Celebrity Coach's Secrets to Fitness Success and Nutritional Clarity

When life threw a curveball at my dear friend and celebrity trainer Phil, he didn't just dodge; he hit a home run. Tune in as he takes us through the highs and lows of his incredible journey, from battling and beating leukemia to shaping the health of Hollywood elites. As Phil peels back the curtain on his life-changing experiences, we uncover the profound influence his father's cancer battle had on his fitness philosophy. His candid reflections on swapping the corporate ladder for the personal training path reveal how true fulfillment often lies beyond fame and recognition, nestled in the genuine desire to improve others' well-being.

As your host, Anthony Amen, I'm excited to share our conversation that's packed with practical advice for anyone looking to revolutionize their fitness routine. Forget the daunting, complicated regimens; it's time to embrace the simplicity of starting small and the mightiness of the pen in keeping you accountable for your fitness journey. We discuss how setting non-negotiable appointments for your workouts can be a game-changer, much like a business meeting you can't afford to miss. And for those taking the first tentative steps towards wellness, you'll learn how beginning with a stroll around your neighborhood can lead to remarkable strides in your health.

We wrap up with a hard look at the often elusive element of fitness success: nutrition. Phil and I demystify calorie counting, debunking the myths of 'healthy' food choices that are anything but, and providing you with a blueprint for a simplified diet that's both effective and maintainable. Say farewell to the confusion of fad diets and embrace a lifestyle where whole foods and consistent eating habits are your foundation for long-term health. After all, isn't it about time we all felt a little more energized and a whole lot healthier? Join us for this heart-to-heart where wisdom meets wellness, and get ready to transform your approach to fitness and nutrition.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:11

Hello and welcome to Health with Fitness Redefined. I'm your host, anthony Amin. Join me today as we take a dot until the health of fitness, where we're overconversely thinking about restriction and see health with fitness in a whole new life. You guys may or may not know that we are doing some reruns just through the holidays. Some best listen to episodes will be coming out or through Christmas Eve, christmas Day, new Year's Eve, new Year's Day, and we're taking the week off. So I hope all of you appreciate those episodes. Please leave these comments below, anthony. This is awesome. Keep doing this, because these were buried or hey.

Speaker 1: 0:45

No, I don't want to listen to these episodes that you put out three years ago, your podcast, and back then was a treasure. No, but seriously hope you guys take a listen to those and let us know. So, without further ado, we're going to welcome to today's show our guest, phil Phil, it's a pleasure having you on today.

Speaker 2: 0:59

Hey Anthony, so much thanks. Thanks for having me. Pleasure to be here after this much time, finally getting our schedules aligned.

Speaker 1: 1:07

We've been meeting through this episode for months, so we're here.

Speaker 2: 1:12

So we're both busy and we finally made it happen.

Speaker 1: 1:15

Yeah, it's called Trainer Life and I love having fellow personal trainers on people that live, breathe in the industry. It makes it an easy conversation for everybody and I'd like the average training training for the rest of us kind of phenomenon, because that's how I always put you guys in the show, but Phil made an express importance, like hey, you know, this is what I want to get across. So I'm really excited to do this episode Without further ado. Let us know why you became a trainer in the first place and give us a little backstory.

Speaker 2: 1:46

Totally, totally. So. I'm originally from Montreal, from Canada, and it's kind of something that half of it, I joke, is like the nurture versus nature debate right. So that's kind of me too. My whole family are super healthy. I grew up healthy, cooking homemade meals, going to the gym. My parents were both fitness buffs.

Speaker 2: 2:05

But when I was three I got diagnosed with leukemia. So I actually had childhood cancer for five years and then beat that. But I was like an eight year old who could tell you everything about every blood test and chemotherapy and lumbar punctures and what methotrexate is and you know LS for aginase. So I knew all about my body and I saw my parents being healthy and it just kind of was always something talked about water skiing and snowboarding and skateboarding and jogging and lifting weights. So I'm super grateful I grew up in that environment and then, unfortunately, when I was 11, my father again the healthiest guy never drank, never smoked. We grew up Mormon actually I'm no longer practicing, but I'll let you say like couldn't have picked a healthier guy and then he got lung cancer and passed away shortly thereafter. So my whole family kind of just doubled down on being even healthier and we kind of realized nothing. Nothing is guaranteed, even if you're doing it right. But you give yourself the best shot. And he was able to weigh out live the diagnosis. They said it's terminal, it's stage four, there's nothing we can do. And he lasted way longer than they gave him because he was so healthy. And I've kind of run into that cancer beast a few more times. But basically my whole life I've worked out eating healthy.

