EP 53: Eric Barber on How to Choose the Right Gym and Stick With It

Where should you work out if you want to get healthier and actually stay consistent?

In this episode, Cathy Meehan sits down with Eric Barber, founder of Barberic Training and Cathy’s personal trainer, to talk through one of the most practical questions in fitness: where should you work out? Drawing on decades of experience in personal training, commercial gyms, micro gyms, and home gym setups, Eric shares what he has learned from helping people at many different stages of their health journey.

Together, Cathy and Eric explore the real-life pros and cons of commercial gyms, boutique fitness studios, and home gyms, with a focus on safety, accountability, affordability, and long-term consistency. This conversation is especially helpful for anyone who feels overwhelmed by the options, unsure where to begin, or ready to build a healthier lifestyle with wisdom and intention.

This conversation covers:

• How to choose between a commercial gym, micro gym, or home gym
• The pros and cons of crowded gyms, amenities, and gym culture
• Why coaching quality matters in fitness studios and class-based training
• How accountability and community can help you stay consistent
• What makes a home gym practical or wasteful depending on your goals
• Basic home gym equipment to start with on a realistic budget
• How cardio variety, walking, pools, and trail running fit into a healthy routine
• Why the best workout plan is often the one you can keep doing

If you are trying to get healthier, build a sustainable routine, or make wise choices for yourself and your family, this episode offers clear and grounded guidance. It is a helpful listen for health-conscious families, beginners, and anyone ready to take the next faithful step toward better health.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Welcome to another edition of the Mehan Mission Podcast, where we like to talk about faith, truth, health, and science. And most of all, we want to empower you on your wellness journey. Today's episode, we welcome Eric Barber, the founder of Barbaric Training. And we're going to talk with Eric about the options of where do we want to work out? Because remember, nowadays we've got options. You've got commercial gyms, home gyms, these fitness studios. So, what is really going to be the best to help you attain your fitness goals and keep you committed and keep you on track? So let's get started and let's welcome Eric. So here's the big question. We started the workout, or we're gonna start the workout, but where do I work out? So let's talk to Eric Barber, the founder of Barbaric Training and my personal trainer. Thank you very much, Eric, for transforming my life. And I would love for you to help educate our audience. You know, maybe they're thinking about working out, but um, what are some things they have to consider about where do they work out? Because there's a lot of options out there.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Yes, there is. Um great question, loaded question, as usual.

SPEAKER_04 1:31

Um as usual.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Most people, whether they need to start working out for medical issues, for health issues, or whether they just want to train for appearance, you know, changing their appearance, whatever, right? You got the broad spectrum. Um, but they've decided to do something about it. Step one, right? Make that mental shift. I'm gonna do this. So at that point, um, you're looking at pretty much getting a membership at a commercial gym, or you can get into something like what I would call a micro gym, which would be like your Orange Theory or your CrossFit or your F45, or maybe yoga classes or Pilates classes, like a smaller studio or or just a micro gym. And then after that, you've got training at home, you know, and that could be a garage gym, that could be an extra room that you've built out. Um, I train people, I work out people that train at all three of those, you know. Primarily though, commercial gyms and home gyms, okay, or or garage gyms. The yeah, the um the micro gyms usually have coaches there, but sometimes people come to me for extra help with with changing their actual appearance of their body. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:46

Yeah, I know that I had that option because I do have like a home gym.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_04 2:51

But yeah, it's kind of dirty and run down and not that inviting. And then I had the option of the commercial gym, which is what I ultimately chose, which was best for my fit. But I'd love for you to walk us through like pros and cons of each one of those.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Yeah. So let's start with the commercial gyms. Um, I gosh, man, I've trained everywhere. I've trained Gold's Gym, Powerhouse Gym, Bally's, Holiday Health and Fitness, Lifetime Vasa, Crunch Fitness, Planet Fitness. Um, I I've trained everywhere over my past 35, 40 years. Um and I would say that for the price point, you can't you kind of can't go wrong with a commercial gym. Um, they've got tons of equipment. Um really it comes down to when you're talking about commercial gyms. Like I I recently trained at a gym nearby, um, and it was locally owned. It it was owner's gym, and it was the size of a community gym, uh of a um commercial gym. It was huge, and this one dude owned it. And uh, you know, the machines were breaking down all the time, and wasn't that clean, you know, the cleanliness wasn't up to par. And so it was um for for his gym, it was too expensive. You know, I mean, he was charging too much. Um, the bathrooms were always nasty, that kind of thing. So when I vote now, uh when I look for a commercial gym, I look for one of the main chain brands, you know, like the crutch or the Vasa or the Lifetime, something like that. Um I like how clean how how clean they are. I like all the little amenities. So sometimes when I do a brutal leg workout or brutal back workout, I want to lay in one of those hydro massage beds, you know?

SPEAKER_04 4:49

Yeah, those are sweet. Those are sweet.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

I don't I don't like tanning. I get a really good tan, but only if I build up to it. Um if I have a summer of just being pure white, and then I try to get out into the sun, I usually burn. But if I keep a if I maintain a safe tan throughout the winter, just tanning, doing their little tanning bed once a week, um, then when I get out in the sun, I don't burn. So I do look for that in a in a commercial gym, that kind of thing. I look for um, I look at the equipment. I look to see if there's a lot of pieces of equipment that are broken down. They've got those out of order signs on them. If I see two or three of those during my walk around the gym for the first time, you know, my introduction, you know, they'll they'll walk you through, they'll give you a tour. If I see three or four machines with out of order, you know, that's a red flag for me.

SPEAKER_04 5:42

Um yeah, that would be.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

I I look for clean bathrooms. I have to have a clean bathroom. Uh saunas are nice, pools are nice, steam rooms. Um, I don't think they're the most sanitary. I don't see how they can be. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 5:56

Um, I kind of agree on that one.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Yeah, I I've got I'll go into a dry sauna, but I don't, I don't don't, I don't go into the steam rooms, they creep me out.

SPEAKER_04 6:05

Um well you you do make a point though that there are so many commercial gyms that you probably should take the effort to walk through several, you know, and see like maybe like some have have a certain like atmosphere.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, like check them all out. Oh, yeah. Take an afternoon and what I did was I pulled out my my phone and I typed in gyms, and then I just took note of all of the gyms around me, and uh, I started making, you know, I started highlighting the ones that I wanted to check out because some of them I'd look at the pictures or look at their website. I'm like, absolutely not. Some of them I'd look at I'm like, yeah, I need to go trade, um try that. So I just recently last week moved uh from one part of Charlotte to another. Okay, I moved about seven miles, so now I've got access to all these other new gyms, and so that's good. Um so I settled in on LA Fitness. I've never trained at an LA Fitness, but I went in there and it met. I did see one broken down machine. The staff were nice, they were cool. Um the uh location was a mile and a half from my home. I'm like, wow. Oh, that's nice, convenience. Yeah, uh, they happen to have a pool. Um, so just on a side note, I don't like doing the same mode of cardio over and over and over again. It makes me want to pull my hair out. I like cardio, I like I like doing it, um, but I have to have variety. So, you know, having the pool is kind of nice, a lap pool, um, to throw that into the mix so it's not just treadmill and elliptical and stair climber and recumbent and stationary bikes.

