balanced perspective on GLP-1 medications (Ozempic, etc.), acknowledging their place in treatment while warning about potential pitfalls when used without proper nutritional support. They share practical strategies for overcoming gym intimidation, building efficient workout routines, and knowing exactly when to increase weight using their "two rep rule."
The episode concludes with invaluable guidance on finding the right fitness coach—a decision that can accelerate progress by years. Austin reflects that if he could change one thing about his journey, he would have hired a coach from day one. As he puts it: "If Tiger Woods still needs a swing coach, what makes you think you don't need coaching?"
Ready to break through your plateaus and build a stronger, healthier body? Subscribe, share with a friend who needs this message, and implement these strategies to unmask your greatest potential!
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Welcome to Unmasking Greatness. I'm your host, chris Kikoris, a lifestyle fitness coach and mentor. This podcast is about unmasking your greatest potential, finding your purpose and crafting a life worth living. Health and fitness has been the gateway drug to all of my success. My continuous drive to keep learning and surround myself with other high achievers forces me to level up, which has developed my mind to something I never thought was possible. This podcast is here to share what I've learned and continue to learn with all of you. This is your sign to take back control of your health, mindset and personal environment. Strap in as we are recharged and always find value in the show. Please subscribe and share, as we can all get better together. Let's go. What's up, guys? Welcome to another episode of Unmasking Greatness.
Speaker 1:I'm your host, chris Kikoris, and today I have a very highly anticipated guest that I've been wanting to bring on. Before we even talked about doing the podcast recording, I told him what I was going to bring him on, and today is the day. You guys are going to get a ton of value from this individual. It is Austin Hodges, and we have met back at a gym facility in Spartanburg is where we initially have met each other and got to know each other and actually helped him a little bit kind of get some momentum with his coaching business, and then he took it and ran. So it's really cool.
Speaker 1:But I think you guys are going to get a ton of value from this because we're going to be talking about some hot topics that benefit you guys everything from you know nutritional diet styles to supplementation, glp-1s, workout tips and strategies. So if you feel like that you are stuck or getting started, get your notepad ready. There's going to be a ton of value in here and even if you are doing well, we're going to probably give you some ideas and some tips to actually excel a little bit faster. So let's kind of start. Man Austin glad to have you on the show, absolutely. Tell me a little bit about how you got into health and fitness and bodybuilding as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'd say it probably started back in officially, I guess, if you want to say, probably 2011 or so, somewhere in there 2011, 2012., 2011,. I tore my ACL, lateral and medial meniscus and then had surgery on it and got it fixed. A year later, had a complication from the first surgery, had to go back under the knife and get it fixed, cut it back open. Then another year later so three years in a row I tore the ACL and meniscus, all that stuff again, and then at that point the doctor was like you know, you're pretty much done playing any kind of athletic style, I guess, extra urges, any kind of like high performance where you're having to like shift and move around fast-paced stuff, and so it was either sit at home and do nothing or go to the gym and find something to do.
Speaker 2:So I obviously chose the gym and the college that I went to, which is Erskine College, which is in a town called Due West, south Carolina. It's kind of an odd name, but there really wasn't much to do there. I wasn't. I was a commuter student and so I would, you know, just go to class and drop back home, but the only thing to do there was to either be a very academic, focused individual or play in some kind of sports which I couldn't play in anymore, or go to the gym, and that's kind of what I did play in anymore, or go to the gym, and that's kind of what I did. Um, and then since then, uh, spent three or four years in the gym and then one day just decided I wanted to compete, and then it's kind of just had a domino effect from there.
Speaker 1:So, and we're still going, yeah, do you feel like you got into? I guess the reason I obviously you were already training, so, like the thought of competing, was that more so of a I'm starting to look good, why not do something? Or did someone kind of inspire you Like, hey man, you need to get on stage?
Speaker 2:It was more or less having that competitive nature ever since I was a kid, you know, playing parks and rec, baseball, football, basketball, playing golf. At a young age I was always in some kind of competitive sport and then when I graduated, I didn't really have anything to compete at toward anybody else, I guess. So I had to find an outlet to channel that and bodybuilding was just kind of just there. It kind of made sense. I was already in the gym, I was already very deep in the weeds as far as nutrition goes and working out. I was on bodybuildingcom and looking at all those articles and taking notes and watching the YouTube videos.
Speaker 2:Back then I guess it was Steve Cook, sadiq CT Fletcher. That was probably 2013, 2014. So that kind of got me immersed into this. I'm like, okay, I, I can do this. It's going to take me a little bit of time because I was a tiny individual back then, but, um, it's like I'm gonna give it my best shot like yeah, I mean, those are the same people I was looking up to in the industry and social media.
Speaker 1:I think was really kind of taken off around that time with instagram, yeah, you know. So a lot of uh, instead of just going on bodybuildingcom, there's more stuff available to us at that time. Yeah, a little little side tip for, or uh, info on you guys with Austin here. I didn't find this out till like a couple of years after we've already been talking. Um, he doesn't just play a little golf, he's actually pretty good at it. So, you know, tell him like you know, he told me he did not only just one holding one, but like a couple, am I right? Yeah, I've got three. Yeah, that's pretty nutty, I mean.
Speaker 2:I mean. So I played and it's, it's a. I was actually telling the story to somebody the other day, when I was like nine or 10, uh, my best friend at the at the at the time, um, she had a set of clubs. I don't even have a set of clubs, but we were always, you know, hung out at each other's house and she got a set of clubs for her birthday or Christmas or something. And we just decided, hey, let's just go play golf at the local golf course, and so either my dad or her dad would drop us off at the golf course at eight, you know, eight, nine o'clock in the morning. We were 10 years old at the time. They would give us 10 bucks to eat lunch across the road at the Mexican restaurant. So we would walk all day, all day, you know, I would carry the bag for two or three holes, then she would carry the bag for two or three holes, and at lunchtime we would stop, walk across the street and grab some, um, some chips and dip, and we got waters. It was like. It was like three bucks. We would eat two or three baskets of chips, chips, and then continue playing until somebody come and pick us up at dark and from there she ended up going to be a D1 athlete, played for the Gamecocks and then I tore my ACL my senior year and I'm not saying that I was great in any capacity and had any kind of like you know, d1 offers or anything, but you know, my senior year I was in a brace.
