Ep 50: Become UNSTOPPABLE in Health and Fitness with Scott Friedman

Episode Transcript
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Philip Pape (00:08):
Welcome to the Wits & Weights podcast, where we
discuss getting strong andhealthy with strength training
and sustainable nutrition. I'myour host, Philip pape, and in
each episode, we examinestrategies to help you achieve
physical self mastery through ahealthy skepticism of the
fitness industry, and acommitment to consistent
nutrition and training forsustainable results. Welcome to

(00:31):
another episode of Wits &Weights. I'm chatting today with
Scott Friedman about the mindsetside of health and fitness,
which I think is underrated, butcritical principle for success.
Scott is a nationally accreditedpersonal trainer, fitness
nutrition coach and behaviorchange specialist who has been
in the fitness industry foryears. He's worked with hundreds

(00:51):
of clients and specializes inmentoring them on how to build
long term sustainable habits.
Using his key principles ofmindset, motion and momentum.
Scott is a unique and engagingspeaker, coach and host of the
power of power of progresspodcast, make sure to subscribe.
He prides himself onunderstanding the needs of those
who wish to change their lives.

(01:14):
Through storytelling, personalexperience, and a refreshingly
honest take on the fitness andnutrition industry. Scott
empowers and inspires hisaudiences and clients to take
congruent action to achievetheir goals. His authentic grip
it and rip it style resonateswith people and motivates them
to take practical steps thatimprove their lives. Scott, man,
thank you for coming on theshow.

Scott Friedman (01:35):
Nah, man. Thank you for having me. I appreciate
it.

Yeah, so we connected a little while back
and we're doing a little podcastswap here. So today we're going
to talk mindset and maybe sometraining and things like that. I
just want to start with yourbackground, right you have your
podcast, the power of progress.
You're also a public speaker,you're a coach or trainer. So
what inspired you to get intothe fitness industry and I do
want to know about your grip itand rip it style.

So I think it goes back. I don't want to go
too long with it. But it goesback to junior year of high
school. I was I've always beenlike this lanky kid my dad used
to call me like Elmo, or like aSesame Street character. My arms
were so lanky, but there waslike a good layer of muscle
there. But I had like theselanky arms, and I was okay,
fine. I'm a lanky kid, no bigdeal. But then, the winter of my

(02:23):
sophomore year, actually, Istarted to notice I started to
get a little bit of a gut. Andit wasn't anything that I
couldn't No you couldn't seelike the skinny kids six pack
anymore. It wasn't like a realestate spec. Like I was skinny
so I could see it. I couldn'tsee it. I was like, Oh my gosh,
like I need to like do somethingso I just I started drawing some
sports. And from there you knowwhen you join like the track

(02:45):
team or whatever it is varsitytrack team. It's they start,
they start making weightlifting.
I've never with weightliftingbefore my entire life. I started
doing it. And it was like themost embarrassing thing like
when you first start with allthese like seniors and you're
like a sophomore, junior,they're like, lifted all this
way. And I'm like, Okay, I don'tknow what I'm doing. But I kind
of fell into it. So you know, Igraduated high school, I started
to get this routine goingstarted going to the gym every

(03:07):
day after school right before Igraduate. My mom pushed me to do
physical therapy is my major incollege. And I'm like, Okay,
I'll do physical therapy. Theymake good money, I think and I
can say I'm a doctor, likethat's what the parents want.
I'll do all that two years in.
I'm doing like organic chemistryand like, just biophysics. I'm

(03:29):
like, I don't I don't like Idon't care about I just want to
like work out like I don'tunderstand. So I found out I had
no idea I found out that therewas a kinesiology program, which
I have no idea what that is.
It's Exercise Science, which isbasically personal training in a
nutshell. And I'm like, I'lljust switch to this. All the
classes are super easy. And I'lljust be a personal trainer. Like
why not? That's what I want todo anyway. So I switch halfway
through. It took a little longerto graduate, but I switched

(03:52):
halfway through and when toKinesiology. And I like to say
as most of my classes, but I gotinto it. And really, that was
kind of the start of it thatkind of that three year period
of like, you know, senior tosophomore in college, really
where like, I really honed mylove for working out and I think
my freshman year of collegewhere I moved to a brand new
city, probably an hour away fromhome, but I lived in the dorms.

(04:15):
And I broke my ankle in thefirst three weeks of school like
do you I mean, imagine the youknow, I live on the fifth floor
of this 1940s building, noelevator, no air conditioning in
the middle of August Septemberin Chicago. So it's boiling hot.
I live on the top bunk. I knowone person and that's my
roommate. He's the one whoconvinced me to go like a jerk.

(04:37):
And broken ankle don't knowanyone. So I'm sitting there
every day I hobble crutches, oncrutches in a boot and crutches.
I hobbled a class and we havelike this we had like a subway
deli basically. So I ordered twosandwiches when I got home, one
for lunch, one for dinner. Andother than that I would
literally just be at the gymevery single day for like Two

(04:58):
hours, mostly because it took melike, forever to walk around.
Oh, it was like an hour of work.
Yeah, but I couldn't. I had tohobble from each station set
things up. And that was reallyit. I mean, that's when the
routine clicked. That's I hadnothing else to do but workout
for like a year straight.
Alright, maybe was like sixmonths, whatever it is, but and
that's really where it camefrom. I just loved how I felt
loved how I looked, just to beas vain as possible. And that

(05:21):
you know, and you're a collegekid, like, that's what you love.
And obviously, as I grew in thecareer, and as I kind of made it
a career, you grow and you findout more about fitness than just
lifting heavy weights a billiontimes to be as you know, jacked
as possible. When you're incollege,

of course, man. And you know, you mentioned the
vanity thing, but it's kind offunny, because people don't care
about vanity until they see thatthey get the results from this.
And then they care about vanityyou don't say like yes, because
people can always listen toanother show. And they were
talking about how this guy losta ton of weight and was able to
nail everything down and improvehis body for the first time in
his entire 50 years of life inlike six months, and you could

(05:58):
do it that fast. And it waslike, it drove him to do that.
So that's okay, man. Right? I dowhat I do. I don't know if he
didn't you answer the questionor I didn't get it. But the grip
it and rip it style. It's Oh,yeah. Yeah. So