SPEAKER_03 7:48

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:49

Especially if you're if you're getting into working out and you get that addiction and you continue to work out, then you're gonna want to have a variety of things so you know that you can experience the different types. And I'm glad you talked about laps because I'm gonna be honest, I didn't even think about doing pool for a cardio. Yeah, and you train at lifetime, right? Yeah, yeah, lifetime. So I I'm gonna put a plug in for lifetime.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

I love lifetime, yes, and that was you know, one of the most expensive ones, but I think if you if you've got the money, I think it's worth it because that gym is on point.

SPEAKER_04 8:26

Yeah, and if you break it down, I mean the monthly fee, if you break that down to how often I use it, yeah, which is six six to seven days a week.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

And you better not be training seven days a week and that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_04 8:40

It's got everything, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Yeah, so the pool is nice, you know. Um, life is known for having very clean pools, like they're really good about it's very clean, also.

SPEAKER_04 8:53

The the whole facility is clean, so I I I think that's great.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

And um yeah, so other things with um commercial gyms, you know, you've got your cleanliness, you've got the staff, you've got the equipment. I also I'm a bit of a snob, so I tend to look if they've got newer equipment in. Okay. So if I go into a gym um and they don't at least have some hammer strength equipment, I'm just like, oh, come on. I mean, hammer strength equipment is just kind of like, what what do you mean you don't have that? You've just got machines and weights.

SPEAKER_04 9:26

So um but so explain what is what is hammer strength equipment.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

Hammer strength is a brain that um that is kind of a hybrid between machines and free weights. Okay, so okay, it's when you go into the gym and you see the the people pick up the plates and put the plates on the machine, not on a barbell, but on a machine they've got chest presses, but it's plates on each side and they're and they're moving, you know, or leg extension.

SPEAKER_04 9:54

Got it.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Got your leg extension machine where you just grab the pin and you move the pin upper or lower, but on the hammer strength, you know, you have to load plates for the leg extension.

SPEAKER_04 10:06

Okay, well, I learned a new thing. I mean, I've been doing those, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Yeah, so plate load. It's kind of a hybrid in between the two.

SPEAKER_04 10:14

Um, I need like a uh lingo sheet so that I know what everything means.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Well, there's a lot of a lot of compositions, uh, and not not to rag on anybody, but there's a lot of companies out of China that that try to do um takeoffs from the really good companies, and the equipment might look good, but once you get in there, things don't move right. You know what I mean? So I look for name brand quality equipment when I go into a gym. And I'm not I'm not too much of a snob, but there's some really good equipment coming out, really good barbells, really good dumbbells. So I I look for that. Um, so another thing with commercial gyms is the amenities, right? The pool, the the jacuzzi, the steam room, the sauna, hydro massage beds, tanning, that kind of thing. But then there's also uh their personal trainers. So I that's how that's how I lived my life. I was a personal trainer in commercial and micro gyms. Okay. I trained thousands of people over 35 years, um, which was awesome. I'm not gonna lie, it was awesome. But I don't do that anymore because I really like exploring this online coaching space. Um, I'm at a caliber now where I I it's kind of a waste of time and energy and money for me to be standing on the floor teaching people how to do simple things. You know what I mean? There's there's trainers that are newer that can do that. So I I think if you're in the position where you know nothing about how exercise works, know nothing about human anatomy, the simple, you know, just machine exercises before you jump into free weights, all these different things, then I would say that would be something that you might want to take a look at. A lot of them, when you sign up, you get like one or three free sessions with a trainer. Yeah, like a complimentary. They are going to try to sell you on a package. That's a given. That's how they try to help their trainers make money, right? I had many salespeople sell memberships and then also sell a personal training package with Eric, you know, and so it's it's great. It's how gyms work. Um right.

SPEAKER_04 12:28

And you want that, you want that training if you are just starting out or it's been a really, really long time because you want to. I think we talked about it before about preventing injury. You want someone to teach you how to use the machines and how to gradually progress so that you don't wind up injured and you know, and then just stop working out, or you know, just yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Most of my clients are people that have worked out in the past and they know how to work a leg extension and a leg curl, and they know how to to do a chest press machine and you know, a lap pull down. Most people, 90% of my people that I train have had experience in the gym. They've just too many years have gone by that let themselves go, they've had medical issues, injuries, whatever. Okay. Um, lack of motivation, dropping hormones, whatever. So, but every once in a while, about 10% of the people that I train have no, they've never walked into a gym before.

SPEAKER_04 13:26

And so we gotta up that my training program.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

I I've got like those videos. If you remember on my app, I've got videos and descriptions on everything to at least let them know what kind of a machine they're looking for and the basics of each each of those machines.

SPEAKER_04 13:42

So yeah, that was helpful. Yeah, um, what about what about some of the cons for commercial gyms? And I'll I'll tell you, my number one con is when they're crowded. Yeah, yeah. And that's really difficult because you'll want it, you'll be on like you'll have your list of exercises, but you've got to make sure nobody's on that piece of equipment. Yeah. And my my advice is that you learn when the gym is not crowded, and that's where you can go. So uh typically that, you know, that's what I do. I just pick times when the gym is not as crowded, except for like today, I have to go after work because of my schedule today. So it'll be a little bit more crowded, but um, eating crowded was one of those cons.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

I went to the gym one time, and every single piece of equipment that I had written down for my workout that day, I couldn't get on any of them. So all I did was I that was crowded. That was the most crowded I had ever seen that gym. Um, it it was a zoo, and so and it was my fault. I went at like five o'clock in the in the evening, something like that, and it's just a ton of young people just goofing off. And so what I did was I just took all of those, whatever it was, seven or eight exercises, and I just found substitutions for them and just ruled with it, you know. So if I was supposed to do a heavy bench press in that workout, and all of the benches were being taken up, I look over and I see one inclined bench that was that was empty. It's like, okay, I'm gonna do incline chest press, incline bench press beds. So um cons are definitely how crowded they are. So I've noticed a massive shift in gym culture since COVID. Um before COVID, you would walk into any gym anywhere and they'd have hired salespeople. And then after COVID, when they reopened the gyms, there wasn't a lot of money. We had all lost a lot of money, all of us gym owners and you know, the corporations all the way down to the small gym owner, right? So they a lot of them completely cut out the salesperson, which was kind of awesome because then you can now you can go to a gym, get a tour, see if you like it, go home, think about it, weigh in measurements against other gyms, and then sign up for your membership right there online. No sales pressure, no nothing. So um, another shift since COVID is gyms are packed now. It's insane. Like, I don't know what I think. People were so bored that they started working out after COVID, like being stuck home.