Speaker 2: 3:21

I was the teenager training all my other friends and in Canada you can really get protein at the time or like any supplements, so we'd order them to New York and drive across the border and I was like hustling supplements, yeah. So we kind of made it this thing that you know. I just loved it and I looked up I'm the baby, so I looked up to my older siblings and my older brother he started bodybuilding. So it kind of just was what my family did. And then it became my first part time job.

Speaker 2: 3:47

But I never really thought it was like a real job or career. I was going to school and getting degrees and paying for other jobs and then I got my MBA and I'd been training the entire time legally since I was 18. But at 25, after grad school, three weeks at a real job. I was like, oh, I hate this, I hate this. And so I moved to LA with my wife and three kids. I was like I'm going all in and went all in on training. It's been over 10 years since that decision and 18 years almost training and I've never looked back. It's been amazing, that's exciting man.

Speaker 1: 4:21

So you're working in LA, so you tag yourself as like a celebrity trainer. So kind of your little insight with that means yeah.

Speaker 2: 4:28

Well, it's funny because, like training for the rest of us, and then you're like, hey, wait, fill trainer, celebrity trainer. And so I've kind of come 180. So my goal initially and to be fair, I think sometimes people shy away from financial gain I was married very young, at 21. I had three kids in an MBA by 25. So for me it was not an option to not make money. I had to put a roof over our head and pay. So for me, celebrity trainer and train rich people. You know that's the reality. It is what it is.

Speaker 2: 4:57

I went out, I'm going to make it and I did and I was able to write a book about it and I was on KTLA news and training celebrities and whatnot. And it was fun and I loved it and it did pay the bills. But after a couple years I started realizing okay, this is fun and, to be fair, it did give me clout and it did help my whole career and I regret nothing and I'm still great friends. Celebrities are just normal people too, right. But I realized, oh man, I don't care about helping somebody get a six pack for a show.

Speaker 2: 5:25

I got into this because I was cancer in my family. I got into this because I wanted to help people and my whole mantra is how to have people have a healthy, happy life and also bodybuilding. I intimately knew people competing in the peptides and the steroids and the hormones and the body dysmorphia, and all of it was so present in Los Angeles. I don't want my kids being this and I was starting to get sucked into it. I don't want to be part of this.

Speaker 2: 5:48

So I kind of got lost a little bit and then I refocused everything on no, no, no. I want to make people healthy and happy. So, yeah, I'll still take celebrity clients and things when they come, but my bread and butter now are working with real people who have pretty lofty goals, that they want life changes, whether it's gaining muscle or dramatic body fat loss, like I work with people online or in person who are like I want an expert and I'm committed, and so I take that focus that I put to the celebrities on people who are like I want something meaningful, and then for me it's also a lot more fulfilling. So kind of did the whole 180. I made it back to where I started. Great, you know gratefully to get back there and not get lost too long.

Speaker 1: 6:28

That's the way to do it, man, you realize, like reassess your mission of what you're looking to do and accomplish and set yourself up right. So I guess my first question is what is training for the rest of us? What do you think that means?

Speaker 2: 6:42

Yeah, I think that's a great question. I think kind of you and I were talking before we started the podcast, but it's it's podcasts just like this or the sensationalized media and the social media and the TikTok bites and it's seeing you should be doing this crazy zone 5 thing or you should be doing this very specific type of rucking and this and like everything's optimization culture, like what's the best and the most efficient and like pushing, pushing, pushing. And I'm always looking at these guys like I'm a really healthy person who's done this for a living and I'm an expert. Like do you have no jobs for children or do you have seven hours a day? Like how are they doing? Their checklist is a hundred things long.

Speaker 2: 7:20

To be a healthy person and it's actually not that hard and you don't need to buy anything fancy and you don't need to eat some special food at 10,000 feet elevation, blessed by a monk, like there's also nothing wrong with all of that. But my average everyday person just needs to make good habits like drink less sugar, drink less caffeine, drink less alcohol, go to sleep earlier, wake up earlier. Do some strength training three, four days a week. Do some cardio every day. Yes, walking's cardio. You don't have to jog if you hate it.

Speaker 2: 7:48

But training for the rest of us is how can I be a healthy, above average person? Because average is now sadly a quite terrible state of health in the world we live in. Average today means your overweight, undermuscled, you have a metabolic disease, you probably have a mental health disease, and not a knock against any of these things. But these are things that we actually can prevent or reverse by taking care of our bodies and health. So that's kind of the the way that I've treated it now as training for the rest of us is let's not worry about the 1%, let's worry about that foundation. Are we moving? Do we feel happy? Do we feel healthy? Do we get out without pain? Can we do push-ups? Can we squat our body weight? Can we bench our body weight? Can we be running around in our 40s picking up kids like, can you be a functional, happy human and not get life beating you down?

