Lifted by the right People : the Power of Presence , Not Just Volume

In this episode of Strength in Numbers, Katie Halfpenny Dunford shares the truth about what it means to be in the right room with the right people — and how mentorship rooted in care, not hype, can change everything.

From her journey training with Tonal to the impact of Coach Joe’s steady, purpose-driven guidance, Katie opens up about why the loudest voices in the fitness world aren’t always the most helpful. She dives into how surrounding yourself with people who truly want to see you grow can silence the chaos, clear the confusion, and elevate you in ways that go beyond physical strength.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the noise of social media or unsure who to trust on your fitness journey, this episode is your breath of fresh air.

🧭 What you’ll hear:

• Why the right people help you rise
• The difference between volume and value
• How mentorship helps quiet the noise
• Why real care always speaks louder than hype

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Transcript

0:00

Hey friends. Welcome back to another episode of Strength in Numbers, where we talk about building more than just muscle. We build strength and mindset and community and in purpose. Today's episode, I'm super excited to talk about, we're gonna talk about community, we're gonna talk about the power of being lifted up by people, and we're also at the end, we're gonna get into some of my tonal wishlist items that I would love to see on tonal. So today, first, we're gonna talk about what it means to put yourself in rooms with people who lift you, how the right mentors and coaches can change everything, not just for your workouts, but for your life. There's a lot of noise out there, a lot of yelling, flexing, and do this or else energy in the fitness space. But today, I wanna remind you, the loud doesn't mean wise. Volume doesn't equal value. And the people who truly change us, they do not need to shout. They just show up and they care. So let's start here. Have you ever walked into a space, maybe a gym or just a small group? Group chat and instantly felt lifted. I hope you said yes, because I know I said yes to myself just now. Like these people see me. These people are about something deeper than trends and numbers. These people want more for themselves and for you and so many others. That's why that's what it means to put yourself in a room with inspiring people. You don't have to be the strongest, the smartest, or even the most confident one in that moment. You just have to be in that room because when you are and when that room is full of people who are aligned with growth, heart, and purpose, you rise too. Whether it's one-on-one, on a platform like tonal, you're in, you're, you're in your day-to-day life, maybe. The room shape, the room that you are in, shapes how high you're going to go. So for me, I found that room through Tonal, and more specifically, I found it with Joe, coach Joe. This isn't about idolizing a coach, you know, it's about finding someone who walks with you. Joe has never been the one to shoot accolades or throw things at a wall and see what sticks. He's never sold hype. He's always spoken with intention. He always coaches from a caring heart and he doesn't do things for cliques. And you know, when I've been through things like real, things like my skin cancer and setbacks and doubts, that has shaken me to my core. I didn't need noise. I needed someone who was steady and someone who was gonna be consistent and always be there if I ever had a question. Having a coach like Joe reminded me that being seen doesn't always mean being so loud. Sometimes it's the quietest feedback, the smallest encouragement or a moment, you know, someone just holds space for your doubt. That changes everything. So let's talk about that noise for a second. Social media, you know, we got fitness influencers, even the wellness world. It's so full of volume. People talking to hustle, shred, transform in 30 days, look, you know, look like them. Do this to get the banging booty. Do what they do, you know? And it's exhausting and confusing, especially if you're just getting started.'cause I know that's how I felt. That's where mentorship happens. It matters. Having someone who actually cares about your journey, it's not their ego. It's about you. You are their business card. That's how you learn to silence the noise. Not all advice is wisdom. Not all loud voices are leaders. You have to ask, who are the people that make me feel calm and not chaotic? Who speaks truth not just on trend? At the end of the day, care is what cuts through. Amen to that. When someone truly cares about your goals, your growth, and your wellbeing, I, trust me, they show up differently for you. They don't overload. They don't overlook you. They guide you. They give you grace when you need it, but they challenge you when they know that you're ready. And that's what a great coach, mentor, or community does. They help you get that strong, not just shredded. They build you up without breaking you down. So if you're listening today and you're stuck, overwhelmed by all the voices online trying to find, you know that quote unquote right path, let me tell you this, go where care is. Stay in the rooms where people speak with purpose and trust those who walk alongside you, not ahead of you yelling back at you. So here's your challenge for this week. I know this week is almost over, but let's, we'll do it for next week. Okay? Take inventory of your room. Take inventory of the room you are sitting in right now. Who is in your ear? Who is in your corner? Are you surrounding yourself with people who lift or people who drain? And if you are in that in-between space, still looking for, you know, a coach or a community, that's okay. That is okay. Just promise yourself this. You won't settle for volume when you deserve value. Let me repeat that take, let me repeat that again. Do not settle for volume when you know you deserve value, you won't mistake loudness for leadership, and you'll keep seeking out those who want to see you win for the right reasons. Man, that was a good, I enjoyed that. So now we're going to kind of turn the page and talk about some tonal wishlist items that I've been wanting to talk about. And you guys have always asked me, Katie, what are some stuff that you would like to see on tonal? Because you know, I'm not too much into the AI world. You guys know, I find it creepy. Which is totally fine. Some people love it. Some people are so excited about it and I'm happy for them. That's one thing we have to like, you know, turn the page on with some things is everything is not going to be for you, but there's, it's gonna be for somebody. And if it's somebody that somebody is excited in the um, official tunnel community, man, I'm so happy for them. So a couple things I would like to see. In, on or off tonal is, I would like to see maybe the page, maybe halfway point, you know, 50 50 conversa conversation about muscle building for women in our forties. I would love, love, love, love tonal. Okay, A bro split. Let's call it muscle