Table Talk with the Hattens Podcast
Table Talk with the Hattens hosted by co-owners Abigail & Khari Hatten helps busy parents simplify nutrition & wellness while building healthier habits for their families without overwhelm. Each episode delivers practical tips, real-life strategies, and expert insights to make feeding your kids well both doable and enjoyable one meal at a time.
Table Talk with the Hattens Podcast
Table Talk with the Hattens Episode 11 with guest Unshaken Athletics
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In this episode we talk with Myles Villanueva who is the founder of Unshaken Athletics. listen to how Myles became a NASM Certified Personal Trainer & why he created Unshaken Athletics. Follow along as he details his inspiring journey how he lost 130 lbs naturally in one year after recovering from a very serious back injury which led to multiple surgeries and being bed ridden. We explore exactly what is Unshaken Athletics & the story behind his company.
Links:
Website: https://www.unshakenathletics.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Unshaken-Athletics/61591290485073/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/unshaken_athletics
Email: mylesvllc@unshakenathletics.com
Hatten Health:
Website:
https://www.hattenhealth.com
Hatten Health Recipe App: app.hattenhealth.com
Instagram & YouTube: @HattenHealth
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hattenhealth
Email: hello@hattenhealth.com
You can also catch the YouTube version of this episode at
https://www.youtube.com/@HattenHealth
We are Hatten Health
Family. Health. Growth. Empowerment.
Let's make it happen, together!
And we are here with episode. Yes, episode 11. And today we have the privilege and opportunity to speak with Mr. Miles from Unstake and Athletics. We had a great opportunity to meet with this gentleman about a week or so ago, meet with him personally and get to know his background and his journey. And it's very, very interesting. You want to hear what this man has to say. And would you like to say something about just a quick um intro about your experience with him so far? Just getting you know him really fast.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so Miles, we met him actually through our mailbox. Um we found his business card in our mailbox one day and about his business, and we immediately wanted to reach out to him and get to know him better. And after looking at his website, he's a professional, certified personal trainer. He has his own business, handshake in athletics, and has had an incredible health journey, um, professional journey that we really wanted to share his expertise, his um story with you all. And um, yeah, and hopefully, you know, see what this relationship continues down the road.
SPEAKER_03And as always, here at Head and Health, we love to focus on family, health, growth, and empower. So let's make it happen together.
SPEAKER_00Cheers to you, cheers, cheers.
SPEAKER_02Uh well, thank you guys. I'm uh very excited to be here and uh very excited to have met you both. Um, like like you guys said, my name's Miles. Uh I'm the founder and owner of Unshaken Athletics. Um, you know, we uh I'm a mobile personal trainer specializing in you know helping professionals uh achieve pain-free exercise. So, you know, that's what I do.
SPEAKER_00Awesome. Well, first let's just dive into your story a little bit. Tell us like how you got into personal training, uh, what what motivated you to get into this field?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. So a few years ago, uh I was you know pretty pretty severely overweight. I was uh I weighed 250 at one point, and uh, you know, I I wasn't very happy with myself, and I really bust my butt in the gym for the following year, and I ended up losing 130 pounds, um, which you know I was uh I was a whole new person and I you know with that was a whole new mentality and it really kind of changed my my perspective on fitness.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02And you know, while doing that, I had friends come up to me and you know ask to train with me, and so we would train a little bit, and uh you know, I that really kind of I really enjoyed that interaction as well, uh just kind of helping people um help themselves. And um so yeah, so I had lo I had gone through that weight loss journey and shortly after I had gotten injured while at work, um, and you know, there was a whole bunch of pushback from them. And uh eventually, um last October I ended up needing um back surgery from the injury that had occurred. And that kind of really gave me the opportunity to, you know, take a step back from work and you know take a look at what I wanted to do as as far as work went, you know, I had been in the food industry for a really long time and it wasn't really my passion, uh, if you would. And so given that time, um you know, I really it really took me back to you know helping others and then going through the rehab and stuff and you know, learning all that, it kind of even even more so incentivized that uh that thinking. And so while on you know bed rest and doing rehab and such, I was uh I looked into you know personal training certifications and you know what all that took to get done. Came across an ASM, um, the National Academy of Sports Medicine. And you know, I I I went through their program and I got certified. Um and I you know, I'm still currently working on my corrective exercise specialization and nutrition, but you know, it's just really really a passion shift.