Speaker 1: 8:35

that's, that's kind of my approach yeah, and I love that, and something you mentioned that kind of resonated my brain's like oh yeah, that's true. You look up, you don't look up protein shakes. You look up what's the best protein shake. You don't look up glue like glue exercises. You're like what's the best glue exercise? I'm gonna do that and we just get obsessed with finding the best thing when realistically it's more. It's great movement.

Speaker 2: 9:01

Let's start there make it a standard. So a lot of times when I work with my clients, especially online clients, because I'm not seeing them and I'm not assessing everything and I'll I'll write them a plan and then they'll send me a DM or an email or they'll call me even. Hey, you know, I see what you wrote here, but I was just listening to XYZ podcast and they said this is better. Or what about stretch media to hypertrophy? Or what about partial reps? The new study I saw from this guy said that, oh, I'm like okay, you're not wrong and they're not wrong and they have three PhDs to my name. I'm not saying that, but I'm an expert in getting people to do the thing. I'm gonna have you done it. Can you keep it up? No, like, let's first master three months, let alone three years, of getting you the body and the health and the standards and the habits you want, and then we'll get there.

Speaker 2: 9:53

And so often people are starting at the end of the race instead of at the beginning and they're sprinting that last mile of the marathon, so to speak. I'm like you didn't do the first 25. There's no shortcut to to getting there. Let's work out three days a week, let's. There's certain metrics. I literally have metrics for my clients. I look, if you can't bench your body weight or squat or deadlift one and a half times your body weight, if you can't do a few chin-ups like I, have certain measurements where I'm like not, don't even ask me that question until we get you here. And then let's start to get through the advanced stuff. Let's let's do bulk and cut and let's explain that. Or let's talk about creating like I'm okay with all of the things, but let's graduate it, let's get you there. Let's first make sure you're a person who brushing your teeth is the same type of habit as working out right.

Speaker 1: 10:36

Until you're there, you don't need to worry about the other fancy stuff yeah, and this is why we talk about habits a lot on the show. It's a great example. Is someone's drinking five cans of soda a week? Right? I'm not gonna sit here and say, okay, cut it out all by Monday. Yeah, let's get it to four, simple let's create actionable steps for you accomplish, to start moving in the right direction, because doing something is better than nothing, and I always use the example let's walk to the mailbox and back every day.

Speaker 1: 11:10

I love that I'd say seven days a week yep, and some so many times too.

Speaker 2: 11:15

I'll have clients like super busy, like we have a never-missed two-in-a-day rule and I'm busy, I'm still traveling, okay, well, here's what you can do and I'll text them. You can do 10 squats, 10 pushups in the 30 second plank, three rounds of that. Cool, all right, you did a 10 minute workout. It's infinitely better than having done zero if you do that 50 times over the course of the year. That's hours of working out. You did and it's and it's cumulative.

Speaker 2: 11:37

We, we think, or we like to think in buckets and in small time and like this day and that day, but it's all cumulative, right, you? You don't see the changes every day, but it's over the course of a whole year, two years, three years. So those little five, ten, fifteen minute workouts you just thought were throwaway workouts, well, that's probably 50, 60 workouts a year. That would have been total zeros. That's the same as like saving five, ten bucks, thinking it's nothing. You add that up, it's a couple thousand bucks by the end of the year. And it's not going to buy a house, no, but it might get you a vacation, it might get you half your car loan paid off, like, whatever the case is the all or nothing mentality I think in this optimization culture really eats at a lot of people. They're going, I'm going to start it. If I can't finish it, that's the worst place you can be. Just absolutely start and just do it whatever you can, and we'll figure out how to add more and more and more later yeah.

Speaker 1: 12:32

So I guess the best question is what's the first step? For a person listening to the show that's saying to themselves Great, and I'm hearing 100 people talking about podcasts. I hear this, this, this, this, this. It's like I'm overwhelmed, Like what's number one simple solution somebody should do now.

Speaker 2: 12:50

So, absolutely right now, the first thing you can do is take your hand, put a pen or pencil in it and physically write down on a piece of paper a workout schedule for the week. I'm not saying write your own workout down, because you might not know that, you might not be a trainer, but studies show that physically writing things down it's kind of the same thing with, like if you just put it in your calendar app, again, that's better than nothing. If you're not a write it down person and you're like you know what that sounds, great, phil, I'm not gonna do it. Okay, I digress, put it in your calendar, but if you physically write it down, same thing. I tell my clients I like them to track their workouts with pen and paper in the gym. One, it's proven they're four times more likely to remember it. Two, they're not gonna get stuck in an Instagram loop for five minutes and waste their exercise time. This happens all the time.