I've always been kind of a contrarian. When it
came to school, especially incollege mail, my instructor is
so good example of fitness, wehad this guy come in. And you
know, we just had learned, youknow, an hour a day before about
how if you're overweight orobese, clinically speaking, like
you shouldn't be doing probablyessentially concentric lifting

(06:31):
too much, because it could causea heart attack because it
reduces the blood vessels. Andwe load all this stuff. Okay,
this guy comes in. And he comesin all professional owns a gym,
very, you know, Suave talks tous, he starts talking how Oh, he
doesn't care. You know, hedoesn't do anything, any
testing, any medical test,anything like that, he starts
talking about oh, like, this isgreat. So I'm the guy. I'm the

(06:53):
jerk, who basically is like,well, we just learned what you
just said, will probably causesomeone to have a heart attack
without them consulting theirdoctor and making sure they're
healthy enough to workout. Sowhy would we want to do that?
Why would we want to work foryou, like in front of this guy.
And so I was I was, I've alwaysbeen this guy of like, I don't
take what everyone says as likethe gospel. And I've always, you

(07:13):
know, when you pass thecertification test when you do
all these textbooks, and then Iam so ready to go, I'm so ready
to like be in fitness. And thenyou get into fitness. And you're
like, This is nuts. Like whatwere you teaching

me for? Compute, right?

It's like you wasted I wasted so much money. I
tell people now in college likehonestly, like just get the
certification and get practicalexperience. Like don't waste
time going to college becauseit's just it's just it's not the
same. So my grip and rip itreally came from I hate the idea
of these, these suave peoplesitting on a pedestal, they know
what their amazing corporatePowerPoint and you know, talking

(07:52):
as if they you know, theirdoctorates, it's like most
people communicate on like aseventh grade level, this is how
we communicate. And that's how Icommunicate. I don't want to be
bogged down in the nuances ofOh, make sure this is perfect.
Make sure no, no, just just goand talk. And people will
resonate with the message peoplecan understand even if you miss
speak, people understand whatyou're trying to say. And I

(08:13):
wasn't when I was started thepodcasting era of what I was
doing a couple years ago. And mywhole thing was, I am not going
to do this. If I have to worryabout lighting, if I have to
worry about the best possibleheadset, the best possible
microphone, the best possiblebackdrop, which I imagine, most
people will tell me, Oh, you canimprove this, you can improve
that. I'm like, if I can't justtalk into a microphone. And if I

(08:35):
need to make all these outlines,I won't do it. So my whole goal
was what if I do this and justjust talk and just go at it. And
you know, when I first gotstarted, I was listening to a
different podcast, who was verysimilar, who he was talking to
microphone, no script, nonothing. And it was very
authentic, transparent. And Ithought that it resonated with
me because I was like, that'show I talk. That's how I want

(08:55):
people I don't want this. Well,today, what we're gonna do is
just like, I don't need andthat's not how fitness is
fitness is very fluid. Andfitness is very well, it
depends. And it I think it goesin that organic nature of let's
just have a conversation, we'regonna mess up, we're going to
stutter, we're not going to bethe perfect, you know, essence
of speaking or whatever it mightbe. And that's kind of the grip

(09:16):
and grip and I tell you how itis and not going to sugarcoat
what can happen if you do it acertain way. And that's kind of
where the grip and grip camefrom.

Cool. Yeah, that's so if I were to interpret it,
that's that's kind of what I wasgetting from it. Of course, it's
a deadlifting term, I think,right grip and grip it, but it
comes across as like, you know,don't let perfection be the
enemy of the good. Like, justtake action don't We don't make
make excuses, especially right.
It's like, everything has to beset up just right. Of course.
I'm very anal and very organizedabout things. So some of the
podcast stuff does hit me alittle bit right here because I

(09:45):
do prepare but you know, we'reall different right? That's the
point. So all right, let's getinto some of the mindset stuff
then we're here to talk aboutyou know, you have your key
principles as part of your youknow, who you are and how you
talk through this. Have mindset,motion and momentum. And that
first one being mindset. I don'tknow if it's intentionally
first, but you know, it gives ita clue to how important it is.

(10:07):
So most people have a goal,right? Most people have a
specific goal. It's usuallylike, hey, I want to lose
weight, I want to look good, Iwant to lose x pounds, I have a
date that I need to hit for anevent, whatever. What's your
approach with a client comes inand says that? And maybe, maybe
and you tell me maybe insteadyou want to focus them on the
process or on the lifestylechanges before really trying to
get to that goal, which may bemonths out?

That's a great question. Because you have to,
there's a balance when it comesto, you know, training clients,
and I teach a bunch of newtrainers now kind of how to find
that balance. And when you'retraining, because they're paying
you to get results at the end ofthe day, they're paying you to
get results. So I think ifsomeone were to come to me, and
what I've done is I try to I tryto I let them know number one
that like, you know, here's whatI'm looking at, right? I'm

(10:53):
looking okay, like you're sayingthis, but what are your actions?
Or what are your actionsactually telling us? So I think
there is a balance when someonecomes to you, and you know that
they're not ready, or you know,you want to talk about something
else. But at the same time, youalso need to show them they
gotta get results becausethey're paying you especially if
you're working in a practicalsense, right? If you're working
in a commercial gym, where youhave a sales quarter, if you're

(11:14):
working at a studio, if your jobis to personal train, or even on
your own, you're you're acontractor and you go to places
or whatever it is, you got toget results, you have to be a
good trainer. So you can't stopthat and go Well, for the first
six months. We're going to workon building this habit for and
so yeah, it's kind of a mix, youincorporate things where you
can, and then use your expertiseand your knowledge. Okay, look,

(11:34):
this is why this has happened. Ihave a client recently, who I've
worked with him for over a year.
And I don't think you'll listento that. So it's okay, I could
say

about clients all the time, just don't use their
name,

no name, but he he's he's had no nothing. Eating
was horrible. Fitness ishorrible. You know, of course,
he wants to make the change.
He's paying me good money tomake the change. And we've got
him finally in a good fitnessroutine. But his diet again, I
don't wanna use the word dietnecessarily. But for the sake of
the argument, use the word dietis horrible. I mean, it's just
it's absolute trash. It isthough, it's probably one of the

(12:06):
worst I've seen to be totallyhonest. And, but I can't, what
am I going to do? Am I not goingto train him so that we can
focus, but he won't do that? SoI have to find the compromise?
Okay, where can I push him?
Where can I not push him and gethim results along the way. And
eventually, what we've startedto do was we've taken these mini
steps. And like you said, kindof earlier, different verbiage.