SPEAKER_00Well, and congratulations on competing that yeah, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_03For anybody who is looking into getting into being a personal trainer and getting NASA certified, what was that experience like? What did you have to go through and what was the steps to that you had to do to make that happen? Because there's a lot of certifications that people would like to get, but they don't know the steps that it would take. They don't know that it might take longer than they expect, or they might have to go through different hoops more than they will expect to. So what did you have to do to make that happen? What was the process like?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Great question. Um, so with the NASM program, I obviously like you know, I was in bed rest, so I couldn't go anywhere or practice any workouts or anything myself. So I was they have uh an online program available, um, where it's you know basically an online textbook, and you go through, you read it, and it's pretty self self-paced. So, you know, if you were to uh really push through, you could easily get it done in you know three months or so. And I I took a little bit longer. I was slightly more focused on uh you know getting out of bed and whatnot.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and uh I took it to me closer to like six months to get it done.
SPEAKER_00And uh still that's great. So good, yeah.
SPEAKER_03We we're working on some very nutrition, getting those certifications up under our belt or over a year. Over a year. That's supposed to take six months, but I think more than all the other things kind of got in the way, but we're still um slowly trucking along with it. Yeah, and yeah, when she started um doing like we spoke about when we met you, um, started doing research and started taking courses, get more certifications under her belt. That made me want to do that too. I'm like, okay, yeah, I got all these cook and chef um certifications for working in restaurants and such, but I wanted something a little further than that on the technical side that I can teach to others. So show me this program that she started, so we started it together, and now I'm locked in it. I'm enjoying it, enjoying um textbook learning again as far as along with the practical application that I do on a daily basis. So yeah, congrats to you, Matt. That's that's awesome.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. Yeah, likewise. And I kind of experienced that same thing, like as far as enjoying the textbook, you know, type of learning again. Um, I remember through high school I was not a not a fan, as I'm sure most people would do it.
SPEAKER_00Um it is different when you're motivated, right? It's something that you want to pursue like and you pay for yourself and you're right, versus yeah, just high school or school in general growing up. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, it's different as an adult when you actually want to learn.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's definitely different uh drivers when you're when you're older.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Oh no, that's awesome. Um, so tell us a little bit about how you then transition into your own business versus like saying starting in a gym or something like that. Like what made it motivated you to start your own small business?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um, so my mom actually uh she's owned her own business for a while now. Um, however, she's kind of only done it as like a side gig type of thing. Um up until recently, she's fully transitioned over into her own business. Um, and she's a mobile massage therapist, and so that kind of gave me inspiration to uh, you know, be be a mobile personal trainer, and you know, along with that, um one of the things I find uh one of the reasons I find people don't enjoy going to the gym or or working out in general is because they don't enjoy going to the gym. Um whether that's you know they're uncomfortable with the environment or even uncomfortable with the level of knowledge, like they're not confident in what they're doing. And you know, that confidence kind of or that that lack of confidence, you know, kind of drives you away from the gym. And uh unfortunately that tends to happen a lot. And so my mentality was yeah, you know, if I could if I could bring that to the comfort of people's homes, or you know, even if even if it's not in their home, if it's somewhere, say like a you know, at the soccer field in their communities park or something, somewhere where they're more comfortable, um, then and you know, offer them something that they can do outside the gym that is just as beneficial, if not more, um, and fits into you know their busy schedule and life, because you know that life gets a little hectic and yeah, uh, but you know, fitness is important to prolong said life. Um right. So yeah, that's kind of that's kind of what where my mentality was as far as how I kind of shaped Unshaken Athletics.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. Yeah, and um you also do online programming too, right?