Speaker 2: 13:36

So if you don't write it down, if you don't put it in your calendar, if you don't say I'm doing this at seven am, monday, wednesday, friday write down when you're doing your workouts. You're gonna find a million excuses not to do it. You're gonna push it, you're gonna get tired. Your wife or husband's sick, your boyfriend needs something, your dog needs something, right? If you put it on the calendar and you make it important and you make it real and you put it in a time slot like it's a work meeting, you will show up, and so that's the number one habit that I've seen I've worked with. I forget the exact number, I did calculate it, but at like 16,000 hours of training and over 1,100 people I've worked with. It does not work for everyone, but the vast majority respond the most to physically writing it down, even more so than saying start tomorrow or when I hang up this phone, go do that. Like you know, there's all these tricks, but writing it down and putting it on your calendar makes it real.

Speaker 1: 14:26

Yeah, I'm gonna add to that cause that's brilliant. You're pretty much nailed the right on that head. It's happening in the front of you, so I don't look at my phone with the calendar things that get in the face like shit. I gotta be so worried. 10 minutes, that's how I live my calendar on my phone, but having a physical copy or something in front of you all the time is that constant reminder.

Speaker 1: 14:47

For example, I was talking to somebody and we're approaching the new year, so this is a great time to mention this anyway is every January first. I've been doing this for the last three years. I don't go out in New Year's Eve, go to bed early, I wake up feeling refreshed and I track out business and personal goals and I write them all out for January all the way to the end of December and I print it up and I put it. It's right here. So for those of you that watch it, it's literally like it's read it all right now to you. But those are my goals that I see now every single day. And I'm in December and we're still following this goal. So I mean it's the last month. I'm still keeping track and following along about where I need to be because it's physically in front of me.

Speaker 2: 15:33

Yeah, that's incredible. I love that and I truly I love technology.

Speaker 1: 15:37

I'm on my.

Speaker 2: 15:38

MacBook, I have an iPhone, I have whatever. Like, I love tech. I used to code and make stuff. I was like the nerdiest teenager. That also worked out. But, point being, I love tech. I have nothing against it, but I think appifying and gamifying everything is taking away from like tangible. Our bodies are tactile. We have to touch something, we have to write something. And it's proven. This is not conjecture, this is not me just making something up. It's proven that if we use our hands, if we write stuff down, it's way more likely to enter our brain and be remembered and be able to be recalled. So if you're studying for a test, writing notes is proven to help you remember it and require less study time than typing it out. Now again, if you're someone who's like I have crappy writing, I'm not gonna do it and you literally won't write it down then, yes, typing is better than not taking notes. But, like, if you can just jot it down or make the habit writing your calendar out, you'll remember your calendar.

Speaker 1: 16:33

I'm gonna. So I'm that person. My handwriting's horrendous.

Speaker 2: 16:38

And.

Speaker 1: 16:39

I struggle rereading my own handwriting, so I will give tidbit for those people, because this is what works for me. It sounds clinically insane, but I don't care, I talk to myself out loud.

Speaker 2: 16:50

I do that too. Brilliant, you could do voice, and this is another thing. You can do voice memos and I do this too. You can do voice memos on your iPhone and you can tell yourself like the daily calendar. Or here's the real trick. I use either chat, gpt or Siri or whatever, and I have it write the notes for me, like Siri. Make a note, whatever Siri add to my calendar. So sometimes I'll dictate it, but it's still the act of saying the words and making it real.

Speaker 2: 17:18

So writing it down is more effective, but saying it out loud and then having a second copy and then reading that copy, that's two touch points You've thought it, you've said it and then now it's being written down and you review it. So each time that happens, your brain makes an imprint. So all it is is repetition. That's what life is speaking, walking, working out, running, jogging, eating, new habits, killing old habits everything's repetition. So I have learned with four kids, six animals and three businesses, that, like, efficiency is everything.

Speaker 2: 17:48

And I was not a calendar guy. I played video games at pizza, was a skateboard kid that played drums and then, like, when I realized I had these goals, I could wing it for a long time until I couldn't wing it anymore. And then my body started breaking down because I wasn't sleeping. I got kidney stones at 30.

Speaker 2: 18:04

When COVID came around, I got long, covid, like in the last three years I have sharpened up my schedule and I've become a planner that I never was. And there was like this aha, come to Jesus moment, like, ah, they were right. I naysayed them forever and they were right and I hated learning it. And now here I'm on the other side and now I'm preaching the same thing as I used to be, like those bows, those words they talking about. But, man, you get so much more done and it's so much less stressful when you have structure that that was the only hack. I wish I could have told myself that 10 years ago. And like getting help and investing in coaches and mentor, all the things that you think you can do without you can't, and you're more efficient when other people help you and when you sleep better, like it does.

Speaker 2: 18:47

it does work and that's the main thing I've learned. And same thing for training get coaches. Get a trainer, that's a shortcut. Get an accountability buddy, like trying to do it on your own. I'm not saying you can't do it. You can do it, but it will take you more time and you'll get worse results. Like why, why stall, why wait?