SPEAKER_04 16:31

So many people could be they needed to get out, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Yeah, and and and and we talked about this a little bit uh last time. The education now is getting so much better. You're hearing scientists talk of you know, Huberman and all these different people, Dr. Gabriel Lyons, I think her name is all these people that are just stud athletes, right? And they're they're bringing science into it. So now all of the you know, people that would never consider going to a a gym because that's where all the meat heads and the jocks are. Now it's appealing to all of the intellectuals, and now they're getting in, and so the gyms are just packed, plus yeah, all the big mega gyms for the most part drop their prices down to get people back in the gym at$9 a month or$19 a month. And it's just like, man, like the gyms are just packed nowadays. So since I work for myself now, I just I just go, I've learned what times of the day to go, and I just I just go with that.

SPEAKER_04 17:34

Well, I think there's definitely a trend going on now of people realizing that they need to get healthy. Yeah. Because you know, you can't depend on the government, you can't depend on the fast food restaurants to provide anything healthy. So I really think there is a growing trend of healthy lifestyles and healthy living. And I am so thankful for that because we need more people taking care of their health, definitely taking care of their health. Well, um, I was gonna say one more distraction about the big commercial gyms is um the distractions because with so many people and moving parts, it's like sometimes you'll get those real big talkers in there, and uh that's sometimes hard to get away from. Yeah. So but I I just think you know, everybody just needs to have a courtesy that if you're gonna talk to someone, make it hello quick and I'll catch you after the workout or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

So Yeah, that's another thing, a little annoying. I don't mind a crowded gym. I actually don't mind a crowded gym pre-COVID. Right now, the type of people that are in the gyms, it's like they missed out on the whole gym culture thing. They come in and they sit down on a piece of machinery and they're just talking to their phone and they're taking pictures and this and that, and it's like, hey man, how many more sets you got? And they look at you like you're crazy. Like, how many more sets do you have? I don't know, like 10. It's like, come on, man. Like, I I I had one guy tell me, Why don't you come back in 10 or 15 minutes? And I looked at him, I was like, I about jerked him right off that.

SPEAKER_04 19:16

Anyways, I better not say that, but yeah, go find something else to do and then come back.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Yeah, so um back, yeah. So yeah, so I think culture, you know, everybody's wiping everything down, and it's it's just really different now, you know. I mean, I back in the day before COVID, if you left a gym, if you had left a piece of equipment sweaty and nasty, you wipe it down. But now every time anybody's done with any set anywhere, they're always wiping everything down, and it's kind of cool. It's like, okay, clean equipment everywhere, got it. Yeah, that's good. That's so that's culturally, that's a little bit different. And then also, um, you know, just the culture of a person should be able to come up to you and ask, hey, how many more sets do you have? Oh, you've only got two more. Do you want to do you mind if I work in with you? Like, oh, you've got five more. Do you mind if I work in? And at least just have a conversation. That's how we used to always do it in the back in the day. But now people look at you like you're absolutely crazy, like you're hitting on them or you're trying to bully them off the machine. And it's like, dude, I'm just trying to ask you how much longer you got left. You know, can I work in with you? It's not a big deal. Um, it sometimes is a big deal if I go, I'm six foot two. If I go up to a little four foot eleven girl and she's doing her leg extension, and you know, I say, Hey, do you mind if I work in with you? That might be a bit of an issue because we're gonna have to adjust the machine for every set for her and for me, adjust to my length and to adjust to her length.

SPEAKER_04 20:49

So yeah, that's a lot of adjustments.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

So so there are definitely pros and cons to joining a commercial gym. Definitely. And uh the cost, real quick, the cost of those that's what I was wanted to talk about.

SPEAKER_04 21:02

There's a variety of costs. You can get a membership, don't tell me you can't afford to work out.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

No, because you can't you can go to Planet Fitness and get you a ten dollar a month membership, or you can go to Lifetime. And I don't know when I was there, they were charging a hundred bucks a month, but I've heard that they've gone up significantly since then. So looking at like ten to two hundred dollars a month, I would imagine for most gyms. Now you get into New York City, you get into LA, you're gonna be charged a lot more than that. But uh, but that seems to be pretty average. I always look for around fifty bucks a month for a gym, you know?

SPEAKER_04 21:38

That's gonna be and that should be attainable.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Yeah, and so definitely VASA and Crunch Fitness, those guys are at twenty and thirty. That's even under my my constraint. Well, I'm fine.

SPEAKER_04 21:49

And most most places won't lock you into a contract either. So that's the other thing. Uh I think contracts have really kind of gone away that it's really more month to month. So It's so much nicer that way.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:02

Yeah. And then you can start out and you know, maybe start at a lower price gym. And then if it's something that you really love, the working out and you want more amenities, and and then you can maybe bump up your price point and go find a different gym. So but yeah, you got to consider price. Um let's anything else on commercial gyms, and then maybe we hit home gyms.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

No, that's it.

SPEAKER_04 22:29

Oh, okay. I think we covered just about everything on that. Yeah. So um yeah, home gyms.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

So let's go to micro gyms next because that's in between home gym and the yep.

SPEAKER_04 22:39

So the next and so yeah, so define micro gym.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

That's kind of like yeah, I I know you said like mom and pop, you know, okay um single owner, small gym. That's what I've in the past. Well, okay. I've run the big gyms, I've been a manager of the big gyms, but I've owned my own micro gyms. So that's um, you know, you know, one to five thousand square feet. It's not a big gym. They've got equipment that the owner had to pay for themselves, not you know, not part of a chain, that kind of thing. Unless it's something like Orange Theory or F-45. Um, but yeah, these these little uh corner, you know, these little um shopping center.

SPEAKER_04 23:24

You'll see them in like in warehouse district places. That's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

So everything from uh from little yoga studios all the way on up to like CrossFit gyms and that kind of thing, strongman gyms, that that kind of thing, power, powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting gyms, those are going to be smaller and the clientele on that become like family. It's weird. So if you've got, you know, your five o'clock, six o'clock, seven o'clock in the morning classes, and then an 11 and a 12 o'clock class, and then a four, five, and six, usually you gravitate towards the time of day that you want to train, whatever works for your schedule, and you get in there and you're working out, and it's usually a trainer-led workout, and you get to know the people that you're working out with every day at four o'clock afternoon.