SPEAKER_02That's right, yeah. And uh that kind of originated a little bit later, um, as I was kind of putting the business together, and I had a you know, a proof of concept program going, um like a like a trial, uh discounted trial, and one of those clients was moving away um towards the end of our six-week trial and was curious on how we would continue to train together. And so that kind of got me thinking, I'm like, okay, why limit myself to you know, X amount of cities and where you know I can I can reach a lot more people this way, um, and have the same you know, same effect.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah, that's awesome. So do you just train like over Zoom or basically?
SPEAKER_02Um so I use uh trainer size and um ideally we do if they're doing the online programming, I like to do three check-ins um a month, and that you know, that helps me A uh know that they're doing okay with the programming if they're not reaching out, you know, throughout the throughout the month. And B, it gives me an opportunity to you know reassess them and update their program, um, you know, to keep them keep them progressing.
SPEAKER_03That's good. Yeah, it helps you stay on track with them and gives you that gives them that more personable experience.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, accountability too, I think that's is so huge for a lot of people. Yeah, having somebody to be reliant on you or you know, having that schedule and somebody to check in with you is so important.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. And that's uh that's kind of one of the things I like about you know using trainer size is because um a lot of a lot of different apps, you know, uh you have to put different information and you know how much food you ate in this app and how much miles you ran in this app and whatnot, and everything's kind of put together and organized in one spot for me. So it's a lot easier for me to keep keep track of their progress and uh you know re-reprogram them as necessary.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so with sort of like so many different other personal trainers out there, or online personal trainers out there, or ones that do a mobile personal training, do you feel like is that one of the things that sets you apart from them? Or is there is it that plus something else also?
SPEAKER_02Um I think I think a lot of the uh mobile personal trainers do offer um online trainers or online programming. Um however, from what I've noticed, a lot of the mobile personal trainers are like are like companies. So, you know, they there's more than one worker, and uh, you know, if that that means if you know one trainer, if your trainer calls out, they'll they'll probably be replaced with another trainer, um, which you know in my opinion isn't always the best best option. Um you know, if you have a trainer and that trainer calls out or something gets sick, and you have an online programming to back it up or you know, to make up your session to an extent, then I you know I find that more important if it's done by your personal trainer because you know your trainer's personal to you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, right. They know you and yeah, they're actually goals and yeah. That makes sense. Yeah, it's kind of hard to switch around.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, just kind of in the a lot of those companies from you know doing my research, a lot of them are based in Denver, so there's not a lot, you know, coming down south this direction.
SPEAKER_03Right. How'd you come up with the name Unshaken Athletics?
SPEAKER_02Unshaken Athletics.
SPEAKER_03So what's yours?
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. Um, yeah, so Unshaken Athletics kind of came to me um again during uh that bed rest when I was, you know, working on working on my school and whatnot. And you know, I was I was at a pretty low point, you know, I was getting a lot of pushback from the company that I had worked with for 10 years, and I was uh, you know, I was an RGM there and felt like uh you know I was getting the a finger back to back to the face and uh and it it was a big betrayal. And uh, you know, I had lost my apartment and um obviously my my job and uh I was just going through a lot of loss, so I was trying to find a way to take you know take that opportunity and uh and make it an opportunity, you know, or that you know, take that experience and make it an opportunity. Um you know everything happens for a reason, so I wanted to find find the reason.
SPEAKER_00And um those kind of situations, those rock bottom situations. People rise up when you're gonna be able to do that.
SPEAKER_03It's like my back is broken, I'm not broken. You can't shake me, you can't break me. Let's go.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Yeah, and that's kind of what I wanted to, you know, going going through the rehab and proving it to myself, and you know, going through my original weight loss um journey and proving it to myself then. I I wanted to, you know, have the opportunity to prove it to other people and you know let let them experience it. And that you know, unshaken isn't or being strong isn't always about how much you know weight you can lift, it's about how many times you can be pushed down and get back up. It's you know about resilience. So you you can be uh you know unshaken is a mentality as opposed to you know the a physical aspect in my opinion.
