Episode 156 - Kenny Santucci: Strong New York Fitness & Wellness Expo 2023 - D&D Fitness Radio Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:14):
Welcome to the D and D Fitnessradio podcast, brought to you by your
hosts Don Saladino from New York Cityand Derek Hanson from Vancouver, Canada.
We have a guest in person.Wow, you surprised me. I'm actually

(00:36):
like, I'm really excited. Imean he So he messages me, He's
like, I mean traffic. Iwas like, sorry, it's fine.
I thought he was coming from anappointment. And then I look up and
I'm like, oh, you're here. You call Tom. I'm like,
I love you. That's awesome.I'm a little tired. I had to
go travel a little bit on theweekend and teach some courses for like eight

(00:58):
hours a day. But I'm fine, So we'll just kick off. So
this is Is this your second timeon this you were you were on the
reps one once with Zach. Haveyou been on D and D No?
No, no, no, we'vebeen saving it up. Yeah. Well
this is this is a great opportunity, this is time, this is perfect
timing. And then he texts meand he's like, yo, I'm gonna

(01:19):
be in town that weekend. Iwas like, fuck it, dude,
let's do. Let's do. You'vegotta have him. Yeah, no,
he's coming. You gotta, yougotta, this is perfect. Yeah,
Tery will probably end up. Ithink Gunner is gonna stay with me Thursday
night and then we're going into thecity Friday. Okay, you can.
I was gonna book my flight,fly out Thursday, be there all day
Friday, headback Monday or something likethat. Yeah, why didn't you come

(01:42):
stay with me Saturday and Sunday?Then? Okay? Yeah, I'm probably
gonna stay in the city Friday night, but Saturday night, Sunday night,
you come stay with me. Okay, Okay, I'm excited. So this
is Kenny Santucci. I mean everyone, I mean, you and I have
been so much. I feel likeI literally really senior. I love it.
So I had I had a guycome into my gym who was like,

(02:07):
I don't even know who the hewas, but he was there for
what's his name's course, Mike ISRATELScurse and this guy's like, dude,
there's certain trainers that just can't getbehind bah and he's like naming fucking but
I can't get yeah, yeah yeah, And I go very well, he

(02:28):
can't get yeah, And I waslike, dude, that's my boy.
He goes, I go, yeah, I go. When I tell you
he's the fucking realist dude, hegoes, he just seems like one of
these guys. He was talking aboutBen Bruno too, He's talking about fucking
Jay. I'm like, I'm like, man, this guy's talking about all
my fucking boys. And he goes, oh, man, I'm so sorry.

(02:49):
I go, listen, what wasit. I'm justusing nobody trainer from
New York. He was like,He's just what was the reason why he
couldn't get He's saying, I'm curious. He was saying that, like the
online workouts and all that stuff.He's like, you've got to be in
person with people. You got tobe on the floor. And I was
like, yet it. I waslike, listen, I go, I
get it. If you're if you'rea part of the business side of things,

(03:13):
I go, and you understand howto touch more people and get in
there. Yep, I go.You can't just do in person. No,
listen, I probably get how muchin person is he done? I
couldn't have seen this guy. Imean he's probably thirty thirty one. Yeah,
so he hasn't even been a trainerthat I've done. We've done thirty
years of in person. Yeah,so yeah, I mean it's it's I

(03:35):
can't understand where he's coming from ifI didn't do in person, but the
fact that I've probably getten a waymore free sessions than he's ever done,
behave. But that's why I waslike, go, listen, I go.
If you ever met him, Igo, he is the fucking real
deal. I go in person andI was like, you could have picked
any other person. I would havejust let you got to talk about it.
I appreciate that. I go,thank you, dude, he's mine.

(03:57):
I don't even take I be honest, I was more cure. I'm
not even taking offense to it becauseI think he's I think he's right to
an extent, right, Like ifyou were to look at someone like me
and I never did any one onone, then I would be like,
you're wrong. Well, I thinkyeah, I think that's what a lot
of people see. And I wasjust having this conversation with somebody yesterday about
how they only see the top ofthe mountain, right, they only see,

(04:20):
oh, he's done this, thisand this. They didn't see the
fucking twenty years of bullshit twenty fiveand twenty five, twenty five years at
BS and they didn't see, AndDerek and I talk about they didn't see.
I've been talking about this a lotlately because I want people to understand
it wasn't all roses, but likeAmex shutting down my credit cards on Edge,

(04:40):
shutting down my power when I'm adrive like it was, it was,
it was, there were some darkthirty seven payrolls the next time.
Now being at this point where it'slike I've had multiple gyms, I had
fail, shit fail, I've hadshit when I go. You don't get
to where these guys are without failingright time, right in times. You
know, it doesn't fucking happen,you know, And anybody who sees somebody

(05:01):
with a ton of success, I'mlike, the amount of shit they must've
dealt with to get to that pointis unfathomable. Well that it was almost
comforting for me when I was youknow, I had a group of mentors,
as when I was in Drive andspeaking to some pretty successful people who
you would recognize their names, andto think that they were sleeping under desks
at a certain point, or hearingCalvin Klein telling me that he was walking

(05:25):
with his daughter on the beach thinkingto himself, oh my god, I'm
not going to have a business tomorrow. Or Joe Horwitz, the founder of
Tommy Hillfiger, who was literally likesleeping in his office. And when you
hear this about people who are worththat much money, that to me is
really inspiring. It's really you neverwant to hear anyone go through it.
But when they end up rising andthey end up doing something special with their

(05:48):
career, then you're like, acool, maybe this is the path.
There's an awesome documentary on the HistoryChannel called The Men Who Made America.
Yeah, and one of the episodeswas on Rockefeller. Yeah, how he
put three times he put everything hehad to make what he had. And
then also, like I was justreading a bunch of stories on Vince McMahon

(06:10):
recently because he just sold the wwDI me sell it ninety point three billion
dollars. He bought it from hisfather in nineteen eighty five for a million
bucks. I actually saw. Isaw that. Yeah, you have to.
And then if you watch how Ibuilt he has like how I built
this or whatever, and the amountof times he had to put, like

(06:31):
the company was only worth like acouple hundred thousand at the time when he
was trying to do WrestleMania three,and he was like putting all this money
into it and took on money tomake this happen. And it's now nine
point three. I go, itdoesn't become one million. It's not just
this linear line. It's this.I heard Jeff Bezos the other day.
He was talking about Amazon and hewas talking about having to give giveaway.