SPEAKER_04 24:13

Okay, so it's more class-oriented.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Yeah, it becomes more like a uh a family type environment. You know, it's really uh partner fitness or even solo workouts that you do as a group, or could just be a big group workout, things like that. Um, that's what I ran for 13 years. I owned two CrossFit gyms and it was awesome. I loved it. Um I was never big into coming from a personal training background. Um, you hear a lot of bad things about CrossFit. That's because a lot of people that are coaching and owning CrossFit gyms aren't really that qualified to, I think. So I had an advantage coming from a personal training background. I would never let my never let my clients do things that they couldn't or shouldn't do. So a lot of times I get some young person in there and they wanna they want to do some big sexy muscle up on the rings, and I'm like, hold on. First of all, you've got to be able to do pull-ups, strict pull-ups, and then we've got to build those pull-ups up into something that can flip you up on the rings and do that cool movement, or or maybe just uh their ego, you know, they want to lift too heavy. So it was cool because I was I was running 10 to 20 person classes all throughout at different times all throughout the day, and so I got to know these people like my family and still friends to with all of them to this day practically, you know, and so um so I I think those are really cool. So the pros uh pros with that would be community for sure. If you get a good a good set of workout partners that show up at the same time as you all the time for the classes, um, that's just an awesome vibe, awesome feeling. If they've got a good coach, if the owner of the place is a good person, uh sometimes you go into these micro gyms and you're just like you walk out of there and you're like, I want nothing to do with that community or that gym owner. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 26:14

Well then, yeah, yeah, find another one.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Yep. And so uh, you know, you can get really, really fit and have a really good time doing it in a micro gym. Uh, and again, it doesn't have to be CrossFit, it could be a yoga class, it could be anything like that that has multiple classes throughout the day. Uh burn body boot camp, all those things, okay?

SPEAKER_04 26:36

Yeah, I would think accountability would be really high in that kind of an atmosphere because you know who you're working out with and they know when you're not there. Now, you know.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

Now, a pro and a con of that is you're gonna have a trainer, and that trainer is gonna take you through a workout with along with everybody else. So, unlike going to a commercial gym where you just kind of train on your own, now you're part of a group and you're being told what to do. Some people, that's awesome. Just, I just want to come in, I want to decompress my day, I don't want to think about work anymore, just tell me what to do. Okay, that's workout. Okay, great, let's do it. Other people like myself, you know, I'm used to training myself all these years. I'll go in and I find myself critiquing the workout and I'm you know, or whatever, or maybe I don't feel like doing that that day or whatever. So it it's kind of a pro and a con. Um, if you get really real good trainers that know their stuff and they're they've got an eye on everybody and everybody's moving safely and stuff, you can you can really get fit in a place like that. You can get really strong, really fit, really lean, really flexible if it's a yoga type studio. Um cons would be it's gonna be more expensive. You're looking at probably 150 to 200 bucks a month, maybe 250 bucks a month to be part of group classes in a micro gym. Okay. Yeah, sometimes you can luck out um uh by them having an open gym during the day. Like maybe between three o'clock and maybe between two o'clock and four o'clock, they have open gym, or ten o'clock to twelve o'clock, they have open gym. You can go in there and do your own workout. So you miss out on the community vibe. But if that's open to everybody, maybe you and your buddies can meet at that time and just the three of you make up a workout and do it on your on their own. Okay, it's a little bit more advanced, but that can be a pro and a con in and of itself. But um gonna be more expensive. You are gonna get coaching, and um, if it's a good gym, you're gonna have a good time, you're gonna get really, really fit. If it's a cocky, arrogant trainer, um, if if it's if it's always about them, if they have no idea how human anatomy and physiology, you know, like if they don't understand the basic movements of the human body, and they're teaching you how to go through these group workouts, I I've seen a lot of more high-intensity group training go south because of that kind of thing, you know, people get injured, people get burnt out, that kind of thing. And so as a CrossFit gym owner, I was always walking that fine line of how do I take care of my more elite athletes that can do all the crazy competition stuff, and the other 80% of my members that just want to be fit and healthy. I mean, so I was always walking that line of making sure I'm pushing these guys hard enough and making sure that I'm coaching these guys and getting them what their results were.

SPEAKER_04 29:40

Yeah, what a good point. Yeah, what a good point. You're gonna have varied levels.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

Yeah, another another drawback is you know, you've got small bathrooms, you've got maybe one universal bathroom for everybody, or you've got one small restroom, no big locker room, or yeah, not in the micro gyms, you know. Yeah, uh sometimes they'll you know, I went into a um a chain-wide boxing gym. And uh, and it was awesome. You know, they had the the big water bags and everything, and and it was a group-led cr class through a boxing workout. And I was like, okay, never done this before, let's do it. And uh had a blast doing it. It was a micro gym, but I don't know how they did it, but they managed to have a wall of lockers and their bathrooms were bigger enough for people to have their own little stall and stuff. It was it was really cool. So, you know, it's getting better. The micro gym.

SPEAKER_04 30:32

Well, that's that's so specialized because I personally cannot imagine um just going and doing boxing as a workout. So, would that be kind of like an add-on type thing as you get more advanced or something?

SPEAKER_01 30:47

But that was specifically a boxing gym, a boxing uh cardio boxing gym, cardio, okay, very similar to like a yoga. Like, I personally couldn't sign up for a month-to-month yoga membership. Kind of like cardio, I would get too bored with that. I need a lot of variety, you know. But that's just how I've trained myself as an athlete. I do everything. Yeah, martial arts.

SPEAKER_04 31:13

Yeah, and I I imagine some people want some people literally probably want consistency in the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

Yeah, absolutely. Nothing wrong with it. Yeah, nothing wrong with it.

SPEAKER_04 31:22

No, definitely not.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

So let's get but that leads us now to the home gyms, right?

SPEAKER_04 31:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

We got we got your brilliant.

SPEAKER_04 31:29

And I'm still sticking with commercial for me, so we'll talk about who get who should get what. But yeah, let's talk about home gyms.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

So home gyms were were pretty, you know, not very popular before COVID. When COVID hit and all gyms shut down, it was the the cost of weights, the cost of equipment went through the roof because everybody was oh yeah, like like makes sense. We were selling for you know two, three dollars a pound or more. You know, it was crazy. Like everybody was pulling their hair out, not being able to work out. I know I was. So I got on Facebook Marketplace, I'm picking up every kettlebell. I'm calling my gym buddies that have gyms, and I'm like, can I just borrow a kettlebell until this thing is over, you know, or things like that. Um, everything was so expensive, and I've noticed the prices have been coming slowly coming back down a little bit, um, because there just isn't the need for it. The problem, the cool thing about home gyms, whether it be in inside a specialized room, like down in the basement or just a bare bedroom or something, or a true garage gym, right? Um, the cool thing is it's right there. So if you work a nine to five and you come home and you're just like, man, I am it is so nice to have a gym right there. Um, but I will say it's for those that know what they're doing. Yep. I've had a lot of people say, hey Eric, can you help me out? Can you help me build out my home gym? And I'm like, I can, um, but uh you don't really know how to work out. So I'm concerned that you'll spend all this money and won't ever use it.

