Wellness Unplugged
Wellness isn't just about counting calories or hitting the gym. It's a holistic journey that encompasses mind, body, and spirit.
Join me on "Wellness Unplugged" as we go off the beaten path and explore the multi-faceted world of well-being.
With a rotating cast of expert hosts, we'll dive deep into the latest research, trends, and philosophies surrounding overall wellness.
From nutrition and fitness to mental health, spirituality, and everything in between, no stone will be left unturned.
Prepare to have your perspectives challenged and your mind opened as we unplug from the conventional narratives and tap into the raw, unfiltered truths about what it really means to live your best life.
Equal parts informative and thought-provoking, "Wellness Unplugged" is your gateway to a more vibrant, fulfilling existence.
Tune in and join the revolution - it's time to redefine wellness on your own terms.
Wellness Unplugged
A Deep Dive into Authenticity and Ethics
Have you ever felt the weight of social media's gaze upon your self-image, or wondered why your self-worth fluctuates based on likes and hearts? Brittany Ramuno here, and together with Marina, we're unraveling the stark realities of beauty standards in the age of Instagram filters. Our heart-to-heart on Wellness Unplugged reveals the highs and lows of societal validation and its influence on women's self-esteem. We're peeling back the layers of the 'wow factor' to understand how it shapes our perceptions – both of ourselves and others.
As we navigate the complexities of mentorship and education across diverse disciplines, you'll discover how authentic experience and ethical guidance can overshadow the allure of social media clout. Marina and I share valuable insights from our own paths, led by mentors who've imprinted upon us the true essence of expertise. We celebrate the wisdom passed down through real-world practice and the transformational impact it has on both education and client service. This episode is a testament to those who guide us, not by the number of followers they have, but by the depth of their knowledge and the integrity of their coaching.
Lastly, we're bringing to light the ethical quandaries prevalent in the health and fitness industry. The conversation takes a serious turn as we dissect the dangers of misinformed coaching and the responsibility we bear as professionals to know our limits. Together with Marina, I'm sharing stories of small, yet profound victories in health coaching that remind us of the multifaceted nature of wellness. Tune in for an honest exploration of the tumultuous yet rewarding journey toward holistic health, from hormone regulation to lifestyle management, and the unique victories that defy the scale.
Hey y'all, I'm your host, brittany Ramuno. Now, before you get too excited, thinking this is just another podcast about tracking macros and learning which new hot workout will finally make you love yourself, let me stop you there. This podcast exists to rip off the bandaid and go well beyond the superficial. Eat better, move more advice. Because, honestly, who really has their life together after nailing their macros? No one. That's who, and that's why Wellness Unplugged. I'm here throwing open the curtains of all the gnarly cringeworthy stuff we usually keep behind closed doors. So buckle up and get ready to get real. My friends, whether you're tuning in during a workout or hiding in your bedroom calling it a self-renewal break, I'm here with you. Let's unplug from the highlight reels and dive into the glorious, messy scope of adulthood. Welcome to Wellness Unplugged. I'm so glad you're here. We are talking all things bullshit today with my good friend Marina. Hello everyone, hi, hi. How are you gorgeous? How are you?
Speaker 2:I am good. I just need everyone here to know that when Brittany told me that this was video included, I was like fuck, I need to fix myself. So I got my hair in this cute little ponytail for you guys and I put a little bit of hairspray on my curly frizzies here and I'm here, that's all that matters.
Speaker 1:If I could show everyone the before, oh my god, I could literally pull it up on my phone. So scary, hold one sec. This is on video, right, like shit. I'm like, okay, wonderful, yeah, but that actually, that actually puts puts us right in track with topics, right, because I had a photo shoot last week and I had the whole nine. I had the hair, I had the makeup, I had, you know, I was dressed to impress. Not really, I was just dressed in my normal day clothes, but outside of leggings, I was dressed to impress.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and everyone that looked at my story, whether it was on Facebook or Instagram, literally gave me endless amount of love, endless amount of you know, compliments, which I appreciate, right, I love when people acknowledge that I put effort into you know how I look that day. But it begs the question of why do we only compliment women when they have their hair done and their makeup and they're dressed nice Like? Why don't we compliment the women who have a messy ass bun and some sweats and baggy t-shirt on too? What are your, what are your thoughts?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean, like I briefly touched on this before we started recording, but yeah, I do feel that it I see both sides, because then also I could see it from the side of like physique, while a lot of people, like you know, don't get as much love and like appreciation and compliments when they're in their off season, when they have a little bit more body fat, versus when they're, you know, dieting or getting getting ready for a show, where they're leaner, right, um, then everyone is blasting them with love and stuff. So I can, I can see both sides, where it's like people are acknowledging the effort, whether it is the makeup and hair done or whether it is, you know, your physique starting to look more shredded and more defined and stuff. Um, I understand the like, um, acknowledging that effort and stuff, uh, but I don't think it's like inherently a bad thing. But at the same time it's like why don't you give the same amount of love when the makeup isn't on, when the hair isn't done, when there's a little bit more more body fat?
Speaker 1:I have seen some absolutely fucking gorgeous women in off season because they have the extra weight, oh, 100% the curves. It provides the figure in the shape. Like you don't. You shouldn't have to have six pack abs and a flat stomach and you know 10 or 5 body fat to get those compliments, because I'm in my head I'm like yo, you done fucked up your body.
Speaker 2:You need to go refeed yourself and exactly yeah, and I feel like it does have to do with just the extreme of things and that and that wow factor where it's like, again, whether or not it's the hair and makeup or it's either a really jacked physique or a really lean one. Because, I'll be the first to say, when I was at the peak of my push phase and I was really jacked, really round, I looked really broad, like I was getting just as much love as I did if I was like two weeks out from a show because I looked so just like yoked, people were like holy shit. So I think it has more to do with that wow factor. People want to respond because it is so like, well, like this girl's huge or well, this girl's shredded, or well, this girl's makeup and hair looks amazing, you know. So I think it has more so to do with just natural human interaction. When we see something that kind of stops us a bit, we want to say something about it.