(12:27):
But progress is new perfection.
So if someone wants to changetheir mindset, it's on me to
know that and to basicallycreate that adaptation. So what
I started doing actually wasinstead of personal training, I
focus more on coaching. Andthat's kind of where I
differentiate because I feltwhen I was at a studio or I was
at a commercial gym, I don'thave time for that your trainer,
right, you have 30 minutes, 45minutes, you got to get them
sweating, and gotta get themresults. That's what you're

(12:48):
getting paid for. You don't havea lot of time to talk about
their mindset or talking abouttheir habits. And so you have to
work in those things when you'restretching them when you're
doing these things. But it'simportant to realize, okay, how
do I do that when I'm trying topersonal train them, because if
you can kind of find thatbalance, then they'll stay with,
you know, they might not staywith you, because you'll learn a
lot, but they will give youreferrals, they'll love you,
there's going to be a greatexperience for you. And the way

(13:10):
I've done that, as I'vetransitioned from personal
training to more of a coachingperspective, so I differentiate
that between Okay, personaltrainers more so kind of what
traditional you work out withthem, you know, weight sets

are just you're just holding their hand right
there through them exactly.

And coaching is I focus less on, I'm not going
to hold your hand, I'm going togive you all the tools that you
need, I'll give you the exactworkout that you need. I'm not
going to be there with youworking out you're going to have
to you know, I'll have thevideos for you will have
everything you need. But you gotto learn it because if we're not
going to learn it, then I'm notsure I can help you with the
mindset part of it. So I'vedeviated from personal train
directly to more of a coachingprogramming perspective. And

(13:47):
both are needed. By the way,some people absolutely need
personal training, they needthat handheld, and some don't.
And just depends on kind of whoyou're who you're talking to.

Yeah, it's kind of interesting to hear it from your
perspective, because I come fromthe other side of it, the
nutrition coaching side, and I'mtrying to get more and more into
working with people on theirtraining, but without being a
personal trainer, which is inbeing online, you know, it's
like form checks, and here'syour program, and now go and do
your squats. And then the nextday, I'm gonna have to fix all
the bad squats you just did. AndI can't do that in the moment,

(14:16):
like a personal trainer can. Soit's like you have to trust that
they're gonna take thatinformation, which means you
have to communicate it reallywell. Yeah. Cool. So we just
covered we just covered a lotabout the fact I like the
example you made about the sixmonths like we can't work on
something for six months beforewe get going. You wish you could
write like you wish you couldperfect be with a client for
five years. And like just fixeverything.

Most people are like, you know, you'll get a
client who let's say you're atthe commercial gym or something.
Oh, let's buy a 12 pack of 30minute sessions. After four
sessions. They're like why vetlost weight? I'm like, dude,
like you're probably 50 yearsold or whatever. And like I'm
trying to undo 50 years of crapthat you've done to your body
and like four sessions I got toso it takes time to investigate
So it takes a lot of time to getthose sustainable results. I

(15:02):
just say you could probablystarve someone quickly.

Yeah, of course.
And that's the problem withtheir industry, right? There's
so many people with the shortterm fix. And you have to
package it in a different wayand message in different way
where they're still gonna stickwith you. And I think your
podcast and, you know, speakingto people and having them here
and trust you and understandit's a long game goes a long
way. But what would you howwould you feel kind of going off
the cuff on this? If somebodyreally, really needs a lot of

(15:27):
work, okay. They're, you know,they're stressed by their job,
they get five hours of sleep,they're not training
consistently, they barely move,their diet is trash, like you
said? Where do you start withthat?

You know, I think it has to be case by case
I think you figure out where inbehavioral change, you know,
kind of stuff, you know, youhave the pre contemplation and
contemplation fields and theaction fields. So you kind of
figure out what stage they'rein. And in each part of it if if
the fitness is the easiest part,or if the nutritious easiest
part, if someone comes to me andsays, okay, oh, I love to cook.

(16:02):
And I hate to workout, I mayfocus on the nutrition aspect,
because I'm nutrition certified.
So I can do that. But obviouslynot not with the arty stuff. But
I may focus on that first. Andso Okay, let's, let's make baby
steps this way. Because, youknow, we all know that nutrition
is extraordinarily important. Ifnot, you know, there's symbiotic
but very, very important that itdoesn't get the credit it
deserves. So I probably focus onthat. And they tell me that they

(16:23):
hate cooking, they only eat out,but they don't, but they can
probably schedule in time towork out, I may focus on the
workout first. So I think it's amatter of progress is the new
perfection of I can get them 1%better every time and just keep
going and show them. Look, whenwe first started a month ago,
here's where you're at, here'swhere you're at. Now, you might
not see weight loss,necessarily, if that's the goal.
But here's what you're doing.

(16:45):
Like, look what you've done,you've done 12 workouts, you've
done X, Y and Z, you builtmuscle here, like you're on the
right path, that's gonna taketime and, and calm. And I'm very
transparent with that like, thisis going to take time, like
you're investing in the process,just like a job just like a
relationship. This is nodifferent than anything else,
like you didn't start in acompany at President, you
started with minion, and youworked your way up to, you know,

(17:06):
whatever director role that youmight have, it's the same thing,
your body's the same way you gotto start from where you're at,
and then work your way up. Andthen, you know, so on so forth.
So it is very hard question. Butthe answer is, it depends based
on kind of where their mindsetsup, I wouldn't attack it all at
once, I would go one at a time.
Very small steps.

Yeah. And that's what I was getting from what
you're saying is the small wins,it's like, a lot of people try
to start from the biggest gap,maybe and try to fix that. And
then it's very demotivating,when it takes time to kind of
close that gap. Whereas you'resaying, start from your
strengths start from whereyou're close, but not quite
there, and it's something youenjoy. And then you can get that

(17:43):
quick win, right, and thenspiral it into these other
things. At least that's what I'mgetting from what you're saying?

