The Show Up Fitness Podcast

How to make 100k at Life Time Fitness w/ PT Manager

• Chris Hitchko, CEO Show Up Fitness • Season 3 • Episode 288

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The most honest look you’ll hear at what separates a textbook-certified trainer from a trusted professional. We sit down with Derek, a rising manager at Lifetime, to unpack how he evaluates candidates, coaches a veteran team, and keeps standards high in a premium training environment where members expect safety, clarity, and results. From real-time prospecting on a busy gym floor to programming under pressure, Derek explains why 80% of applicants fail the practical and what the top performers do differently.

We walk through his three-stage hiring process, the exact screening questions he wants to hear before a single rep, and the coaching behaviors that build instant credibility: precise cues, smart regressions, and simple anatomy language. Then we dig into pricing and value—why $120–$150 per hour makes sense for general population clients, how to handle “that’s expensive” without flinching, and the mindset shift that happens when you invest in your own development through mentors, seminars, and bodywork. If you’ve ever wondered how to charge more while training fewer sessions, this conversation gives you the playbook.

Derek also shares what it’s like to lead as a younger manager among seasoned trainers, including fostering a culture of accountability without ego. We talk mentorship as the shortcut to competence, retention as the true metric, and why soft tissue work and recovery sessions drive client loyalty. You’ll leave with practical steps to pass a tough practical, communicate your value, and build a six-figure path at a high-standard gym or as a smart freelancer.

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SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Show Up Fitness podcast, where great personal trainers are made. We are changing the fitness industry one qualified trainer at a time with our in-person and online personal training certification. If you want to become an elite personal trainer, head on over to showupfitness.com. Also make sure to check out my book, How to Become a Successful Personal Trainer. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review. Have a great day and keep showing up. Howdy, y'all. Welcome back to the Show Up Fitness podcast. We have this young hunk right here, Mr. Derek, Lifetime Manager. We were out there in Dallas, Mansfield, a couple weeks ago. Really neat story how we got connected, and I really like this guy's mentality. Sorry about the background noise. We got a couple trainers here at Santa Monica Show Up, but we are excited to hear what Mr. Derek has to say. So thank you, my man.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. Happy to be here, man.

SPEAKER_00:

So how did this all come to fruition? How did we come to meet the beautiful online world? How did that happen?

SPEAKER_01:

So I got hired at Mansfield and I started personal training here and wanted to figure out how to increase my business and also help out my team a little bit more with uh their training because as a manager, you kind of got to help with the standard of operations and blah blah blah. So started looking at different books, and the simplest one with the simplest title was How to Become a Successful Personal Trainer. And I was like, sounds like a good place to start. Uh read some reviews and read the whole book in like a month. In there, you talked about working with Lifetime and Equinox. So I was like, Oh, I work at a lifetime. So let me let me reach out and talk to him. So then once I emailed you, you emailed me right back and gave me your phone number and we started talking. So it's cool. Quick chart.

SPEAKER_00:

On my Fridays, I drive back, it's usually about a two-hour drive. And I it it could have been a Friday. I just I remember driving back on the 405 and having a chat. I'm like, that's pretty cool. Like small world in the sense that you got moved up pretty quickly into manager too because people were falling through the cracks, and now you're experiencing firsthand that the life of a manager is significantly different than the life of a trainer. And that's what I kind of wanted to talk about. So you were able to move into management. And why don't you talk to us a little bit more about what that has been like and we'll go from there?