Speaker 2:My swing drastically changed at that point and then I had an option to play at Erskine, but by that point I was already one or two years out of it and was kind of transitioning into bodybuilding and I'm like I don't know how I'm going to carry my meals and get my lifts in and I was really trying to prioritize one or the other and obviously I chose bodybuilding. Yeah, but I do still play from time to time. It's just not as often. But I will say I think the secret to me playing well when I do play is because my mobility sucks and so the club just has one path. I'm just so stiff that the ball just goes straight.
Speaker 1:I was thinking completely opposite.
Speaker 2:I mean, after a couple holes I get loosened up a little bit and the ball starts to fade a little bit. You know drawing a little bit. So if I can keep that stiffness in my physique for at least nine holes, I'm good Dude, that's great, I love it.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to get into some golfing, but I get to Topgolf and that's about as far as I've been able to get to.
Speaker 2:So maybe one day I'll get on a course and this is no hate to anybody that does this, but I haven't brought my clubs to Topgolf. People do. I've seen those people and hey, kudos to you. It's a very expensive driving range though. If you want to go, do that. It's $45 an hour. Yeah, I think that's their normal rate, $45 for an hour, but I'm not that not too fat level yet, but I enjoy it when I can.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's super impressive, man. I mean, you're a, you're a natural athlete in general and again, when I used to see Austin, before we even really was talking, I'd watch him in the gym and the intensity and focus that you would have in every single lift was really impressive, especially leg day, which is even more impressive considering how many surgeries you've had, and then you just had one recently too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, back in December. Yeah, so that's what five months ago, somewhere in there.
Speaker 1:So it's impressive to see you just continue to come back and be resilient to that, because a lot of people can just be like dude, my knee's shot, I'm done, or I'm never training legs again, I'll just do upper body. I mean, that's a really easy like cop out.
Speaker 2:And I think it kind of goes back to maybe that's why and I'm not saying that my training is perfect, by no means but why my training is so detailed and so dialed in as it is now Cause I know if I was to train on the sloppier side of things, I'm more prone to having injuries. So back when I first started, I was super careful with any kind of squats, anything that required a hinge at the knee. So at that point I was like you know, if I'm doing such careful, if I'm paying such careful attention to the movements, you know, with my knees and my legs are blowing up from it, let me try this with back, let me try this with chest, and I mean it worked for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it works for me, yeah, yeah, no for sure, yeah. So I guess at that point, you know, again at the gym, when we started talking more obviously, it was more just like training and I was competing more at that time too. So that's kind of where we, we kind of connected and, um, eventually you started asking me a little bit about coaching, yep, um, not me coaching you, but you coaching others, because a lot of times when you start working out and you start building a physique, people start asking you questions, oh yeah, or they're like, hey, can you help me get like you? Yeah, so I'm sure that's kind of how it opened the door. And you know, I started at that time.
Speaker 1:I, for myself, I just hired my first mentor, yep, and I was basically still kind of learning, but I got a lot of progress from that which then I was just kind of sharing with you. So I remember you'd come and just ask me something like try this, do this. You do, I'm like, oh yeah, it worked. And eventually it was enough to where I don't know. I think in six, seven months you quit your job and started going full-time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it was less than a year. Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, and that was. It was the decision to where. I mean, I've been coaching since 2019, but not full-time. I mean it was just you know, five or 10 clients a handful enough to keep my interest in it, I guess. And then, you know, once I started, you know, working with you a little bit and getting some help from you, I pretty much I told myself as a hey, I'm gonna give myself six months. Um, if I'm going to make this my full-time career, I'm going to have to hit this certain revenue mark. Bring home pay each month. I don't care if it's a dollar short, it's gotta be six months in a row in a row and month six it was, it was double.
Speaker 1:So okay, yeah, okay, yeah, it's time.
Speaker 1:Which is funny because I remember you telling me that and you called me and he was like I know this is a personal question, but when do you think is a good time to quit your job?
Speaker 1:And I was like dude, that is a very personal question, but I think the way you did it was the same way that I did it, and if anybody is getting into the coaching space and wants to coach, I never, if you don't have a client base, don't quit your job. You should build that up until, like, you get to a point where you're comfortable and that everybody's level of comfortability is different. But whatever that comfortability mark is, you need to get there and then go all in and spend all your time because you will stress yourself out trying to like pay bills and, you know, live a lifestyle when, if you only got five, 10 clients, so, and I was basing a lot of that off of, I mean, I was, you know, and for those of you who don't know, which I'm sure a lot of you don't I worked in a laboratory setting at a water treatment facility.
Speaker 2:So a lot of my time was downtime. I was pretty much sitting down watching screens, making sure things didn't go wrong. So I had time to work on my, on my business. But if I had, you know, a potential client who wanted to hop on the phone, call you know and talk about things, um, I mean, I was having to.
Speaker 2:The responsibility toward the job that I had was kind of getting in a little bit of a limbo. You know, if I had a client who was wanting to sign up, you know, get started, but I had an alarm go off. I had to stop, explain to the client. You know, hey, this isn't my full-time job, let me call you back. And that was kind of iffy, like I didn't want to do that. But at that point in time that was still my obligation to, you know, the facility that I was at. So I had to do that first. So at that point, when he got to the point of where I had to stop my coaching stuff to fulfill other people's duties. I was like no, it's just, it's just time to go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Well, I'd say it's a good move. You're still doing it, still rocking and rolling, yeah this.