Yeah, 100%. And again, maybe that's not you
know, maybe some psychologistsout there says no, start with a
bigger win, because you hear allthese different, but and there's
nothing wrong with that. I justthink that when you're building
momentum, building that, youknow, when after when progress
after progress that builds yourmomentum, which then creates
that snowball effect, okay, nowyou feel better when you first

(18:08):
what I found, at least in myexperience is when people first
ask you, I want to lose weight,I want to do this, they're not
understanding that this is alifestyle change, versus
something they're gonna do forsix months, and then stop. What
most people do is they thinkthey're gonna say, Oh, what's
that lose 40 pounds, I can goback to eating chocolate cake, I
can go, it's like, no, no, thisis your life now, like, this is
what you have to do. So when youstart getting these wins, and

(18:32):
you start feeling better andbetter and better, and you start
seeing it, that's a good way tobuild that mindset of okay, this
is this feels good, I can dothis. Because they don't, they
don't know what that feels likeuntil they start to feel it. So
that's how I attack it of, let'sget these again. However slow it
is depends on the person. Butlet's get these small wins,
build momentum. And then slowlythis will change your mindset to

(18:54):
in a year from now you willrecognize yourself like oh my
gosh, I work out I worked outthree days a week for a year,
and I never did that before. Andthose are small wins. And now
it's part of your life part ofyour habit. And you're going to
start seeing more and moreresults as you snowball again,
the more you move, the more youdo the the more results you're
gonna get. So obviously thepressure

how fast you want to go. Yeah, I'm picking up what
you're putting down man. And Ithink the people listening who
just even when they're doing iton their own, you know, take
heart if they if you feel likeyou're you've got a lot to work
on and you've been going yearsdoing one thing, just listen to
what Scott saying Right? AttackAttack one behavior that is a
small one and area that youenjoy, start to build on that.

(19:32):
Because motivation, we knowwillpower motivation. They're
nice in the short term for alittle burst. Or even if you
have a coach, it's nice to havethat coach to push you but it's
not a sustainable approach. AndI know you'd like to talk about
that too, right motivation andwillpower. What? What's the
alternative to that is that whatwe were just talking about is
there's some other mindset gamesand strategies you bring into
play.

I think motivation is great to get
started. There's no doubt likeyou're not going to do it. If
you're not motivated. I'mawesome. You also won't do it if
you don't want Do it. So yeah,to be motivated to some mistake
motivation last about two weeks.
And I say that because aboutit's like 80% of any health goal
from New Year's ends in abouttwo weeks. So by January 15, all
the health goals are alreadyover 80% are already over. So
motivation doesn't last verylong motivation doesn't last,

(20:15):
when it's five in the morning,snowing cold in the Midwest and
your car doesn't start, you'regoing to warm it up. That's that
there's no motivation there. Ithink what helps, I guess
there's two things, onediscipline, I think discipline
is really where people should befocused. And discipline is habit
building, if you can dosomething over and over again,
and build that habit built.
There's something calledbasically neurological pathways

(20:36):
where if you do something overand over again, repetition is
how we learn, you're gonna buildthat muscle memory basically, in
a more of a habit sense than theactual muscle memory. So I think
that's number one is discipline,build discipline, focus on that
focus on, you don't have to likewhat you're going to do. As long
as you go and do it, I have thetime. And this might be horrible
to say, like, I don't want towork out half the time I had to

(20:57):
be like, I'd be like, Okay, I'lljust, I'll go do it like fine.
And I feel phenomenal when I'mdone. And that's a discipline
versus if I didn't do it,because I wasn't motivated, I
wouldn't do it. And I thinkthat's a huge differential. So I
do it even when I don't want to.
So that's number one. And then,when it comes to trying to stay,
I guess supporting yourself, Iwould say some tools that I will
implement is number one, youknow, what's your reason? Why?

(21:20):
Why do you want to let's justsay losing weight? Why do you
want to lose weight? Seriously,like, what what is the reason
you want to lose it? Don't,don't tell me tell yourself,
what is it. And then once youfind you should be able to write
out 30 reasons. It can befamily, it can be personal, it
can be as vain as you want to beas long as it's important to you
when I was 22. You know, yearsago, being being having a six

(21:41):
pack and being just the hottestguy around was a really
important goal to me. Now, thathas changed since then. But that
wasn't important at the time,that would force me to go to the
gym, because that's what Iwanted. So whatever goal you
have, I think that's reallyimportant to understanding your
reason why, and then making itvisible I think is super
important. Because I have awhiteboard in my apartment,

(22:03):
where I live. And I havespecific goals and specific
why's written down so that Ilook at every morning I can
reaffirm, okay, I got to do thistoday, I got to do this today.
Because if you don't, what'sgonna happen, you're gonna wake
up, do your normal routine,you're gonna forget all about
it. You know, especially whenwork gets busy when children are
sick. When you go to the soccergame, I have constant reminders
is actually I learned this fromBob Proctor mash if you don't

(22:26):
know who Bob Proctor is, buthe's kind of like the personal
development guru. And heactually just died last year.
But he actually used to carry ona note card in his pocket and
would write down his reasons whyor his specific goal. And he
wouldn't look at it, but hewould know it was there. Every
time he felt his pocket, itwould remind him that's my goal.
So if like for example, if yourgoal is to work out three days a
week, and you have that in yourpocket, and you feel it workout

(22:48):
three this week, you'll you'llconstantly be resetting your
mind. So it's not necessarily amotivational tactic. It's more
of a support system tactic.
What's your reason why and thenmake it visible so you can
constantly remind yourself to dosomething because I have clients
all the time. They know, theyknow 100% I know I gotta go for
a walk. I know I I can't eatthis ravioli or whatever it is,

(23:11):
that's leftover. I know. Butthey don't do it. And they don't
do it. They don't resetthemselves every day,

they just kind of melt. And there's always a
reason right that they didn'tdo. Hey, this is Philip Pape.
And if you feel like you've putin effort to improve your health
and fitness, but aren't gettingresults, I invite you to apply
for a one on one coaching tomake real progress and get the
body you desire. We'll worktogether to figure out what's
missing so you can look betterperform better and feel better.