SPEAKER_01:

Management with lifetime has been different because it's not just managing the team, it's also managing corporate expectations. And there a lot of people look at them as uh huge negative. I think that they can be taxing. I don't necessarily think they're negative. Um, but you know, you have to spit out your numbers. If the numbers aren't spit, then you got to figure out how do we uh create them better. Uh it's not so much about just the quality of the trainer, but also the quality of the professional and what it is that they develop. And that was that was just different because I'm I was used to uh developing people, but it's actually been people have a lot more fun being developed when they make more money. So it's been kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00:

And you told me something prior I thought was pretty interesting. You are a 20 soon to be 29, also father to be. Congrats on that. But you have a uh trainer of yours who has a master's in kinesiology and a professor, and like we're in this role as this new young buck, and yet you have some seasoned trainers. And so, from that psychological standpoint, like there has to be some interesting things that are going on there because you you're the the general now.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it was I was here for 10 months, and then I got moved up to the PTL2 position, so it's uh personal training manager or assistant uh for normal people. That's lifetime talk. But uh yeah, I've I'm managing people that have been here for like 10 years. We got this guy named Cedric, and we literally, I think two months ago celebrated his 10-year anniversary of being here. We had another girl, Maria, uh 10 years. We've got the uh master's degree uh professor, and yeah, we've got a pretty advanced team, so it's it's interesting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And I wonder from the lens of the trainer what that's like, because there is a turnover in the management position as well. And it's not necessarily a negative thing, it's managers move to new locations, like Joe, who's in Sacramento, he was at Roseville, and they brought him on over to open up Arden. And so there's more opportunities come up. I'm sure people do leave, but do you find that the reception's pretty open and they're you know intrigued to learn from you, or is there a little bit of pushback?

SPEAKER_01:

Honestly, it just depends on how you go about it, if that makes sense. Uh I had a pretty good relationship with most of the people on the team before I got to manager position, and so I think that worked really well in uh my favor. So I don't think that there's really any uh pushback in my position, uh, but the the mentality of holding someone accountable who probably knows more than me, uh and talking to them about their numbers and performance, uh that that can get a little different, a little, a little uh intimidating at times, but uh most of the time it's more of so in my head than it is actually out in the real world.

SPEAKER_00:

I love your corporate hat because you can put that sucker on and you're doing great right now. First podcast, so you're doing awesome. But I I know that in person your your personality is pretty awesome, and so you can relate with your clients and trainers pretty well. So they see that brightness from you and they want to, you know, be open to hearing what you have to say. But you have your team, but you have a constant goal of you know, casting and bringing on new trainers. So let's talk a little bit more about what is that like? What are you looking for? And do you see a discrepancy between the current trainers you have, which are pretty darn good, and the quality of trainers that are trying to get higher like in a lifetime?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh dude, it's tough. Uh, so we go through three different interviews. I don't know if all lifetimes do this, I just know that we do it. So we do an in-person get to know you interview, and that's with my actual manager, Monique. And if she thinks that they're great, coachable, she likes them as a person, then they go to me for the practical. I'm nobody's favorite person uh when they meet me because the practical, I don't interview you at all, pretty much. I send you an email, I say, here are my availabilities. Uh, I'm a trainer too. The faster you get to these times, uh they're not probably gonna stick, you know, like get in quick, they show up and I in the email it'll say you have uh 40 minutes, uh 30 to 40 minutes to do uh you have to prospect somebody on our fitness floor. So you have to interrupt somebody's workout or catch some as they go up the stairs, convince them to give you or let you give them a 30-minute workout to 40 minutes, depending on how fast. I've watched a guy get rejected 12 times in a row. That was that was tough. Um after that, then I will go through a very short five, 10-minute interview of what I saw. I'll ask you questions like why you did what you did, um, and then kind of talk about next steps of what the third round will look like, which is a very, very professional interview, like suit tie kind of thing, and you'll meet our LG or lead manager, uh, general manager for the whole club. Um, and then if you go through all three of those and everybody likes you, then you're passed. But I have like an 80% fail rate because it's it is what it is, man. I mean, I could tell you some of the curriculum that we look for, but it's not like it's not crazy, but it's it's new to a lot of people.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's and I just sorry to cut you off, my man, but I think that is so freaking awesome because other gyms like Equinox, they consider themselves the best. Like, oh, we're the best out there, and they've now done away with the practical portion. So it's like as an industry with the entry standards so freaking low. Oh, I got my NASA, and I got my ace, which is an easiest test in the world to pass. And then you go to a great gym like Lifetime where you're gonna be charging 150 plus, you need to be able to perform on the spot. And I just love the fact and the accountability of it. Basically, it's like, don't impress me. You got to go out there and show me that you're capable of doing what you're gonna need to do on a daily basis. So go have fun. And I'm sure people are just like, well, give me, give me 20 minutes to program. Uh uh, it's like, no, now go.