(06:57):
He had to raise a million dollars. I think about Jeff Basons. I
think it was nineteen ninety five,and I think they said he raised a
million dollars and gave up twenty percentequity in Amazon, and he turned around.
He was like, great investment forthose people. He imagine twenty percent,
but like, oh my god,Like and that's Jeff Bezos being like,
we need a million bucks. Andhe actually he did the way I

(07:19):
had to do it. He wentto like, you know, fifteen twenty
people at like you know, betweenfifty and one hundred grand a pop.
And like that's typically what you doearly on when you have connections. But
you're like, all right, Idon't have the friends and family. Yeah,
one hundred percent. But so thisis. I mean, this is
actually a perfect segue into our conversationbecause this is your third well this is

(07:42):
a third big one. I've donethree before that as well. Oh I
didn't know that. Yeah, wedid smaller ones that slas that were just
like in the basement or like youknow, we used both floors. We
had a couple hundred people. Itwas like they were kind of what i'd
consider the pilots for like the firstone that I had you come to in
twenty nineteen and we got shut downduring COVID, and then we did the
one last year, which was awesomesuccess. I mean you were there,

(08:07):
and then this will be like thebiggest one so far. But they just
keep growing, and I think themore people I explain it to, the
better I even get at explaining itand showing people what it is. The
more people are like, oh shit, this would be great to get involved
with, right, I mean,but you have to be like I've noticed
a lot of people trying to starttheir own Like everyone now I feel like
it's starting to try and host theirown events. Yeah, it's but there's

(08:33):
like and you can see it,there's you're a connected Like that's what I
could like, you're a great coachand you're an incredible people person, but
you're a connector like you are.Really that's one of your strong suits.
And I think the fact that peopleare coming in and they're flying in not
for the money, but because theylove you, and because I think the
reputation that you've built for yourself.What has been your vision since day one

(08:56):
on this? Yeah, I swearI'm I mean it's always been about the
Like for instance, one of thepeople that I really wanted to help from
day one with the guys who ownedFittiate and they were you know I had
Yeah, I had met them earlyon. Aaron had spoke at the one
in twenty nineteen for me. He'sone of the CEOs and we had talked
to him. He's like, youknow, I want to try to break

(09:18):
out of just the CrossFit market andget into this other market. Well,
new York City. I mean,if you want to make something cool,
if you want to make something,we go to New York. Hey,
this is where you want to launchmost big products. Right fashion Week and
comment on all the ship I waslike, so I wanted to do my
fitness I was so, why don'twe have an event in New York,
like a fitness Oh still see thisis how we do it on our podcast.

(09:43):
This our title sponsor is vent.Yeah, Selsey, I like the
product. It's actually yeah, it'sactually great. It's actually great product.
So what I wanted to do isdo like a B to B, like,
hey, have more businesses, havemore gym owners, you know,
introduce them to get them in othergyms, help them make money. And
then my friends who are have businessesand different online you know, workouts and

(10:05):
stuff like that, I'm like,how do I introduce them to more clientele.
So at the beginning, it wasjust a way for everybody to kind
of share what they have or whatthey're doing and introduce my clients to the
people that I was learning from.So it's kind of just grown from there.
And I truly believe, like whenI pitch it to people and I'm
like, hey, listen, Igo, if you have a new business

(10:26):
or a small business, or you'relaunching a book, or you have a
product that you want to get outthere, I go, I'm trying to
make this bigger, and you havea product that you want in front of
more people, I go, let'swork together. I truly believe it.
It's like bringing people together in NewYork City under one route. And it's
funny because I had reached out toso many different gyms in the city and

(10:48):
we have Rumboll coming, we havelines, then yoga, we have I
just got off the phone with theguys from Lifetime Fitness, we have who
else tone House, so all theseother guys. When I'm like, hey,
you guys want to come, especiallythe people who have been there ready,
They're like countssing yeah, and I'mlike, I'm not charging them,

(11:09):
and it's an opportunity for them toshowcase what they do in front of an
audience that might never step them.But like Henzo Grayson's when I pitched it
to them, they're like, wait, what the hell is this? And
that is explained to them. They'relike, we're We're in. It's just
ban hours for them too, andyou have to show up. They be
dumb knock. It's thirty forty minutesof your time, and it's an opportunity
to get in front of people who, like frankly like I do jiu jitsu,

(11:30):
but it's like, I know aton of people would never step foot
in the jiu jitsu gym, right, So now it's like if they see
them in a different environment, ifthey're exposed to it with like friends are
theirs, and it's not as likeaggressive as you as it would be if
you were in a regular gym.People will be like more inclined to try
things. Same thing with Tone Houseand like even yoga. I'm not a
big yogi, but you know thereare people there who are like, Oh,

(11:52):
I'll do yoga in the morning,I'll run with Derek in the afternoon,
and then I'll go do this liftingsession. Like that's what I want
it to be. I want peopleto learn from the best people that I
know, integrate themselves into these othergyms because it's like you can't be the
guy on one hundred percent every day. Well that's a problem, Derek,
I mean think about it. Imean part of your education early on was
learning from some pretty incredible people,one beating Charlie Francis and not even knowing

(12:18):
that that was part of your marketingearly on. I mean when people you
got to admit it. I meanI've used it too with certain people or
certain you know, communities, certaincertifications, whatever it is. But you
know when you're learning from people andyour networking in that environment, or or

(12:39):
Rob Panorella right, like, youstart becoming really friendly with these people.
One of my really good friends nowI attribute to meeting at Strong New York
last year. Well, I walkedinto the event. Gunner and I have
known each other. We both inthe been in the industry probably combined,
you know, close to sixty yearsis already and Ray it has to be.

