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August 16, 2023 25 mins
The Stronger U Radio Summer Series continues with another coach feature hosted by Branden Hazelwood. In this episode, we hear from Coach Dru Madrid, a longtime Stronger U coaching veteran. You’ll get the details of his background in powerlifting and how it eventually led him to nutrition coaching. Most importantly, he shares how his work with Stronger U and helping thousands of members from all different backgrounds has shifted his mindset in how he approaches supporting members through challenges. Spoiler alert: he’s realized that taking a tougher approach doesn’t always deliver better results. Listen to the episode to hear Coach Dru’s wisdom on how to handle:
  • struggles and difficult situations
  • vacations
  • reducing alcohol at social events
  • incorporating cultural cuisine and comfort foods while sticking to your goals


Then, head to the Stronger U Community to share your thoughts.    

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Good morning, good afternoon, goodevening. I'm Brandon Hayeswood, and I
thank you for listening to the StrongerU podcast the summer series. Today is
a very special guest for me.I've mentioned his name a couple of times
on the podcast already with my introductionwith Gianna and I referred to this gentleman
as the guy that made me losetwenty pounds. Now he didn't make me,

(00:23):
but he helped me. It's coachDrew. This is a Stronger U
Radio. We're nutrition is fun,diet trends are overrated, and we help
you take the guesswork out of eatinghealthy. Join us today with Stronger U
team coaches and friends as they discussedwhat it takes to become a Stronger You
today. Are you ready? Let'sget to it. I have the lovely

(00:47):
pleasure to have him on here today. He's been with Stronger You since twenty
seventeen. Him and I have createda bond within Stronger You and outside of
Stronger You as we love to gameand some of our other loves together.
But Drew, thank you for beinghere and telling people a little bit more
about yourself. Hey, what's up? Man? Appreciate it. I need
to look into the several times thatyou mentioned my name. I listened to

(01:14):
the one time that you mentioned myname. Now I got to hear the
other one. Make sure. I'mgoing to make sure they're all on a
possible. They're good. They're good, I promise, I promise. So
I've been coaching stronger use since abouttwenty and seventeen. I actually initially was
not a nutrition based I guess coach. I was actually very much into power

(01:36):
lifting back in like twenty fourteen,fifteen sixteen, I would say, and
I started, I got interested incoaching and helping my friends with their programming,
so I wouldn't it's it's it's kindof kind of a weird thing with
the naming of coaching and power lifting, and sometimes to me, sometimes it's

(01:57):
just people who do programming coaching.But anyways, I helped them with the
programming, and you know, theydid call me their coach and stuff like
that. And I did that forabout a year year and a half,
and I just did it for fun, for money or anything like that.
And then I personally got to apoint where I realized, you know,
as a powerlifter, size moves weight, and that was kind of like my

(02:20):
mentality at the point, and thenI got to a size and I was
not feeling good about myself, andthat's when I kind of filmed it all
about nutrition and going through all thatand seeking out my own coaching as you
know, like a stronger you andorigins stronger you, you know, started
with Mike and that kind of originatedthrough complete human performance. You know,

(02:45):
there are friends too, and Iactually became a client of theirs because I
got interested, you know, ontop of the powerlifting with running and the
idea of hybrid training because it wasjust like, oh, this big guy
can also run marathon, right,And then it was right at that time
where I realized, I guess whatI valued with what I wanted to do

(03:07):
from a fitness angle was paralletting wascool, but then I also needed to
be smaller well to support the running, but also just be healthier. So
through a few friends from there,I ended up being coached by this guy
named Jonathan. And then this guynamed Jonathan he coached me. He got
me to lose a bunch of weight, and then I went through one of

(03:30):
our old friends, David, andhe got me through the lost a bunch
of weight. He's the one thatgot me super cut up. But during
that whole time, I was slowlybeing recruited to or person on you just
because well Mike got super busy andcoaches and I was, you know,
super brand new to nutrition coaching.But one of my best friends, Jason,

(03:50):
he he was already coached on you, and I loved Jason. He
always always, always like talks meup, and that's kind of what he
did with Mike. And after aphone call or two and here, you
know, here I am ended upbeing a nutrition coach. Obviously, it
took me a little bit too,I guess, grow into the coach I