SPEAKER_04 33:20

Yeah, because like where where would you have start? I mean, where do you start? I mean, I and I would think that it would be very expensive as you're accumulating things. Very expensive. But I also I was just thinking, is like you probably should have some sort of equipment at home, even if you do pick a commercial gym or a group fitness place, because um, heaven forbid we ever go into another lockdown, but there might be times where you can't get to the gym, and then you've got at least some basic things to have at home. And maybe in a in a few minutes you can tell us some like basic home gym essentials that people should have.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

So um we had a a blizzard here um a month ago, month and a half ago, and it shut the city of Charlotte down. I mean, from what I understand, they hadn't seen a blizzard like that here since 20 years ago, or something like that. So um I had my my C2 rower, I had kettlebells, I had dumbbells, I had a barbell, I had a weight. I was fine. I was working out, yeah, blizzard, you know, good homebound, you know, and and it was black ice on the roads and and all the gyms were closed down anyways, and I just kept my workouts going. It was great.

SPEAKER_04 34:44

I we have lost connection. Are you back?

SPEAKER_01 34:48

I I can hear you, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:50

Okay. It just it stopped just for a few minutes. But you were saying that you had the snow blizzard and you had your equipment.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

Yeah, I didn't skip a beat. I was able to keep still keep working out, um, you know, get my workouts in even during the blizzard. It was black ice. People were, you know, all the gyms were closed anyways. Yeah. So I was like, I'm not gonna go out there and you know, I have a four-wheel drive, I would have been fine, but it's the other drivers I don't trust, you know.

SPEAKER_04 35:17

That's exactly it. It's the other drivers. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

So yeah, so um home gyms are awesome if if you've got an athlete, if you've got a person that um that knows what they're doing, you know what I mean? And then there's the whole accountability thing, like you need to be the kind of person that doesn't need accountability that you if you're gonna home home gym, you better use that equipment all the time. Like, because that's a right. I would rather tell them just find a commercial gym nearby for 30 bucks a month. Why spend you know, two grand on getting yourself set up with just the bare basics, you know? So for me to build out the kind of gym that I would that I would be just fine in, right?

SPEAKER_04 36:02

That would be expensive, I would say.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

Yeah, because I yeah, I need all kinds of equipment, you know what I mean? I uh I've been doing this for 40 years, so um, can I get by with just a bench and some dumbbells? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I I've got that stuff. I was able to use it all the time whenever anything's popped up, you know. And I just sometimes I'll just get working so much and and so hard. I I take this um I take this alpha brain that I'm not getting I'm not getting paid to uh to to uh hype up here. But this stuff, man, I I take uh the alpha brain and I'm just like I get so much work done in four hours, you know? And uh so there's been a couple times when I take that and I'm just working so much and getting so much done that I look at the clock and I'm like, oh my gosh, like I just went all the way through my workout time, and so having a having some equipment there at my my home was was awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:03

Yeah, that's good. Well, um I guess also privacy if you don't want to work out in front of anybody. Yep, you know, that's cool too. That would probably be an advantage there for some people.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

Yeah, definitely. And some people are just introverts and they don't want to be around other people and they just want to train. Sometimes you'll go through times in life where you just want to be alone, you know. Whereas other times you'll go through life and you you look forward to the gym culture, whether it be a micro gym or a commercial gym. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 37:32

That that's true. I mean, I going back to even though it's a big commercial gym, I've already been there long enough that I know I know all the trainers there, know all the regulars and everything. And so it's really it is a sense of community, yeah. Which is really, really, really great. But um, so let's talk about um the home gym. Let's say um I've been working out for a while, but I just want a few pieces of equipment to have at home. Uh, what would you suggest? And I also love the idea you mentioned Facebook Marketplace. So as long as as long as it's um good in good condition.

SPEAKER_00 38:10

And good brand equipment. Yeah, good brand.

SPEAKER_04 38:12

Yeah, and good brand equipment, which you can probably like Google, you know, uh some kind of a consumer report on those if you want to research the equipment. But um, what what should I have in my home gym just as a starter?

SPEAKER_01 38:28

So um again, just real quick before I go into that, what you just said just now, choosing good brands. Like I've had the the cheap stuff before, you know, the maiden, and I'm not trying to rag on China, but you know, there's a big difference in equipment. I've had those that equipment bend and like I've bent bars on those things. Uh I've had them fall Whoa, you're so strong. Well, not really. I just don't think that they were using the strong tensile strength steel that that we, you know.

SPEAKER_04 39:02

The quality, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:04

And so um gosh, I've had benches fall apart on me when I'm working out on them. I mean, like that's not cool. Yeah, that's not cool. That's what I mean by the bars, like the bars underneath the bench folding under the pressure. You don't want that when you're when you're doing a bench press or something like that. So um, yeah, so I stay away from cheap equipment. I get on Facebook Marketplace and I look for good brand equipment. And it's not that hard, it's not that hard to educate yourself on what's good and what's not. A simple little Google search will tell you um what to what what brands are excellent. Okay. Um, so I go to Facebook Marketplace before I do anything because sometimes you can get a brand new piece of nice equipment, like really good quality equipment, and somebody just wants to get rid of it. And you if you can that first one on there.

SPEAKER_04 39:55

I imagine that a lot of people buy really nice equipment. Don't you what did what did you say? A lot of time it becomes a uh place to hang your clothes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:06

Glorified coat hanger.

SPEAKER_04 40:07

Yeah, glorified coat hanger. And so then that they're ready to get. I bet you could get a lot of really nice things.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

I've had a I've helped a lot of people say, Can you help me sell my home gym stuff? I don't know how to do it. Now like, okay, go over to their house, and I'm just like, all right, well, it looks like you've been using this room as an extra closet to hang everything on, like, you know, and so what a waste.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

What a waste. Yeah. So what a ways.

SPEAKER_01 40:33

Um, so yeah, I I look for the good. So what I would look for is um, you know, not everybody knows their way around a kettlebell. So you don't I would not recommend just buying a kettlebell or two online because everybody else is. If you haven't had proper training on it, it's a different, you know, it's it's different than holding dumbbells. So I would say uh dumbbells first, because they're universal, you know. Uh barbells take up a lot of room. So if you've got you're setting up your gym in a small room, uh trying to get a barbell moving around in there can be quite a challenge. Oh, I always say dumbbells, you know. For women, you need a pair of two and a half, fives, tens, fifteens, twenties, and twenty-fives, you know. For men, you need 15s, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, something like that, you know. And that, and you're golden, like you are, you can do so many exercises with just those alone. Right, and standing exercises. So the next thing after that would be um a bench, because there's so many dumbbell exercises you can do with just a bench. So that right there, those two things, just dumbbells and a good bench, you've got all kinds of stand-up movements and you've got all kinds of bench seated or laying bench movements.

SPEAKER_04 42:01

Yeah, that sounds easy. That sounds easy.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

Um, a pair of running shoes, because buying buying quality cardio equipment is very expensive. Imagine buying a a good treadmill or a good stationary bike compared to a good pair of running shoes, and you go out and teach yourself how to fast walk or to jog, you know what I mean? Or um or trail run, though that's really fun too.

SPEAKER_04 42:30

Um well, don't you on talking about that, don't you actually really want to do your exercise where the terrain is not a flat like conveyor belt treadmill where you're actually outside in the terrain where you have, you know, different like I don't want to say rocks, but you know, it's just a different terrain for for training.