Speaker 2:September will be three years of completely full time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, most people can't make it a year or two. I mean they just they just shut it down. Yeah, it's a tough business, but you know, you, when you find your market at work. So you know I want to get into a little bit of some nutritional topics for these guys. So, um, of course you know I, I want to get your thoughts on let's start off with just the you know different diet styles. Like what's your thoughts on things like keto or the carnivore diets pretty hyped up right now, or even just low carb in general, I think most people's concept is I need to eliminate all carbs for me to lose weight. So I'm sure when you get on calls, you talk about that a lot. So what's your thoughts.
Speaker 2:I mean those, those specialty diets, they do have a place. I would say it's not something that I particularly say that, hey, we're going to do this initially, but if somebody has some major health issues, to where going keto for a short amount of time or doing carnivore or doing a lower carb diet is going to help them progress a little faster, to get us to where we can then do a more of a balanced approach, I guess is the best way to put it. And that's fine. But I think where a lot of people go wrong is they see carnivore 2.0 or the new keto that's going to drop next month, whatever, and they go all in on it, but they don't understand that every diet has to have an exit strategy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there is no exit strategy for keto or carnivore, you're. It's essentially an elimination diet. You're you're eliminating one big portion of the macronutrients just completely out, and there I mean there there could be an exit strategy to that, um, but it's not to the point to where you're going to be able to continue to use those long-term, I guess is the best way to put it. Um, I mean, I like bread, I like rice, I had some earlier today. I mean there's no way that I would want to live without it. But you know, I think again, those things can work and they do have applications. But if you're just starting one of those diets for the sole purpose of let me get as much weight off of my frame as fast as possible, the most unsustainable way.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, anything that comes fast is probably going to leave fast.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, you know, I'm more of a fan, as you know, of a more balanced approach. I'm more of a fan, as you know, of a more balanced approach. But they do have applications in certain aspects, but it's not a one-size-fits-all model.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I'm on the same page as you. We, a lot of people that come to us. They've they've tried other things. I've even talked to people that have done, uh, keto was really like a big one, especially like a couple of years ago. That people would come and I would ask them you know, you know, if you don't, you know take a different approach, like what are you going to do? And they're like, well, I'm just and no, and it comes down to the fact, like you, like you said, there's no exit strategy and it's not sustainable long term. But you know there are time frames that you can implement it. I think, uh, I mean you will.
Speaker 1:We'll try different strategies with people for short periods of time to see if it helps in certain situations. Um, we do a little bit of carb cycling, you know as well. I like that style personally. It's not for everybody, but we are able to kind of gauge the client and say this is a good fit or not, cause it can completely like sabotage people sometimes as well. But in general, right now, if there's somebody listening, that's they're doing something right, they're following some sort of plan or they're making healthier choices and they're stuck and they're not seeing their weight drop. What are some things that you could tell them to look at or think about to try to get them past that plateau?
Speaker 2:Yep. So initially, the first thing right off the bat that I would have you do is track everything that you're doing. Your intake has to be looked at Nine times out of 10,. The people that I've talked to, they're either A not eating enough, or B they're eating way too much and they have no clue on what end of the spectrum that they are. I mean, for me that's the biggest thing, especially with people who were just here. Come to me or you to make a change, you know, drop 20, 30 pounds and say you know, six months to a year or something.
Speaker 2:The biggest thing is going to be figuring out that nutrition side of things and if you have no idea what you're intaking, then how do you know what's actually working and what's not? It's just like if you I mean if you take your car to the mechanic shop and you just say drop it off and say fix it, I mean they don't know what's wrong. I mean you have to, you need to, you know, give them some information and say, hey, you know, I was driving out the road. It started making this noise X, y, z. Okay, that's the first place that I would start looking Right, you just got to understand that there needs to be some context with what you're doing. Just eating healthy isn't good enough. Eating healthy can be either very under eating or you're eating healthy is actually not eating healthy. It's probably in a surplus.
Speaker 1:It could be. Yeah, yeah, that'd be the thing I would say too. Like you can gain weight eating healthy. Oh, yeah, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I will say I'm more of a fan of I mean and this doesn't shy me away from helping you know a person who does this or a person who doesn't but I'm a fan of helping somebody who has never tried a diet before, just because, I mean, it's a well-known fact that the more times that you fail a diet, you're worse off before, well, you're worse off after that diet ends. If you think about it. You know, if you, if you tried keto and you lost 60 pounds and then you gained 70 of it back, right, well, at that point in time you just gained let's just call it a net of 10 extra pounds, right? Is all of that fat? Probably not, but let's just say, five pounds of it is right. But at that point you now have a higher number of fat cells that you didn't have prior to trying keto. And once you get a fat cell, it's never going to go away, unless you get a liposuction or things like that.
Speaker 2:So I like when people come to me and say, yeah, I mean, I've never really tried keto, I've never really tried carnivore, I've never really tried anything. It's just like if you were to work at a job and you did it this way at this job for 20 years, and then you went to another facility who makes the exact same product. Well, their processes are going to be a little bit different. It's harder to break this person from their old habits as to just plugging a new person in and teaching them from the ground up. Yeah, that's kind of the way that I see it.
Speaker 1:No for sure, that's it. I mean that's the cool thing. I mean I, I know Austin, I know how he coaches his clients too, and it's very individualized when the person comes, cause you'll have people that come with a little bit of experience. They'll come people that have never even looked at nutrition in their life. They don't even know what a carb or fat or protein is or macro. You tell them a macro, they're like what's a macro? And you know, and that's okay, right, that's what we're here to help you. So for somebody that, let's say, somebody comes to you and has no clue what to do, like what's. If someone comes in, they sign up with you.