(23:38):
Just go to wits &weights.com/coaching to learn
about my program and applytoday. Now back to the episode.
So I like that so the disciplineand then the y but with the y
with a card idea. Is thatsomething you use with clients
like concretely do you say hey,go do this like on the
onboarding call let's write itdown an index card or is there
some strategies with them? Yeah,so

I tried to again, I'm very can't force
people to do stuff Yeah, yeah,so I give them I usually give
them an options I see whatsticks and what doesn't stick.
But I tell them if you doeverything I tell you to do
you're gonna see better resultsif you don't do it. I can't I'm
not gonna force you like youhave to be able to do now it
depends on the situation I tryto enforce the best I can
without being too pushy becauseif you push it too early, you

(24:20):
know clients will they won'ttrust you so but I attempt Yeah,
so that's something I do attemptto do. At minimum I say they
have to have some sort of pieceof paper on their desk or in
their sink at their house sothey can see everyday when they
brush their teeth or somethinglike that. They have a
whiteboard yeah they have awhiteboard even better if they
have an office if they have asomewhere that their spouse or

(24:41):
friends can't see that theirhouse or at work put it there
but put it somewhere where it'spersonal to you. I wouldn't do
on the computer mostly becausethey need to open your computer
to see it's got to be visibleright when you walk in the door.
And that's where my whiteboardis. That's where the mirror is.

Yeah, yeah, we're like so inundated with our
reminders and technology. Wetend to ignore them anyway.

Yeah, you can put on your phone Oh, but I'm
not sure. Well, people are thefirst I've got put on your
phone. That's the hard part.
It's like, actually, and thenare people actually going to
follow? That

is the question because it's so funny how these
old school tool tools can stillbe highly effective. Like, just
literally just yesterday, I havea client who checks in with me,
who tells me daily what's goingon, because she's in a phase
where like, we're trying to getthrough a trigger triggering an
issue with her food. And nowshe's like, you know, I'm gonna
go ahead and on an index card,right, like my couple guidelines
that I have. And every time I goout this weekend, I'm just gonna

(25:26):
bring it out. You know, I'mlike, it reminds you that it's
great, obviously, because, yeah,you know, it's just yeah, like
you said, everybody'sindividual. And the
communication style depends,like some clients really want
tough love. And you could just,hey, you need to do this for me
now. Because if not, you know,you're failing yourself. Blah,
blah, blah, and others. It'slike pussyfooting around it.

(25:47):
Cool. So we talked aboutperception and mindset a little
bit. And I mean, what aboutshifting mindset? There's
another concept that I like toget into and learn more about, I
want to, I want to hear yourperspective on that. of, you
know, the fixed growth versusgrowth mindset, or whatever
school of thought you want tobring up in? You know, people's

(26:07):
people's way of thinking canchange over time. Right. So is
there methodology you use thereyou talk to about that for
shifting your mindset?

Yeah, for sure.
So I'll preface this, I'm not apsychologist. So you know,

obviously take what I say with a psychologist.
You're not an RD? Okay. Weestablished that. Yes. I don't
take rd because then you'reforced to give people meal
plans.

Yeah, I don't want to do that. So when people
ask me all the time, I'm like,What do you mean give you here's
like what I eat, but go figureit out. So shifting mindsets is
so difficult, I will say, fromsomeone who like, you know,
there's plenty of things I'mgoing through right now. So one
of my mind shifts, mind setshifts is I want to meditate
every single day, or at leastsix days a week, I'm willing to

(26:47):
give myself that one day offjust if something happens. And I
have not built that in I wentlike three months doing great. I
took the summer off because I'mstupid, and then trying to get
back into it. And so you know,shifting your mindset is very
difficult at first in my mind,it can be very difficult to do
because we are basically acomputer program, we are hardly
there are many things that weare taught when we were younger
that we don't even know thatwe're doing now. So when you're

(27:10):
there's something so there'scertain if you look up brainwave
activities, before you're sevenyears old, I think you're always
in theta brainwave, which isbasically, your subconscious
brainwave, which is where youjust literally just take all the
information, and you absorb itall. And then you basically
build this computer program inyour head. And that's kind of
how you perceive the world. Andso even brothers who wouldn't
say a household, they might getdifferent stories, but having

(27:33):
different interaction people,that's how they grew up
differently, or they have thesame story. And they grew up the
same way. And that's how somepeople say, mage, different
parts of the country, they, youknow, there's different stories.
So you're, you're almosthardwired to have a specific
story. So if your story in yourhead tells you that you're not
good enough, or you're not meantto be in shape, or you can't
lose this weight, or it's justnegative all the time, it could

(27:54):
take a lot of work. And soshifting mindset, I think comes
with a couple of differentterritories. And I probably
won't hit every topic here, butone is you have to self reflect
you have to really be a lot ofpeople are honest with
themselves when they come totrainers and like I want to lose
weight. Oh, I'm doing so well.
And then they like lie abouthalf the stuff that they're not
doing. It's like, oh, I didn'trealize I had that chocolate, I
didn't realize it's like, okay,so you're not really being

(28:14):
totally honest with me about it.
They're lying to themselves.
They're lying to me. They allowthemselves self deception that
they think that they're inbetter shape or this food isn't
as bad as they as it should be.
Also, it's okay. Somebody wantsreally self reflection really
understand and be honest withyourself and have a Have
yourself a good cry, to behonest, because it's a good
emotional release to what am Idoing wrong? Like what what can

(28:35):
I do to actually make a changemy life, and then really feel
that I think the two biggestthings that changing your
mindset, and I truly believethis is one emotion, you need to
have emotion of the and two isdirect thought with emotion. So
if you want to lose weight,thinking about it, and having an
emotion about it, are to combinethings that will really help you

(28:59):
push that forward. So forexample, when I meditate, if
there's something that I want, Iknow it sounds a little woowoo,
but like, I will have a positiveemotion towards what I want. And
I will then force myself tobasically have positive intent
would be intent leads to actionon it, which then yields
different results, which willthen yield the congruent results
that I talked about over time.
So when someone wants to changetheir mindset, it's all about I

(29:20):
think, number one, creatingpositive intent with what they
want to do. And then buildingbuilding that discipline number
two, it we talked about before,you have to kind of just push
yourself to do it. And as youget those many successes, and
you see the results, it's likeokay, you know, your mindset
will shift slowly. For example,when you're an employee, and you

(29:43):
work for a company it's like myboss he doesn't understand
anything that he sucks I hateyou. We hear it all the time. So
then I happen to be the boss inthis situation. They don't get
it. They're only looking at onecup of the situation that's
their perspective. That's theirmindset this one cup was that's
that's their that's their that'stheir job title, that's the gym
they manage, that's whatever.
But as a manager, you have fivecups you have to oversee, you

(30:05):
see more of the bigger picture.
And so when you be when you gofrom one cup to five cups, your
perspective changes you, yousee, oh, that's why my boss did
that. Oh, that's why thishappens. Oh, that's why the
trainer told me to stop eatingthat, because I gained 50
pounds, when you can see thebigger picture. And you see, and
you can only see the biggerpicture. As you improve. As you
open more doors. As you get moreresults, you start to you start
to go, all the light goes onthat stuff that makes sense.