Speaker 1: 19:04

Not. I couldn't agree more. Lebarn James has a basketball coach. Just leave it at that right.

Speaker 2: 19:09

I need to know.

Speaker 1: 19:10

Yeah, that's all you need to know. Coaches are better than him, but he's good at keeping him accountable Absolutely so I do love that. Speaking of keeping your accountable, guys, we're just gonna give a quick shout out to our sponsor at squared consulting. It is a company that keep that. I came together and we said hey, look, listen, entrepreneurs worry about the business and the two things that are worried about, the personal lives. Is there a health and their wealth? They don't care about whether they're working out, they're not going to the gym, they're not eating right, they're falling behind and all that. So I come in and help get that all organized for you on a schedule, keeping you accountable and making sure you're following through. Then Keith comes in in the end that helps with the own personal financing, teaching you how to invest, where to invest, what to do, how to look at your money, so you're not falling behind, because if you lose those two things, you're gonna go out of business. Let's be real, you get burned out. We've mentioned it many times in the show. We don't want that. We want to make sure we take care of your personal life, and both of those things are Perfectly together, and not enough people talk about the importance of health and wealth. So that's why we created s squared consulting, fitness and financial freedom. Go check it out. It bodies that wallets, calm. It is fit bodies, fat wallets, calm.

Speaker 1: 20:23

For listeners mentioned the show and you'll get 10% off Moving on. I do love how we both on the same page with Tantability, like that's huge. It's kind of shows for those listening hey, look, listen, this is something simple. So right now, take three seconds and Write something down that you're looking to do this week or, if you're me, talk to yourself or record a voicemail or something, because you know if you write it, you're never gonna read it, because you're like that's, that's it so definitely important. And I guess, just moving on to how do I get healthier, what's up first step for somebody Beyond that right. So they wrote that I'm gonna work out Monday, wednesday, friday, but I don't know how to work out, phil, I've never been to a gym before. I'm intimidated by the people around me. Everyone's gonna think that who is this guy coming to the gym? He can only lift a one pound dumbbell. How do you talk to this person?

Speaker 2: 21:18

I mean, that's everybody's fear and the first thing to know is that we see on tiktok or social media, you always see like the bullies and that's real, that's real, but those are the outliers, those are not the rules. Generally speaking, the gym is a very, very supportive place and I can't tell you how many times when I was started working out when I was a teenager hey, buddy, you're doing great.

Speaker 2: 21:40

Like can I show you this helpful? Very respectfully, I have done it so many times that the people in it you know in an asking, non-creepy way, but like first of all, the most likely scenario is that no one cares because they're doing their own thing and they're actually not looking at you. And second of all, if they are, they're more likely to see if you need help. Then to ever criticize you. That's so unlikely to happen, but again, that's still sometimes the okay Well, I still. But I think, and they worry and the anxiety is there you can start at home.

Speaker 2: 22:09

My biggest thing that I like everyone to do Start walking every day. Right now, if you're not walking at least 30 minutes a day, it's probably a big ask to say, hey, here's a four day a week workout. Go lift heavy weights in the gym. You've never done that. So I require all of my clients, in person and online, to walk 30 minutes a day. I would love for it to be all at once, but if that's not possible, walk to the mailbox, do whatever, walk your dog Like. It can be cumulative. And then, once you start there, all right, let's add in three 20 minute workouts a week. So I'll start people off at home. Just get one set of dumbbells and one bench, and that would be ideal.

Speaker 2: 22:42

There's nothing wrong with body weight stuff, but in my experience, if someone's really really weak or someone's really overweight Body weight stuff, a lot of people go to callus thenx because they think you don't need anything, it's easier. It's my professional opinion that for really skinny, out of shape, weak people or really overweight people, body weight stuff is actually difficult and sometimes they can get more injured. If they're trying to do tricep dips and they're too heavy, they're going to bust a shoulder. If they're trying to do planks and something gives out right. So I say that with a grain of salt, for for a lot of people, starting with weights Is actually a lot easier and there are free resources everywhere. I'm sure you have them, I have them, youtube has them. How to do a dumbbell curl, a bench press. Start with 10 pounds. There are free programs everywhere. I offer free programs. I offer training online, like there's so many resources, but Starting at home is completely possible. I've had many, many clients lose 50 plus pounds without ever leaving their house, never going to a gym.