Speaker 2:What's kind of like the first the first thing you would tell them to do to get them on the path. Um, so I guess, so like, if we're talking in like context of like you know, like working with me, or like you know what I'm needing from them, I initially I make them fill out an initial questionnaire. It's essentially just giving me a ton of info what have you done in the past? I mean, I want to see have you done anything in the past that has helped you, has hindered you? What's your day-to-day activity like? Are you a nurse who's on her feet all day, or are you working in an office job who barely gets 2,000 steps a day? I need to see what your background is with everything. And then from there, just like we discussed earlier, you're going to be tracking your food in some way, shape or form. If you've never used MyFitnessPal or Chronometer, that's okay. You can just take a picture of everything that you eat and say, hey, I just ate spaghetti and meatballs and a diet Coke.
Speaker 1:Okay, cool.
Speaker 2:That's going to be a little more work for me because I have to try to figure out. You know what does this meal contain? But I got to get an idea. Hey, is Chris eating 2000 calories a day or is Chris eating 6000 calories a day? Yeah, because if we just guess, if you go into any calorie calculator online, it'll give you a guesstimation of where you're at. But if you've been chronically dieting for two years straight, eating 900, 100 calories a day, that calorie estimator online is going to be way off. Um, so you know, you gotta have that metric of where you're at currently to know where to go from there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think it's important to know that those are estimations, because it doesn't take into account your metabolic profile, your hormones, so that's you know another I will kind of touch on that in a little bit, but you know, for someone, lastly, would like the nutritional side of things, because we have people that do this too, uh, that come to you and they're I don't want to eat the same thing every day.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I want something different. Yeah, what's your? What's your thoughts and approach on that?
Speaker 2:That's fine. I mean, it has to be sustainable for them long-term. Um, you know, if you're a contest prep client and you're six weeks out there shows, I mean you know what you're signed up for. But if you're a lifestyle client, you know you don't have to eat the same thing every day. Um, that's why that I prefer to give a set meal plan with the macro listed for each meal as well, as well too. And then it comes into question, into question. Well, what if they don't know how to do macros? That's okay, I'll teach you how to do, how to do them. It's not that complicated. Yeah, I mean, it's a this pretty basic math. A lot of people get, um, maybe overstimulated or intimidated when trying to do macros, but it's really not that hard. Uh, once you, it's just like riding a bike. Once you get it, you'll you'll never, ever forget how to, how to do it.
Speaker 1:It Um, so, yeah, no, that's that's kind of where I was. I was wanting you to go with it because for someone that wants that, I, you know, for us. As somebody who's like, hey, I don't want to eat the same thing every day, cool. But if you don't understand a baseline of how to track and calories and macros, you're, you're at that point, you're just kind of pissing in the wind. So you know, we typically like to bring people in, get them on a baseline.
Speaker 1:So we call it like a meal cadence. You know, are you going to eat three times a day, four times a day? You know, whatever works for your schedule? We do the same thing, kind of like meals, calories, macro breakdown, but I like to like slowly introduce it to them versus just kind of throw it to them in the sense of like, okay, let's find you know your breakfast and lunch, that you like you know, and then dinner you choose, just keep it in this range, and that kind of gets them to test the waters and then, over time, then they're able to like kind of do it themselves. But without like educating your clients on this, they'll never figure it out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, you're setting them up for failure just right out of the gate. Yeah, one big thing that I'm a big fan of, too is, I mean, a lot of questions. Well, one of the big questions that I have, you know, is am I going to have to stop eating, you know, dinner over my wife and two kids at night? Right, if I'm sitting to this set meal plan, you know how do I do that. And one big, you know avenue that I like to take well, let's back up Number one. They have to know how to track macros in some capacity, right, and they have to have some control over what they're eating, right. But that being one big question kind of made me kind of dig deep and say, yeah, you know, if this is going to be sustainable for this person, what can we do here?
Speaker 2:So, typically, in a setting like that, let's just say, if I got four meals a day breakfast, lunch and a midday snack those are, those are going to be controlled. Right, they're going to more than less eat something similar to that, if not that, every day. But dinner time comes and the wife and kids wants a hamburger and fries and, you know, steak, you know whatever, you have a set of macros that you can follow and you can still enjoy that dinner with your family, because if you don't, it's just not sustainable. You might do it for a little bit, but at some point that desire to get healthy is going to diminish when, when your quality of life. You know you're over here eating chicken and rice and green beans while your son's over here eating a hamburger and fries. Like you know, you can partake in that stuff, it's just in moderation, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think again really in context, like if you're a competitor you got to do what it takes. But you know, even myself, being married, having a kid, like you, want to enjoy those kind of times with them and again it's just all moderation.
Speaker 1:I eat whatever I want for the most part, but I don't overdo it because I'm just mindful of that, so kind of shifting gears a little bit. I mean, we'll kind of still take the path of weight loss in general. Let's talk a little bit supplementation-wise and context on that. Now I going to get into, like you know, all the specifics vitamins and minerals and things like that. But a hot hit right now is your glp1s, ozempic, semaglutide, trisepatide, new one, redditrutide I don't know if you've heard about that one yep.
Speaker 1:So you know, are you, are you pro con, like where's your headspace on that? And then also, you did a uh, I think you did a story. Yeah, more specifically, I think it was insulin, which is very pretty much the same thing for the most part. Yeah, um, is it drug or not a drug? You know?
Speaker 2:um. So let's back up to the first question. Yeah, um, I'm a fan of it if we have exhausted all of our other resources first. I mean, if you've went the traditional route of a diet exercise, getting 10,000 steps a day, and you're drinking water every day and things are just not moving and we've gotten blood work done, things are not happening the way that they should be. Now let's back up and remember that we're not ever going to beat the law of thermodynamics.
Speaker 2:You got to keep that at the forefront of everything too.
Speaker 2:But if it's to the point to where, like hey, I'm 500 pounds and I need a little bit of assistance to help get it down, Sure, that's totally okay.