Mommy. Let's call it Muscle Mommy program. That's a split, a bro split. Same workouts each week, but a muscle Mommy four week program. I would love it to be live, but that is definitely on my wishlist. Um, also on my wishlist is a tag team. Uh, class with Akeem and Tanisha Renee. I've been asking for that for, gosh, I don't know, I think two years now. That has been on my wishlist, along with Power Build three. Definitely those two have been at the top of my wishlist because I feel like that that tag team needs to happen. It needs to happen for my soul. It needs to happen for my heart. So hopefully that might happen. But Power Build three would definitely be at the top of my wishlist. Maybe a Christmas gift, maybe. I don't know. I do ask for it a lot in emails on the tonal screen, in Messenger, on Facebook, Instagram, they're gonna get tired of me, so hopefully maybe one day. I don't care if it's just two weeks, I don't care. I'll repeat the two weeks, but get Joe to write it. Get Joe to write it. I'm telling you because Ah, did you guys see, speaking of Joe, did you see on his Instagram, he, it looked like he was doing Arrow to push up. I wonder how that feels. I bet you it feels gnarly. I was kind of excited about that. I was like, oh, is Joe programming arrow to pushup? I wonder how that would go. Probably crazy. Um, another wishlist would be, you know, more muscle, like I said, with muscle building. I would love more talk with that with women and less about lean dumb and, you know, leanness and lean that like, I get it, you know, maybe I'm the small percentage of tonal members that are wanting to put on muscle and size for a woman. I don't know. I don't see this, you know, I don't know the numbers that tonal sees, but that's just something I would like to see.'cause sometimes as somebody that has come from my background, from over exercising and trying to be my smallest self, not that I get triggered by the lean word, um,'cause I don't, you know, I don't get bothered by anything. But at the same time I'm like, how would that affect me? Now, if I was still the same as I was then like I would, I think I, I don't think I would've been able to make the, the mind shift change if it weren't for Joe and Coach Ash when I first started, when they were talking about taking up space. And I wish more of that conversation would be coming up again. Um, especially with perimenopause and needing more muscle and size. You know, to protect our bones and so on. So that is one thing. Um, Akeem, I would love more, more Akeem, just more akeem, more muscle building live programs. He, please don't give him classic, please don't give Akeem classic. Like he, he needs, he needs, we need him in live programs. So that is one thing. And then the live schedule, I would love those nighttime classes, popups to come up again because I do enjoy being able to see all my friends on the leaderboard.'cause um, I don't know if you guys got on Coach Casey's run class, but that was so epic. That was so epic. I was just like, giddy. Ear to ear. And Casey looked like she wanted to run through the screen and hug every single one of us. And I was here for it. I was there for it. It was so good. So definitely more of those, um, for more options, especially if people can't make the regular time of the live classes. I mean, when it comes down to the lives, I would love them to bring back the live programs again. Like how they did, what was it three years ago? Would love that. But I don't see that happening, so that's okay. Another thing. A dream. It is a dream. We're allowed to dream, right? We can, because maybe if we put it on the atmosphere, stuff happens. Right? That's how I've, it's worked for me lately. I would love if Tonal gave members, you know, maybe an early access to programs to give feedback on. Like for me personally, I would love to be Joe's personal programmer trial person. Like I would love to be, uh, that person that runs through the programs and then give him feedback and like how I felt and kind of like a week to week update and like, oh my gosh, that would be so awesome. I would so go for that. But that's a dream tonal. I'll do it for free, I'll do it for, I work for cheap, but it would be so awesome, uh, to kind of like, especially, you know, with Joe's programming and you know, I'm always interested to see how their brains work and I think it's incredible. Seeing people who like to program and like my friend Leah, who loves to program, I love hearing the thought process behind the programming and why they do something and so on and so forth. So I find that incredibly interesting. So I love to pick people's brains about certain things. Another thing, I need kamikaze, uh, sequence to come back up in a program. It has been a hot minute. Tonal. Kamikaze hasn't come up since Pyramid pumped two. She needs to make an appearance again, Joe. Let's make it happen. So I think that's about it for all my wishlists. I think so. I mean, it, it truly is, you know, tonal brings so many things to, um, us that are new. Um, whether it be for me or for somebody else, I'm truly excited for, you know, for people. Um, you know, oh, that's it. Breath work with Casey and Pilates with Coach T more. Shelby. What else? I know there's more. I should have taken notes. But I, I truly believe that tonal does listen. Um. And I think that sometimes people get upset when certain things, you know, they do certain things and they're like, why would you do that? Doesn't make sense. Well, there has to be a reason Tonal sees stuff that we don't, and that's kind of like when I make my wish list and stuff doesn't happen, I'm like, okay, they must see something I don't like. There must be more people who want lean programs than women wanting muscle building. Which is I, I'm totally cool. Like I will take the same programs over and over again. I love boredom. I will live in boredom. I'll take the same programs over and over again, but I, I would just like to see the conversation happening more. Um, so that's kind of like my tonal wishlist and it's, uh. I think it's, I, I don't think it's too crazy out there. Maybe being Joe's trial, like programming person's kind of crazy, but you never know. Throw stuff at the wall and see what happens. Um, so I truly appreciate you guys taking the time to listen to my podcast. And, you know, give me feedback on, you know, my pod, my podcast, and I just wanna say thank you from the bottom of my heart for showing up for episodes. And whether you're just listening now or been here since day one. And you've just found my show, your support and your messages. They mean the world to me. This podcast was just built from a passion of wanting to share my thoughts and my love for the tonal community and the tonal coaches, and. I'm hoping that something resonates with you along this journey. You guys are not just listeners. You're part of my journey and a part of this whole journey, and this community, and this movement. I am beyond grateful to grow and get stronger alongside you guys and learn from everyone. So thank you for listening today's podcast and I'll see you guys next week on Strength in Numbers.