(13:03):
I'm twenty five, he's like thirtyfive. And we looked at each
other from across the room. Neverhad a conversation, and we just pointed
at each other and we got kindof choked up. You guys are both
great and were fuck no, andwe just we just grabbed each other and
we we started hugging, and thenwe started having It was bizarre. We
started having a conversation where if youcame over, you would have thought we
knew each other for twenty years.And then the next thing you know,

(13:26):
I'm in Nashville with him, stayingwith him and his family. His wife's
on the phone with my wife helpingher out with something from a digital standpoint.
We're meeting in the city to Fridaybefore your event. That in the
night, we're going to stay ata hotel together. We're all going to
just kind of hang out right andthink about that, like like that networking
aspect of it. And then youknow, we hosted an event at his

(13:46):
at at his Face. And thenthe next you know, I meet Matt
Wedding through him, meet Andrew lawNo, I never met that wedding.
And then Matt, Yeah, he'sa great guy. Then Matt and I
became buddies and we talk all thetime. Now. So oh my,
oh my god, I'm in thistwenty five years. I didn't have access
to something like Strong New York whenI was starting at twenty one. If

(14:07):
the ticket was going to cost meone hundred dollars, two hundred bucks whatever,
what does it cost me fifty dollarsjust to get in an event and
then one hundred and fifty bucks towhat is that? That's a session rate?
Yeah, the best session rate.You can't invest one hour of your
session rate or whatever you were chargingan hour and a half whatever it is
to go be around like minded peopleand open the doors for opportunity, be

(14:31):
around the best. But like Ijust so time Cet Fletcher is going to
come, so I have ct Fletchers, I and you guys. I have
Gabria Line, Gabria Line. Ihave Doctor Lee. Oh yeah, I
know Doctor Lee. I was ona live with him for Louman. Dude.
He's amazing, awesome, He's amazing, And there are so many great

(14:52):
people. So even if you're remotelyinterested in fitness, just to go network
and meet these people like you.You and Gunner were like running for office
last year. The mother's coming upto them, trying to take pictures with
them too. It was just butit was a good feeling because you also
connect with people that you haven't seenin a while. But I'm telling you,
there's there's never been an event thatI haven't gone to where there has

(15:15):
been even like events that I've goneto and you pay or some times where
I speak and you're sholling money outof your pocket, You're you're staying at
a hotel or whatever. Whether theyreimburse you or not, that's another story.
But like I've always made a connection. I've always connected some dots some
piece of the think about it,like like Luca, like Luca hose of
her right, Like I saw youout at Lucas event. I was like,

(15:37):
oh, Kenny, right, Lucasevent this is in. Yeah,
well Lucas Lucas incredible. But thatwhole networking piece, Like when I was
at our buddy Ben Bruno, hejust got married and I'm sitting at a
table with Gunner. Ben comes tothe table Kelsey, Heena and Dennis Luca

(15:58):
like, we're all sitting at thistable together, and I'm like, I'm
thinking, I'm like Ben, Bencame over. Like Ben, you know,
you called me on a train goingup to Mike Boyles probably eight years
ago, nine years ago. HeyDon, it's it's Ben Bruno. And
I'm like, man, oh mygod, I was just reading an article
about you on Teenage like last week. Next thing, you know, Ben's

(16:18):
in town at my club working out. Then Ben starts coming in every single
you know, a couple of monthsworking at a drive. Hey Don,
by the way, I want youto I want to introduce you to friends.
I'm like, you might have tobring him by. I go,
no, what are their names?Well, their names are Dennis and Kelsey
Heenan. I said, uhh great, bring them by. I've never met
them. They come by. Thenext thing, you know, Kelly,
Kelsey and Den come up, Ithink a month later to shoot content with

(16:40):
made a year later, they turnedto me, O, my buddy's intown.
What's his name, Luca Hooseffer.Oh my god. Next thing,
you know, they're introducing. They'reall you Angela Gargano. You know all
these people. Look at this picture. This was I'll show this picture here.
This was the day after the strongevent last year. Yeah, okay,
they are. We all rolled upand we're like, you guys want

(17:02):
to come for a workout, comeon up right. This is like the
crew right here and this and thiswas like next thing, you know,
we're all sitting in there. We'rehaving breakfast. We're networking with the SAGA
hosted event at Luca's place. It'sthis is what it's about. Yeah,
And that's what I tell people,especially younger trainers, who are like,
oh, I want to break intothe industry, I want to do this,
I'm go then go to more ofthis, right, That's where you're

(17:23):
going to meet more people. Andwhen we say like minded people, it's
like more people who are looking atnetwork, more people who are looking to
build their business. Like that's whoyou want to be around to expand what
you're doing. You're not going tojust do it being on the floor.
You're not just going to do it, you know, trying to pick up
more clients. You're not just goingto do it putting up fucking content on
Instagrams. You have to mingle withpeople. And even if you're putting up