(04:12):
am today. Obviously, it definitelywas definitely super worthwhile. Experience lines up
a bit more with my I guessvalues and stuff and just you know,
generally helping people. I know that'skind of very stereotypical reason why people like
the coach and personal train and stufflike that, but I mean it's repeated
so often because there's a lot oftrip behind it. So well, let's
let's stay right there for a second, because I ay, I'm thankful that

(04:35):
that journey happened because it helped meand it helped me change my life and
it helped me progress to the pointthat I'm at to now being a certified
nutrition coach myself. So I meanit's opened my eyes with that. And
you said that the values of helpingpeople, So if you wouldn't mind expounding
upon that and sharing, like whatwhat your values are when it comes to

(04:58):
this nutrition coaching thing that we weall are here to learn about and or
do. Yeah, so you know, kind of mentioning what I mentioned about
my guess with my values and helpingpeople. Well, originally my educational background
is through engineering, and I endedup fresh out of college, I ended
up working for US government and doingengineering for the Navy. And you know,

(05:25):
be that as it may it.You know, working for the government
being involved in maybe doesn't necessarily lineup with my personal values unfortunately. So
you know, this isn't like adig at them or anything like that.
But if I don't have to beinvolved myself with that, then you know
I would rather not. And thenyou know, this allowed me to seek

(05:46):
out that particular avenue of being ableto help people such as yourself, work
towards improving their you know, nutritionand lives and health. And you know,
all that fun stuff that we loveto do here, so and then
what I do and realize what itwould end up, you know, going
towards is well, it's just theamount of people that I was able to

(06:06):
help, which to me is crazy. You know, I'm not going to
drop my numbers or anything like that, but it was. This is definitely
like an exponential amount of people thatI've been able to help versus what I
thought I was going to give myselfinto. You know, I thought it
was just going to be like ahundred or so people that I'm going to
help, but it was much morethan that, and it was definitely got

(06:30):
me into that like line of Ijust like that that mentality and mindset of
service, I guess we'll call it. It's a different feeling from what I've
been told that I'm i myself asas I meant, I'm at the beginning
stages. I'm looking forward to thatfeeling because helping others is a huge part
of me, and from what you'vealready explained, it's it's a huge part

(06:54):
of you. I know this personallyjust from knowing you and the experience that
I have. So I have aquestion for you when it pertains to you've
dealt with hundreds of members at thispoint in time, and so you've seen
the ups and downs, the ebbsand flows of what a member goes through
on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly basis, what do you do

(07:16):
or what is I guess kind ofthe tactics that you take when a member
is having a difficult time, howdo you help them pivot away from maybe
self doubt? I would say,Yeah, So what's kind of crazy about
this particular scenario is that if youasked me what my answer was when I
first started coaching now, it wouldbe widely different. So, okay,

(07:40):
back then, my answer would havebeen more tough guys, suck it up,
you know, do you want thisor not? Type of mastitude.
And over time, after working witha bunch of people and you know,
other coaches helping me out big timewith my mindset or approach or that,

(08:00):
definitely have grown a little more empatheticand definitely listening to people's individuals situations a
little more and basically just being abit more understanding. So I guess,
you know, to say it ina much easier way, I just went
from like, you know, kindof a hardcore, strict guy to being
a little looser, you know,And as far as how that affects results,

(08:24):
it really hasn't. So you know, to get positive results, but
kind of deal with me being apain, probably not so great, still
get results while you know, hey, I'm trying to be your friend and
a nice guy. Probably a muchbetter you know approach environment approach, and
everyone's happy and there's no you know, no headbutting or anything like that.

(08:46):
So sure there are some you know, members that like that and you know
they asked for that, and youknow, more than happy to provide that.
But at this point, I wouldsay definitely the majority the people that
I work with it definitely just benice, just be a kinder person.
That definitely helps. So but asfar as like how to you know,
deal with people's particular situations now,it's it's definitely definitely defaulting a lot to

(09:13):
like, you know, especially whenwe're doing you know, with the food
thing and what's required of this whenwhen I always tell them, like,
obviously try to always put this ata high priority. Whenever there's anything in
life that takes over, don't hesitateto drop it down a few levels.
And that's completely Okay, So whatthey end up finding out is that regardless

(09:33):
of what's going on in their life, they can actually end up maintain a
high level of execution where they're eatingand stuff. Regardless of what's going on.
There's going to be extreme situations whereit's going to require them to kind
of like dial it back and takeit easy and you know, don't you
know, don't attract their food oryou know, hit their macers and stuff
like that. But but yeah,for the most part, most people can

(09:54):
maintain a pretty high level and Iwill say good enough level of execution so
that you know, generally they canlive pretty healthy lifestyle. Awesome. Awesome,
Yeah, I can attest to thatfor those that are listening asking if
that's true. Yes, I'd liketo say I was very easy going with
Drew would tell me I would justdo and it wasn't. That was my
approaches. I'm listening to my coach. He knows better than I do.