SPEAKER_01:

You got to think on your feet. And I try, you know, everybody has nerves about it, and I totally understand why. And I always tell them, I'm your friend. If you need help, if you don't know where a piece of equipment is, ask me. Like, I'm not trying to fail you, you'll do that by yourself, right? Like, I'm here so that we have a good time and your client, because they're our member, right? Like, first and foremost, that's a member experience for us. Like, even though you're doing the interview, I gotta make sure that the member actually has a good time too. Um, and if you need something, I'll come get it. But beyond that, I'm just a weirdo standing about 10 feet away, and I have a clipboard and I'm writing out sets, reps, the time in between you're doing your stuff, and I'm taking notes on, you know, do you have hands-on cues? Are you using anatomical terms? Are you able to be relatable when you talk about your anatomical terms? You know, all those things. And I put checks, minuses, confidence, engagement. Are you looking at them when you're on rest? Can you be a person with them? Um, all those things. Um, and then I deliver those to my manager and we say yes or no, and that's it.

SPEAKER_00:

We have a very that's why I think I was so attracted to your process because we have a similar one at show up. And if you want to work here, you have to have all three of our certs won. You have to have at least a year at Equinox or Lifetime, too. And then you show up for that interview. Yep. And if you want to work here, I give you one of my clients, and my clients are 250 to 350 per hour. I don't tell you anything about them. Come in, train. And afterwards, the client is the one who gives the okay or not, because that's the type of clientele you're gonna be working with. And if you can't take them through a workout on the spot, and if they have shoulder issues, you better be able to screen them. If they have low back issues, you better be able to give an appropriate workout. And we're not annihilating people because we're not CrossFit, we're not high rocks. You know, that's the I mean, you we have like alpha and stuff like that at lifetime, but most of our clients are gonna be pain management. I mean, the first time I met you, I was walking upstairs and you're doing stretch on your clients. That's what your clients want, and that's what they need.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, most of my clients will do will do like a full body workout one, two times a week. And then Saturday, the day that you are here. Oh, my lights just turned off. That's a time thing. Uh, but Saturday is most of my clients' recovery day, and it's 25 to 15 minutes of just soft tissue stretch work, and it's not like you know, feel good. It's like I need you to get more flexible in this area, that area, whatever. Uh, and they find a lot of value in it and creates a lot of retention for me too.

SPEAKER_00:

The data that you get from them prospecting and talking to people is is huge in itself because you have to have those people skills. But what do you notice from the technical side and applying good programming? What is your observation from the talent pool that comes in? Do you see them as being competent enough to have a a good workout?

SPEAKER_01:

No. Um most of the time, what tells me right away um if they're gonna do well or not is if they are looking at details. Like, you know how like you watch people scan and then they just kind of they just kind of go, right? They'll watch details of what somebody's doing and they'll peek an interest and then they'll walk over. And then if they don't do the questionnaire type stuff, like screen, like, oh, what are you working on? Do you have any injuries? Have you had any surgeries? Uh, is there anything else about your body that I should know about before we start? Uh, you know, if they don't do those, I automatically know it's most likely gonna go pretty bad. Unless they picked some young uh athlete and they just are generic with some of their stuff, because I've seen that and it's you know, they they did a decent workout, but it's like, why did you do that workout? That's when it gets tough too. Can you ask your question again so that way I can make sure I know I think no, that's it.

SPEAKER_00:

I actually wanted to do a role reversal here and pretend like I'm you. Obviously, you're way better looking than I am, but you are coming to lifetime and this is the homework assignment, and you got to go out there, prospect, and get them. What would that look like in your mind? How would you do it and ACIT?