SPEAKER_03Just being solid, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00When you were going through all those trials, when you hit rock bottom, what helped you keep that positive mindset when were were you reading any books or reading or listening to podcasts, or like what helped you get through all of that?
SPEAKER_02Um so I I kinda I really put my head down and you know, I was throughout high school I had done, you know, rugby and weightlifting and stuff, so I knew how to do everything. I just didn't really know how to do it in the way to get where I wanted to be. And you know, on top of that, like running was like the last thing I wanted to do, right? And so um, and then my diet was out of control, and you know, I just had to do some uh a lot of research really, and um, you know, I had found some uh social media people who had I kind of kept up with that were kind of my age at the time and doing the similar similar things and I uh you know taking notes and just kind of taking notes from all these different resources uh and kind of putting them putting them in a way to where they you know related to me. Um I kind of kind of made my own made my own program that way and it ended up you know it you know it it shed shed my weight. Obviously it was you know 130 in a year is pretty uh not not the easiest thing to do.
SPEAKER_03And major, yeah. Most people don't do that in five years. You did it in one year.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, and uh no, it it was so really kind of me knowing that I could do it and like seeing the progress. I took I would take weekly photos and um seeing the progress visually was definitely helpful. Um whenever I would hit like plateaus or something, I would just kinda you know, I I would tell myself, you know, consistency and uh really kind of put you know, again put my head down. I wouldn't uh I was working a lot too, so you know, I was working like 80 hour weeks usually. I think, yeah. Cause that yeah, 80 hour weeks, so I basically go to work and then the gym was right next to my work, so I'd change go to the gym, go home, sleep, repeat. So it was it kind of just turned into a a habit and like a pattern of mine. And once I kind of made it through that, you know, that process of making it a habit, yeah. Everything kind of everything else kind of you know fell in place.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because during that time, the time but you're so busy, you know, thinking about it in real time every day. So the time goes by quick, days go by fast. Before you know, you look up, months go by, you see a picture of yourself four or five months ago, like, oh, there is a difference, something happened. And before you know a year went by, you're like, oh, this transformation is real. Like that's never really happened. How I because you were busting your butt so much, you were just in the thick of it, not realizing what was happening every minute, every day. And that's that's amazing.
SPEAKER_00Now we're thinking it either, right? Yeah, for sure. You went to work, you went to the gym, you almost said that you got into that routine and didn't have to think about it too much, probably.
SPEAKER_02So right, and just kind of one of those things like you know, if you haven't seen a family member, uh particularly a kid, um, in a long time, and then you know, a few years have passed and you see them again, you go meeting them with an idea of what they look like, and they look completely different.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02That's kind of it's kind of kind of what happens when you look at yourself in the mirror every day. You see yourself and that's that's what you look like. You don't see what you looked like before. So taking those taking those visual pictures definitely definitely helps, and it's something I definitely suggest to my clients.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because it's changing change is so gradual, you don't see it as it's happening, you see it after it's already happened.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_03I love it.
SPEAKER_00Oh Amazing. Can you walk us through kind of like what a session looks like with you? Like what you prioritize with your clients, especially like you know, uh being mobile. I'm sure you are working with all kinds of different equipment or maybe no equipment at homes. And do you have like a criteria that certain clients have to have like a certain amount of things at home, or how do you go about that?
