Speaker 1: 0:02

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Train for a Great Life. I meet with a lot of people wanting to get fit, change their lives, potentially join Outlaw. Sometimes they are wanting to know what makes you different than Jim XYZ, and maybe that's another CrossFit gym, or maybe an F45, orange Theory bootcamp, wherever. It's a bit of a can of worms question for me and, to be completely honest, I don't want us to be compared to other gyms, even though I totally get what they're getting at, and maybe this is kind of where this is going to go. So oftentimes I'll just kind of turn things around and like ask them, what are you actually looking for? And then we can see if we can address those needs In my head, like what lens are we looking through? So let me actually give you a few different takes on this, which I would never actually use as my answer, and be forewarned, this could be a bit of a ramble, but you're already listening, so why stop now? Which I think is going to be the new ad for this podcast? So we're a one of one, we're not a franchise, and that means a bunch of things. It means that we have way more control of how the gym operates which can be a good thing or a bad thing Much how you'd walk into very different dentist offices or auto shops and think to yourself there's a level of trust here, these guys do great work or a feeling of don't touch my face, don't touch my car. It's got that like mom and pop feel we know everybody by name. We have our Christmas tree up way too long and we let coach Brendan do Nickelback Thursdays because, even if you hate it, it's still kind of fun.

Speaker 1: 1:46

My favorite businesses in every industry are never the franchises. They're always one of ones that you find, sometimes by accident, and just build a relationship with over the years. You know, getting to know the owners, getting to know the staff and just building that relationship. For many, a franchise, especially in the fitness industry, may be the clear-cut choice. It's got a higher chance of success with an already recognizable brand in most cases. But it's just not for me. Having to do things a specific way, not having control of things, jumping through hoops, that is ultimately like the longer.

Speaker 1: 2:25

I was in teaching in high school, that's what made me want to get out of it. I was in teaching in high school, that's what made me want to get out of it. There's models that like knock on our door regularly, like ClassPass, right, their promise is to bring in more people, basically on like a drop-in basis Also not what I'm interested in. I want to get to know the people that we work with. From a programming standpoint, many franchises and these types of gyms are going to have a very strict model that's centered around profit and dollars per square foot, which I totally get, and I probably could have used to talk on that stuff in 2012. Make no mistake, a business that is not profitable will not be around for very long, but the angle that I'm going to take here is that gyms that won't use a barbell because it takes up too much space and doesn't fit into the equation. Like I get it, they're seven feet long and they're going to require racks to lift from or a buffer of space around them, but they're still an incredible tool and arguably one of the most diverse that there is in terms of building strength. So my point is we're going to train you how we want to train you, because it's effective. If something's effective, we're going to use it. There are workouts that we'll do sometimes that are totally not the best use of space.

Speaker 1: 3:41

And there's also an argument to not include Olympic weightlifting because they're complex lifts to teach and they require more skill from coaches. My answer to that is I mean, there's a couple facets to it, but part one is this there's 10 recognized general physical skills in fitness Strength, stamina, flexibility, endurance, speed, power, coordination, agility, balance and accuracy. The first four are physical. They're improved through training. The last four are neurological. They're improved through practice, and the middle two, speed and power, are a combination. Practicing olympic weightlifting hits nearly every single domain except for cardiorespiratory endurance. The bottom line is that they are useful, incredibly useful, in building athletes and capable humans. And then, finally, I've been teaching these to people for nearly 15 years. They're fun, partly because they are challenging.

Speaker 1: 4:38

Hitting a great lift like just sticking a lift. It's the sort of equivalent in lifting weights to like hitting a home run or a 300-yard drive on a golf course. It happens very quickly and from a timing perspective. A 300 yard drive on a golf course it happens very quickly and from a timing perspective, a lot of things need to go right. You get that instant feedback of like whoa, that was a good one. In golf, there's a saying among amateurs that'll keep you coming back after you hit a great shot, right? I think that there's an element of that in weightlifting Switching gears to autonomy and building a culture.