(10:16):
I'm going to ask questions here andthere that are gonna benefit me or so
I can learn more because I'm moreinquisitive than anything. I want to know
what's going on, what's happening,and if you're telling me and you give
me. Okay, let's go,let's just do this. I know that's
not the case for everybody, asthere's other people that have had different relationships
and we all do here and throughoutthe world. We all have different relationships

(10:39):
with food, so our approaches willbe completely different. So I can attest
to what he has said, andI didn't really need too much for myself,
so it worked out for me perse. Okay, guys, what
if I told you you can finallyreach your goals without fad dieting, deprivation
or unrealistic expectations, all while stillenjoying the foods you love. Yeah,

(11:00):
it's possible. In fact, we'vehelped over fifty thousand members do just this.
Now it's your turn. New membersget fifty percent off your first month
with a purchase of a monthly membershipplan. And what do you get with
this You get one on one personalizedcoaching, unlimited coach messaging and weekly check
ins, nutritious resources and tools,and access to a welcoming community. Sign

(11:20):
up today with code su Radio fifty. You've got this and we've got you.
So let's reach your goals together.Being that we're in the summer now,
okay, and this is the summerseries. We know a lot of
people like to drink during the summertimeand go on vacation and indulge and enjoy
themselves as you should enjoy your lifeas life is short. Right with that

(11:45):
set, what advice do you givemembers when they know they're going to go
on vacation and have more than afew or maybe go to a party that
they that they're going to be aroundthe consumption of alcohol and may want to
particip paint themselves. What kind ofapproach do you provide to them or guidance
you provide to them and when they'regoing to set events or vacations. So

(12:09):
I'm going to touch on vacation first. So if it's vacation, go on
vacation. Like the whole point ofvacation is to be away from routine,
be away from your regular life.Yes, fortunately vacation is not every day,
so you know you don't You're notsupposed to do everyday things when you're
on vacation, So I agreed,means eating, you know, eating smartly,

(12:30):
hitting your numbers, et ceter soforth when you're on vacation. I
tell my people to turn off theapp if they want to keep track of
anything to stay engaged, which iscompletely fund in me, they can do
that. But personally, when you'reon vacation, be on vacation, you
know, So I love that.Like I said, vacation is only to
some people only get one week outof the year for vacation means one week

(12:52):
you're off your food and then theother fifty one weeks you're on your you
know, a B plus a game. Then it's going to make that is
that is going to be more thanbeneficial. So and if you know,
for parties and stuff like that,especially with the summer, I personally what
I like to tell people is ifthey're cutting, if they are in the

(13:15):
if they're in weight loss, whichyou know most people are. I tend
to try to tell people to eatbeforehand. So parties like that are very
easy to overdo, and especially withthe drinking, especially with the type of
foods that can be out there,you know, mitigating any hunger that can
happen as much as you can andkind of resisting the temptations as much as
possible. That's my move. WhenI'm super duper focused on trying to lose

(13:41):
weight and stuff like that before,you know, on the well, while
I'm driving out there to whatever event, you know, I smash a protein
shake. That's personally what I do, and it helps me stay full and
it's just sit to my stomach andit allows me to like, you know,
hands off, hands off any ofthe food and stuff. So I'm
Filippine. So Filipino parties are ridiculouswith the amount of foods that are presented

(14:05):
out there. There's you know,usually the kitchen and then you can't even
see counterspace because it's just plotters andplotters of food. And what I do
is just I don't put myself thereright, so out of side on a
mine plays you know, plays agood role. Like if if the parties
at someone's house and there's food inside, I hang out outside and everyone else.
And when it comes to drinks andstuff like that, this one,

(14:28):
honestly is a little bit harder forme to answer because for me, it's
really easy to say no to alcohol, you know, you know, Coach,
there's just kind of the livestyle liveright and when it comes to alcohol
again, ideally, being full beforeyou come will help try to figure out
what throw quotes up. I guesswhat quote unquote light drinks that you like
to have, usually lower calorie drinks, you know, like selters, and

(14:52):
like when I did drink it wouldbe like a vodka soda would be you
know, my choice, vodka sodawith a squirt of lime and just you
know, milk that for as longas I possibly could, just because you
know, well, another thing ispeople just want that vision to see you
with a drink in your hand.They don't have to know what's in there.

