Anything & Everything with Matt Reyna

Why Most People FAIL Fitness Goals | Omar’s Real Talk

• Matt Reyna

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0:00 | 17:40

Matt Reyna sits down with longtime friend and personal trainer Omar for a real conversation about fitness, discipline, work-life balance, mental health, and what actually works when it comes to getting in shape. From building a successful personal training business to why walking might be one of the most underrated forms of exercise, this episode is packed with practical advice and honest perspectives. Omar also breaks down the biggest mistakes people make with fitness, diet, sleep, and sustainability. 

🎙️ In this episode:
 • Omar’s journey as a personal trainer for 14+ years
 • Leaving Gold’s Gym and building his own business
 • Why relationships and reputation matter in business
 • The importance of work-life balance
 • Walking vs running for long-term fitness
 • Why most people fail their fitness goals
 • Diet, sleep, and recovery explained
 • Mental health benefits of exercise
 • Building healthy habits for your children
 • Sleep apnea, recovery, and fitness tracking devices

🧠 What you'll learn:
 • How to make fitness sustainable long term
 • Why walking daily can change your health
 • The truth about fat loss and metabolism
 • Why sleep impacts your progress more than you think
 • How consistency beats extreme workouts
 • The mindset needed to build a successful business
 • Why habits are more important than motivation

⏱️ CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS
 00:00 Intro
 00:20 Omar’s 14-Year Fitness Journey
 01:20 Leaving Gold’s Gym & Going Independent
 02:10 Work-Life Balance & Family Priorities
 03:20 Building a Client Base Through Relationships
 04:40 Omar’s Training Philosophy
 05:45 Fitness as Mental Therapy
 06:50 Walking vs Running Debate
 08:55 Why Walking Is So Powerful
 10:00 Teaching Healthy Habits to Kids
 11:10 Common Fitness Goals Explained
 12:40 Biggest Fitness Mistakes People Make
 13:20 Why Sleep Is Critical for Fat Loss
 14:00 Sleep Apnea & Recovery Discussion
 16:15 Joe Rogan & Corrective Surgery Talk
 16:40 Omar Accepting New Clients
 17:20 Outro

📢 About the Podcast
 Anything & Everything with Matt Reyna is a podcast focused on real conversations about business, fitness, mindset, life experiences, entrepreneurship, and personal growth. No scripts, no filters — just authentic discussions with interesting people.

📌 Connect With Matt Reyna
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattreyna2023/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/matt.reyna.12
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattreynaspodcast

#podcast #fitness #weightloss #gymmotivation #health #mentalhealth #walking #workout #anythingandeverything #mattreyna

SPEAKER_02

I'm glad you transitioned into your clients, man, because I want to get into that part. Uh then like right now we're just rambling on like yeah. That's why I said, dude, y'all are gonna be a fly on the wall for like the way that we talk the way that we used to just have conversations, which is I mean, I I love this guy so much, man. And we hardly get a chance to catch up. So that's why it's awesome, man. Yeah, definitely always uh about your business, always about your family, which I've always respected you so much uh for that stuff. Um, how are they doing, by the way? Everybody's awesome, man. Awesome. Um uh you've been a personal trainer for how long now? Uh 14 years. 14 years. Yeah. How does one, Omar, be able to sustain a living as a personal trainer for that long? You're like patience, patience, patience, man.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I think I think it's like anything else. It's um, you know, getting started, it's rough. I think it's like any other business that you start. You know, the first years are gonna be rough. You have to establish yourself, right? So going back to the golds days, I think even a little bit before you got there. So I started with golds in 2012. Okay. So I was there from 2012 to 2020 almost. So about almost eight years.

SPEAKER_02

I think I took off maybe a year or two after that.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_02

Man, we only kicked it for like two years, more or less at goals. Man, that's crazy. But then again, I would always go after. So anyway.

SPEAKER_00

So then uh going from there, I I had already that was kind of the win there, is like you're already building your own business within the business, right? So then the movement from there was easy because you already have your following, you have your people, and you know, at that point, starting my own thing, it was like, you know, you're more than welcome to follow me, you know, if you'd like. And you're like when you treat people right, I mean they'll follow you, man.

SPEAKER_02

I was gonna I was gonna say like I'm that's a great, great point. I was gonna say, like, it didn't take long for you to be like, I'm out this bitch. I'm out there, actually. I'm taking my goddamn clients with me.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, no, I mean, I don't think it was just a countdown. It was never hostile like that, man. Like, I I actually enjoyed working there. Um, but then at some point, you know, for me, I think it just kind of happened where I got married in 2018. We're planning to have a family, and you know how it was at Golds, man. We were we were at some point, dude, training like 10, 11 people a day sometimes. You're there from like, I mean, I've never worked car sales, but you would always say bell to bell. Yeah, get there at six, you leave at six. You get there at seven, you leave at six. So I mean like constant, and so then going into transitioning into like, okay, we're gonna we're gonna have we're gonna get married, we're gonna plan to have kids. I don't want to be here all day. Sure, seriously, you know what I mean? So, so me, as I've always told you, man, I'm I'm super big on work-life balance, man. Like making sure that, you know, yeah, you provide for your family, but you also are there for them, like physically, emotionally, right?