Speaker 2:But if you're a hundred and let's just say 50 pounds, 60 pound lady who wants to lose 15 to 20 pounds before summertime, but you've never touched the gym, you've never ate healthy in your life, You've, you drink Dr Pepper every day, At that point you need to get your lifestyle habits in control first, because I guarantee you if you do that, you're going to drop that weight. I guarantee you, if you do that, you're going to drop that weight. Now, if it sticks around, it's based on your lifestyle and your choices on that aspect. And that's another thing about the GFP1s they're great in certain instances, but that lifestyle has to come with it too. If you're taking a GFP1 and you're still eating like garbage, you're not getting any steps in and you're not drinking any way any water, any water. I mean there will be somewhat of an effect, but you're essentially just wasting your money at that point. Just just light it on fire, yeah.
Speaker 1:So same same thing. I think I'm I don't want to call myself neutral, I think it's based on the circumstance, because if someone's coming to you, that's like 15, 20 pounds, that's not something I would suggest at all. Yeah, you know, but now if you got 100 pounds, it could be an option. I mean, I think people, you guys, got to understand. Like you know, glp-1s is really designed for type 2 diabetics. Yep, you know, but they realize that it has a powerful effect on weight loss. So it can really be a great tool if you know how to utilize it. Yep, great tool if you know how to utilize it. But what it's doing to the body? Because you were mentioning and most people, they're eating unhealthy the Dr Peppers, no active lifestyle. They want something that's just going to work with no effort and instead of you craving food and having the food noise, that basically is going to eliminate it. Because it's going to eliminate the hunger hormone that's given that sensor to the brain that says I'm hungry, I want to eat. That is silenced. So, essentially, you're starving yourself at that point in time and so no wonder people are going to start losing weight. You're just not eating like you normally would.
Speaker 1:But to what you said. When that time comes because you got to think these products are expensive they can be six $8,000 a month to be able to take something like this. Most people don't take it forever either. You know they want to get the weight off and then stop. Well, what happens? When you stop that, that food noise comes back. You will start to eat. You didn't change any lifestyle habits, you're not training, and then, on top of that, it can be very detrimental to your health, because if you weren't doing that during that time, now there's cases of significant muscle tissue loss, osteoporosis, bone loss, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean it comes along with starving yourself you know essentially.
Speaker 2:And then you just run the risk of you just adapting your metabolism down so far that you know you're eating five, six hundred, a hundred calories a day and I eat that in six bites, I mean like, and some people are eating, you know, eating that in a full day. And then if you even back up, even up, even even further, I mean you know the glp1s one of their main, I guess, selling points maybe is obviously number one, appetite suppressant. And then number two is this is it slows gastric emptying. And then if you're still eating like crap, and you're eating you high palatable foods, which is typically high fatty foods, you and I both know that a higher fat diet or a high fat meal is going to digest a lot slower. So you're eating a very slow digesting meal.
Speaker 2:And then, number two, you're slowing gastric emptying. So yeah, it's just, it's a cascade of effects that's going to come if you don't do it the right way. I mean, I mean I've seen some people they lose, let's just say, 50 pounds, but that's not 50 pounds of fat, I mean it's a good bit of muscle too. The face starts to sag. It's just, it's not healthy in any, in any capacity.
Speaker 1:You look sick. People start to look sick. Yeah, I really feel like you know now I mean, this is still a prescription drug for the most part. I almost feel like these physicians need to do some sort of questionnaire to figure out their lifestyle, which I think they do to some capacity, but at the same time, if they have somebody that is completely inactive, you know, has no concept of nutrition or whatever, I feel like that they need to have somebody that can help them with that during this process, versus just giving them the dosages and saying, you know, come in in a month and we'll check your weight again. Yeah, because, long-term, if they really care about this individual like you want somebody to do well and be successful, you know, same thing for us. Like you don't lose weight, great, just stop eating, you know, and just start running on the treadmill for three hours a day, you know you'll drop weight and you'll look sick, you know, and you'll probably feel horrible. So, you know, I feel like, uh, a push needs to be more into doing things the right way. And then not, this is new, actually Um, a lot of fitness coaches now have the ability to use HSA and FSA fund, uh, which is a great thing.
Speaker 1:So, basically, this is where you can get your medical provider to write you a prescription to work with a coach, because now they're starting to realize that health is very more important than what it always has been. Because I dude, I say this all the time. You know, in 2025 there are more resources at our fingertips than ever. You know, you have chat, gpt, you have youtube, you have google, you have instagram and tick tock whether that's legitimate or not, but you have all these sources to help you reach your goals.
Speaker 2:But our obesity rate is going up, which that could be stemming from. But our obesity rate is going up, which that could be stemming from analysis, paralysis. Everybody has 20 million other options to choose from. And I mean and that was one thing that I, you know, struggled with before I hired a coach I mean, do I need, you know, do I need to try this, this, this, this? If I stick with this for six months, well, what if it's the wrong thing? And then I'm six months behind? Okay, well, if I stick with this for six months, well, what if it's the wrong thing? And then I'm six months behind? Okay, well, let me try this. What if it's wrong again? You know that's a full year wasted.
Speaker 2:So that's where I mean you can, you know, come in to take that aspect out of it, because I mean you can go and chat GPT. And I remember when that first kind of came about, that and like the GL, well, which the two instances to where I was, I really wasn't worried about it. But I know a lot of other coaches were like, oh, chat, gpt is going to take what we do and replace our jobs, and the G P ones is like a cheat code and nobody's going to need a coach anymore and I'm like, yeah, you know that's not the case, but now there's so much information at people's fingertips that they don't know if it's legitimate or not. I guess is what you know. There's just so much poor information out there these days too. You know it's. I would say that's probably a part of it as well too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, and then going back, you know, back to the doctor thing I do. I do agree with making them go through some kind of, you know, health metric, getting them to work out, eat healthy, but at the same time, if that individual doesn't like what the doctor said, oh, there's another doctor down the street that will take their money all day, all day long. So, and you know there's you can get that stuff without a prescription. If you really wanted to. Like those research, chemicals and things like that, you know you can put it underneath your tongues, a sublingual, things like that. Are they as effective? I don't know. But still, people are going to find a way around it to try it if they really want to. But again, is it worth it? You're better off segueing into a healthier lifestyle first. Yeah, and trying that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think, like you said, try to kind of exhaust all the other options first and then you know that can probably catapult you past, like wherever you're stuck. But at least you know if you have those foundational habits built and some discipline and structure, when you do come off you'll be able to sustain that kind of lifestyle and keep the weight off inevitably. So I think this is a very case to case basis, but I think you guys out there need to question your ability, your you know education on how to actually live a healthy lifestyle and then just make a good choice. You know, and, of course, like you can reach out to me or Austin as well. You know we're more than happy to help.