(17:45):
content, these are the people youwant in your video because then they legitimize
you. You know, and You'realways connecting, you know, with some
young coach and I'm always impressed.I'm always meeting some coach that kind of
comes up to me and Derek,I want to get your opinion on this
also, But you know, theymight be reducing themselves in a certain way,
shaking your hand. It might comeoff very authentic. The next thing,
you know, you know what,you can't meet everyone, but you

(18:07):
are meeting that individual for coffee.The next thing, you know, Oh,
this guy lives in Chicago. Thisclient's called me. He's a Chicago
trainer. Let me reach out tothis person. I'm even forgetting their name.
I'm typing in Chicago trainer into myphone and then all the names and
the names will come up, like, oh that's his name, his name
is Rick Rick don sald You know, got some and so in this area.
How far are you? I'm onlyfifteen minutes, and it's like you're

(18:30):
making connections. D I mean yourcareer had to be built on this in
a way, right, I mean, oh yeah, think of all the
just by being in New York Cityand having to stay in Soho and then
I go over to your gym,and then all of the you know,
stuff that's come out of that,just that meeting right has been phenomenal,
and you know, and spending timein New York City probably would have never

(18:52):
met Kenny right. And now it'sa destination for me where it's like,
Okay, I can go there,I can go hang out a bunch of
different places and feel pretty at home. We had a guy because of you.
I'm there's a guy from Mexico whoflew up to Canada to go drive
four hours inland to go to mycourse. And he is friends with Jordan

(19:15):
Shallow. Right. But the guyflies from Mexico like okay, great,
he just calls me up, Hey, I'm coming up, and I'm like
okay. So it's yeah, there'scertainly this five or six degrees of separation
that are pretty critical for all ofour careers. Everyone's got you know,
there's even the best people in theindustry. Now you're not Jordan's shallow.
Like Jordan could call me tomorrow andsay, hey, man, I'm to

(19:38):
stay at your home with your familyfor the next month, and my wife
would be like, no problem.Yeah, Like I think about the power
of that, Like that's what typeof person Jordan is, and he's one
of the brighter minds. So Iwas going to go up to fucking his
courses last weekend, but I endedup having to do shit at home.
But I was going to go upto his course and I was like I
got to I was literally like,this is going to be such a nightmare

(20:00):
of a trip. They got afly to Cannon and drive an hour and
a half in the middle of fuckingnowhere. But I like him a lot.
We were bullshit on Instagram. I'venever met him before, but I
no, no, you know,I met you know, Jordan. I
met Jordan because I started following onInstagram and I asked him to speak at
one of the first songs that Ihad in the basement of uh he only

(20:22):
had like twenty thousand followers and probablydid it too. Comes down he goes,
wait, what do you So hecalled Stepane Cohen and was like,
Hey, who the fuck is thisguy? And why he wanted me to
come to his gym. And he'slike, well, what do you want
me to talk about? This wasbefore he was doing the course and stuff,
and I go, dude, allthis shit you're saying on your Instagram
put into like an hour long presentation. He came out after I kild started

(20:47):
blowing the fuck up. And heactually mentioned that on a podcast, like
somebody sent me. They were like, yo, Jordan Sall is singing your
praises about how you called him.Jordan was living in a car like ten
years ago. I met Jordan.Jordan's one of my favorite success stories.
And I gotta be honest, it'sone of my favorite people. Like I
look at Jordan like, you know, a younger brother that's smarter than I

(21:07):
am. It's like it's like oneof those things. He's so intelligent.
But you know, I met Jordanthrough Ben Pakolski. It was Ben's fortieth
birthday and he was in town andhe called me up. He's like,
we're having a forty birthday dinner atChristia. You know, platiform in a
Brazilian place, would you would youcome down? I said, yeah,
I loved him, you know,And I stopped down and I sit at

(21:27):
the table and I'm sitting next tothis kind of flannel share and it's got
a big beard kind of sitting there, and I'm like, yeah, like
who's this guy? Like who isit? Then you just start we start
talking, like two hours, We'rejust the entire dinner, everyone else is
talking. We're just like that,that, that, that that, And
I'm like, oh my god,I love this guy and he's great.

(21:48):
And I think the next day hewas at Drive working out literally, and
then like I mean, we justbecame like boys. And then he was
the thing about shallow is he wasflying. I mean he's probably travels to
sixty different countries in a year literally. So the next thing, you know,
we become so tight. I'm like, where's your mailing address? He's
like, well, we kind ofdon't really have one. I'm like,
we'll make it drive, so itthinks the packages are showing up to drive.

(22:11):
The times you want to help eachother out. And then he stayed
with my family, I mean adozen plus times. I mean he's family.
I actually told Pakolski. I waslike, I didn't make it up
to your place, I said,but I'll happily give you my place to
come host something in New York.Oh he's It's incredible the transition he's made
in his business. I mean hewas this was an Olympia competitor. That's

(22:33):
you know, I think made acomplete one eighty. Yeah, he's I
love him. So, so diveinto the so dive in a strong Moore.
I want to talk about so youput together a dream team. Talk
to us about this a little bit. Yeah. Every year I try to
tighten it up and try to makeit like, all right, what do
I want this to feel like.I wanted it to be similar to like
an Arnold or like an LA FitExpo or something like that, but kind

(22:56):
of be more New York centric.So I wanted the big studios in New
York to do twenty thirty minute classeswhere they could be like, hey,
we're in New York. Next timeyou're here, you can come take our
class, and this is our introductionto what New York City fitness is,
right, because it's not just bodyyou know. I want that bodybuilding world
there. I want the yoga worldI want the plates world, so I
want a little bit of everything.So we'll have everything from jiu jitsu to