Speaker 1:Now do you think that it puts a negative mindset into women that I'm not beautiful if I don't do my hair, my makeup, or I'm not lean or I'm not? You know figure S, if you will.
Speaker 2:I think a hundred percent yes, but that doesn't have to do with other people. It has to do with that girl's how she views herself internally. Like it's not up to you to tell me I'm beautiful in my off season. It's not up to you to tell me I am beautiful without makeup on or, you know, in baggy sweats. It's up to me to find that love for myself and appreciation for myself, you know so. I think, again, it has less to do with how people react and more to do with how someone speaks to themselves, view themselves, because, at the end of the day, like you know this, we don't have anyone truly to sit with throughout our entire life but ourselves. Right, it is you who needs to figure out that internal stuff and learn how to love yourself in every stage, in every phase, in every outfit, in every makeup.
Speaker 1:you know that's true, yeah, I just. I was just like, oh my god, I've gotten such an overwhelming amount of support because I had hair and makeup done where any other given day it's I don't get jack shit and I'm just like like it could. It could ultimately lead me to want to do things with my myself more and present myself a lot better to get the attention.
Speaker 2:But I'm gonna like that's not, that's not me. I was just gonna get into that where I feel like the underlying, I guess, reason why we have these different you know internal reactions to things is simply because of social media. Like this wouldn't be an issue, the attention seeking, getting attention, feeling better, feeling worse wouldn't even be a thing if it wasn't for social media. Like at all Right, if social media wasn't there, you would do your hair and makeup and your husband would still tell you you're absolutely beautiful and like sexy, just as you are Right, and you would feel the same way as you would feel the day prior no hair, no hair done, no makeup in baggy sweats. You know what I'm saying. So it's like I think something that plays a big role in it is just social media in general, the likes, seeing the likes on your story, seeing all the comments coming in, like we do elicit a response chemically, like it's just, it's how we work?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Cause I was like holy shit. Well, if I presented myself like this every day, I feel good Like. I get so much damn track, traction and traffic and attention but I'm like that's not me, Like yeah, Like to curl my hair. I don't wear makeup and I love a good t-shirt and baggy sweats. And now I feel the most confident it's not when I'm dressed up in heels, Cause usually I'm just like it calls attention to me and I'm like abort mission. Abort mission plays abort mission.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I, yeah, I think social media plays a huge role in all of that. And then just a huge like issue into ego feeding, so feeding other people's egos, which I guess can kind of take us into our next topic of like this whole concept, you know, superimpose that on coaches who have egos you. I've met some egotistical coaches you and me both, every other one of them, every other one of them.
Speaker 1:And I don't know if this is a fad or not, and maybe it started before me and it's just I'm still too new in the industry that I'm just now picking up that it's a fad or if it's been around. But what the fuck is up with coaches mentoring coaches left and right, whether you've got five, five months in the game, five days in the game, five weeks but you think you are just so damn good that you have the audacity to want to make money off of other coaches because you think you know everything.
Speaker 2:It's really fucking ridiculous, and you know that they don't know as much as, like we see it. We see it because I think we see right through all this bullshit this is all the bullshit we're getting into is that money? It's the money you, you and I know that like, as the more we know, the more we learn, the more we find out that we don't know Right. So, honestly, the more we get better at our skill, at our craft to me at least the more humble I get, cause I'm like, oh fuck, I still got a lot more to learn. I still got a lot more to learn. So it's like, how do these other coaches even feel like a sliver of? It's not even confidence, cause it's a difference between confidence and ego, right, where it's like you are so ego driven, you clearly have no true understanding or education or just like experience behind you, cause if you did, you by no means would be able to step up to that just yet.
Speaker 1:I mean I've got. I've gone to school for a vast amount of things because every time I, every time I wanted to master something, I went back to school because I'm like I need to learn and I need to become trick of all trades. So I mean psychology, computer science, hacking. I used to learn and I need to become trick of all trades. So I mean psychology, computer science, hacking. I used to do hacking competitions. Actually that's sick, that's cool, criminal justice nursing like I've got them all.
Speaker 1:I did not know that the more you know. Okay, I'm a nerd, I love to learn and I feel like I will never know enough. And even with the amount of education that I have, I'm still like there's no way I could bring myself to mentor someone Exactly.
Speaker 2:And how many years have you been or how many, yeah, how many years have you been specifically educating yourself in the world of like coaching and functional health and stuff?
Speaker 1:Um, educationally, and like do we count reading Cause I read a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course, four years. Yeah, you and me both, exactly so we're like at four years I started doing this.
Speaker 1:Three. I'll say when I started with Blake, I really started diving deep.
Speaker 2:I'll say when I started with Blake, I really started diving deep. Exactly so I started with Tim at Every Color Counts in 2019. Yeah, we love Tim. In 2019, I didn't really start to like educate myself and understand until about, honestly, 2020, once we were, you know, trapped inside. That's when I kind of started to educate myself. Trapped inside, that's when I kind of started to educate myself. And then, more seriously, once I quit my job in 2022, was that was when I started work. Was it 2022?
Speaker 2:No 2023 is when I started mentoring with Austin, I believe, yeah, last year, and I'm still working now. So, like, so, really truly diving into it, like, more specifically towards, you know, actually helping my own clients would be like a year now.
Speaker 1:And and I don't think I'll ever be one to mentor, even despite how much I know, even from like I posted about this book on social media the other day. I cannot tell you how many people were like what is this? You mean nutrients, medication depleting? Yeah, these were coaches.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's crazy. No, and the thing is like Mentor, other coaches. I don't have that book, but like I know the first thing, first thing that I do when I see a medication on a client's intake form, if it's, if it's a psychiatric drug, so if it's an antidepressant, anti-anxiety, I turned to my mom because she is a psychiatrist, so she's always helping me out with all of that. She's great. Or I just go on handy, dandy, google and start to read up on Right and the medication you have to have this book in any way shape or form.
Speaker 2:I just I'm the idea of not even knowing that medications cause these you're.