SPEAKER_01:

So if I am the interviewee, I'm going to scan for two things. One, somebody who uh is using a machine or the barbell improperly, because barbell is my favorite thing. So I'm gonna look for that first. After I kind of pick out who I'm gonna go to, it would be a not quick but simplified interview of like, okay, do you have any injuries, surgeries, anything about you that I should know about? What do you care about? What are your goals? How long have you been working towards those goals? Why are those goals important to you? Then simple questions. If I've interrupted the workout, like, how long have you been working out? Are you warmed up? You know, things like that. And then probably a little bit of unilateral uh movements to just check. I do some bandwork with the upper body because most people have a lot of uh thoracic tightness as they try to do any kind of twisting here, and then from there, whatever their goals are, is what I would program for. But I really, really like the core core accessory. Go through probably two rounds of that, if I could, depending on how long it took me to find somebody to say yes. And then here's my biggest thing. If you were to ask me questions at the end of the interview on why I picked something, I'm not gonna make something up. That is my biggest uh pet peeve. I had two guys they did relatively well through their workout, and I asked, like, they were doing uh I can't remember what they're called, you hold the dumbbells together and you press up, but you're standing up, right? And I asked the guy, I said, So why'd you pick that exercise for the chest and shoulders versus something else? And he said, Yeah, I was really trying to work at the the frontal pecs, and I was like, as opposed to like your posterior pecs, like I don't know, I don't know what that means. And then another guy, he was like, I said, Why'd you pick this exercise? Because it's more like a physical therapy exercise. And I was like, Okay, that's cool. Tell me why. And he said, Yeah, he had uh an injury on his back at the I think the 12th vertebrae, and I was like, I'll send a thing. I don't I don't know what that means. Are you talking T12? Like, what is the 12th vertebrae from top to bottom? Where did you start counting? It doesn't make any sense, and so you can just hear when they're making stuff up, and I understand that your trainers are trying to sound smarter than you are so that we can get business. Uh but yeah, that's that that would be the biggest thing. Is if you asked me something and I didn't actually have a concise answer, I'd probably just say, I like it, or it felt good, or we, you know, something like that, or they told me uh that that's one of their favorite exercises, whatever. Uh, I'm not going to make something up to make myself sound smarter.

SPEAKER_00:

And gyms like Lifetime, you definitely have better trainers that are out there. So you can only imagine the talent pool where you just get certified, and the process is go to a gym. And if they don't have any experience and they apply to you, I mean if you have your SUF CPT, you at least get an interview. If you have NASA, Mace ISA, you're not gonna get an interview. You have to go to an LA fitness, a Texas fitness, whatever, and they literally throw you to the sharks where you'll get hired. They're not gonna look at your shirts because they don't give a shit. They just need bodies. The next day they're gonna say, Okay, you have a session at six o'clock, go train them. Well, what do I do? I don't know how, and that's the unfortunate thing about the industry is you essentially it's this survivorship bias because most trainers aren't gonna stomach the failing, failing, failing and not knowing what to do. And it was neat what you said earlier about this one guy got rejected 12 times. I think that tells you a lot of the resistance that you're gonna experience. And if you can keep on pushing through it, that's gonna tell you, like, oh, I want someone like that because they didn't just you know start crying after the 10th one, they kept on going, and that's exactly what we have to do.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I actually had one person that cried twice in the interview, once it was, but it's there's a there's a lot of that, man. When we had one guy come in, he just got his NASA CPT and graduated high school, was a bad boy for Walmart for I think four years, and then applied here. And I was like, Yep, it's a no. Sorry. I didn't even know that. The other thing that's complicated, I need to work on this with my own manager, but she does the interviews. Uh, she doesn't tell me anything about the person when I actually meet them. Like I I see them first time, face value when I meet them at the door, and then we go up, I don't ask them anything about themselves, I only tell them what's going on. And after that last 10 minutes is when I start to figure out, oh, what you can tell me about yourself, how long you've been a trainer. And that's when he told me that I was like, ah, everything makes sense. Like, no wonder. Oh, uh, one other thing that I also ask during the last 10 minutes is what as a trainer, what do you charge right now for your sessions? Um, because the lowest that we pay or charge right here at our mansfield location is 120. And well, I don't tell them that. I let them answer. And most of the time it's like 30, 40. I had one guy who said 80. And I was like, okay, well, I need you to know that if we are to move forward here, you're gonna be charging 120. And most of the time I get a look like, what, what? And it's like you're not comfortable with that uh point of sales or whatever it's called, your your price point, that's the word. If you're not comfortable with that, you should either get comfortable at it or this isn't the gym for you.