Speaker 1:So let's get into some some physical fitness, some workout. You know strategies, you know. Again, everybody goes into the gym and with let's let's talk first with new individuals that are intimidated by the gym. Most I would say most people are intimidated because they think people are staring at them. Yeah, I would say probably that's the most common. So how do you help clients overcome something like that?
Speaker 2:So I think it really boils down to is what is the client comfortable at at this current moment in time? You know, if if they're like dead set of not going to a gym, well, that's fine, that's perfectly okay. You know there's things that we can do at home which isn't going to be I don't want, I hate the word most optimal nowadays because everybody's using the optimal. This is, but it's not the best case scenario. But things can be done at home, like using bands, you know a little set of dumbbells, things like that to get things going. But I think, as you further progress and you kind of come out of that shell, maybe you start to see the progress in your own self that you may end up wanting to venture out. Um, and that's totally okay too, um, I think the biggest thing is just to make a big change.
Speaker 2:You have to get uncomfortable at some point and I will say a lot of people that haven't really been in the gym for a long time and they go to the gym, their biggest issue is not knowing where things are at and they look dumb because they walk around, you know where's, you know they're looking on, you know we both have apps that'll, you know, show them the exercise to do. Where is this machine at? It's not this color, it doesn't look like it. Well, you know, go ask the front desk, you know. Or if we're local, you know I can come and help you. You know, same with you kind of thing. But just understanding that you've been comfortable for the last 30 or 40 years, that's why you are the way that you are now. Yeah, let's break out of that shell a little bit and let's go try something hard to make a big change. Yeah, so you got to change, to change.
Speaker 2:And that's not me trying to be like mean, like say, you know, I'm going to kind of push you into the ring and to see how you do. It's just that sometimes they need a little bit of a push. Just to, you know, get out there. Yeah, I mean like for me, I like to train at a gym to where that I'm not the biggest fish in the pond, right, if that makes sense. You know, just like here, you know, at the gym that we're at now, there's some elite level people there. Me and you are both pros. Yeah, but there's always going to be somebody bigger. Yeah, it's going to push me to be better. So if you're an individual that hasn't ever been into the gym before, start out at a YMCA, a Planet Fitness, it's something that's I'm not going to say a lower barrier to entry, but a lot of those places are going to be more newcomer friendly, I guess is the best way to put it. Just get out there, yeah.
Speaker 1:No, I think that's right. I think you know when, when I have clients that want to work out at home I mean the first one it's like what do you got you know, and I in in a lot of people's defenses, you'd be surprised. People have a little gym set up since COVID, Yep, I mean, they've been buying pieces and throwing it in the garage and it's actually impressive. I'm a little jealous sometimes, yeah, but I like going to the gym, changing the environment, meeting people, especially, like you know, here at Carolina Iron. Shout out, Carolina Iron, I'll give you a little shout out, yeah, but you know, this gym is really cool because one he has really unique equipment. But the people, right, I mean these people that come in here have a little more experience, yeah, and it's actually not intimidating at all because they're more than happy to help if you were to have questions, and I will say people are typically afraid to ask.
Speaker 2:I'm not calling myself big, or you know I used to. You are big. Yeah, I'm not calling myself big, but people are typically afraid to ask the big guys in the gym for help. But typically we're the most helpful people if you'll ask us, because I'm I'm eager to show you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, people, if you'll ask us, cause I'm I'm eager to show you, you know, I mean it's. I love to teach, I love doing what I do and if I can help you get there faster, yeah, I'll stop what I'm doing, I'll go, I'll go, I'll go help you out. So now there are some. You know there's, there's bad apples in every, in every group, but nine times out of 10, if you asked, the big guys will help you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think so, but yeah, in, in general, I think the more you get comfortable doing the movements and no more stuff, is that, uh, that tier of scarcity will definitely like shift down. Yeah, I do think at some to some, even for myself. Sometimes I feel like people are looking at me too, but that's just. I'm in my head. Yeah, nobody's focused on anybody but themselves when they're lifting. So it's just, uh, it's something that we create in our own and it can stop you from getting there. But, you know, hopefully we can get people to progress, cause, again, you know, let's, let's talk about the purpose of being in the gym. You know my purpose that I tell people to work out is you are there to build muscle. Yeah, like that is the sole purpose. You're not there to burn calories, you're there to burn muscle. I mean burn muscle, build muscle, muscle and uh, you know. So what are some, some strategies for you that you could tell people to really emphasize muscle growth, so they're not wasting time in here?
Speaker 2:yeah, I mean be efficient. I mean, if you're building out a plan, you know, for yourself, just make sure that you're efficient with your time. Get, get rid of the junk, of the junk volume. Um, you don't need to do 20 sets of a certain thing to get a stimulus out of it to make muscle grow, right. It's just like when you walked into this office this morning, you just cut the light switch on. You didn't keep pushing the switch up to make the light stay on. The light was on, right.
Speaker 2:So if you go and hit four or five sets of chest and you, you know, activated that stimulus for growth, why should you, you know what? Why should you spend another hour in here and do 15 more sets? You've already cut the light switch on, it's on. Do what you need to do and get out. No, that's not saying that you can come in here and just do the bare minimum. You know, actually put for some effort, yeah, and create the stimulus needed for growth. But you know, and granted, that's going to take time to master that skill as well too.