Speaker 1:you're working with people's nutrition in the simplest of forms you should know this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, to understand how to replenish those deficiencies, right, um, but yeah, no. And like this is something. Speaking about Tim again, cause he's great and he's my partner Like like if it wasn't for him, I literally wouldn't be here, period, but like he's still to this day. He's the most humble man ever. You know him. Like he's so humble. He's been doing this over 10 years now, so every color counts. Like I think officially started in 2013 is like the little uh S established right, 2013, it's 2024. So, almost, you know, 11 years, coming up on 11 years now.
Speaker 2:And he's so educated. He is the you know, epitome of never stops learning. He's always going to different like classes, always signing up for different things, always calling Austin, calling maybe it's Trey, like getting in touch with people who he knows no more than him, but he still, to this day, says I'm not an educator, I can't be, I don't know enough, I'm not one to teach. Yet he is the reason why I'm here. He has taught me so much. He really is. He may not consider him an educator, but he educates. You know what?
Speaker 1:I'm saying he educates the shit. Do you know how many times I've gone to him over the years, even before working with Blake, and I'd be like dude. I need your thoughts on this.
Speaker 1:Like yeah you need your opinion because you know more than I do. Yeah, and I think, sorry, go ahead and and it's. I think that people want to make money and I understand, dude, we all have bills to pay. I, I got four damn kids, I got private school tuition, all all-star cheer, like the bill too, but the it's, like you said, the ego. And if you don't have at least 10 years in this business, like of raw experience, you shouldn't even be stepping foot into a mentorship.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and that is like the like. It doesn't even have to be like I. I believe that, like, formal education of sitting in a classroom isn't the end-all be-all, right, it's a piece of paper, that's exactly, and it's just more so the amount of cases you'll you'll see and come across of in the 10 years. That is how you're gonna be able to then relay what you've learned, relay your experiences and actually teach somebody else, which is what Tim does for me. Again, he's never going to call himself an educator, I think, more so because he doesn't see himself making you know like slides or making you know um documents with like bullet points a fricking genius and he but he educates it Like he has a different way of educating which is just talking right, and that is.
Speaker 2:I've gotten so much out of him, but that's not here nor there. But yeah, over the 10 years you're going to see so many cases and so many different people, so many different experiences. That just then is when you'll be able to then help someone else come across. You know a situation that is, you know, like, kind of like this girl you helped two years ago mixed with this guy that you helped five years ago, and you kind of superimpose that and really guide someone and educate someone through that process. I do not believe that in three, four, five years you're going to ever come across nowhere near enough to help somebody else.
Speaker 1:No, oh God, no, absolutely not. Now, if you, if heaven forbid, there's coaches listening and they're looking for a mentor. If you can name five people, I really only need two, because I know the first three that you're going to name. But give me five, five, let's see. There is a mentor and applicable to fit that role. I don't even think I can think of five.
Speaker 2:So obviously Austin Stout, we got Tim English. Tim doesn't mentor, but he's the kind of guy where you message him room and ask him a question yes, you message him, you can email him. He is always willing to help someone and give his pov. Um trey is really, really great. Actually don kooza in the world of um physique enhancement in his brain too.
Speaker 1:I'm like, oh yeah, he's super, super intelligent.
Speaker 2:He actually, I think he went. He was supposed to be a dentist, I think it was dentist, so was a dentist, he was supposed to do something, obviously out of like not um, yeah, not this um, and then another one five yeah, five.
Speaker 1:I figured you'd say Trey, austin, dom and Tim and Tim. I figured oh my god, you're really stumping me.
Speaker 2:Oh, it could be. Oh my God, what is her name? There's Meredith. I can't remember her last name, but she, I think, mentored with Austin. But then Sarah Ford Bishop. I don't know if she actually mentors, but we had her on our podcast, the Every Calorie Counts podcast. She's very, very educated as well. But those two ladies they actually have their own company, fortify health coaching. They're all about what you and I stand for, so, like female health and um, all of that. They actually have a email what is it called? Like an email email subscription thing, where they send out so much great free information. So that's fortify Health Coaching. I don't know the exact like Instagram, but that's the two of them, meredith and Sarah. They're great, great ladies and that's really off the top of my head.
Speaker 1:I've never had a conversation. I'll have to look into Meredith. I've never heard of her. I have to. If I could name five, I would add to your list because your list is badass, because I'm getting ready to go under. Austin for mentors yes, dog, I start in like two weeks. I gotta check my calendar. Yeah, austin, for sure, trey, I love Trey. Um, I love Tim. Sarah, I followed. I don't know much about her, but I trust your judgment, obviously enough. But I'm a huge fan of, uh, lane, lane norton. Oh, lane norton. Yeah, fucking genius, he's a genius. I heard a lot um, holly baxter, his ex-wife. She, she's a genius.
Speaker 2:I know, holly too, that these are good ones.
Speaker 1:Follow her because she's, I would add, from a training perspective and overall health. I do love Alan Kress. Alan is a freaking mastermind too. Um, I mean, he hired Blake, who's literally saved my life. Blake, who's literally saved my life, got to make sure he doesn't. I don't think he mentors anyone, but he, he is a definite. If you could ever get in the same room as him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I'm sure, like he gives me just like, yeah, like really, what is it? What's the word I'm looking for? Like I don't want to say powerful, because that can sound negative, but he seems like he has that like aura about him or like you can really get. Oh, like he has a lot to give. Is what I'm saying? Yeah?
Speaker 1:yep, I've, I've met him once and I love his wife, nicole, like she's like my bff. Um, but neither here nor there. I would add Alan to that list, holly and Lane for sure. Yeah, if I could Um, I don't think any of them mentor, but if people want content and want actual, correct shit out there, ooh, gary, gary, gary, what is Gary's name? Garyary bretka, I don't know him. Ah, ah, yep, you're gonna want to add him too. Um, he's, he's a piece of work. He is a piece of work. Um, he dives more into like functional and like the m, mft or mthr, and and cancer, and he dives into literally everything. Um, he's a freaking genius too.