SPEAKER_00:

And I say that most every interview because how would you feel if you're that last 10 minutes and I'm there and I do all right, and you ask me how much do I charge? And I ask you, how much do you charge per hour?

SPEAKER_01:

I would say 135.

SPEAKER_00:

135. I say, Well, I'm gonna start with 135, but I want to go up to whoever charges the most here. I want to be that person. What would go through your mind if someone said that to you?

SPEAKER_01:

I'd love it.

SPEAKER_00:

And it's like the confidence that trainers that it's so common today. Again, it's I talk about this in my book and I talk about on the podcast. It's like we're coming into an industry, we want to help people, but you have to realize that we are salespeople and it's not a negative connotation. We deserve to be able to charge what we charge. And if you are thinking about your bank account, if you're thinking 120 bucks a lot, the very first thing you should do is go out there to a therapist, to another trainer who charges 150 plus and pay them that. That exchange is gonna increase your own value because you see that exchange and you're like, wow, okay, I just invested this in someone. And if I'm not paying someone else that amount, it's gonna be really freaking hard for me to ask from that from a client that I've never met before.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. I had to talk with one of our trainers because when I first came on, we had people charging like way below. Uh, it was just the culture at the time. We had to do a lot of flips for some habits and beliefs. Uh, and they're like, dude, I wouldn't pay a trainer this much money. And I'm a really successful trainer. I said, Yeah, but that's because you know everything. A mechanic does their own work on their car. Like a mechanic's not going to go pay another mechanic to do their job. It's your profession, but you're not your clientele. And that's what you have to understand. It's not about you, it's about them. What do they value? How much do they value being able to walk at 70, right? Like, those are real questions. Uh, and things that at 29, I'm not necessarily thinking about right now. You know, that's maybe not as valuable to me. It kind of is because I'm already in the profession, but I know how I would accomplish. That goal. Somebody else doesn't have that experience. And so I am worth at minimum$135 an hour to that person. And if I'm not, I need to either educate or go find somebody else.

SPEAKER_00:

I'd be intrigued to see how you coach people up that have that mentality where it's kind of like what you're saying, where we had a conversation at the seminar. We're talking about I don't want to come off as a salesman. I feel like I'm pushing something that I almost what they said was I don't believe in the product. And when you go to a lifetime, there's trainers in Sacramento that charge 200 bucks an hour. There's trainers in Miami that charge 200 bucks an hour. I tell SUF CPTs, find out whoever charges the most at that lifetime and make that your goal to charge the most because that's going to be like a badge of honor when you're having a conversation with them in the meeting. Like, oh, I actually charge 220. And people are like, shit, how'd you do that? Oh, my clients say it's too expensive. It's because you don't believe in your value and your product that you're delivering. Why not go up to the most that you could potentially do because you have that value? And it's not like a sleazy salesy thing where people are like you're saying, like that person's like, Oh, I would never pay that. Well, your clients will. And when you're a great trainer, you want to be able to work less and get paid more. You can charge 80 bucks, but you're gonna have to do 60 sessions a week. Wouldn't you rather do 20 sessions a week and be getting paid more? Because that's what potentially could happen.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I could not agree more. Um, the belief, like when when you watch a trainer charge like 135, whatever it is, right? And they get that first like two time, three time a week person, they're like, Oh, I can do this. That's that's a cool light switch to watch happen because we've got you can't see them, but like right in the background, we this is where all of our agreements go. And we go through them every day, me and my manager. And when I see them, I'm like, oh like this is the newbie, whatever, right? And they're like, Oh, it's like a$900 agreement a month. That's this is a lot of money right here for them. That's like that's cool. And they can start racking them up. Then we talk about retention and all these things, but uh the belief system is I wouldn't say it's difficult. Uh it's just well, maybe I should say it's it's simple, it's not easy. There, that's the word. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