SPEAKER_02

Definitely.

SPEAKER_00

So it was kind of an easy transition. I was like, man, this is I'm pretty well established and I think I can do this on my own. And if it doesn't work out, you know, then I'll figure something out. But it was cool because then, you know, my kids come along and uh I'm making my home schedule, I have my own thing, I take off whenever I want. You know, the other thing is, you know, you don't have to be there for scheduled meeting or this, that, or the other floor hours, whatever it is. So pretty easy transition there.

SPEAKER_02

But it gave you a really good foundation as far as like getting those those core clients, would you say?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And then after that, it was just all referral-based, I would assume.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Referrals, uh, friends of friends. I think, you know, people always going back to that, you know, like where you like, I'm out of here, like this, this place, I hate it here, whatever. Like later's, you know, I I think it's it's super important, man. Not like to me, I've always felt like you always have to keep those bridges. Definitely. Because you never know when you will have to maybe bounce back, or you know, people remember. And so, you know, staying clean with them, you know, and just kind of making it an easy transition. You know, I still walk into gold sometimes now, and you want your job back? Just random, right? Stuff like that, like in a joking way, but you know what I mean? Like just stay good with people, and it's you know, it's all good. Didn't we have a monster squad, bro?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, we did. Me, you, Jess, Ped, Drew, Javi, Marcus, Wes. Oh, yeah. Dude, uh Wes um Wes, I was just talking with him the other day. Just and it's it's crazy because like the way you said, don't burn those bridges or whatever. Yeah, everybody's doing very well for themselves, man. They're in their own aspects of things. Ped, you saw the episode with he's doing uh amazing as well. Yeah. What I liked about uh there as well, though, it kind of reminded me of Carcells in the sense that whenever I would get a client in that wanted a specific goal or had a specific goal in mind, I knew who to pair them up with. Yeah, explain your training style.

SPEAKER_00

Um listening. Really? Yeah, okay, cool. You know, I I think it's it's uh yeah, people have like physical goals, but the majority of people, man, like they're in there to get, you know, just to be moving, just to get moving for them. A lot of people, it's an escape, man. You know, just mentally, the mental escape from work.

SPEAKER_02

Weren't we just talking about that?

SPEAKER_00

It's that one hour gives them that, you know, the the feel-good chemicals, the endorphin. So you you really like bro, I think you can't be cookie cutter, that's important. You have to listen to what they like to do. And it in your mind, I mean, it might not even be the best approach in terms of like what's gonna give them the quickest, best results, but you know, these people, I mean, and and then in turn for your business, you want them to be long term. Sure. So why not make them happy even if it's slow progress, if they're cool with it, and they have the disposable income to keep you on for years. I mean, there's people that I dude, there's literally people that I've been training for like 10 years.

SPEAKER_02

10 years?

SPEAKER_00

Are they in the best shape of their life they've ever been? No. But they're happy, they're energetic, they like to come in, they enjoy it. And it's part of the and the whole plan is lifestyle change. It's not for you to come in here. I mean, yeah, I get it. You know, there's people, hey, dude, I want to get like ripped by summertime. All right, we can do that. It's probably gonna suck. You're not gonna enjoy it much. That's not a long-term plan. But a lot of these people want it to become a part of their lifestyle, like brushing your teeth in the morning. That's something you do. It doesn't, you don't even it doesn't register as like, I gotta go to the gym.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So that's where it is. Well, um, the way that you said, man, you need that escape, you need those endorphins, you need all of that stuff. Sure. That's been part of your life this whole time, obviously, right? So you make time, obviously, for yourself to to do that. Do you believe? I mean, I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this question, but do you believe every single person on the planet needs that? Absolutely. You do, right? I mean, dude, if I didn't have that every single day, like I go to the gym, I try to play basketball, whatever. Today I just did my steps. I'm doing I do you know my my my my age now. Hold on, let me let me check my pedometer, guys. Add my hand weight, yeah. So um, well, uh around my block, man, is uh perfectly uh 1.25 uh miles, right? So it gives me about 3,000 steps, right? And um I was I was seeing this, and let me see if you subscribe to this that you know you can't run every day, or you can run every day if you want, if you're like a big time runner or whatever, but it's easier to get your steps in every day, and it kind of like basically I see these guys that are like pretty jacked and stuff like that, and they're like, I get my steps in, like steps are king over running because you're not gonna want to fucking run every day, right? You know what I'm saying? So I'm I'm trying to kind of adopt that philosophy. Oh, and then there was also this um this Navy SEAL that was like, bro, these walks for me, um, cool. Um, these walks for me are like um we'll go about 15 minutes. Um these walks for me are like my therapy, man. And he goes, and if I could, if I could um if I could impart that in anybody like that's going through anything or going through anything, um, even like people that are going through marital problems, yeah, I would say walk with your spouse. Walk 20 minutes. Yeah, he was saying 10 minutes, go 10 minutes away from your house and then 10 minutes back, right? He goes, during that 10 minutes, you talk and you unload everything that you want with your wife, and then when you come back, she does. He goes, dude, that saved my marriage or whatever, right? So, and he says, like, dude, not everybody can run every single day, but everybody can walk every single day. So I'm starting to uh adopt that philosophy, right? Anyway, um, I kind of need something like that to just kind of zone out to decompress, decompress, zone out, and um, I don't get a runner's high like I do when I'm running because I've felt it before, it's totally different, but I do get the this I feel the endorphin rush whenever I'm lifting weights, definitely, you know what I'm saying? And you I think you need that for sure, you know what I'm saying, or else you're just gonna blow a gasket, you know. Like, I don't know how else you just like just to disconnect.