SPEAKER_02How do you so uh I I go in to each client with the almost with the expectation that they don't have any equipment? Obviously, if they have equipment, it's uh less things I have to carry. Um, but you know, I I bring any and all equipment that's necessary um to any and all clients. Um and it's you know, I sanitize it after every every session and um and as far as like kind of the process of how a session would go, um obviously it depends on you know the client's goals and uh what they were kind of going for um and what we were working on for that particular day. Um but you know, I I try to hit every um every portion of like uh you know your your physical necessities, so like you know, balance, strength, endurance. Um I try to hit a little bit of everything every uh every session. So, you know, I'd like to start off with recovery. Um I know that kind of sounds funny, but we'll start with some uh myofascial rolling and you know static stretching with uh a light, you know, some kind of cardio workout, something to get your your your heart going. Um and then we'll move into uh you know whatever we're working on, whether that's pliometrics or um you know core strengthening or you know, leg day type of thing. Uh and then from there we'll we'll go into I like to add a client's choice portion to it. So um, you know, I let you know anything you want to do, you choose a workout, and we'll we'll we're doing that. And so, you know, that kind of adds some a nice little twist to it, and you know, the clients obviously enjoy that. Um, and that's kind of what we end off on, and uh from there we go into more uh more recovery where we'll hit more myofascia and uh do more stretching. And um if it was if it was a little bit more of a you know heavier workout, we'll do a cool down uh prior to that, myofashing and uh myofascia rolling and static stretching. Um but yeah, no, I go in, I usually try to show up a few minutes early. That way I have enough time to get everything in set up, and you know, we can start start right when you're scheduled, and uh you know, we go until you're done and pack up and head out. And uh, you know, every um if we're doing in-person training, I typically update the program as we go as opposed to the online training, like how I said, I like to meet with them you know every every 10 days or three times a week uh a month, um, just so to kind of get that assessment in. Um so and then obviously that kind of helps me guide my clients while doing the in-person training, um, not only for my own programming, but it helps them as far as you know, hey, look, this is you know, four weeks ago you could only do two push-ups, and now you're doing 10 type thing. So uh it's not something they typically keep track of. It's not it's my job. So it's uh so it's that's always a nice, you know, fun thing to show them in addition.
SPEAKER_03Would you like to share any of those client wins or testimonials from any of your favorites or things that's made you proud as far as like success stories with any of your clients? Well, not to say names or anything, but just if anything off the off your memory.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. One of my uh just off the top of my head, um, one of my clients, he uh he was having, you know, he came with me with the intention of, you know, he wanted to grow his chest and just muscle mass in general. And um and so, you know, him and I started working and uh during our assessment, our original assessment, it you know, I found a couple muscle imbalances uh throughout his legs and his shoulder. And I had asked him about his shoulder, and he had mentioned that you know it was he uh he thinks he's like he was uh double jointed or maybe that it like dislocates or something, but his shoulder like just kind of slides out. And and it's not like it wasn't like a doctor thing or anything, you know. So I but he felt always weaker on that side. So that was kind of something that we started incorporating into our program. Um and he towards the end of the six-week trial, he was actually the the guy who had um was planning on moving away. Uh he had you know mentioned how much stronger he was in his in his shoulder and that you know during chest press, which is was it was a lot of the stuff that we worked on with him was uh like his form. He realized that his form was just way off and that you know the last few years that he's been going to the gym and you know trying to work on his chest and just seeing no no improvements and because of his of his form, he hasn't been he hasn't been working his chest. Um and so kind of kind of opening his eyes to that and um you know while working with his shoulder, it almost helped him perform the form to do chest uh better, which you know overall helped him, you know, he's still going at it as far as I'm aware, and uh it helps him you know feel stronger on his chest as well.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome.
SPEAKER_03Oh, I love it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's a great testimonial. Thank you for sharing.
SPEAKER_03Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Is there anything else that you want to share about either your own story or about your business that you want people to know about you that we touch on?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, I I mean if there's anyone anyone out there who's uh you know wanting to exercise, but you're you feel that you're not doing it correctly, or um maybe it even hurts to exercise, and um or even if it's something just as like you know, functionality as you know, balance getting down the stairs or taking the taking the milk out of the fridge, I'd be more than uh happy to you know help help you achieve those goals. Um and you know, as far as nutrition and you know family family diet and stuff goes, uh, you know, the Hatton family here is uh they have a great business going and uh yeah, no, you guys are great. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_00Oh you too. And yeah, we'll share all your socials, your contact info, um, and then episode description. So we'll share all of that. But how how's the best way to for people to contact you?