For that for that trainer is listening to this and they're they're lucky enough to come across my book and they read that. Maybe they're not, but they just get their textbook certification because they came across as too late. What would be your piece of advice for that trainer who just got certified and they want to work at a gym like a lifetime?

SPEAKER_01:

Find a mentor. Because you're not going to get the job right away. Like, at least at mine, because uh I told you uh when we first talked on the phone, uh when I see you for the practicals, one of my favorite things to say is I see everybody naked because everybody in the practical is super uncomfortable, especially if it's your first time. Like nobody is really confident uh when they first do it uh just out of the textbook certification, uh and they have no experience. I there's there's a very, very low uh chance that if you have no other prior work experience or sales experience, that you're gonna be able to pass the practical. And so the first thing is go find a mentor, go find somebody in the field that's already doing what you want to do and get comfortable being uh uncomfortable. Like you have to be able to catch yourself, but you're not gonna learn. I'm not gonna be your testing ground, like my gym is not your testing ground. Uh, but that that's where I would push people to first.

SPEAKER_00:

I like that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Because I get uh we'll get a pushback is people will just get their NASA and their ACSASA and they're already certified, so they think that they're qualified. And I'll be like, okay, you got to go through this program, you know, get you know, become qualified, get RCPT or go to a soft tissue, and they're like, uh, no, I'm already certified. And then I just kind of watch them fizzle out because they they get frustrated because they can't get a job at a good gym because they don't have the confidence. So they have to go to a lower end gym and they're getting paid maybe like 12 bucks an hour, and that's not sustainable. You have to be there for a couple of years to earn those stripes to be able to go to a gym like yours. Where can you now tell me, Derek, can you train at your lifetime and make a salary that's livable?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, absolutely. 100%. When I first got the job, like you said, like you want to charge the most and show that confidence. The first thing I asked was, Can I make uh six figures here? And my manager at the time, his name was Zach, and he was like, Yeah, we have like five that do it. I was like, Cool, I want to make six figures. And that was without your book. I have a I had a wife and we were planning uh a family in the future. And I was like, I gotta really like step up, like I I can't just make 50 grand a year. Um and yeah, we we have plenty of ability for people to make very livable wages here.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's why I have those tenants where it's not like okay, you have the credentials, you're gonna make 100k. No, it's it's that help nick where you have to want it. And the fact that you have that, I need to support my wife, I need to support a potential family, like you have that hunger where this it's there's no ifs, ands, or buts, it's gonna happen. I had someone who reached out to me and they're like, you know, I think that some of the stuff you're putting out there is unrealistic because I'm not gonna be able to go to a lifetime equal box and make 100k at least for a couple of years. And I said, No, that's your mindset. Your mindset is not allowing you to get there because it is 100% absolutely possible within your first year. You have to have those tenants, so you have to look the part, be able to talk to part. And if you have someone in front of you and they say that's kind of expensive, you have to have the guts to be able to say, Well, why is it expensive? And you have to have those conversations, and maybe your delivery sucks. Maybe you don't speak confidently to what your product is because you haven't paid someone for it. If you had that scarcity mindset where you're everything's so expensive, oh, I can't go to the seminar, it's too expensive. I can't go over here, it's too expensive. That's your mentality. If you want to live to that life of 100, 150, 200 plus thousand per year, you have to think like that. You can't think like a trainer at LA Fitness.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, no shot. And you can you can do that at this gym. You could do it freelancing by yourself. It's harder, but you can do it, but you actually have to believe. Uh, as it all starts with your mentor, it really, really does. Uh, by God's grace, uh, I have a family and a lot of desire to make sure that happens.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's exactly what you're doing. I just want to you know throw it out there to the to the cosmos. It's great how you're able to connect via you went online and typed in trainer, you found my book, and now we're having a conversation. But this is after the fact that we went to your gym and we gave a seminar. And I would hands down say that was the coolest one I've ever done because there was you know 50 trainers there, and the bot the everyone was so bought in because of you know, just you're talking about it. I really just want to say thank you for that opportunity because it was really humbling being there because everyone was so excited to learn, and everyone was you know on board and they're implementing it. And you even said before this that now the trainers from your gym are going out there and they're getting more hands-on and they're getting the soft tissue, and their confidence builds up. So ultimately, they're helping their clients more efficiently, safely, get those results, and so the retention is going to be higher, and it's a win-win for everyone.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. One thing that I really appreciated about like lifetime and you working together is it was uh a really cool thing to see that because it was free to our trainers at Lifetime, uh, they felt like they were actually being invested in. You know, that's not always the case, uh, especially in the personal training world. You know, like you don't get a lot of people that are just like wanting to invest in you. And we showed up and it wasn't it didn't feel anything like corporate, thank God. You know, like we just got to be people, we just got to be trainers and work together. And uh I think uh well obviously they showed up ready and uh excited to learn, but um I don't know what the word is, but you know, the charisma that you just kind of brought, the culture that you brought with you uh made it comfortable, professional, and fun for people to do. Uh and they felt like you cared about them. I know that you did, but like the important thing is they felt it uh and it was a great seminar. Like I have to tell you, I missed it on my team is like, is he coming back? And I was like, maybe I guess eventually, yeah. He we got to do the lower body uh stuff just did upper body tissue work and they're looking forward to it because they feel like they missed out, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