SPEAKER_01 42:57

Okay. So the flat surfaces have their pros and cons. You know, if you've got somebody who is overweight and they're on a weight loss journey, they don't need to be running, right?

SPEAKER_04 43:11

No, no, true.

SPEAKER_01 43:12

And so just if they are walking on a treadmill or on a track at on a high school track and just getting their body moving, that's a much safer way than trail running. To somebody who's good point like me, um, flat surface running is boring and it's painful for me because it always hits the same part of my shoe on every single one. I'm a big fan of trail running. I love the ups and downs and corners and hopping over rocks and this kind of thing. It keeps me alert, it keeps me paying attention. I don't just zone out and I don't feel it in my knees, I don't feel it in my lower back. Um, you learn how to watch where you're running, you know, you learn how to pay attention. Because I've tripped over a couple of rocks and tree roots over the years, and that's no fun. So I don't know. I just I love I'm not a runner, but I trail run once a week. I love it. It's my favorite form of cardio. So um there can be a big argument over training inside versus training outside. I don't think I can I can make a true statement on that, but I think that there's significant benefits of both, you know. Um training outside makes me um makes me tough. I've no training in elements, it just adds a whole level of toughness. And CrossFit, we we ran in the rain, we ran in the snow, we ran, we we worked out in the heat in the sun. Um it was awesome. I've never been as fit as I was when I was when I was CrossFitting. Um now I go to these commercial gyms and it's the same temperature every time I go in and everything is apparel, and you know, it's just awesome. I mean, it just and I think it's made me a little bit softer, I'm not gonna lie. But man, it sure is nice to go into a gym and it's just this perfect, you know, whatever it is, 69 degrees, whatever.

SPEAKER_04 45:15

So then yes, yeah. Uh you can't beat that. I I do I I'm always amazed that I might be freezing outside, but when I get in the gym, it's the perfect temperature. Yeah. I don't know how they do that. I don't know how they do that. So that's good. Well, that's good. Um, I think did we cover everything on home gym?

SPEAKER_01 45:33

Yeah, so so pros would be it's right there, right?

SPEAKER_04 45:38

Convenient.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

Um it's the equipment that you like, and um, and you've got your privacy and you can you can just have access to it. The cons of that, I think that there's more cons if that's your only source of working out, uh, just because nobody's, you know, you've got to really just remember that that part of your house is separate than the rest of your house. Because otherwise it just becomes like just another room and you forget about it, you know.

SPEAKER_04 46:07

Yeah, or you turn it into a closet or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 46:10

You really gotta look at this as I've got okay, daddy's gotta go get my workout in, like, yeah, give me an hour. This is daddy time, you know, or whatever. You've really got to be disciplined, and you've got to really be disciplined. Uh, you've got to be okay with working with minimal equipment, you know.

SPEAKER_04 46:25

Unless you want to spend thousands of dollars.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

Yeah, so like you know, the dumbbells and the bench, the next step for me, for me, would I want some good flooring, you know? Um, because I'm constantly worried about breaking the floor or doing damage to the floor with dumbbells up and down. I don't know. It's just I like the the gym matting, and that's what I'm using.

SPEAKER_04 46:47

The mats.

SPEAKER_01 46:48

Yeah, so mats are huge for me. Um, I just feel like I'm in a gym when I'm on gym matting, you know what I mean? Um yeah, I love a good um stretching mat. So, like back when I was a wrestler in high school, we had these roll-up mats, you know, that we would wrestle on.

SPEAKER_03 47:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 47:09

So I was used to always stretching on those. So in the gyms, I don't like to stretch out on the hard rubber flooring. I like to grab one of those spongy mats, you know. So that's a game changer right there. Because then you can do a ton of ab work. You can do stuff where you're on your hands and knees for your lower back, like bird dogs and planks and all that kind of thing. And it's more comfortable, you know, when you're when you're doing a plank on that spongy stretching mat and that kind of thing. So that's it's little things like that. And you just kind of piece together your own little home gym. Some people are motivated by quotes on the wall or things like that, or just music, you know, having a good playlist goes a long way, right? So if you've got a little speaker in there and you've got your favorite workout playlist on Spotify or Pandora, something like that, that can really make your workouts at home really, really good. So I think that's pretty much uh it. It's very expensive to do a home gym, um, unless you're just doing the slow method where you just buy a piece of equipment here, a piece of equipment there on Facebook Marketplace, you know. Um that's good. Yep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:19

That's good. You're making me want to go work out. I know. I know. Well, let I've I've got a couple of questions for you. Just uh let me pull them out here. So because I think we covered uh three types of gyms.

SPEAKER_01 48:32

I have no idea what to expect here.

SPEAKER_04 48:35

Yeah, so oh they're easy ones. They're easy. Um if someone wants to get in shape but hates the gym, what do they do?

SPEAKER_01 48:52

Well, the simple answer is they have to find something that they like. Okay. So if they truly hate the gym, they're probably remembering some kind of a negative experience they had. It was probably at a micro gym or probably training on their own at home, and it was just boring and a drag. Or maybe they went to a commercial gym and had a bad experience with somebody hitting on them or something like that, right? So usually with those people, because I talk to these folks every once in a while on the phone uh that are asking me about my program. Um I I either try to figure out what that one thing was, or I just start seeing what they would like or what they have done in the past that they actually do like. And sometimes it's not that's good, not really what I would consider working out. It might be like, well, there was a time three years ago when I was walking every day for half an hour and I just felt great. And I'm like, okay, well, that's not my kind of working out, but but that is considered a workout, and you were exercising your body. So, okay, let's start there. What about this? What about that? What about this? What about that? And so I helped try to help that person. Is it do they really truly hate working out, or they just had some bad experiences or maybe an injury, or you know, some people though, they just they just don't like pain at all. And I don't, you know, to me, there's a difference between good pain and bad pain, right?

SPEAKER_03 50:30

Right.

SPEAKER_01 50:31

Bad pain is when you slam your thumb with the hammer. Like that's bad pain, you know. Breaking a bone, that's that's bad pain.

SPEAKER_04 50:38

That's bad pain. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:40

Good pain is like that exhilaration you feel when you, you know, you're you're on your your last rep and you're like, man, I think I'm strong enough this week to do one more, you know, and you do it and your muscles are burning and everything hurts, and you set that weight down, but it's like a good hurt, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 50:59

So everyone's you know, they're like, I don't know. After you do it, you're like, I did it.

SPEAKER_01 51:06

And they're just like, I don't like working out. The weights are just so heavy, and you know, I'm just like, I don't I don't understand. You know, that's not true.

SPEAKER_04 51:15

I like you approached it with more of a positive reinforcement, which is really great. Find something that they like. Um, me, I would probably say, Well, let's change your mindset, suck it up, buttercup, let's just do it.

SPEAKER_01 51:28

And so if you say that to somebody, so if you say that to somebody who's motivated that hates working out, that'll work. Right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 51:37

If they say that's why you're the professional, hey, listen. That's why you're the professional.