(30:29):
That's why it's so when youstart seeing those little wins
over and over again, you canstart then basically changing
your mindset that way. So onceyou can see more cups from the
analogy, you can say, oh mygosh, that's why my boss did
that he wasn't being a jerk. Hejust understood that that you
know, this leads to this, thisand this, versus my little cup.
Like why can't you fill my cupall the way? Well, because I had

(30:49):
to split it with five others. Soit's a matter of perspective.
And when you're able to startseeing results, I think your
perspective can naturallychange. Now again, I'm not a
psychologist, not a perfectexam.

Oh, no, but you just connected like the whole
arc of this conversation fromsomething early was said I want
to, I want to like let itpercolate a bit because I like
this. First of all, a wise manonce said, positive thoughts
don't work unless you feel it.
The wise man was you because Igot that, I think from your
website. So it ties in or justsay, but But earlier, we were
talking about small wins. Andthat's how it's a quick way to

(31:19):
start making progress. Almostalmost under the radar, right?
Like you don't even realizeyou're just doing this thing day
to day is making progress. Butthen now you also said you can
shift your mindset by gettingthe results which sounds chicken
and egg, because you need tofirst get those results to then
feel like you know the resultsfrom getting results. So I mean
people listening to that, it'sit's a profound thing. But it

(31:40):
really is true, it's that youwant something go and make these
little changes, start to reallyacknowledge and feel and
recognize and enjoy thoseresults. And then it kind of
iterates on itself. Hopefullywe're not getting too
philosophical. Scott, I lovethis stuff.

I love it. I love it. And I just I find it to
be the biggest issue people haveis that, you know, I think the
positive intent is so important.
And I think there's a newstudies out there right now, you
know, talking about you know,stuff I won't get into of
course, but neural creating newneurological pathways and the
only way to rewire the what'sthe way to what's the way to fix
your computer, it's to reset itright, it's to get rid of the

(32:18):
documents, get rid of the files.
So if you take that analogy,it's okay, if I have positive
emotional attempts, what they'resaying is you could enter a
certain brainwave status orcertain feeling the meditation
and feeling and say, Okay, I'mgoing to do this, which will
then create new systems in yourbody, which will then help you
move along and create moreresults. And it's a it's a

(32:39):
little woowoo it's a littlelike, yeah, it

takes I get it, there's a scientific aspect to
it that I think makes a lot eveneven meditation and breathing
and all that. Like I used to bevery cynical about it. But Sam,
there's science behind, youknow, how we're wired and doing
those things and how they changeour brain and our physiology. So
I like the bringing this stuffup. And hopefully people
listening can go research, youknow, the theta waves and all
this stuff. Yeah.

Yeah, I recommend what do i Oh, there's,
there's so many of them outthere. So I wouldn't recommend
one of them. But just look uptheta waves and all that stuff.
And you know, brainwaves andchanging habits. I think you'll
find some good, interestingreason, just just a preference,
just so everyone knows, like,you know, I'm the guy in you
know, I was the fraternitypresident I was, you know, a big
lifting guy. You know, I was avarsity athlete, I'm not this

(33:22):
you know, I was never thismeditation, yoga ever until,
until like a year and a half agoand I started studying as a
really looking at wow, thisstuff is life changing. Because
the way I was doing beforewasn't working. And I was like,
this is actually so I'm not thatguy was really off since I was
five years old. I've been in theforest and medicine so that's
not me at all. I was very antimeditation for 10 years. Yeah,

(33:44):
right now I'm like, I'm likebreathing I Oh, I breathe and I
sleep oh, I need to work outleave me alone. And then now
it's like, okay, actually,there's a little bit more to it
than I had initiallyanticipated. So, yeah, so

so people might be thinking then Okay, that's
great. I want to start makingall these changes. But there's a
Winston Churchill quote I likeand of course I wrote it
specifically for this podcastand it's plans are of little
importance, but planning isessential. Right? So when when
we want to change these habits,should we have a plan like so we

(34:15):
have this goal? We want to loseweight and like you said you
need to go beyond that. Okay,why do you want to lose weight?
Okay, I want to I want to lookgood okay, why do you want to
look good? Okay, I want to feelgreat for this or whatever. How
specific should our goals andplans be to kind of reverse
engineer back to what habits weshould change

I think all the way as far as you can make it as
far as you can make because thefarther back you go so for
example, if you wouldn't takethat exact example you gave so I
want to lose weight. Why?
Because I have a history ofhealth disease in my family.
Okay, but why do you wanna loseall because my grandma or my mom
died when I was young. What sowhy is that important? You
because the way I and then asyou get deeper into the whys, as
you know, is anyone with kidswould know they ask you why why,

(34:57):
why why? As you get deeper, youYou get more emotional, and the
more emotional that you can getabout why you're doing
something, the percentagestatistical likelihood of you to
achieve that result isastronomically higher. So if you
can get emotionally attached toit, that's why I said, Be honest
with yourself and stuff, like,why do you want to do it? What's
the actual reason why you wantto lose 20 pounds cuz you don't

(35:19):
have to lose 20 pounds, likelive the way you want to live,
like, I'm not out here trying toget everyone like, if you don't
wanna lose 50 pounds, don't lose50 pounds, I don't care, like I
want the people who do care toto come to me. So I think that I
think you should take all theway down. Now, if you're with a
trainer, and they're trying todo that with you, like,
obviously, you're, you're onlygonna go so far, but I'm talking
internally goes deep as you cango. Write down as many as those
as you can. Because the moreemotional connection you can