Speaker 2:Okay, good to know. Yeah, basically, all of that to say is like, be careful who you hire you invest in, because that is investing in you, you know. So it's like, um, someone who I, I'm thinking of, someone, this is like I'm not going to say the name, obviously, but this, this guy had started, you know, learning from others. He did a lot of. I think he did some of like Austin's, like pre-recorded classes, did some of Jeff Su's pre-recorded classes. Oh, he forgot Jeff too. Jeff is a good one too. Um, but I heard he has a little bit of a different way of teaching.
Speaker 2:Not entirely sure if it's good back, cause we were just talking about this, everyone has a different way of learning, right, um, but I think he's done a bunch of classes from both of them, right, so, has had, you know, good education basis, started coaching not even a year ago and now he's educating.
Speaker 2:So, um, that is like red flag, red flag. Red flag if someone and then at the same time, in the same breath, he's posting stuff like, oh, I need, I need two, two people, one male, one female to to be coached for free, for a testimonial. So it's like doesn't even have any previous history of working with anyone doing is doing things backwards, where it's like I need a client, a potential client, for a testimony. No, previous clients give you testimonials because they love you, because you helped them, you, you know. So it's like I've been seeing this so much where it's like, okay, he chose the right mentors, he chose the right people to learn from, but then, like, just doesn't have the experience or now has this massive ego where now he's edging. It's a big issue. I think you can impose this upon any industry, like, really any business whatever. And I think, again, it's going to come back to social media people thinking they're holier than thou because they're getting more likes, like or getting more comments.
Speaker 1:You know, and and the realist people. One don't have a huge following. Right Two aren't active on social media because they're too damn busy fixing helping people, Yep, and I think there's a huge stigma against that, because it was really hard for me to start getting clients, and in the very beginning because I didn't have a huge following.
Speaker 2:Not even a following, but like a huge. You know huge. What's it called? Like referral, like a referral system you don't have a lot of Now.
Speaker 1:I got a shit ton of that. That's like the worst, exactly.
Speaker 2:But, like, I completely understand, like at the beginning it is hard to get people to trust in you Cause you don't have that foundation. I completely understand. I have been there, um, you know, and I still consider, like I'm still starting off, I still consider myself very early on, you know. So it's like I'm like, yeah, we're both babies here where it's like we don't have the platform that all these people that we look up to have, so we cannot emulate our you know, I guess, marketing tactics or our social media around what these other guys are doing or other girls are doing, because we have a different, uh, we're at a different level, right?
Speaker 2:so it's like we can't compare someone's chapter 30 to our chapter one, exactly exactly so like we do have to, you know, put time into posting and social media and stuff um, because, but with like from a, a really honest point, and like you do this a lot where, like, when you post, you're like I don't know everything, but like this is what I do know, or this is what I was able to help this person with, you know, so like, and that's where I find like.
Speaker 1:I won't ever. You will never and I can say that confidently ever hear me say that I know everything about any topic at all. Ever yeah, but I don't yeah same. There's no way. Even if I can read PubMed all day, go to Austin, go to Jeff, go to Alan, go to whoever I want, and then go back to school for a master's I still don't know. Science changes every other day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's not even about the science changes too.
Speaker 1:It's like every single person is different. Yeah, that's what it comes down to and that that leads us from coaches, you know, mentoring other coaches, because they get content and really good education next to coaches. Oh my god, I I've seen this quite often too, and I don't again.
Speaker 2:Maybe it's because I'm new, that I'm just now learning get my feet, but coaches using the same protocols that help them, yep and this also I see this a lot too, I'm sure you do too, and you may have a few things to say about this is but new coaches advertising their transformation that their coach guided them through for their own coaching. It's literally as if I took it's the same concept, as if I took a whole random person's transformation. I took Brittany's client, the before and after. Hey guys sign up for coaching, look what I did. The exact same fucking concept. All your transformation shows that you can follow somebody else's plan, and the reason why that coach was able to get you from point A to point B is because they made something that was, you know, specifically tailored towards you, based on your progress, your own physique, based on your body, how you respond to, stress all these different things. It will not work for somebody else, it just won't. And if it does, you're just lucky. You're just lucky, right? So, literally, lucky.
Speaker 2:So it's just that blows my mind as well, because it's kind of like two tones, where it's like one side of it is that the person doesn't know any better, they're ignorant, they just want quick money, they want to start making money right. The other side of it is is that I guess it's like both where they're just lazy, like you don't care enough to try to learn, like I can respect someone that is helping somebody else for a really low fee. I'm honestly not one to say coach for free, because I definitely believe people have to have buy-in on both sides, where, like, the coach has a reason to be there and the client has, you know, a reason to want to do things yeah is paying and has something on the line as well, like you need to have skin in the game.
Speaker 2:So maybe you're coaching someone at a very low rate, right, and you're just doing it to figure things out.
Speaker 1:I much rather respect $100 were my first 10 clients 100. That was it. Yeah, she will freaking freak, but $100.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I respect it Like. I much rather hear someone saying hey, I'm going to help you for this very low rate, because I don't know much and I want to learn something, as opposed to taking what their coach did for them and just fucking copying and pasting and I get that people go through their journey and they're like, oh my God, cause I'm, I'm guilty of this, right, I became a coach because of my journey and it fueled my passion.
Speaker 1:Yes, no harm, no foul there ever. You and me both. Yeah, you have to have a why and if your why strong enough, you will succeed. That's what I believe, uh. But guess what I went through? Legit every protocol in the fucking book doesn't mean that that you know any of my clients need to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're and like hey, you can take away a lot, you, you can learn a lot from what you've done in the past, but you still need to look at every person like a blank slate, literally.
Speaker 1:You know, especially from like just the dna. Yeah, yeah, genetically we're two different people, yeah yeah, and it's pretty.
Speaker 2:It's just ridiculous. You know, like people don't want to do the hard work, like again, it can go both ways. It can be a client thing not wanting to do the work, but also coaches like a lot of coaches don't want to do the hard work of trial and error right of taking a client, um, and maybe I don't want to say fucking up because that's like really negative, but like you have to mess up the yeah, like mess up at points so that you can fix it and learn from it.