SPEAKER_01 51:41

Your doctor tells you that if you don't start working out, you're gonna die. Okay, get your in the gym and you give them that tough love, and you're like, doesn't matter, you're gonna do this. We don't want you dying. Here's what you're gonna do. So sometimes I have to be that for some people. But um, if they don't have the motivation, if they if they're just sitting like I talked to a guy, this this was not my favorite. I talked to this guy on the phone, he's like, Yeah, my wife told me to call you, and I'm like, here we go. I'm like, all right, man, well, well, what are your goals? I don't really have any goals, I just need to make her happy. And I'm like, Well, all right, man, are you happy with your body right now? Yeah, kinda, yeah. And I'm like, okay, so you're 280 pounds, you're five foot eight, and your wife is telling you you're too fat. Okay, that's that's painful. I get it. So you're taking a call with me to see what I I've got. Um, but but what about this? What about that? I couldn't do anything to motivate him. I couldn't do anything. He's like, I don't like working out, I don't like to sweat, I don't like to, and I'm like, and I we got to the end of the phone call, and he just he I was like, Well, good luck to you, brother. I I don't know what to tell you. I I hope that you and your wife stay together because it sounds like yeah, had the biscuit with you, you know.

SPEAKER_04 53:03

Yeah, yeah, that's a sad call.

SPEAKER_01 53:05

Some people just don't want anything to do with it, and I just I respect people too much. I'll just walk. I'm like, okay, yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_04 53:12

Right. I mean, you can you can only do what you can do, and the other person has to make that choice. And I'm sorry to hear that, but maybe that conversation will come back to him, you know, and especially from his wife, yeah, and then maybe he'll decide to make that change. I hope so.

SPEAKER_01 53:28

I hope so. Cool guy, I liked him. He just he just yeah, lives a totally different lifestyle than me, you know.

SPEAKER_04 53:35

Yeah. Um, here's I don't know if you're gonna answer this. What's the biggest lie the fitness industry tells beginners?

SPEAKER_01 53:50

Well, I'm not gonna be very popular. Maybe this might not be the perfect answer, but this is my answer. Okay. So I especially back in the in the late 80s and early 90s, there was a lot of Kathy, you're gonna get me in trouble here. Uh there was a lot of car sales.

SPEAKER_04 54:11

You're getting yourself in trouble.

SPEAKER_01 54:12

There was a lot of used car salesmen that came over into selling gym memberships and selling, and it was a horrible time. It would they would lock people into contracts. Late 80s, early 90s was oh, I remember those.

SPEAKER_04 54:28

I remember those.

SPEAKER_01 54:29

Yeah, uh these guys, they would they would shame people into not getting a membership or not getting personal training. It was that's why I was never a sales guy. I never liked it. I was always a trainer, I was always on the floor, always coaching. I never liked those hanging out with those sales guys. So my big pet peeve to answer your question would be when they would get that um that feeding frenzy of people, you know, they pull their credit card out, and and what you also need is this, and what you also need is this, and you need this gym towel, and you need these gym clothes, and you need, you know, and they would sell not what the customer needed, which was a gym membership and maybe a few personal training sessions, but they also started trying to get these people on all these supplements and this and that, and it's like, man, that that really I thought was a lie. Whenever it comes down to money and people trying to make more money, and it's not what's best for the client, you know what I mean? Uh yes, because how many of those I I remember these guys, they they tag teamed this one girl in the office, and she came out of there crying, and just to get them off her back, she bought everything with her credit card. And I just was like, oh my god, like you guys are animals, you know? Yeah, that's bad. That's that's bad. I didn't like that um back in those days. Now there's no salespeople in the gym, you know. Now you just go in and you get your membership online and we don't have to deal with all that crap anymore. So telling beginners that they have to get on a ton of supplements, I don't know. I think they need to get back in the gym first and get moving. They need to clean up their diet. Yeah, clean that's what I did with you. Remember in those 12 weeks, I was like, we're gonna take a break from supplements. You coming from your background, you're like, oh, that's you know, we do a lot of supplements. And I'm like, I know, hang on. Yes, just for 12 weeks. Let's give your body a break from everything. And then once you are done with the 12 weeks, then start adding them in one by one, and your body will be able to tell what's working for you and what's not. And you eliminate any kind of supplements that you're told to take that don't actually work well with you. That makes sense, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:46

No, yeah, the the new dialing in on nutrition was key. I think I love supplements.

SPEAKER_01 56:51

I love supplements, but I like to see my clients training first and eating healthy, like getting their eating under control and then adding in supplements.

SPEAKER_04 57:01

Yeah, we don't our food does not have the same nutrition or yeah, you know, it's not packed full of vitamins and nutrients like it used to be. So it has actually caused us to have to supplement with so many different things. But um, I want to the thing that keeps popping up on like some of my uh feeds on my social media is the fitness industry saying, like, in 30 days you can have these abs, and in 30 days you can have and like that is what that should have been my answer.

SPEAKER_01 57:34

I I didn't think about that. That right there, that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_04 57:37

Yeah, well, today in today's world, that's really what I see is these quick fixes, and it does not work that. I mean, my challenge was 90 days, and yes, I had a transformation, but even in that 90 days, it wasn't what these people are saying you can do in, you know, 30 days at 15 minutes a day or something like that. Or yeah, or that you can eat anything that you know, the guy that's eating a day full of nothing but donuts and pasta.

SPEAKER_01 58:07

I'm like, Yeah, uh anyway, the that's the better answer to your question for sure. I if I would have thought of that, I would have said that one for sure. Um, there is no quick fix. I mean, you know, ozempic and peptides and all these different things, these things are helping people get certain results. They just are, right? But it's not a substitute for working out, it's not a substitute for eating healthy and eating clean.

SPEAKER_04 58:35

Right. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 58:36

It's it's an addition, it's not a substitution, you know what I mean? So um exactly you know, now that I'm in the online space, now that I'm out of the gyms coaching and I'm in the online space, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, I'm seeing, you know, now I see all these people all the time dropping in my feed.

SPEAKER_04 58:59

Yeah, it's that algorithm. It's a I see it all the time.