Speaker 2: 23:38

Nutrition is everything. So if you're just eating and walking and that's all you do for three months, you can melt off 20 pounds, 30 pounds in three months, and then you're going to feel better. Then you're going to want to take it to the next level. So instead of getting overwhelmed and shooting for the stars, right, sometimes you're like shoot for the stars and you land on the moon. I think sometimes that is actually too intimidating. It's like shoot to get down the street and you'll probably actually get down the street and then next time go down the block and next time walk to get your groceries in back two miles each way. Right, there's little things and when you check off a small goal you get an endorphin rush, you get a dopamine release and then you set a bigger goal and a big rule. And it's my experience that people hitting goals that are attainable but push them and then stretching that out over time Sees way more success and, most importantly, more longevity. They'll keep it up.

Speaker 2: 24:29

Tons of people lose a bunch of weight and gain it back when they do these crash things. The easiest way to tell it is If you start a program and by the end of week two you hate it and everyone around you and you want it to be over. That's not the right program. Sure, you'll lose a bunch of weight in three months, but then you'll gain it back. It should be that by every week after week two, week three, week four you should be feeling better. You should not be feeling worse, and that's the easiest way to know if you should run from a fad diet or crazy program.

Speaker 1: 24:55

Ah yeah, I couldn't agree with. There was so many things in that I want to kind of pick out. I'm going to start with, uh, something I made up and call it my radius rule, and I wanted to get your opinion.

Speaker 2: 25:04

If my audience.

Speaker 1: 25:05

If I talk about this too much, please tell me to shut up in the comments and move on from.

Speaker 1: 25:09

But I love this and I coined the term a radius rule. So this is the way I kind of make myself go walk right and help with my clients. It's okay If I'm within start off really small point, one miles of a place I have to walk, I do that. I get that down for a month. Okay, bobman, half a mile of a place I can't drive, I have to walk. They get that down and I go point six and point seven and up to eventually like a mile, oh, mile away. Some, oh, obviously be the dead horse of this, but it was unsafe, don't walk. But anyway I could?

Speaker 2: 25:48

he said I could walk on the highway one month.

Speaker 1: 25:50

Yeah, it's snowing out across a major highway. There's people aren't looking. Yeah, I'm not, not a good idea, I'm wearing all black, all these bad things. So, just if it's safe, do this and you're gonna be blown away. How much more you walk in a year, it's mind-blowing. I admit one of my first human mounts on I is In a huge shopping center and I'm on one end. No joke, I've had clients tell me and I look at them they drive because they parked up one end of the shopping center Going to a store and they drive to the gym, which is the same shopping center, and then walk into the gym and then drive out back. Like you know, if you walked there and back, you would have an extra like ten minutes of walking. That's five minutes there, five minutes back.

Speaker 1: 26:39

You know, little cumulative steps.

Speaker 2: 26:41

What are the funniest things too? I have a visual. Not only that, but they'll drive from one end of the shopping mall to the other end of the shopping mall and Then they'll get in the gym and then they'll get on the treadmill to walk ten minutes to warm up. I'm like you could just warm up like the walk to it and right into weights and then finish the weights and walk back Would be the perfect warm up and cool that I actually used to see a gym where that would happen all the time. I think I know for a fact you guys live down the road. Why did you walk here for a five minute treadmill? And then it's like it's hilarious, but it's. I don't think they're ever consciously doing, it's just we're so wired to do that and just changing that habit. And yeah, those steps that up two thousand three thousand a day times three hundred sixty five, like we're talking hundreds of thousands, if not millions of extra steps.

Speaker 1: 27:26

That's so many calories Without almost any effort, zero, some would say yeah, and if you're carrying something you do in the farmers cat, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 27:37

Calisthenics, baby, no, about efficiency. One other like a hack for walking that I've had people do, especially in this remote work culture with hybrid days and things like that. I'll tell someone look, if you're in a zoom call, that's different. If you're on a conference call, the level of low intensity, steady-state walking that I would want you to do Would be so much that you wouldn't be huffing and puffing and panting. Take your 30 minute call, your one minute call. One minute, you're one hour call. Take the whole call. While you're walking, do do two things at the same time, right in a safe area. It could be slowly on a treadmill, it could be on a walking pad, it could be around your block, but you can completely be present in a meeting because you're not exercising, huffing, puffing, panting, like you can do that.

Speaker 2: 28:20

I had two clients who I've had do the walking pad. They were both stay-at-home lawyers and they're like I just I'm on my computer 10 hours a day. I can't leave ones in DC. You know, high-powered job, blah, blah, blah. Every excuse they could give me. I'm like okay, unless you're on a video call Ten minutes every hour, I want you on that walking pad right at your desk. You don't have to leave your desk. Boom, they went from 2000 to 10,000 steps a day. They lost 20 pounds work magically for both of them. I told the company I was like I'm not paid by you but I should do a commercial for you, because I keep getting all these lawyers to lose weight that say they can't leave their desk and the walking pad was saving them. I Mean, it's just there's always a way to make it happen. And people saying they don't have enough time, they just haven't got creative enough.