Speaker 2:But if you're coming in here as a newcomer, have a plan, have a plan. Just, you know, don't come in here and say, oh well, I did arms yesterday, I might hit chest today. Or I might hit shoulders today. Nope, you need to know when you wake up that day what you're doing at the gym. You know that day. You need to know, hey, I'm going to do. If it's a chest day, I'm going to do chest flies, incline decline, a flat press and then some push-ups and finish off something. Yeah, you need to have a plan. Um, so when you get in here you're not oh well, such and such is over here, is doing arms, I'm gonna hop in with him. Nope, that's not your day. I mean, if that's something that keeps you motivated, cool, whatever. But just coming in here with a plan nine times out of ten is going to set you up for more progression and more progress in the long run. Yeah, and that's why, honestly, people skip leg days that.
Speaker 2:I see, because it's like oh, it's tuesday, it's leg day, but it's raining outside. Chris, I don't, I don't want to put on my good white converse to go leg. I'll do them tomorrow, I'll do it tomorrow, and then tomorrow's chest day. Well, I can't skip chest day yes, I'll do legs next week. I know you got to set to that plan yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then you got someone that had five, six, six knee surgeries.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So, but you know, like you said, you got to have a plan. You already kind of touched on the fact of you got to track right, you got to know what you're lifting. What do you tell a client that says, well, how do I know when I should go up and wait?
Speaker 2:Um, I think it. It. I think it. One, it depends on the level and the skill of the person. One, but two, if you're a newcomer, let's just say, if you, you know, if your coach tells you to do three sets of 10 to 12 reps, right, once you know that first top set, that first working set, that you're at the top end of that range, like you're hitting 12, 13, 14, you're blowing past that rep range. Maybe stick with it one more week, make sure that you're actually blowing past that rep range and then at that point we'll go up in weight. Now, if you were to do 12 or 13 and then set two, you dropped off to four. To do 12 or 13 and then set two, you dropped off to four. Yeah Well, maybe that, you know, might be caused to pull back a little bit on that, on that second set and again, it's all individualized, but that's a good point you know to bring up is tracking.
Speaker 2:If you don't, it's the same thing with with food If you don't know what you're eating, how do you know? You know what, you know what you're doing at the end of the day, the same with workouts. If you're not tracking, how do you know that you're progressing from last week. If you can't remember in your, in your head how many reps that you did for sets one, two and three and what weight that you used for all five exercises that day, you're not. Yeah, you're not um, and now I know some people um don't track at all. But when I look at pro bodybuilders who do track their stuff, just like me with an old pen and piece of paper, that I probably should, it would probably help.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, Some form Clients ask us I mean, obviously stick to the staples and make sure that your form is good first before you start trying to amp up. But we use kind of like a two rep rule, so kind of similar to what you said. You know they're doing three sets, 10 to 12 on that very last set. If they can do at least two more reps, you know, at least for two weeks, then go up and then kind of same same going backwards as well, Cause someone might say, hey, well, I only hit eight reps on that last set, Should I back off? I'm like no, if you're two reps away from the goal rep on that last set, you're good. Yeah, you know so, and I think that will help you really stimulate some muscle growth in that battle.
Speaker 2:Well then you got to keep in mind too that if we're, if we're really training at a large capacity and you're training to failure which again that does take years to acquire to actually understand fully how to train a failure failure which, again that does take years to acquire to actually understand fully how to train a failure If you got 13 on the first set, it's physically impossible to get 13 on the next set. I mean now, granted, there I don't want to say physically impossible, but for the most part you're not going to get. I mean, if my 13 rep looks like that, I'm having an aneurysm or something. I'm having an aneurysm or something. I'm not going to get it again. So you know that's. You got to keep progressing, um, and the only way to know that you're actually progressing is tracking it. I mean because, if you, I know several individuals, friends of mine, who don't track at all, and they've been the same size for years they go in the gym and just get a pump yeah, big enough to take a picture on Instagram and then they're out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that might be good enough to maybe maintain where you're at, but you know, if that's what you're you're cool with and then do that, yeah for sure. If you want to, if you want to really kind of sculpt and build, get more detail, yeah you gotta. You gotta push yourself.
Speaker 2:You got to push yourself, you got to challenge yourself and people also forget too that I mean, even if you're a lifestyle client and you're coming to lose 20 or 30 pounds, our goal number one is fat loss. Number two is we have to build muscle, because muscle with more muscle becomes a better metabolism and a higher metabolism, so you can eat more. Right, and that's the big aspect. I mean, sure, can you get in shape without going to the gym? Absolutely you can, but your results are going to be tenfold if you can get to the gym and do some sort of resistance training. Do you have to be perfect? No, you just getting in there is good enough for the majority of folks. But then again, once we fine-tune things and you make progression in the right direction, that's when things start to flourish and big transformations at least you know, on my perspective start to happen.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, dude, that's a ton. I mean you guys I hope you guys wrote a lot down with this whole conversations, because I like having these kinds of talks, but it's, it's cool because, uh, there's a lot of coaches out there. Everybody has their own little method or their style or their beliefs and you know me and Austin definitely have a lot of alignment in there and you know Austin's had a lot of high level coaches. I've had a lot of high level coaches as well, I think you know. Last thing I would I want to kind of give you guys is you know Austin, kind of what would you suggest Like somebody who's looking for for a coach? You know Austin, kind of what would you suggest Like somebody who's looking for for a coach? Um, what are some things you would tell them to look at?