(23:19):
dancing. Right last year we hadan African dance class, we had a
pilates class, we had a stepclass, we had boxing class. We'll
have all that stuff again, andthen we'll also have two areas where you
could be lifting. There's going tobe a mat where we're going to have
kids classes, so we'll do that'syeah, well kids gymnastics. We'll have
a kids jiu jitsu class. We'regoing to probably have like a kids like

(23:42):
running class and stuff. It's evengoing to see if the boss want to
even run something in there and tellme what to do, tell me what
to do, I'll do it.And then on the main stage, I
wanted to be quicker, kind ofright to the point where like individuals and
then we'll have a couple of panels, but the individual talks will be more

(24:02):
like Ted talks, like ten tofifteen minute bangers where it's like somebody gives
up there like hey, this iswhat I do. If you want more
information, buy my book, becausewhile the books all are there as well,
sure, if you want more information, check on I You want more
information following me on social media whateverit is, but like, I want
to get as many people up theresharing what they do so more people could
be like and people get lost inthese events, right, they're like,

(24:25):
oh, I want to go dothis, I want to do that.
So I want them to and theynever really have. It's funny because you
go to these events, and especiallywhen they have different speakers at different times,
you're like, oh, man,I want to see this person,
but I'm going to be missing thisone as well. Yeah, so I
want them to be like quicker,kind of more informative, like right to
the point, dial in what theydo. So we have Gabrielle talking about

(24:45):
obviously all herself nutrition and muscle andeverything like that. Then we have a
neuroscientist. Have you met that oneof Luisa Yet Oh yeah, I was
on our podcast. She's awesome thecall. Yeah. Oh yeah, so
I want her to talk. She'sfantastic. Yeah, she's just a couple
of time. Yeah, she's gotshe's she's Greek, right, yeah,
she's great. Yeah, yeah,she's actually I do remember that now because

(25:07):
I'm a quarter Greek. So sowe had that conversation. But she's she's
awesome. I'm super super intelligent,and she's also like young into the business
and she's building yeah, and shelike she she as soon as I told
her about it, she's like,I want it. Yeah, you know.
So I was so happy when youhit When Derek hit me up and
he's like, I'm gonna be intown. I go, let's do something.
Let's get you there doing there.What are you going to do?

(25:29):
Well, We're going to basically teachpeople how to run, like from the
ground up, and just you know, everybody thinks it's kind of an intuitive
thing, but there are some thingsyou can really work on in small spaces
or wherever. And you know,uh, I want to do some technology
things like I've been working with oneof the forest played companies and just showing
people if you do certain drills thatyou can list of different forces and you

(25:52):
can get these adaptations to carry overinto whatever. We had a lot this
weekend. We had ultra marathon orslike show up to my course and they're
like, oh wow, I cando all those things right, you know,
rather than just going for a fivehour run, there's other things you
can do. So yeah, justintroduce all that stuff and this is basically
a breakdown of it. Right.I've taken Derek's coorse twice every time I've

(26:14):
learned something new. And I wasthere for two days, for what six
seven hours each day yep at least, and I'm still like, well,
I would go take it again becauseI feel like there's stuff I want to
remember I want to keep doing.But I'm want to have Derek do a
half hour. You're going to justget a taste of what he's doing.
You want to deep dive into it. So for him, it's like,

(26:36):
it'd be great to have one hundredpeople in it, and then twenty of
those people are like, well,next time he's in New York, I
want to take a Yeah, becauseif you'd be an idiot not too it.
And I've learned so much frommim.I thought I knew a lot about
running and just the little simple waysthat he breaks down mechanics and how to
teach people mechanics. The amount ofpeople I've gotten to run better because of

(26:57):
the stuff that I learned from Derek, I'm like more people losing. Oh,
It's amazing the amount of people I'vegot to feel better. Yeah,
because of the way that I've gottenthe run because of this guy. And
I've been I mean, I've beengoing to Derek's courses now for years.
I mean we met because Derek hada celebrity client in town and Derek was
in town for I think about sixweeks. Yeah, yeah, at least

(27:19):
at least long time. But thenext thing, you know, Derek,
and I'm not exaggerating, Derek wasteaching a daily at the club and I'm
turning around and I'm looking at liketwo three o'clock, all the trainers are
lined up and listening to Derek.I'm over there listening to Derek and he's
doing it every day and not gettingpaid for it. And the next thing,
you know, him and I becametight. We're like, you want

(27:41):
to start a podcast together, Let'sdo it. Yeah, And now you
know, we've been doing this nowwe're probably what one hundred and forty forty
episodes were over one fifty, we'reover one fifty and yeah that was like
twenty seventeen. You know, it'sbeen a while. Yeah, yeah,
But there's so many young trainers inNew York who think they've got it fur
it out right, and if theyhaven't taken your course, yet no they

(28:03):
need it's insanity because I fell inlove it the first time I did it.
I was like, this is fuckinggreat. I'm trying to film as
much shit as I can. Irefer back to the videos that you did,
and for anybody in the industry andeven people outside the industry. I
have probably ten runners that I havedoing the marathon, and I teach them
all that stuff. Everybody, likeyou said, everybody thinks it's intuitive.

(28:23):
Oh, I have a body,had legs, I could go run,
And I'm like, not necessarily,You're gonna get more fucked up running than
you will in a git, rightright. You know, remember that friend
of me for a period of timerunning is bad for you. And I'm
like, it's just it's just youknow, this, this whole industry,
everything kind of you know, it'slike, what's the new trend now?