Speaker 1:You know yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. And it goes into, you know, coaches outsourcing everything yeah, yeah, and that's another.
Speaker 2:Exactly like the lazy, I don't exactly, I don't know if it's like the laziness or not wanting to work, but then to me, how is that fulfilling? Like, okay, it's fulfilling your pocket, but like, at the end of the day, like you're not, what are you getting out of it? Like everyone knows, every human like, deep in their core, money is not everything. It doesn't solve. Okay, it may solve, like your financial issues, duh, but like I mean, I mean it doesn't solve. Like we all need to do something that fuels us not financially like energetically.
Speaker 1:Three hobbies. You need three hobbies one that pays you, one that's creative and one that moves your body. There you go, Three.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and it's like, like it just doesn't. It doesn't make sense to me, Like how do you outsource everything? I don't know, Like, what the fuck is the point of that?
Speaker 1:You're just a face, like you're just a face and you don't own that. Hey, I'm going to tell my clients that I'm really doing absolutely nothing. Um, I'm outsourcing your training. I'm outsourcing your your meal plan to an RD, and I'm outsourcing like you're just a face, it's just. How does it even work? Like like you're a fraud, almost like you're fake, but that like how does that on it like shut up?
Speaker 2:I'm like curious. Like how does that work like do the clients check in with them and then they send the check in to the RD, send the check in to the trainer?
Speaker 1:I don't know how this works, but in my head this is how it works, because I don't outsource anything, yeah, but I would imagine that the client is checking in with the person. That's the face, the face, yeah, and then the face is going to the two opposite ends.
Speaker 2:Maybe even three, because there could be maybe a functional health professional who will help with protocols or whatever the fuck. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:But I know people that do this and I'm like at least be honest with the person that's paying you and be like this isn't me doing this, this, this is me taking credit and me paying someone and again.
Speaker 2:I would respect that, because at least then you're open about being like hey, I'm taking these three brains to help you, that's okay. I honestly find that that's fine, oh okay, yeah, I posted.
Speaker 1:I went on a rant about this a couple of weeks ago because I had just learned that outsourcing was a thing and I was just like, well, that was it. And I know coaches that outsource and I respect one of them very highly. I actually had interviewed with her when I first started coaching because I didn't think I wanted to do something on my own.
Speaker 1:I wanted to just help people yeah um, and she legit took that post, um that I made and resaved me, reshared. It was like, hey y'all? By the way, I work with a functional medical practitioner and nurse at you know, np, that orders all of my things and reads all of my tests and I'm like, thank you, yeah, that's awesome. No, in outsourcing, the shame is you're not being upfront with people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and even like although I am, you know, very on my own with all my clients, like they're checking in with me. I make the updates on their plan. It's like me, me, me. The first thing I say when someone inquires is I work very closely with Tim. He's my partner. Everything that I may either have an issue with or have a question with it goes through him. Like being open about that. Where it's like I work closely with Tim, you're not just working with me, cause, in a way like not that I feel I don't feel guilty, that's not the word, but I always want to be open and honest. Where it's like, it's like hey, if I think, a little extra reassurance, because sometimes it may be, um, people might side eye, like oh, there's like 24, I'm 24, I was gonna say 23. This 24 year old girl is like helping, you know, a 35 year old mom of two. Like like no, I have a lot of extra support behind me, plus Austin too, right?
Speaker 1:Tim's old, he's got life experience.
Speaker 2:No, I'm just kidding, yeah but it's like people shouldn't be one ashamed of being open and honest about who they work with, whether or not that other person is doing everything or if they're only talking to those people for a little extra help here and there. Because, if anything, it empowers me, it makes me feel like a lot more.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you and I've had some doozies and I'm flat out honest, I'm like I have no idea. But let me ask Me too and I will get back to you. I think that's the most respectable. It makes one I feel like clients will trust you more to. It empowers you to then say you know, hey, I don't know everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I need help, Exactly, and that's what I do, Like when I get maybe trickier labs, I'm like, all right, hold on, let me hop on a call with Tim, let me hop on a call with Austin, and I'll give you a full synopsis later, because I'll start off with hey, we got this, we got that, but I'm not going to give you like a whole finalized spiel until I'm 100% sure what I'm seeing is correct or wrong, honestly right yeah, and, and I want to.
Speaker 1:I want to make sure we're clear. I'm not talking about outsourcing social media and outsourcing a virtual assistant. Oh yeah, no, it's the actual like skill, like the skill coaching that we're talking about sour. You're outsourcing your functional protocols. You're reading your blad blad work, lab work. You're, you know, pulling out training from someone else or whatever protocols you have for that person and you're not physically doing them all by yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and then that kind of like brings up the whole idea of then this kind of is very similar to what we're talking about. Just people, coaches saying that able to read lab work, read GI maps, read Dutch testing, and this you know, coach X is telling them they have SIBO and really they just don't. It's just an intestinal permeability thing, right.
Speaker 1:It's happening so often.
Speaker 2:And then same with with me. I have girls come to me from other coaches saying, oh, like I don't have my period, but so-and-so coach told me that it's fine because my progesterone is fine. Their progesterone is 0.2 and estrogen is 20.
Speaker 1:So it's like, like those are made up numbers, not a real example. No, it's a real example.
Speaker 2:So it's so it it concerns me because then it's like, at this point you are damaging other people's health or other people's like process where you're saying you can do something you think you can and who, like, aren't educated or aren't at that point where you know they can read things properly, but at the same time you have to be able to take accountability of, like, what you know and what you don't know and my and my other favorite is if they're saying that they read blood work and they're looking at the fucking ranges.
Speaker 1:No, it's just like I'm, like you might. I might as well just go to my pcp. He could do the same damn thing.
Speaker 2:Congratulations, I will say like it depends which ranges from which lab like lab corps have gotten better, um, but regardless, like you need to understand, like each person individually has their own healthy range as well, like it's not just about how the standard American is sitting, because the standard American is very unhealthy.