(15:13):
So, you know, especially ifyou are in a position where calories
aren't exactly very you don't have alot of space for calories, you're going
to find every way to work oneither cutting it down and make sure no
one's giving you a hard time aboutdoing that, just because I know dieting

(15:33):
can be hard, not just necessarilyfrom an individual standpoint, but the fact
that there can be a lot ofenvironmental, outside social pressures that come along.
Yeah, I know it can betough, especially during summer when not
everybody who is there winds up withwhat you're doing. So first, I
need an invite to the next familybarbecue. That's number one. I definitely

(15:58):
need that willing to take the trip. But I agree it's it's been a
theme and for those that haven't listenedto the other pods or that have,
it's been a theme with every coachthat I've spoken to thus far, is
when you're on vacation, enjoy yourvacation. The point that you made is
is so valid and I whole hardlyagree with it. When you're on vacation,

(16:22):
you don't get many times. You'reworking majority of the year, and
you don't you get that one weekout of the year, if you're lucky,
a couple of weeks out of theyear to be able to just let
loose or be off the grid essentially. So so enjoy enjoy that for sure.
I was going to say I hada member who he was about my
age and his basketball team went tothe Final four. He went to Miami

(16:48):
Prep, and he was like,yeah, I'm gonna go to the Final
four with my bros And hang out. I'm just like, yeah, dude,
if my school went to the finalfour, like I'm gonna go and
enjoy myself. I'm sorry, oncein a lifetime type of relation. Like
I'm pretty sure it was in NewOrleans, so it's just like it's a
New Orleans Final four, I'm prettysure lays in Texas or something like that,

(17:10):
and he was like, Yeah,I'm gonna go see my frat bros.
And go watch the games and stuff. And I'm just like should I
was like, you should go havefun and ignore any messages I'd give you
until you come back. So hedid just that and then he enjoyed it.
But then as soon as he gothome. So this is kind of
the thing that I've been pushing hardthis past week and my people is that

(17:33):
as soon as he got home,he got right back into it. So
it's it's again just more it's justlike just like vacation and you know,
any other way, we're going backto work. So obviously, you know,
going if you go on vacation fora week and then you come back
to work on Monday, obviously it'snot going to be an easy time going
back to transition. You're there,you're still you know, trying to you're

(17:55):
still working into it. And thenso it's kind of the same thing that
kind of have to do when withyour eating after you come home, it's
just kind of like enjoy yourself andnow you're back to business. Minimize damage,
and most importantly, get back intoa routine so that you can build
up the consistency and you work towardswhatever you're working towards. Love that love
that. I will be hopefully utilizingthis advice soon. I'm hoping for a

(18:19):
vacation very very soon. We'll see, we'll see. I'll keep you posted
on that before we get Before weget out of here, I've asked every
coach if they like to share someadvice words of motivation. The floor is
yours to share away. Oh man, Yeah, so this was originally what

(18:41):
I wanted to talk about. Ithink I've kind of actually talked to this
about Gianma, but I may actuallytalk about this in the future. But
this is more along the lines forpeople of I guess non standard American backgrounds
with their diet, So you know, me and myself, Filipino American upbringing,
or just you know, anyone elsethat what I will say is it

(19:03):
can be insanely difficult to include yourcultural foods into your diet. And because
of that reason, my advice orrecommendations for that right now, it's still
evolving, but the smart move,in my opinion, is too well,
unfortunately, you have to reduce someof that intake, but I don't think

(19:26):
you need to completely remove it.You just either if you have to find
alternatives, find ways to reduce thecalories. I know that kind of takes
away from the authenticity of particular foods, but if you kind of look back
to how I guess we'll go backto a standard American diet goes and how

(19:47):
we work on reducing calories in there, it's kind of the same thing.
So you know that, I actuallywent back and forth with this a bunch
of myself. But I think whenyou come to realize when it comes to
you know, culturally specific foods andstuff like that, it's it is the
smart move in my opinion, towork on finding alternatives and alternative ingredients that