(28:44):
But you know running's back in now. Kids. Yeah. The amount of
people who Chicago Marathon, New YorkCity Marathon, you know, triathlons,
the amount of people who do it, and then they don't understand the way
you even talk about injuries and stuff, the way people start to feeling their
shins and their knees and their hips. Everybody's like I'm broken, I'm done,
I can never run again. It'slike not necessarily right, I think.
I think you just need to goback to the basics, right,

(29:07):
and go through the drills and learnhow to do it again and reinforce you
know a lot of the stuff thatyou talk about. I loved it so
so strong is mainly strong is mainlyfor coaches, but like you did have
some consumers show upwards just fitnesses,Well, it's mainly for It's like anything
else, right, Like you goto the Food and Wine Festival and most
of the people go there restaurant toursand people working in the industry. But

(29:32):
I go every year. I loveit. It's like you want to go
try new food, you want tosee what else is out there. It's
just a fun day for everybody else. They're not consuming the same way we
would, right, Like so ifwe go to help fitness event or you
know, an educational event, we'rekind of taking notes and be like,
oh, I want to use that. I want to go look into the
scores. That's for like you knowthe diehards, right, It's the same

(29:52):
thing with like comic Boom right,I'm not going trading comic books and like
buying fucking collectibles. I it's likegoing around looking at it, checking it
out. This weekends the New YorkCity Coffee Festival, so it'll be like
every coffee shop in New York sizingeach other up, seeing what other people
are doing. I'm gonna go justtry fucking coffee, hang out, eat
some donuts maybe, you know.So it's just like it's a it's just

(30:17):
a chance to experience like what thosepeople in that industry are diehards about.
But this year, we'll have aDJ. We're gonna have you know,
classes all day long, we havetons of food. We're gonna be doing
two free workouts outside. Do youknow Rudy Reyes? Have you ever met
him? But I know the name? Okay, so he's on that show
Special Forces. Yeah, so he'sbeen a buddy of mine. I met

(30:37):
him at Summerstrong like four or fiveyears ago. I had him speak at
one of the events a couple ofyears ago. But he's one of the
marine recounts. Oh that's awesome.He's awesome. So I'm gonna have him
do a workout outside with people andput them through like what he would do
put people through on the show,and like with military training, and then
we're gonna do a run with garment, So garment, we got garment involved

(30:59):
and they're gonna watches away and theywant people to try different workouts and see
how it you know, how it'scool the garment picks up, very cool.
I think that's also something we didn'ttalk about that yet. It was
last year. I remember coming inand seeing a couple of coaches coach and
for me, as like a coach, like I love watching coaches coach.

(31:19):
I love watching them at their craftand seeing, you know, what are
things that people are really attracted to. Like last year, I remember sitting
there for probably twenty twenty five minuteswatching Jacqueline Casey. So I was going
to say she's she's a phenomenal coach, and I was sitting there and I
was just like, actually became afan. I started like walking around the
floor with it because I got toknow her really well and just I doing

(31:40):
not love Jacqueline Casey, right,so I'm running around the floor and I'm
filming her and then next thing youknow, we became like really good friends.
But loved your coaching style. Lovedher delivery and she she kind of
owns her process. That's her process, right, Like if someone else was
to take that and be as aggressiveas she she was, like they probably
scared the shit shit out of everyone. But not everyone can deliver the way

(32:02):
Japlin. But Japlin does it ina way where you like, you watch
it. She's aggressive, she's loud, but you're like, wait a second,
I want to go to it.Yeah, I want to go have
dinner with her, Like I justwant to have a conversation with her,
and that that to me is likewhat's really special. And I think as
coaches sometimes you know, we'll seesomething that someone else is doing and saying,
well I have to do that becauseit works for them, and you're

(32:22):
like no, no, no,no, no no no. Like like
if I if I ever came tothe gym and started yelling and screaming at
people, like I'd have a bigproblem. I can't pull up. I
tell people I go. If youwant to see mastery at it like teaching
at its best when it comes tolike group training, I'm like, she's
one of the best, and othertrainers to like look at her. I

(32:42):
mean I haven't met anybody in thein our world that hasn't been like no,
she's she's legit. Oh no,no, no, from a group
training phenomenous. It's one of thebest, hands down. So that to
me is fun because I think thegroup of people that you are trapped again
I was talking about you as aconnector, is that there's not a lot
of egos in there in the senseof like everyone shows up and we're like

(33:05):
kind of rooting for each other,like doctor Cabriell Lions Like she's like a
sister to me, Like she oneof my closes. We do a ton
of stuff together. But she evenmessaged my wife and I yes, Dare
and she's like, hey, they'reputting a billboard up for me in a
few weeks. I'm like, daytontime, Yeah, one hundred percent,
will all be there to show support. But that's like you start someone like
that has your bag, Well youwant it. But it's crazy to me

(33:30):
when people don't want to see I'mnot even just my friends. Obviously you
want your friends win, but likepeople you work with, you network with,
why wouldn't you want to see themwin? Right? Like I want
to put my friends on the youknow, the company feel Hunt, but
what's a fuel Hunt. They sponsoreda lot of like MMA guys. Okay.