Speaker 1: 29:03

I gotta tell you I walk every time on the phone and that's a huge one. I've, like you, ever had those long conversations. You're stuck with someone for like an hour and a half to our own. Great car. I'm talking just in my house I've clocked 30,000 steps Cuz I fast-walk and they're just like.

Speaker 2: 29:24

I'll do it. So when I train the way, I have my day split. I train in person at my studio, 6 am To 2 pm. It's in one building and I train what is that? 8? I train 8 people back to back and then I finish everything, get home for my kids for after school, do everything and then I do some night stuff at night and it's a great little schedule I worked out for myself. But in that 6 to 2 I average about 12 to 15,000 steps just walking around training people.

Speaker 2: 29:51

So there are days where if I'm just so exhausted and I don't have to work out of me, I'm like, well, I actually don't feel that bad because I have already done twice or three times the average walking just by doing my job. So, like my, my low, low exercise days are still great. I got to get the strength training in. But I don't feel so bad if I don't jog or skip something or don't want to do zone 5 cardio or you know again, all the fancy things I sit not to worry about. Sometimes. I like to do them because I that's my job, I love fitness. But there's days when now you know what. So I feel grateful. But it could be that way for anybody. You don't just have to have a fitness job if you're walking around Pacing on the phone. If you're a busy, active person. It's so much easier and it saves you the time you don't think you have by multitasking in a way that doesn't take you away from your job or your kids or whatever.

Speaker 1: 30:38

And now you have headphones that you just plug into your, that are wireless. Yeah, your sound quality is amazing and they can go for what? That you don't have to have the crap Crap, as you're like holding the phone into place and trying to walk and talk through it and then afterwards you like.

Speaker 2: 30:52

Call phone with a big block and the antenna out.

Speaker 1: 30:54

Yeah, those were impossible when phones were corded and people can be like phones were courted yeah, they were on some time they were attached to a court you couldn't really do anything and just be stuck in like this little, so true, a big opinion tension. So we've gone over Quite a lot of actual steps and I really don't want to overwhelm people, but I just want to reiterate a couple of them and ask one more point. We've done One radius rule, just adding little steps as you can go pacing on the phone, which is huge, as long as obviously not on the zoom call or anything like that. And we've gone over writing things down, having tangible things in front of your light, you saying just taking a, write it down, or doing audio notes, or me how I have everything, paste it up in front of me. It's been life changing and that's simple. So is there anything in the food realm? Because people always ask about nutrition? That is something really simple, right to the point, like if we're gonna change anything about your diet, change this one thing.

Speaker 2: 31:55

Yeah, I think the easiest thing to do. You can get so confused out there with keto and intermittent fasting and vegan this and that never. You know it's 20 different diets. I don't restrict anything.

Speaker 2: 32:08

I think that it's very, very important to be aware of what food is made up of. So, for example, frequently when I give people meal plan, they're like oh my gosh, this is so much more food than I'm used to eating and Yet the calories are lower. They don't understand nutrition and food density right. So like how, how this much oil or something deep fried can be more calories than an entire plate of chicken and rice or Than an entire plate of oatmeal with almonds and berries. So like understanding what food is made up of, what I like to do for all my clients or to anybody listening, I get pushback. I don't care because the data support it.

Speaker 2: 32:47

If you track your food for one week, I don't make anybody keep tracking their food. I do not ever want anybody to become obsessive. I actively am Involved in campaigns to help people with eating disorders and I have two daughters, so I'm not saying to become obsessive or develop these things, but people do not know what's in food. They really just don't. Studies show that, on average, people underestimate their calorie consumption by 40%. They just think that they're roughly eating 1500 calories, or 18, and they're way off. Pair that with a Fitbit or an Apple watch.

Speaker 2: 33:16

That's telling you you're burning 800 calories and it's way inaccurate, they more than double how much you're actually burning and it's just like totally skews your day. You have people working really hard, earnestly and sincerely, and seeing no results, and it's just because they don't know what's in the food. So the easiest way to distill it is Every single plate, every time you eat, you should have some sort of like fruit or vegetable that the people going railing against the fruits, like yeah, don't eat seven bananas, but like have a fruit or a vegetable at your meal, have some sort of Controlled healthy fat, like a nut or a seed or a portioned olive oil or whatever, and have a protein. If you do that three times a day, the chances of you being over calories are so minimal. If you're also moving and then it just becomes like a factor of the obvious things like the first thing I cut out for everybody is like alcohol or Starbucks frappuccinos, like drinking calories, drinking salad dressing the killer, the enemy of all diets. You get a healthy salad. It's great. It's full of fiber, protein, seeds, grains, everything. It's probably 500 calories, 40 protein, 15 fat, 20 carbs. It's nutritious, it's healthy. You just dump 800 calories of oil. Salad dressing is the enemy, and so there's all these things that people just don't know. They think you get a salad. It's healthy. They think you get a smoothie or juice, these 300 calorie juices, the juice culture. And then, on the other end, the people starving themselves with the crazy souping for a week or detox juicing for a week, eating no food, like. We love these extremes because they promise crazy results, but the real answer is eat three meals a day.