SPEAKER_00

But yeah, dude, I mean, there's tons of studies where just walking, what it does for you metabolically, like in terms of uh just blood flow, uh detoxing, brain chemicals, things like that. And yeah, the thing is also as we get older, I mean, re the reality is, I mean, you don't want to hurt, right? Uh knees, ankles, whatever. Um the walking is sustainable. The running, I mean, if you enjoy it, if that's your jam, then yeah, absolutely. But at uh it's gonna take its toll over time, it's just a harder method of exercise. It's it's more taxing on everything. But yeah, dude, in terms of keeping your body fat low, um, keeping your metabolism uh up to speed, dude, walking, incline walk doesn't matter. Incline, walk, flat, just getting steps in. Uh, it's a big thing. So, yeah, man. Save your joints at the same time.

SPEAKER_02

Seriously. Uh, sometimes they just kind of break it down into the ridiculous like that, right? And this is like, Doug, I'm gonna I'm gonna like just break it down as ridiculous as it possibly is, walk, and that's it, you know. And I'm like, I think I could do that.

SPEAKER_00

It's funny, dude, because I'll do that. So in the evenings, uh, you know, I'll give my kids dinner when the wife's at work sometimes. And uh, all right, we have dinner. What are we doing? We're going for a walk. They already know. And so it's like, why are we going? And they already know why are we going for a walk, kids? Because we just had a big meal. We gotta go walk. Nice. We'll do one, like you said, one one big turn around our block, which is probably less than a mile. But we do it, it takes us 20, 25 minutes. That's more than a mile, then, bro. Whatever it is, yeah. So it's a slow pace because you know I gotta get little legs. But um, you know, sometimes they'll take their scooter or they'll take their bike or whatever. There you go. But I always talk about that too, man, is like uh that goes a long way instilling that into your kids, the activity. Dude, they see that they're sponges. Mom's going to the gym, dad's going to the gym. We're all going for a walk. Why? Because it's good for you. You instill that in them, and they it it becomes it becomes old hat, it becomes habit. I was gonna say so then in adulthood, hopefully, right? Sure, they are going to know that the gym or walking, whatever it is, it's just something you do. It's not this foreign thing that you know, all of a sudden I want to get into working out.

SPEAKER_02

Is there um if anybody are you confident right now that anybody can come up to you with any goal and you can help them accomplish it? Yeah, I would say so. Yeah, with with this amount of training that you've had? I think so. Would you say that they're more or less all kind of similar? Um like women want to lose weight, men want to get jacked, type of thing. You know what I'm saying? Like almost the same in a sense like that.

SPEAKER_00

I think so. I think pretty much, but I think, dude, honestly, like I think they're like male or female, it's it's like the same boat now, dude. We've become so sedentary. Yeah. Like I think even in the time from when I first started training, like going back 14 years or whatever, like this sitting in a chair, this position, it's like the worst you could ever do for your lower back, for your hips, sciatica, all that stuff. So a lot of this throughout your day, like you know, desk jobs, you know, yeah. Which is just sedentary. You know, I think a lot of people work from home stuff too now that which is big. Yeah. I always tell my clients, dude, people that work from home or uh my nine to fivers, I'm like, dude, I tell them the same thing every time. Every couple hours, get up, stretch your legs, walk to the water fountain. Don't go more than a couple of hours just sitting. You are killing your hip mobility in your back.

SPEAKER_01

Well, that's why people have like those standing desks, and then they even have those walking pads.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, the walking pads, or even the little hydraulic like steppers. But yeah, dude, just getting up. Just getting up every now and then.

SPEAKER_02

What would you say the big the biggest misconception is Omar, or where people are just missing the boat? Diet.