(33:50):
I had met the guy who ownsthe company years ago at a crossfad
games. We just kind of hitit off. I started buying the clothes
I didn't even know was his ship. He's like, oh, man,
glad to see you're wearing my stuff. I go, I didn't even know
this was your That's crazy. It'sinsane. Now every time I do,
like they were there last year atthe event, They're going to be there
this year. And he's like,hey, I'm going to bring some athletes

(34:12):
blah blah blah. He's like,I just want to see you win.
I was like, dude, Iwant you there because I want more people
who love a guide yourself. Right. He's good buddies with badrous Oh yeah.
Yeah. By the way, Igot on a phone call with a
couple of months ago because the doctorGabrielle line. No, it's just like
you start connecting these dots. Andthat's the one thing I really urge young
coaches to do. I mean,I think a lot of coaches early on,

(34:35):
they think they and they should learneducate yourself on your craft, like
you want to become the best possiblecoach. But at a certain point you
start like staying in a specific lanewhere the reality is is that you're not
really going to grow as a personin a business person if you keep taking
level you know, seventy six ofthis course. It's like at a certain

(34:55):
point you got to start branching out. You got to start taking public speaking
courses. You got to start connectingwith people like Kenny, because they may
be able to put you on apanel one day, and when you get
on your first panel, you knowit as well as I am. I
don't care how experience you think.You are a heartstone a little bit right
like you are you are, andthat's normal and it's good to it's good
to do that, but you needthose reps. You need to do that

(35:16):
over and over because it's going totake years and years and years. So
you get comfortable. Maybe the oneday you start doing TV, it's like
these things open up for you.Well even for me, Like I've been
in the industry for god almost fifteenyears now and meeting you and you've just
turned me on to so many peopleand helped me out so much. And
I tell everybody I was like,I don't know where the Strength Club would

(35:36):
have been. It's been two years, you know, but it was all
year. Yeah, but help me. But you also have to understand that,
like Kenny made me look good,right, So like so I'm getting
phone calls of like, hey,I'd like to work with you, and
I'm like, I'm not in thecity anymore. But I have another solution.
And it's like, then I have, you know, three four people
in the city that I love sendingpeople to, and Kenny's top of that

(35:58):
list. And granted, sometimes yourclub's on thirtieth Street, twenty eighth streets,
all right, and they might beall the way downtown. It's not
convenience, so you got to havean arsenal of people. But I think
when I get a phone call orI talked to Lem Shreiber and he's like,
oh, that guy's great, youknow, I'm like, of course
he's great. I'm not going tosend you to some tipshit. But it
makes me feel good, yeah good. And I've learned from that too,

(36:21):
because when I was a younger trainer, I'm like, oh, I got
to try to keep all my clientsand stuff, and there's a lot of
times where I'm like, you livedowntown now, it's probably easier for you
to go work with this person,or oh I moved to Jersey or Long
Island, all right, go workwith this person, because because I want
to put my friends on I wantthem to you know kind of you know
what. It's that level of humility. Also, it's probably one of the
reasons why I love this guy wouldbe you know again, a Ben Bruno

(36:44):
or a Luca or a Kelsey.And a lot of times we have,
you know, Lucas had people inSeattle that have been part of my Challenge
community and I'm like, you needto work out of a gym and you
need to go to Lucas Jim orBen's called me up with even some of
his celect clients or vice versa.And we're passing people off. And there's
this media trust now because our clientsknow that we're not going to stick them

(37:05):
with someone that is same with you, Derek, right, I mean how
many times we pass people each other. But that's not built overnight, and
it's a turnoff sometimes when you geta coach content, well, can you
help with anyone? Let me know, I'm like, dude, it's not
that I don't want to spread thewealth in hand clients out to people,
but like you've got to trust someoneyou got it really is, because then
you look bad, right And Luga'sdone help me out of time. Oh

(37:27):
he's incredible. Yeah, And anytimeI do a course, I'm like,
listen, I'm in New York.Do you ever need to go to Seattle
or you want to go to theWest Coast and teach a course? I'm
like, this guy's already dialed in. He's got the community of people who
are looking to learn, you know, he has that network, Like,
he's already that guy. Lucas alsoone of the few people that have done
it on both ends right to beable to do it in order and do

(37:49):
it digitally and have that work ethicand have that actual flight that he's as
savage. I mean, there's nottoo many coaches out there that I met
that are going to put in thehour in the work and honestly get kicked
in the face like someone like youknow, Luca went through, he went
through his ups and down. Youknow that he's done it for and like
I remember just watching his social mediaand he's just putting up video after video

(38:12):
after video and it's not going anywhereand then boom. Yeah, but people
will be like, oh, thisguy's you know who. It's like,
no, this he's been grinding foryears. Yeah. No, they don't.
They don't see everyone sees, youknow, in the moment where you're
at. They don't see, youknow, they don't see when you open
Strength Club, or they don't seewhen you were at Solis. They don't
see, you know, ups anddowns, hoigs and mos. Derek,

(38:35):
you too, right, I meanwas it always Derek? Was it always
gravy for you? I mean,was it from Charlie film? I was
thinking, like one of the firstlike sports jobs I got was working with
the Canadian men's field hockey team.I didn't even know guys played field hockey,
right, And so downtown Vancouver,next to Chinatown, there's like syringes

(38:57):
everywhere that you got to get outof the way so the players don't get
pou There's like Chinese food odor comingin. There's homeless people trying to cut
the turf up so they can havesomewhere to sleep. And I'm just like,
oh God, what am I doing. I'm doing this like how many
times a week? And but Imean that's what you got to do,
right, So yeah, so yeah, we've all been there. What about

(39:19):
So what about now? Are youyou still continue your education all the time.
I mean you've been in the industrynow how many years, decade decades
decades since like the late well,late nineties, right, like yeah,
so you're probably around where I am. But like you still we both still
continue our education. We're always tryingto get better and we're always trying to
learn. Yeah. Yeah, andit might not be in you know,
exactly what we're doing. But onething for me is like I got to

(39:43):
get up on all the tech now, like what's the new technology, you
know, because it's a different language. And you got to force yourself,
right, So I'm doing that.I bought a Moxie monitor and I'm doing
like blood flow analysis and all thatfor all the stuff that I do.
So but yeah, you got toforce yourself. You got to put yourself
in situations. So even just speakingto a broad fitness, general population audience,