(35:42):
have, the better results you canhave. Because you're just want
to support yourself, because nowyou feel that emotion. Now, I've
had clients break down on a callwith me crying, because we broke
it down. And they really feltthat spark of like, wow, I
didn't realize what I wasfeeling this whole time. And now
it's so clear, and now they havea clear path, or at least a more
clear path forward to achievetheir goals doesn't work every

(36:04):
time. Of course not. But it'ssomething that helps you along
the way. Now, of course, I dowant to preface that. I'm not
saying you shouldn't just gripit and rip it in and work out
even if you haven't identifiedall those things that you
shouldn't let overthinking stopyou from taking action either.
So that's a big thing. I'm notsaying you have to make this as
perfect as but oh, just do italong the way. Do it along the

(36:24):
way. Always reassess and just,you know, don't worry about the
nuance of it just start going iskind of Yeah,

yeah, it's a fine balance. So like you said, it's
a, you want to have an end goal.
Do you want to have some stepsalong the way, but you also
everyday things can change. Sowhat you go go the flow and keep
getting out there and take anaction. Exactly. So coaches are
for and that's it goes to theformat. You were talking about
the why and one of my clientssaid, you know, she wants to be
devastatingly gorgeous. She'llknow who it is when she she
listen this. I said, Well, whydo you want to be that? Well,

(36:54):
really, because I'm gonna be agood role model for my kids.
Okay, now we're getting a littlebit more into what you really
want. Yeah, it's like she's gota sense of humor.

I love that devastatingly gorgeous me to see
if she finds the secret. Let meknow.

Exactly. Alright, so a little side tangent here is
you're kind of a storyteller,and you do speaking engagements.
And I mean, I personally have apassion for public speaking as a
skill, because I used to be anintrovert and it was something I
had to get over and again,mindset shift, like, you know,
used to be well, I can't do thatwhat that guy is doing up on
stage too. Like, I know, I cando that. Now. Let me get there.

(37:34):
I'm curious what kind ofspeeches and seminars you do
like what what topics whataudiences just, you mind sharing
a little about that about? Yeah,

very similar to this, to be honest, like, just a
little bit more in detail. Andwe go through practical steps.
And like we go through morespecific examples, get the
audience involved. But a lot ofit is really based on mindset
and explaining the differencebetween discipline and
motivation and explaining, Ilove talking about the basics of
fitness. So I have presentationsthat are basically fitness one

(38:02):
on one, literally, how do youget started from zero to like,
just going to the gym and likewhat you have to do in between
the most recent one I've beenworking on, and I haven't done
it yet, but I'm going to do itis called the 10 Minute method.
And it's basically how to how tobasically see basketball, your
fitness in 10 minutes. And theidea behind it is if you can
master your mindset in 10minutes, and it involves

(38:25):
basically getting off the couchwarming up and committing to the
workout in a 10 minute span, youcan then achieve all the fitness
results you want. So I would saya lot of what we talked about
today are very similar to thepublic speaking aspect of I know
one of them was called the beadsyou have, which I spoke at North
Carolina convention last year,actually, it was being virtual,

(38:46):
but the idea behind beads youhave was because you have to
become the person. And then youcan do things to have what you
want. And most people have thatthe opposite. They're like, I'm
gonna do this. So I can havethis and then I'll become this
person once I have it. And it'sactually you have to reverse
engineer it. That system doesn'twork as we've seen it
considering our society, atleast in the US our society

(39:07):
right now is it's not workingwith fitness. So you have to
become that person, which mostpeople don't want to do or don't
understand. Yeah. And then soit's the B do have method was
something I talked about isbecoming that person who works
out becoming that person doesthat. So those are some topics
I've talked about.

That's another 10 minute methods that also related
to the coaching calls you tendto do. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Just
letting people know. And thebeat you have it's funny I've
I've interviewed a few peopleleading to this show. I don't
think they're the episodes havecome out yet. Of course they
will once they see this show,but and it's like that common
theme of I don't wanna saypositive visualization. Again,

(39:46):
that sounds like the the woowoothing. But if you are somebody a
year from now, now, then you'reobviously not doing something
that that person would do.
Right? And that's kind ofleading you to do Taking those
actions, right? Like, it'salmost like you were you've
become, imagine if you becomethat person. And all of a sudden
you were in a coma for a year,and you just stopped doing all

(40:06):
the things that person wouldhave been doing as part of their
habits. Now, you just need toget back to that. It's like,

Yeah, I mean, basically, it's good point.
Yeah.

So the another question comes to mind then is
mindset versus education, right?
In your experience, talking topeople in the seminars and
talking to people in general?
How many people just don't knowthings versus they know the
things but need the mindset?
Change?

Man is good question. I would say, it's
gotta be it's not 5050. But it'spretty close, I would probably
say 60%. You know, the issue isa lot of people who don't have
the right mindset also don'thave the right education. So
it's kind of a mix, I would saythe people that can literally
just make a change, and it'sjust all in their head is
probably about 50 or 40%, Iwould say 40% of them, like they

(40:52):
can do it. I would say 60% neededucation, they just and they
think they know, but when youwhen you know, for example, you
go really into fitness, right?
It's okay. Well, if you want todo hypertrophy, and you want to
get X amount, how much do youhow many calories above your
maintenance? Level d of d? Howdo you find your maintenance
level? Calorie? How many reps?
How would you rest time inbetween? And they don't quite
know that they know how to workout a new team. The new one? The

(41:13):
I call them the basic nuances,because those are simple to
figure out. Yeah, I don't Idon't get into like the I don't
get into the real end of thenuances. Yeah, I don't get into
that. I think that's a waste ofmost people's time in the
general population. But I thinkthat the basic nuances are very
important. Most people haveelicited that. Now, I would say
in between those, some people,they can at least go to the gym

(41:35):
and lift weights, and they justdon't quite know exactly how to
put it together. So that answersyour question.

It does. And it's just I it's for selfish reasons.
When I bring guys on thispodcast, or ladies, it's I want
to learn as much as I can to buthopefully listeners as well.
Because, you know, we all haveto put our reels out on
Instagram. It's like, what dopeople really need? Do they need
to shift their mindset? Do theyneed to know about macros, you
know, or do they need to knowabout like, oh, what deficit to

(42:01):
be at? Yeah, I know. Exactly.
It's both. So thanks for lettingme on that. All right. I
actually do hear hear that. Butit's just very subtle. i There's
some construction going on withscotch right now. But we can't
hear it.