It was it was cool, and that's why we we created the seminars with upper and lower because that's our that's our plan where we want to be able to go to a market like Dallas and then you know put our footprint in there, get some excitement, and then come back, you know, six months later and do the opposite. So we did shoulder with you guys, come back in six months and get into the knee stuff. And I have a confession to to make because you know we're all we're all human. And the first day, uh all my trainers were kind of giving me shit because they're like, you know, Chris is you know, he's kind of pacing back and forth and his, you know, he looks a little different. And I went in the steam room before and I just sweated out a ton, and I was having like some almost like anxiety, and because I was having some heart palpitations, and so I went over to grab that drink and I took a sip and I spit it out, and I was like, oh gosh, really, because I thought it was pre-workout, and I was looking for some carbs because I know that some carbs will kind of bring me back to life, and so everyone was kind of chuckling on my team because I was thinking, like, oh shit, if that's a pre-workout and I'm having these anxiety type symptoms right now, I'm just gonna lose my shit. I'm my brain goes, I'm gonna pass out, they're gonna have to do AED, CPR on me. I'm freaking out, and it all came back to normal because it was a lemonade, thankfully. But that's what happened with that whole intro in the beginning.

SPEAKER_01:

I remember that because you were like, Is this is this pre-workout or the course?

SPEAKER_00:

Like, it's like yeah, so we're gonna we got a nice little setup for 2026. We'll be at two live times, we'll be at Atlanta, Phoenix in January, Red Bank, New York in February, Houston in March, and then also back to California. But we have to chat more getting out there anywhere from Q2, April, May, June, and love to uh have some good Texas barbecue. And by then you'll be getting no sleep, so you'll look about 20 years older. Well, I just really appreciate you for the opportunity for us to come out there and thank you for everything you're doing. You're helping trainers level up, and you're you're a big influence on the industry. So thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

Hey, I appreciate you. Thank you for coming.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, my man. Well, have a great day and keep showing up.