Speaker 2:or look into to make sure that it's a good fit for them. Yeah, um, so first, number one, I mean I would make sure that you know they're I don't want to say our belief systems line up, but let's make sure that we're both working toward the same goal. And I think that's important to figure out in the form of maybe like hopping on a call. I mean, even if you know a phone call, a Zoom call, something I need to make a personal connection with this coach. I mean, if I'm going to pay you X amount of dollars a month to coach me, I'm going to know that I'm going to have to know that I can trust you first or that I actually like you as a, as a, as a person. Um, so I think, number one if you, if your coach or if your coach prospect has a way that that you can hop on the phone with them, hop on a zoom call, meet them face to face, whatever, take advantage of that Um, see if you actually jive with their personality first, um, I mean, I mean because that's important. Um, you know, think back to school. If you had a teacher that you got along with very well, your grades were probably pretty good in that class, but if you and that teacher always butted heads, your grades probably weren't that good, um you know, in comparison to the other class. So that's the first thing. And then, secondly, just make sure that they can get you to where that you need to be.
Speaker 2:Just because somebody has a good physique doesn't mean that they can get you to where that you want to be. I mean, a lot of people are just. Some people are just genetically gifted from birth, I guess is the best way to put it. It doesn't mean that they know how to sculpt somebody who's been chronically dieting for two years in a row. They're insulin resistant, they have a skew of issues. So make sure that you do your due diligence. Reach out to any testimonials. If they have them on their page, that's another big thing. If they don't have anything on their page, you know, that's another big thing. If they don't have anything on their on their page, it's nothing but flexing pictures. And I mean show. Make sure that your coach has the knowledge you know and the testimonials to back it up, the proof that that they can get you to where that you want to be.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I'm glad you said that. I mean, mean, I think kind of just recap that I mean obviously you got to connect because people can do things. You can lose weight right by, like, doing it the right way, having a structure, tracking metrics, and you can lose weight by just slamming a bunch of drugs or doing an ass of cardio and not eating right. The outcome would probably be the same in a weight loss perspective. Yeah, but you know which one is going to be better for you. Yeah, that's pretty obvious.
Speaker 1:And then, same thing, you know, like you said, not everybody's a good coach. You know, I used to work in the restaurant business and I remember this one guy came in and he was a chef and he was good, he was damn good, but he couldn't teach anybody to be like him for the life of him. You know, he just he just didn't have that personality, he just expected, just expected people to know things and that's it, that's, that's okay. He's not meant to coach people. And again, I think some coaches are like that. But and uh, and yeah, testimonials bro Like, uh, you know, cause you know you can obviously reach out to people if they're tagged, or if you see a video and maybe you know somebody, cause they're local, um, but you know, I have seen you. You know I'm not gonna say any names, but sometimes I've seen some transformations that look like they were taken the same day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know, lighting, lighting can do a lot for people, yeah, yeah, time of day can do a lot for people. So make sure that there's more than one or two transformations. You know, reach out to those people. Um, I mean, if you're, if you're paying good money to be coached, just do your due diligence. Yeah, at that point, it's on you, it's on you. It's on you. Yeah, for sure. If you don't, if you don't do your due diligence and you have a bad experience with a coach and you did everything that you were asked to do, um, you know, but you and the coach didn't jive well for some reason, or whatever the case may be, at this on you at that point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I want to leave it with this too. Uh, because you know, we we have. I have a client that I'm working with right now. That used to be with another coaching group and and a decent one for that matter, but I know a lot of you guys may get into one and maybe it's your first one and you're like it didn't work. Coaching is a waste of money.
Speaker 1:I don't ever want to do it again. I mean, did you marry the first person you ever met? I think the key would be you probably learned something in there, which is good. But if anything, you know what you're looking for in the next one to help you progress. Because I think as you gain knowledge and experience, you don't need basic information. There's something specific you're looking for that's going to help you get you to where you want to be, so then you can have a more direct conversation with that coach to figure it out. So just because you get burned once, it doesn't mean that it doesn't work. You're just the wrong person.
Speaker 2:And I mean having that. There's nothing wrong with having a coach. Some people feel like, oh, I can do this on my own. They're too prideful to have a coach. I mean, I have a coach. I've had a coach for going on eight years in a row. I know what I'm doing, but I like to have that outside perspective to tell me what I need to do. You've had several coaches when you were competing. I mean, there's no shame in it.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:I tell people all the time, tiger Woods has a swing coach, so you think that you don't need a coach?
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, yeah, no, a hundred percent. And you know that you were talking athletes here, Cause you know I had coached for being an athlete. You're an athlete as well a pro athlete. But let's talk baseline level. I think your ego and your pride, at how long are you willing to sustain not getting results before you finally say, okay, enough's enough? You know, don't wait 10, 20, 30 years. You know, if you've gave effort and you tried for a year, two years and you're not seeing nothing, I would highly suggest you start looking for outside resources, Because what you're doing is just not working and you don't want to waste time. You don't want to waste time.
Speaker 2:We're not getting any younger, yeah, that's for sure. I mean, and in all honesty, probably in the last two or three years, I've really reflected on my bodybuilding career as a whole, or my just fitness uh, adventure in a in a whole and I know that this isn't possible hindsight, 2020, but if I could go back, I would have hired my my, I would have hired my coach day one when I started the gym. I would be a lot further along, yeah, than than where I am right now. But because, again, you know, going back to the beginning of the episode, I use bodybuildingcom. I tried to do everything on my own, but I couldn't take that emotional connection out of when I needed to make a change in my own program to keep seeing results. Um, and that's where a coach can, can, can, can come in. I'm not saying this to people to say hire me or Chris, I mean, if you want to, that's cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're here.
Speaker 2:I just flip a coin.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Link in description.
Speaker 2:We'll do a rapid but um, you know, just you gotta give it a good shot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so Awesome. Well, man, I really appreciate you jumping on here with us. Where can people follow you?
Speaker 2:Head up my Instagram. It's a Hodges underscore fit. I'm sure Chris will link it somewhere. Yeah, but that's the best way to get in contact with me. And also you can check out our website, ahfitnessonlinecom. And that's pretty much it Cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll link all that stuff in there in the description. So appreciate you guys shining in. Hope you got some good nuggets. Absolutely, yeah, man. Thanks Austin, see you.