SPEAKER_03And are we and will you be popping up anywhere at anything live to present your your business? Are you doing that?
SPEAKER_02Um also I'm definitely keeping an eye out for um you know some like city of commerce type of type of things and uh things in that way as far as getting out publicly. Um I'm also you know just just trying to approach people at uh you know stores such as like vitamin call it cottage and uh people who I can see are actively searching um a healthy lifestyle. Uh I'm just you know, maybe maybe just is you know, someone going up to them asking them about you know if their fitness is something that they're interested in, is you know, that something that they can't find on aisle four or something, you know, like um kind of doing something like that. And uh best way as far as you know, my website's unshakenathletics.com, um, and you know, Instagram's unshaken underscore athletics, Facebook's unshaken athletics. Um, feel free to you know reach out, DM me. Um, I'd love to chat, learn more about your goals. Uh feel free to you know give me a follow. And uh please, if you know anyone that you know experiencing any any kind of fitness troubles, send them my away, send them my profile.
SPEAKER_03Um absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Yep, and you service the South Metro Denver area. I don't know if we've said that yet on this episode, but right, yeah, or online. Yeah, yeah. Anyone can join you, but uh specifically.
SPEAKER_02Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00South Denver area. Awesome.
SPEAKER_03All right, I think we did it. That's an awesome, awesome episode, awesome show. We um definitely appreciate you um spending a little time with us, letting everybody know about what you and Unshaken Athletics does and is all about and your journey, which is very inspiring to a lot of people, very inspiring to me. I feel like I need to go work out again right after this. We were exercising with my daughter earlier today before we filmed, before you started the show today. I want to go do some more now, just hearing your story.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I love that. Yeah, doing um YouTube tobada kid workouts.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's awesome! Yeah, consistency.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, so that's a crazy workout last night and I want to go again already. So thank you for the motivation.
SPEAKER_02Yes, that's awesome. Anytime.
SPEAKER_00Well, we try to do these every episode. Sometimes we forget about doing them, but we have these positive affirmation cards that we always like to draw one out. And um yeah, I'm here. So, Miles, pick a number between one and ten.
SPEAKER_02Let's go with eight.
SPEAKER_03Eight case three shuffling.
SPEAKER_00You want to read it?
SPEAKER_03Sure.
SPEAKER_00And they're double-sided too.
SPEAKER_03I'll start with this side. A light heart lives strong. William Shakespeare. Hopefully, I can zoom in on that and the editing. If not, I'll say it again. A light heart lives strong. William Shakespeare. What is your takeaway from that?
SPEAKER_00I think kind of Miles' whole story about his recovery and everything, like just staying positive and motivated, and you're so much stronger now from that. I think.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Heavy heart, you got a lot weighing on your heart, a lot dragging you down, you got anchors, and that's hindering you from success, no matter what aspect of life that is. So a light heart lives long. That's what I got from that.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. Yeah, light, light heart and strong men, strong mentality. Yeah. They coincide.
SPEAKER_03I'm not sure if I misspoke by saying that. It says lives long. I think I said strong, but yeah, we we answered both of those words and understand what you said. So yeah, it all ties in together.
SPEAKER_02Okay, that's what I'm here. I'm here to help you live strong. And you guys are all about here too.
SPEAKER_03On top of being about that, also about family, health, growth, and empowerment.
SPEAKER_00So make it happen together.
SPEAKER_03Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for being here. Table talk podcast.
SPEAKER_01We appreciate you for having me. I appreciate being here.
SPEAKER_03We appreciate you, and thank you listening on listening and viewing audience for tuning in to the Table Talk Podcast with Kari and Hadden of Hatton. Kari and the Abby of Haddon help. And we will see you on the next one.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Thank you.