SPEAKER_01 59:04

I see it all the time. I see usually young trainers under 25 years old with all their shiny perfect muscles and everything, and they're eating a pizza and no shirt. And they're eating a piece of pizza and they're telling people you can do this too, and have six pack abs. And it's like, hold on, brother, like you can't you can't do that. You can't put yourself out there as an expert just because you've got a 23-year-old chiseled body and you can eat all the pizza you want. It has it hasn't hit you yet, you know what I mean? You haven't gone through life yet, you don't understand. So, yeah, that's a that's a thorn in my side for sure. They're just because somebody looks good and they sound good doesn't mean then they're not just a shiny salesman, you know what I mean, and they don't know what you're talking about, and they're just trying to sell you. I mean, you gotta really be careful nowadays. I mean, look at the liver king guy, right? Did you did you follow here follow that?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:06

The liver?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:07

Liverking? Who's that? Liver king, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:09

Not I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:10

But just this this guy that came out and said you've got to eat uh ancestral, you know, only. Oh he's eating raw meat, raw kidneys. He's eating uh animal organs, and he's doing he's just this massively muscular dude, and um older, older guy, he's like 45, I guess, somewhere around there. And he says he did it all without steroids. And you look at his body and you're like, um, that's a steroid body.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:39

Like for well, it that's a rarity. I mean, that's a rare that is not something for the general public.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:45

Yeah, well, he he was lying his butt off. Like he he took he was taking a mountain of steroids, but telling everybody, follow me, take my supplements, and you can be like me. You need to all eat ancestral, and it's just like, man. So I've I've seen a lot of that stuff throughout the years pop up and then fade away, pop yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:06

So isn't there a phrase, something about if it sounds too good to be true? It usually is. It's probably yeah, so that's ridiculous. But um, okay, I have another one last question. Um, why do so many people start a workout and quit within a few months? Start a workout program on or a routine, and then they quit.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:32

Okay. Lots of answers to that. One could be poor programming, maybe it's too hard, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:39

Poor okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:40

So take somebody like yourself, right? You were athletic when you were young.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:44

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:45

And let's say a year ago you were overweight and you're like, I can't take it anymore. I know what I need to do, I'm gonna do it. Right. And that's me. And you got on somebody's workout program, and it was somebody advanced, right? And you jump back into it, and everything is hurting, but not the good hurt. Like your joints are hurting, your bones are hurting, you're getting headaches, your things aren't working the way they used to when you're you know, poor programming. Um, maybe their goals are not strong enough. So I've noticed I do I guinea pig myself on a lot of things, right? Like I try things out on myself first before I even think about talking to other people about them. So um, so oh, where is I going with that? What were we just talking about?

SPEAKER_04 1:02:33

Well, we're talking why do some people start like a routine workout, okay?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:38

So the goals aren't strong enough. So I've noticed with myself that whenever I take on something big and something new, I've got to make it big. Like I've got to make like I've got to focus my whole life on this, and I've got to just really decide this is what I'm gonna do. Because it's so easy now to just try this or try that, you know. 75 hard, and they just try it. That's a 75 hard is like uber strict. And if you break any of their little rules in the 75 hard, you're like done, you gotta start all over again. Same thing with the whole 30, you've got to eat perfect for 30 days, and if you break it just one time, you gotta start the whole 30 all over again. So so I've noticed that with myself, if I want to let's say go on a three-day water fest, right? That's not just something I'm like, yeah, you know, I think tomorrow and the next day and the next day, I'm just gonna take three days off from eating and just do a water fest. Oh no. No. Like, I have to make those goals set in stone. Like that I am gonna do this no matter what. I'm not gonna half butt it. I'm gonna go all butt. You know what I mean? Yeah, no, that that's so I think sometimes people drop five pounds in the gym over two months and they're feeling better, and then life happens and they get distracted from their goal, and then they try to come back, but it's been two weeks, and they're like, Man, my body was feeling so good. Why is it starting to feel bad again? You know what I mean? It's just I think having really strong mental uh goals, even having them written down like that scripture, write the vision on the wall, you know what I mean? Yes, really, yes, I take that stuff very seriously. And I've just noticed with guinea pigging myself on things that I can't just commit to something half-heartedly. I have to really be like, Eric, this is what you're gonna do. And you're gonna do it no matter how bad it gets, until you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:48

Yeah, so have the goal. Yeah, if you have the goal and then maybe checkpoints or something to to keep from giving up, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:56

Micro goals and then macro goals. Yeah, absolutely. I'm huge on that.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:01

Yeah, I think that's great. Eric, you have been such a wealth of information today.

unknown 1:05:07

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:08

So if somebody if I know you do, so we're gonna have you back next month, okay? Uh, question if someone wants to find Eric Barber, where do they go?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:19

So uh barbarictraining.com is my website. It's my name backwards, so it's a misspelling on purpose. It's Barber Eric Barbaric Training. Um, most people um just go to YouTube. I'm sorry, go to uh Instagram, Barbaric Training, and I've got just all of my videos on there. Um, and then I found out how to do that little Facebook thing where you can have it switch over and and also post Okay. Learned how to do that about six months ago. So yeah, I mean go to go to Instagram first and then uh Facebook second, and then YouTube is gonna be my new, you know. My new thing. I'm learning how the ins and outs of how to figure out how to do all that. So yeah, I just want to help people, you know. I I do best at this time in my life. I'm looking for people who are 40s, 50s, 60s who feel like their best years are behind them and there's nothing they can do about it. And I'm over here going, whoa, whoa, whoa, you need a mindset shift. You need you can totally do this. We can we can do it together. You don't have to do it alone. And I've got a ton of information and help that I give my clients. So I uh I just want to help people, you know?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:35

Absolutely. I mean, and I am probably your one of your biggest fans, and I know you've got hundreds of thousands of them.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:43

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:44

But I I tell people, do not tell me you are too old, do not tell me you don't have enough money, and do not tell me that you don't have the time because your health is everything. And, you know, we've Eric provided options on where you can work out, um, gave you, you know, recommendations for trainers, whether it's a local personal one, or if you, you know, contact Eric for online. That's what we did online. He's like states away, but we still had those weekly calls and everything. And and it just really, you know, he does that uh really a unique program for you. And I just can't thank you enough because it has literally just changed my life and I appreciate you so much.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:32

I see your pictures on uh Instagram and Facebook, and I'm like, gosh, she's just still going. Like you're just getting awesome what you what you're doing.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:42

Still going.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:43

Because we got started back in what was it, September?

SPEAKER_04 1:07:46

The end of September, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:47

So we trained October, November, December, right? And then you've been pretty much on your own January through March, and you're just crushing it. Yeah. See, to me, that means I've done my job. Like I get people for digital jobs, you know. And if I check in on somebody six months or a year later and they're back to where they were before they started working with me, I feel like I failed. Because my job secretly, my on not secretly, but on a personal level, my job is to not just give people an excellent meal plan and an excellent workout, progressive workout program that works for them over those three months. Not just the accountability and the stuff I can pour into their life and teach them, but it's also subliminally, I'm trying to reset their mind to fall in love with health and fitness and create a love of this stuff that has kept me going for 40 years, you know. So that's that's why I do that's really what's behind what I do. It's not just the 12 weeks, it's can I help create a true love of health and fitness in this person? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:59

Well, yeah, you did a great job. Well, you did a great job. You did so, for all of our listeners, if you yourself or you know someone that is interested in changing and transforming their life, um, please share this podcast, like, subscribe to my new YouTube channel. I would greatly, greatly appreciate that. And next month we'll bring Eric back because I'm sure we've got many more great things to learn. So thanks, Eric. I really appreciate you. Thanks.