(20:10):
can work on reducing calories, notablyfats, especially in Philipino foods had to
happen. Pork is super heavy.We kind of have to swap it out
for leaner portions and stuff like that, and it generally cut down on a
lot of cooking oils and stuff.And it's still certainly possible to work on
reducing overall calories while still enjoying foodsthat you grew up with and stuff like

(20:30):
that. So but again, generallyprobably a smart idea to overall cut back
the consumption of it and then savethose particular meals for special times, so
you know, not every meal hasto be special. Then what that actually
ends up doing inadvertently is making thespecial meals more special, so they end

(20:51):
up becoming more elevated, more revered, and you appreciate what those foods actually
are when you actually have them.So that actually ties super specific to me.
But you know, I my parentsdon't live around me, So when
my parents are around and they cook, then like obviously I like eat it
and I like really appreciate their cookingfor sure, But it's only maybe now

(21:14):
two to three times a year thatI'm able to do that. But now
it's just that much more special.So health is a super important concern to
you, you know, out ofeither necessity or wants. You know,
you there will be ways to therewill be ways that need to be found
in order to reduce your overall intakethrough those particular cultural relevant foods. So

(21:34):
so yeah, I know, allI'm basically saying is it is it can
be insanely difficult. So I've hadclients from India, Singapore, Bermuda and
it's just a bunch overseas and figuringout how to make what they eat work
with you know, how we coach, especially if you know this goes for

(21:56):
anyone who's coaching people from overseas,especially, you know, just understanding of
what their food sources are available tothem and making sure that you are adjusting
everything that you are doing so itstill lines up with current objectives obviously weight
loss mostly and you know what theyare capable and able to also purchase and

(22:19):
stuff like that. So there's alot of like socioeconomic factors that play as
well, and just you know,sitting out like protein can be one can
be pretty expensive and come to findout a lot of their requirements like say
protein and stuff. I know coachesnot necessarily stronger view coaches, but in
general with nutrition coaching, a lotof coaches like to follow a very high

(22:40):
protein requirement and generally most people probablydon't need tobs high as what they are.
So I went through like five differentdirections actually just things that I love
that thinking and thought about with that, but and one other last thing that's
completely unrelated that I will talk aboutif I can do five hundred kettlebill swings.

(23:03):
Every time I step into the gym. I'm pretty sure anybody can't do
any workout regime that they wanted to. And this is absolutely one of the
top three worst fitness decisions ever made, probably top two, if not the
top one. And yeah, I'mso glad it is over. It is
twenty nine. I had two hundredkettlebell swings up to do and I am

(23:26):
never ever putting my eyes on thekettle bill. I did nine about to
be nine thousand kettlebill swings and Ijust can't wrap my mind around oh doing
that. So yeah, no,that sounds like torture. I will I
will live through you on that foreveryone. Basically pretty much pretty much you

(23:48):
did more than I will ever doin my lifetime. So just know that,
just know that. Oh that's awesome, well Drew, Thank you,
Ben. I appreciate that. Iappreciate it, especially what you said at
the end, because it relates tome. And when I look at certain
events such as Thanksgiving, to havemy mother's cooking and be fortunate enough to
get that, it's it is veryspecial because I don't have that often,

(24:11):
especially you know, as you getto our age and you know, our
parents are getting a little older.Stuff happens. You know, there's gonna
be a point where our mom's notgonna be able to cook anymore. Yes,
we'll be able to cook anymore.And it's just like and there's gonna
be I hate to end this ona very sad note. There's going to
be that one last meal that youhave from them, and it's going to
be the last meal you've ever hadfrom them. You don't, you know,

(24:32):
you don't, You never know,so true true, enjoy it and
enjoy it. As I said before, life, enjoy life while we have
it. It is very precious.Enjoy those that are around you. I
enjoy and appreciate you and thank youfor what you've done to my life and
continue to be as a friend aswell. And I know that I can
always come to you for us someadvice. Don't worry, I'll be doing

(24:53):
that very soon. And on thatnote, thank you guys for listening to
another episode of the Stronger You podcast. We appreciate you, guys, and
we'll see you on the next one. Bye bye. Thank you for listening
to Stronger You Radio. For moreinformation, please visit www dot strongeru dot

(25:14):
com. Don't forget to Tune innext week for more health and nutrition conversations
with stronger You.
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