There's a there's a fire truck right next
door. And I'm like, great guy.

That's what it is.
It's the frequency of the siren.
Yeah. All right. So thepenultimate question I like to
ask all guests is what onequestion. Did you wish I had
asked him? What is your answer?

I mean, I think you I think you covered it. I
mean, you covered? I mean, I'mnot sure there's a question I
wished you as I think we had areally good conversation on the
mindset, maybe, you know, theonly thing I didn't really cover
was perception, creatingreality. I think that if you're
someone who works in corporateAmerica, in which the vast

(42:51):
majority are just you have astressful job, okay? Or you have
kids or you have this, likeit's, I call it the red light
effect. Most of us I have ittoo. And I'm not better than
anyone else. It's just thateveryone has it. But it's about
the awareness of having it whenI'm going to work, okay. And
there are 15 red lights, and Ihit, you know, seven green
lights, eight red lights, whatdo you tell everyone that came
into work? I had every frickinred light. You never acknowledge

(43:17):
the positives in your life. Nowyou'll acknowledge everyone else
is positive, except for your ownyour friend got a promotion,
great job, your friend got agirlfriend, great job, you gotta
raise. It's not that big a deal?
No, you always were so negativetowards ourselves. And so that
creates the reality we live in.
Because the reality is, you justsaid you missed every light,
which is all 15 lights, but inreality is you basically were

(43:39):
half and half green, and red.
And that's how most life is mostof its law, the law of large
numbers is half and half, it'susually kind of how it breaks
out. So my, the idea is, yourperception creates your reality,
whether you think it's woowoo,or guru or whatever, and you
don't like that stuff. Justthink about if you're negative
all the time, and you don't youhate your body, you don't want
to work out, it's going tocreate a self fulfilling

(44:00):
prophecy where you're going torationalize, well, I can't work,
I'm busy. That's what theexcuses come from. I'm too busy.
I had a stressful day at work. Ihate this. I mean, it's like if
you've I've had clients whohave, you know, they're a single
mother or single father, withthree kids on varsity sports,
they gotta, and they still beatme to the gym. So it's like, I
don't even understand. I'm like,to me, it's like, I understand

(44:21):
there's going to be times you'releft with things gonna be
difficult, but long term, like,if you have a negative
perception, that's going tocreate a negative reality, and
that's going to create thatconstant loop that you're going
to be in. And then it's verydifficult to break that cycle.
So I think that's one thingpeople fall into is they're so
hard on themselves, but yeteveryone else gets all the
praise, like praise yourselffirst, like praise yourself feel

(44:43):
good about what you're doing,like, oh my god, that's so
great. And, and I have a hardtime I have a very hard time
taking any sort of appreciate.
Oh my god, it's gonna be okay.
Yeah, cool. Thanks. I don't Ilove it, but I'm like, I can't
show that. I love it. It'sweird. So, praise yourself.
Appreciate the small winsbecause you're perception
creates your reality. And ifyou're always negative, you're
always doubting yourself. And ifyou're the workout, just hate

(45:04):
that. It's not going to beyou're not going to like it, you
should be enjoying the beliefs,not hating the process wouldn't
say enjoying it, but you shouldnot be hating the process. And
you should really focus onspinning that negative. I'm not
saying fake Pat, don't fakepositivity. Because, you know,
if you tell yourself, no, I'm inshape, I'm in shape. I'm in
shape, and you're not likeyou're just lying to yourself,
and you know, you're lying toyourself. But if you can

(45:25):
acknowledge successes,acknowledge where you're at, and
create that silver lining foryourself and how you're going to
improve. It will change yourlife.

For sure. Yeah. And how I mean, so just maybe come
up with every day or every week,what is one win for today? That
happened to me, right, is that,you know, would you say that's
an approach or you have otherpurchase?

If you wake up every morning, what I do every
morning, right now, at least I'mattempting to do every morning
is a wake up, what is one thingthat I'm grateful for, and it
can be anything in your life.
Now again, if you're going for aspecific goal, it can be for a
goal but anything in your life,what am I grateful for? It can
be it can let in Not todisparage anyone who doesn't
have something but like it canbe I'm grateful for having all
10 fingers, because now I canbutton my shirt easily without
having a system like that. Assimple as that is no one thinks

(46:07):
about that until somethinghappens. So it can be as that
you have lights that you if youlive in the US who have power
this winter versus in Europewhere they might not have power
this way. Like there's certainthings you can be grateful for.
That may change the narrative,if you're looking for some sort
of win and your goal. Yeah, whatdid you do yesterday that you'd
be proud of and be grateful forthe next day or be grateful for
that night before you go to bed?

(46:28):
Either way, when you wake up, goto bed? Yeah, be grateful. If
you're grateful for something orone acknowledgement of winning,
that can help break the cyclefor sure. Awesome.

Be grateful. Great way to end the podcast. I think
last question would be thenwhere can listeners learn about
you and your work?

Oh, my gosh, it's everywhere now. So the
power of progress, iTunes,Spotify. Google, we'll find
we'll find you somewhere. iTunesSpotify at power of progress on
their Instagram, Scott Friedman.
24. And then the website I haveis Scott speaks fitness.com
those are those are probably thethree main places people can and
feel free to reach out. I'malways available. I answer every
DM that comes my way assumingit's reasonable. And so I'm

(47:05):
pretty pretty open witheveryone.

Cool, everybody DM Scott right now. So his inbox
gets flooded yet to be happy tohelp. I'll put those links in
the show notes of the podcast,the website, Instagram listeners
can find you. And again, Scott,thank you again, man. This is a
really great talk. I had a lotof fun. Hope you did as well.
Thanks for coming on. Oh,

absolutely. I appreciate it. Thank you so
much.

Thanks for listening to the show. Before
you go, I have a quick favor toask. If you enjoy the podcast,
let me know by leaving a fivestar review in Apple podcasts
and telling others about theshow. Thanks again for joining
me Philip Pape in this episodeof Wits & Weights. I'll see you
next time and stay strong.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep 50: Become UNSTOPPABLE in Health and Fitness with Scott Friedman

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Ep 50: Become UNSTOPPABLE in Health and Fitness with Scott Friedman

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