Speaker 1:That's like my, one of my original like OG coaches I had, you know, I had thyroid issues and I got blood work done all the time by my doctor and you know he told me that he could read blood work too and I shit you not. He was every time. It's cool, it's cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they always because it's because it's not. It's not red right, but if you open it up you're at the bottom of of an, an already skewed lower range.
Speaker 1:So so, guys, if you can't read Bloodwork, don't lie about it, because it will come out.
Speaker 2:Or at least if you think that you can get a second opinion, like do ask Austin for his opinion, ask Tim for his opinion.
Speaker 1:You know Austin and Tim did not sponsor this podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, literally, we're just blowing smoke up their ass I love it.
Speaker 1:I'll. I'll have to be like. I'll have to tag them, be like they sponsored this. This is all. We're just boasting them. No, I'm just kidding, yeah, but but yeah, I mean in the.
Speaker 1:I feel like everything I've written down we've touched on dude, my, my only other favorite, my only other favorite topic that we haven't touched on, and it's I've noticed this before I was a coach, because my brother competes and I've got friends that compete, and now I just noticed it even more that coaches don't give a fuck about putting someone on a stage. Yep, it's all about the Benjamins. And how fast can I get money from this person to put them on stage, knowing damn well they need to grow?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and this is like a really nuanced topic for sure, because on one side it's like for me, I do want to get people on stage. I haven't gotten anyone on stage yet, but I kind of struggle with that. It's not even about money. I have that struggle with that idea of like, hey, I want the experience of getting someone on stage yet, but I kind of struggle with that. It's not even about money. I have that struggle with that idea of like, hey, I want the experience of getting someone on stage, I want to put someone through a prep, but I'm never going to get that person. Or, as of right now, I'm not going to get that person.
Speaker 2:That is like super ready for it, is a genetic freak, has the muscle already, you know, has the muscle density, has the shape. So it's like, regardless, doesn't matter if I want to put someone on stage for experience or if I want to put someone on stage because they're going to do well. Regardless, either way it's going to take time. If you rush something, it is never going to play to either party's advantage, right? The client isn't going to be happy because they're not going to do well and the coach isn't going to be happy because they're not going to do well.
Speaker 1:So it's like and I understand wanting to it goes back to you know, doing things for you know, for a small fee and because you want the experience. But at what point is there? Because I don't, I don't work with prep clients, it's not my thing. Um, at what point do you do people say okay, flat out, you're not ready like a lot of people I, so I've definitely gotten to that point.
Speaker 2:Sorry, did I?
Speaker 1:cut you off, you're good go ahead.
Speaker 2:Okay, I got to that point where I have, I want to say, I've had like five competitors or wannabe competitors come to me and the first thing I tell them is that you're not ready, right, especially with the whole idea of wellness versus bikini. They come to me I want to be wellness, babe, you're not even big enough, muscular enough for bikini. I'm sorry, I'm sorry to break it to you. So I have had that conversation a lot throughout the past few months, because you know starting in like October is kind of when, a lot throughout the past few months because you know starting in like October is kind of when a lot of people start to look for a coach for 2024, for, for, for prep.
Speaker 2:So I've had that conversation frequently, right, frequently here, where it's like, hey, it's, it's, it's a process, right, muscularity wise, you're not ready, but we can get the lifestyle going and we could even get you on stage, even though you're small, just to see if you like it, because you're young and stuff. So it's like I want you to be able to actually get stage lean, which I'll get you there, so you can also see how much muscle you have to put on, right, yeah, and maybe we just do you know the novice, true novice, whatever so that you can get your feet wet and also just see how much more you have to grow, or if you actually give a fuck, we'll wait a year, two years, have you actually put on some muscle and actually do really well? So it's like I just have had that conversation so often where it's like you're not ready, you're just not. You're not ready, muscularity wise and lifestyle wise, you're not. You're not there.
Speaker 1:I have quite a few friends who just started prep, their first prep between last year and this year. And again, I don't know if it's because I'm I'm not this is not my area in any way, shape or form but I can look at a body and know who's ready versus who's not. And none of five girls, five of my friends, I love them to death. So if you know this is you, I love you. Just know that I love you. Have no business stepping on a stage. They have zero shape, they have a shit lifestyle and they need time. And coaches are like, yeah, let, yeah, let's go yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm like like why? Why would? Yeah, I don't understand why to throw someone on stage knowing that they won't place? Well, because I've been to a lot of competitions, I understand there is there are some women out there who put the time in yeah, one woman. Oh my god. I went to a. I went to my brother's competition last year and I know this is a little rant. She was in the, she was 35 and that woman is my life goal because, holy shit those, yeah, those masters competitors like because 35 is technically masters.
Speaker 1:They're incredible, like I was, so good, like fucking cool, and she went, she went to I guess it goes junior nationals, then nationals, right well, it would.
Speaker 2:Just once you do your you know qualifier, then you can go to a national level well, she did.
Speaker 1:She did her first thing and then I I followed her and we started going back and forth because I'll take your gorgeous, I loved you. Uh, that next three weeks later she was a national and won that. Yeah, go off to. I guess you go to pro next yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So once, once you win I think it depends on which in six months exactly. So it depends which um national show you do. Most of them is like the first or yeah, top, yeah, first place in your class turns pro, and I think it is junior gnats that it is the top top four overall term pro.
Speaker 1:So um it depends which one. But I asked her I'm like, is this your first show? It was her second show and she hasn't done another show it. She waited five years. Yeah, that's how like, that's true, and I like you are the epitome of perfection.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then like going back to someone that is a really respectable coach that I respect, someone that other coaches can look up to, especially if you want to be more so in the bodybuilding realm, don Pooza. He's always if you listen to our episode with him on the Every Calorie Counts podcast he preaches long off seasons and just waiting until someone is actually ready to do well, cause there's no point in rushing it Right. So he's like he has people having three plus year off seasons being on point for those three years, because if you do it that way, it actually goes by. You get there faster, you know. So it's like then these people are boom, boom, boom, pro and I'm like holy, yeah, they're getting on stage after three year, four year off seasons, win and overall win their pro card and you, at the end of the day, you're saving money because every single time you compete it's a shit ton of money I know the prices of them, bikinis, yeah exactly posing alone.