Speaker 2: 34:55

I'm also not a big proponent of intermittent fasting, not because it doesn't or cannot work, but because most people just simply can't do it. And Unless you have a really strict schedule that allows you to do it, here's what happens skip a day, intermittent fast, skip a day, eat Two meals, three, like if you can't consistently do it forever. All it does is actually screw you up more than become effective. So again, I'm pushing back against all these things of like the extremism. It's like eat your breakfast oatmeal, eggs, toast things. You know we're healthy, not a toaster strudel, not a croissant, not a cappuccino with whole fat milk and chocolate in it. You know, like you already know the things.

Speaker 2: 35:32

Lunch eat a salad with protein. Don't put salad dressing on it. Dinner salmon, chicken, turkey, vegan, tempeh, tofu. Put some vegetables with it, put some rice with it. No, do not put rice on your butter. Like you know, put a little bit of butter on your rice. Sometimes the proportions people have are way off, and so I Would say, just keep it simple. You know what's out there. You know it's healthy if it's fried, if it's sugary, if it's bad for you. Once a week, not once a day. If it's something that you want to enjoy, you can. You can usually make it work, but it can't be daily. So yeah, I just I think people get so confused and overwhelmed. But nutrition really comes down to having fiber, having protein, having a balanced diet, and then you're not gonna crave and been sugar and craving.

Speaker 1: 36:20

Prep this pre-show right? We didn't have this conversation, for sure. No no right, there was no talking about it. We didn't sit here and agree that we're gonna mention what you just said. Not at all, not one bit. Yeah, so me telling you guys about 600 million times the two most important things, or what 14 fiber was not flat, there we go, see, that's how we know.

Speaker 2: 36:45

Yeah, and and when people do it again. I would say that's my most common feedback is All of my online clients, especially because there are people again, I don't see in real life. I don't get that same connectivity because I am a very tactile person. Oh my gosh, this seems like a lot of food fill. Then they eat it like wait a minute, wait a minute. I'm eating more food, I feel more full and I'm losing weight. What the hell is going on? I, yeah, yeah, you have enough fiber, enough protein. You eat whole foods and not everything out of a package of deep fried. It's crazy what'll happen you feel better and you lose weight and you gain muscle. It's like they think it's magic, but it's just. It's just the right knowledge applied properly.

Speaker 1: 37:21

I love it. Man. That was thought that was the perfect segue from, because you literally said the two things that I harp on Good every episode. So 14 and 5, I thought I'm gonna ask you the final two questions. I ask everyone just to wrap this up. The first question is if you were to summarize this episode in one or two sentences, what would be your take home message?

Speaker 2: 37:40

my take home message would be the old adage, which I don't even know who, to tribute you but kiss right, keep it simple, stupid. It does not have to be confusing. The more crazy and extreme and too good to be true. Something seems that it is in this realm it is.

Speaker 1: 37:55

Don't do it and, ironically enough, we didn't prep this right Quote for every year for going into, like how I want to prioritize that year and that she never done. I'll read that quote the ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. That was my quarter of a year.

Speaker 2: 38:13

Yeah, and and you know, just to remind you about this, this isn't something I'm just saying I, I do it myself, I'm on the I fit platform to million of users is how I train my celebrity clients. Like, it's not, there's nothing magic that they're doing that you're not doing. It's just that they're doing it day and day out, really, really consistently Over time, and that's, you know, that's the magic. And so that's, yeah, that's the big number one. And number two is write it down or voice note it and make it tactile, make it real, take it out Of the digital and make it real that you can see, or hear, or write, and you will be so much more successful in your goals.

Speaker 1: 38:48

I love it. And the second question, the simplest one of all, how people find you get a full view.

Speaker 2: 38:53

Yeah, so at at trained by Phil on Instagram. I'm the most responsive on Instagram, so I'll write back to questions. I do Q&A every Monday. I do training, I do blah blah blah, so at trained by Phil, or trained by Phil, calm and, and those are you know you find me other places, but find me there and I'll get back to you right away.

Speaker 1: 39:11

I love it. So thank you for coming on, and then you guys will sing to this week's episode of hope.

Speaker 2: 39:15

Within this redefine, don't forget hit that subscribe button and do this next week as we dive deeper into this ever changing field and remember.

Speaker 1: 39:22

Then this is medicine till next time you.