SPEAKER_00

Uh just fitness overall. Fitness overall. I think I think it's that. I think it's probably diet. Um I would say it's it's it's kind of like the that's probably been like this for a while, but thinking that because you go to the gym, you can just eat whatever you want. Sure. So I always tell people like, dude, I I see you, you know, I see there's clients that I see four times a week. I see them three times a week. Usually I don't do less than twice a week, but um, I'm like, dude, think about it. I see you two hours, right? Say two hours in a seven day span. Do the math. How many hours are there? So and no, I'll go back to this too. So diet for sure, sleep, dude. Wow, metabolic killer. Oh man. Sleep. I know that's where I check all the boxes, dude. You're eating your protein, you're doing your cardio, you're lifting. If your sleep is off, it is so detrimental to everything. Damn it. Cortisol levels.

SPEAKER_01

That's bro.

SPEAKER_00

I would you have to get your sleep right, otherwise, everything is just all out of whack, and I will absolutely hamper your your progress.

SPEAKER_02

I have sleep apnea, bro. So I I've been wanting to get one of those aura rings or whatever. That it it's my niece has one of those. Yeah, dude. So it counts your steps, it it attracts your recovery.

SPEAKER_00

She was talking about it because she she's a firefighter, so she does all that. She shift work, her sleep's crazy, right? They do work 24 off 48. She got one and she raves about it, dude.

SPEAKER_02

Well, so like you wear it and it tells you all that stuff, right? And I'm like, I'm scared to see what my sleep is, man, because I don't know how much I get, and it's been like this for years. I have a deviated septum, you know. I I I'm uh I guess I'm technically overweight, I guess. So it's like I'm uh right now I'm uh 5'6, 190, right? So I want to be about 170 muscle mentals, and I'm wondering if I get down there, will it take away my sleep apnea? Do I have to get corrective surgery on my DVA bse septum? I don't know. Or is it just in there that's too big or whatever? Bro, there's this thing. I don't know if you've seen it.

SPEAKER_01

It's like this this machine that you put in. Have you seen that one? No, have you seen that one, X? Versus like the big old mask or one. Yeah. So it's like nobody wants a sleep hat, this and that, right?

SPEAKER_02

Well, this machine, you turn you turn it on, bro, and it's in there, and and it gives it gives your throat like toke.

SPEAKER_01

So to where to where your your your your uh your uh your mouth goes like it forces you to open your your mouth and like your esophagus when it feels that your uh your uh airway like closes, it'll like that's like I've always wondered about that, dude, because like periodically that it hasn't happened to me in a long time, like knock on wood, but like I would wake up like had trying to catch my breath.

SPEAKER_00

Really? Yeah, so I wondered, but it hasn't happened to me in a while.

SPEAKER_02

Well, does your wife say anything about it?

SPEAKER_00

Nah. Oh, okay. Gotcha. But dude, I've heard that that septum thing is a big deal. If you it's probably, dude, I'm uh I'm pretty sure I mean that would probably fix most of it.

SPEAKER_02

Ah man, it's it's on it's on the bucket list for sure. Like, um, I mean it should be.

SPEAKER_00

Where's the donation draw for the uh to the septum uh surgery? Matt's septum.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's the septum. What's it called? Uh why do you think I started the podcast, bro?

SPEAKER_00

Some uh some t-shirts, we'll do uh what do we want? Leg quarter uh barbecue plate sale.

SPEAKER_02

What's it called? Uh Joe Rogan, bro, he said that he got corrective surgery and it and he was like, I feel he goes, I didn't even know that there was this much air that you could breathe.

SPEAKER_00

And that's how I feel pretty uh famous fitness girl that I follow. Uh she did she, I guess, kind of gave her little story, her little shindig on how it went. And she says same thing. It was a lot, it was a lot difference, big difference.

SPEAKER_02

Um, are you taking new clients now? Uh yes, awesome, awesome. Um, that's where we're gonna wrap it up. X, put it on me. Uh my my buddy Omar, one of the best dudes I know, best in the business as far as personal training. If y'all have a particular goal that y'all are looking to attack, like like you just heard, there's nothing, nothing that are this under the sun that he can't help you attain, whether it be um, you know, trying to lose body fat, gain muscle, um, any type, uh also to like any type of injuries and things like that, you would have post surgery, personal injury, all of that good stuff. So, best dude I know, man. Um, best in the business. If you need anything, definitely shout me out. Uh, let me know. I'll get you in contact with him. Episode 10 now in the books, man. Thank you, Omar, for coming. This is fun, man. Yeah, I appreciate it, man. Yeah, exactly. It flies it flies.

SPEAKER_00

I was looking forward to it, man.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, dude. Um, 160 subscribers as of now. Yeah, thank you very much for that. Until episode 11, guys. Peace.