Speaker 1:That shit is expensive as hell.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, no, it is right. So all of it's just like again. It goes back to the ego. It goes back to wanting to climb the ranks very quickly and not, you know, coaches not wanting to put in the time and forcing their clients to put in the time as well, so that you can get that big win, you know.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's, at the end of the day, it's about the win and about how well someone places. In my opinion, yeah, I don't think we should just throw people on a stage to throw them on, agreed, it could be the worst experience of their entire life because they're like well, I came 10th out of you know five people 10 out of five people?
Speaker 1:no, actually yeah, but yeah, I'm just like it. It plus it's so expensive to compete like it's thousands to just want to do it like, oh, you don't want to mess your body up and that's what I tell every again, every single person that inquires about um prepping.
Speaker 2:that's what I say. It's like this it takes more than what you think, a lot more goes into it than what you think. It's not healthy, it's, it's an extreme sport and it takes a lot like. And then I lay it down. I'm like I'm not trying to scare you, but I'm also trying to scare you a little bit, cause it's not. It's not a lighthearted thing, it's not a bucket list thing. Cause it's not. It's not a lighthearted thing, it's not a bucket list thing.
Speaker 1:Okay, now it's my bucket list thing. Okay.
Speaker 2:It shouldn't be. It shouldn't just be a bucket list thing.
Speaker 1:I look okay, it's still left on my. It's not that it's a bucket list, it's. It's left on my to-do list because years ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly See. I rather like as long as there's intention and like reasoning behind it. I think it's. You know, it's a great thing, as opposed to I just want to do it for fun, like it's not something you do for fun.
Speaker 1:it's not something you want to drive your body into like 900 calories with a shit ton of cardio and lifting, like that's not yeah that's. That's. That's not fun. When you just have no sex drive you can't. You can't think, you can't. Rain fog yeah yeah, but it is like my bucket. I still count it as a bucket, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's me to do. It's more than that, though, for you. You know what I'm saying. Again, there are people coming to me at the age of my age. It's just a bucket list. No, why Like? Why it's like not fun.
Speaker 1:See, I have the mentality around competing, that I want to be able to push my body to the absolute extreme and see how it performs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, bodies are a machine at the end of the day, and that's why I ask people they're why I'm like so wait, why do you want to do this like? Why, like, tell me why you want to compete, and then when I hear, well, I just, you know, want to try it.
Speaker 1:See if it's for me that's because they see all the sponsorships, the fame, the fact they want the glitz and glam the hair and makeup done.
Speaker 2:It looks so fun and pretty. No, like my why is similar to yours. It's more so like because it's like I want to prove myself wrong, because deep down I still have that like doubtful thought where it's like you can't do that. You can't actually do it. So then when I actually do it every day, I'm like watch this bitch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, I mean mine beyond the. You know, I want to push myself with my kids yeah, showing them that like. I. I said it's a superpower. It's not even that it's. I said I was going to do something. It got taken from me. So I waited patiently, put the right work in and then I finally did it and at the end of the day I said what I was going to. I did what. I love that. Yeah, I love that. What I forget. What I said I love that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that. What I forget? It Did what you said you were going to do. Thank you, yeah, exactly, I love it.
Speaker 1:I love it. My husband's like do you really want to do this? Do you really want to do it? That's literally me, though. I'm like, do you really want to? I'm like, yeah, as soon as, like gives me the fucking green light. This is true, very true, true. But yeah, any other topics I know we hit all of our topics.
Speaker 2:That was great, that was fantastic.
Speaker 1:I was underprepared, really, really good. Do you have any like hard cases or hard clients right now?
Speaker 2:currently. I mean I told you this like I'm working with a lot of females fresh off of birth control, so every girl again is their own situation. I have like half of them already period back and stuff, but I do have one that we're still waiting for the period. So that one's pretty. I wouldn't say it's tough. It's just that harder part where it's kind of like a waiting game. It's a little bit boring right now.
Speaker 1:So are you in the are you in the and I'm so. Are you in the? Are you in the, and I'm sorry. Are you in the phase of trying to figure out if they'll go androgen dominant or estrogen, or where the hormones or lies at your boring phase per se?
Speaker 2:Yes, and no, because it's like first, like before, so we get labs before we pull the birth control, and then we pull the birth control, see, let the body do its thing, and then I like to get labs after two cycles of, yeah, birth control. So right now it's kind of kind of yes and no where it's like, because I don't really know where they're going to lean towards. Uh, but this girl specifically, I suspect she's going to be a little bit more androgen dominant because she had that IUD in Um or I mean, who knows if she crashes then Like, like, like, I don't know, because I like to wait until two cycles for blood works. I literally don't know. But for me the boring phase is lifestyle is in line. Yeah, we have reduced stress dramatically, we're in a good rhythm. We're eating well, we're sleeping well, everything is like we're doing all that we can do stress dramatically. We're in a good rhythm, we're eating well, we're sleeping well, everything is like we're doing all that we can do. Now we just wait for a bleed, you know.
Speaker 1:So it's like we're just waiting for the redheaded stepchild to come visit you. Exactly, you're just like.
Speaker 2:so that is where I'm at um. Besides that, I don't have really any tough, tough cases. I mean, today actually, I'm sending out a new plan for a girl that she was actually in my sorority in college. Yes, I was in a sorority, I did this. I see you being a sorority girl. Oh yeah, very, very much was not like I was the one that didn't go to anything, always studying because engineering, oh, yeah, engineering, you were never mind, you were a book nerd.
Speaker 2:I had it wrong yeah, like I wasn't very sorority, so I disaffiliated. Like two years in or something, maybe a year and a half in, after my first show, actually, I was like you know what fuck this? I'm like I like to sleep and eat, um, so what was I saying? Okay, so onboarding this new girl? Um, she has a previous history of like gut stuff, um, all the gut stuff like had eczema, really bad flare-ups, but once she moved it all went away. So she was like I suspected it was a mold thing, environment thing, um, so she might be tough, because who knows what will arise, right, so that one's going to be cool. I'm sending her her plan out today, um, but no, I really can't think of any like really tough ones right now. Dude, what about you?