Speaker 1: 5:18

Do you know any other gyms that basically interview people before joining? Kind of exaggerating here, but if you're listening, you've likely sat down with me. I want to know about you, I want to know why you're sitting in front of me, what I can help you with. What do you like? What do you not like? What bad experiences have you had? Maybe Not in like a I mean, if someone goes on about that that's maybe a red flag but like let's see if this is a good fit, right? Have you had goals that you've constantly come up short of and, if so, why? Let's get to the bottom of that. I want to know that you're a good fit for us and that we're a good fit for you. Um, it's more work on the front end, for sure, but that's the type of gym and team that I want to build Strong culture of people who trust one another and have high standards across the board. You can't do that if you're selling memberships online with the click of a button and I'm not saying that we don't miss one or two here and there that maybe aren't the best fit, but it would be impossible to quantify just how important this process is.

Speaker 1: 6:20

Having done it for nearly a decade, a couple horror stories. I've had a girl tell me over the phone that if she likes me as her trainer, she'll take me traveling with her and she does many trips to New York City. No, thank you. I've had a guy during the COVID era sitting in front of me with a mouthful of gauze, having come straight from the dentist, uh, arriving on an e-bike in the middle of winter with blood seeping through his mask, like with like. It was just a mess. Who knows what, what he had done, oh, and we're not done. He was also telling me about doing crack back in the nineties and mentioned that he just got out of jail after 18 months. So naturally I was trying to set him up with his first intro at a time when he was at the gym with a female trainer, by himself, of course, right.

Speaker 1: 7:11

Finally, I had a lady come through that I quickly noticed she was incredibly uncomfortable and I asked if we could stand for a meeting, and I asked why. And she proceeded to show me like track marks of staples from a back surgery that she was not even close to recovered from like I'm talking open wound. Could you imagine if she signed up online and we just started squatting? Right? If you're going to effectively build a third place, you better get to know your people coming in and you better have some standards for behavior, right? Ultimately, being a one-of-one allows us to just be ourselves and do our thing. We've taken a ton of guidance from Two Brain Business, a data-driven mentorship company, over the years and in turn, we've given a lot of our in-house processes to Two Brain as best practices for other gyms all over the years and in turn, we've given a lot of our in-house processes to Two Brain as best practices for other gyms all over the world to benefit from.

Speaker 1: 8:05

So what makes us different? Honestly, I think our members could probably answer that better than I could. I would add we're good at what we do. We know fitness. We've built a team of top-notch coaches. Most, but not all, have been brought up in-house. Many have all sorts of relatable outside experience that they bring along with them. We care a lot and I believe that shows we have high standards for ourselves.

Speaker 1: 8:30

We're not perfect, but we take people trusting us and spending several uh, several hours per week with us, seriously and basically, we'll have your back from day one, unless you give us a reason not to right, which is also not necessarily what I'm looking for Meaning. There's gotta be trust on both sides. Also, we're never content Our commitment to personal growth and evolving. We've spent over $100,000 in the last eight years on business mentorship different levels. I believe coaches need coaches and we've continued to walk that walk and put ourselves into new rooms to grow and learn. As uncomfortable as that is at times, just from like an imposter syndrome having to do exercise that are actually uncomfortable travel and being away from family. I don't throw that number around for any reason other than to show people that I understand that paying for coaching and mentorship is scary. You're paying for speed and hopefully drastically less than the number of mistakes that you make, but essentially you're making a bet on yourself that you'll do the work.

Speaker 1: 9:40

The work that Lacey and I have been pouring ourselves into for the last few years is really about narrowing in on the vision of what we're trying to build, which is challenging in and of itself, and then creating everything under that umbrella for it to come to fruition. So how do you say that to someone right when they ask what makes you different? You can't, you just have to do it. You have to build it, you have to feed it, you have to water it, nurture it, keep it visible to people and so that when the time comes when someone's looking for the type of thing we do, we're the obvious choice. They know people who've had a great experience. They find our footprint online right and that's the best answer I have for you today See you in the gym.