Speaker 1:Um, I had one, she we were working through pulling her off of her PPIs, and it's probably one of my favorite things to do, cause I've done it so much so frequently because so many people are on it. I'm like, so why? Well, I had acid reflux and GERD symptoms. I'm like, so you want to ruin it even more? Oh yeah, so so I think it works.
Speaker 1:My other one is a really tough migraine client. So she came to me on about 2000 milligrams of pain medication and, yes, 2000 milligrams of multiple different painkillers, not even just and she's. She came to me. She's done, you know, staying at the clinic in jefferson for 30 days to get monitored for her migraines. Like she's traveled the entire world to get her her, more her migraines, and I'm the only one so far me, me. This is why you research the hell out of shit. She is down. More than half of her painkillers are gone, nice, and she is like living how I don't. I started with like a heavy metals thing, because usually heavy metals we still haven't. She hasn't done her hormones, so I've been begging her for like hormone blood work for like the last like three or four months now. I'm like girl, we need to know this because it could that. You know, 25 could be your hormones and I need to fix them. Yeah, so, fingers fucking crossed, I'm just like, please, please, please, give me your hormones.
Speaker 2:That's awesome that's awesome how much you are able to remember.
Speaker 1:I just want to fix your hormones and get you off medicine, because then I'm gonna have to go put you through a gut protocol to fix it. Yeah, yeah exactly but yeah, um, those are my two hard cases. Everyone else is kind of kosher. Um, I have one that's getting ready to start her first deficit, three actually. I mean they've been with me for almost a year now, exactly.
Speaker 2:Same. I actually have, you know a few starting their first deficit with me. And same thing They've been with me for an extended period of time before even beginning to touch a deficit.
Speaker 1:That's like the one I just posted the other day. She's lost almost 50 pounds and she's never been in a fat loss phase. Yeah, never. We've been together since the end of June. She's never been in a fat loss phase. That's how much her lifestyle fix and I'm just like imagine imagine that. But yeah, I mean other than that. I've got. I've got like 15 new client calls in the next two weeks.
Speaker 2:I'm like awesome it yeah, I thought things would start to like die down, because usually, like around summertime, it dies down for us.
Speaker 2:I don't know about you, how your um, I guess seasons are, I don't have one yet, but I mean I'm a year in in May okay, true, yeah, so for me it's like usually when the sun starts to get brighter, you know, and weather starts to get better, um, especially living near the Jersey Shore, like a lot of people like to go party, go out in the Jersey Shore and stuff, no one's really focusing on their health anymore. So things start to start to come down as far as inquiries go, but it's still still picking up right now, which is like cool, you know, I'll have it. I'm grateful, I love it.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, it's the opposite, like, yeah, I get the Jersey shore life because I've lived that life. Yeah, so everyone goes to Sea Isle. Let's be real, before the Jersey Shore was popular, true, but I would have thought, with things getting, you know, the sun coming, the?
Speaker 2:summer People want to get in shape. But no, I don't know if it's maybe just this area.
Speaker 1:I don't know, damn tri-state area man, I don't know Exactly it needs to go, but yeah, I, I didn't have anything else. I appreciate your time, of course. Yeah, I think always and as always, if people want to reach out to you because you are awesome just as I am, where can we find you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can find me on Instagram at Marina Pietri fit. That's Marina, like a boat doc. And then Pietri is P I E T R I fit, just F I T and you can fill out. Fill out the form in my bio, that little google forms for an inquiry. I also would like you guys to check out my episode with britney on my podcast. It's called grow like a girl um. So she's been on my podcast. We had a really good conversation about her, her journey, um went into, of course, like the woman's reproductive health industry and all of that. So, yeah, I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 1:Girl, thank you. Like we got this, I might. We might just need to nix both of our podcasts and just do a co-hosted podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was gonna say, like I want you back on mine, I'll be back on yours. Like it can be like a thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we just need to hop back and forth and be like yo. Yeah exactly. We have good, good rhythm here that's because we're on the same wavelength. Now we need to add sarcastic. It's a little sarcasm. So we got Tim in the mix. We'll have to bring he's coming on mine later um, I think a couple weeks. Because I'm like Tim, I love you good, I'm excited for that one dude, I'm like oh shit, you guys get to hear from Tim.
Speaker 2:Eventually you can have Austin on too.
Speaker 1:Get everyone on here look, I'm just gonna slow. I have try coming on. Oh yeah, I'm working up that ladder. I'm awesome, right, austin's next. He doesn't know, I'll talk next. He doesn't know, I'll talk to him. He doesn't know, though. Oh, he'll know in about a couple of days when I'm like hey, by the way, this is my intake and I want you to come on my podcast please.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's good, but yeah damn. So a lot to look forward to on your podcast.
Speaker 1:I've. I have authors coming on. Mindset coaches, romantic intimacy coaches Ooh I. Mindset coaches. Romance intimacy coaches oh, I want to hear that one. Um sobriety coaches, um I, I have literally people from all over the world. That's awesome of all different, like walks of life. So trauma coming in. I have somatics coming in, like everything that you could think of that's wellness related. We're talking about it and it's not going to be.
Speaker 2:Make sure everyone listening, make sure you're subscribed, please, and thank you.
Speaker 1:I'm not doing the. How do you read a food label? No, no, we're diving deeper here. We are not at that surface level. Bullshit, Love it Not my vibe.
Speaker 1:I love it. I want to thank you for coming, of course. Thank you, you, as always, sharing your incredible vulnerability and authenticity, because 101 that is you. But for those who have you, who are tuning in, I hope, this conversation, especially coaches if you are a coach, listening please, please, please, please, heed the advice of if you're going to pay a mentor, research them. If you're going to pay a coach, make sure, if they say they can read blood, work that they actually can. And remember we are all works of progress, doing the best we can, day by day. So be gentle and if anything resonated with you, leave a review, share the episode, reach out to either one of us, because we are always here to talk. Other than that, guys, till next time. I appreciate y'all. Bye, guys.