(40:07):
I have to I can't do thesame talk that I do with the
NFL combine. I got to dosomething a little different that fits their needs.
Right, So it makes you thinkit makes you draw on other resources
as well. So yeah, it'sa very and even the thing you said
about referring people is such a difficultthing, Like you have to have that
trust and confidence. And if Irefer you know, the actor that I

(40:31):
brought to drive, I refer toyou you know exactly, you know how
he operates and stuff like that,and he doesn't like people talking to him
too much. And you have torefer him to a person with that experience
and awareness, right because if youdon't. That's where the great coaches are

(40:51):
though, right Like everyone out thereclaims to be smarter than the next person,
the great coaches are the ones thatI feel I can adapt instantaneously.
They'll see the client walk in andthey'll go, oh shit, yeah it's
gonna and you know what I'm talkingabout. I got to handle that person.
You and you and you know whatI'm talking about. It's happened to
you this week when you see aclient walking and you see the expression on
their face and you're like, allright, this is gonna be this is

(41:14):
gonna be interesting, right like,and I have to talk this person off
the ledge. And I think thoseare the coaches that get the coaches that
get excited, the coaches that Ithink start really believing. Look, we
become friends with our clients. ButI think when you go in with that
focus that this is my friend,I think you're missing You're missing the target
here. I think you got tounderstand that you are replaceable. Yep.

(41:36):
As a coach, we all andif at one point, if I overstep
or if I don't deliver, ifI'm not giving them what they need,
I should be replaced, you knoweven. I mean, listen, I've
been doing this a long time andsometimes I have to check myself and be
like, all right, I'm gettingtoo comfortable with this person I need.
Yeah, well, it's giving them, you know, what they what they're
paying for. First. Like Iget pissed at myself if I'm like not

(42:00):
delivering the way I should. That'sbut that's that's that's the signs of a
good coach, right. I mean, I think it's it's normal to turn
aright, and it's tough sometimes becauseyou'll have clients that coming Derek, you
know what I'm talking about, Likeit might be really lazy and they don't
want to be there and they're youknow, it's like Okay, well we're
going to go do this now.I don't want to. You're like,
we really having this conversation right now, and then you've got to come up

(42:22):
with compromises. It's happened to everygreat coach out there, hasn't it.
Yeah, and with with the topthe best athlete that you could think of,
who you think switched on and whatlove's working out, And you're like,
okay, so now where do wego from here? You have to
you're working. Your brain's turning overtrying to figure out a way to connect

(42:42):
and make it work out. Right, So we've all been there. It's
like you two know better than Ido. It's like everybody thinks celebrities are
so driven and that they're like inthe gym, Like you always see these
videos a like different celebrities like ohhe's hitting the gym part. They're the
most of the time, the oneswe want to do the least. Yeah,
sometimes, I mean yeah, Andit's true. I mean, if

(43:02):
if you think about it, I'mnot saying we're not saying all of them,
but like we we have. Youknow, I've encountered a couple of
them where they're coming in it's nottheir job. Their job was never to
train in the past, their jobwas to act. Now they have a
role where they have to start training. And I feel like, you know,
the good actors, they're the onesthat understand that, no, I've
got to treat this like a job. And they're so when I'm talking about

(43:23):
a Ryan Reynolds or someone like thatand they have a role to get ready
for and they're like, boom,it's time to get ready. They're they're
the exception. But I've I've workedwith plenty of people that come in they're
like, all right, what isthis And I'm like, oh, this
is called a dumb bell, thisis this is a bar bell. And
they're literally having that conversation with thembecause they've never even stepped out in the
gym. And it does happen,and you have to think about it,

(43:44):
right, our whole world revolves aroundtraining and this stuff. This is like
a sub level of what they do. They're like, no, my craft
is acting, my craft is singing, Like that's what I'm more focused on.
This is just like part of somethingthat supports that, you know,
So they're not as focused on that, So you have to like give it
to them. I always try tomake it as interesting as possible and help

(44:07):
them fall in love with it ratherthan just like kind of do it for
the sake of doing it. Well, that's one thing. He's done a
tremendous job of that community aspect there. But the great thing is, you
two guys are interesting people. LikeIt's not like you're talking about fitness all
the time and that's the only thing, you know, Like, we could
talk about history, we could talkabout culture, we could talk about any
like really you and then if youare working with an actor, maybe you

(44:31):
should know something about movies or differentactors or different types of acting. And
that's I think when I started workingwith that guy on like two thousand and
six, I mean, he openedup a whole sort of dialogue in terms
of like, oh, okay,you know which actors do you like?
Why do you like them? AndI'm just like, oh shit, I

(44:52):
don't know. I hadn't really thoughtabout that. So now I have to
develop that side of my brain sothat I can be interesting to him or
you know, I just find itinteresting that you have to. You can't
just be so focused on the training. It's not you know, that's the
easy part. Yeah, and Ithink that now that health and wellness has
expanded so much, you have toexpand, Like you're doing cold plunging and

(45:15):
sauna sure every day. Yeah,I haven't had a client in the last
six months, not ask me,but should I saw it in cold plunge,
and like you have to know thenuances and understand why you're doing it
and then do it yourself so youcan explain to them about it, right
right. Sometimes people get a littlecarried away with this stuff also, and
they think that's going to replace themnow. Yeah, they're like, I

(45:36):
could do this instead of training,Yeah, or I just you know,
it's it's you know, for me, I could do that all and under
thirty minutes. Yeah, it's quick. You know, I could turn around
take the twenty minutes on or fifteenminutes on. I take a three to
five minute plunging that that's twenty minutesright there. So that's like relaxing.
I love it. Yeah, Ilove it. I'm so jealous of this
little setup you got out here.It's it's it's it's getting there. Once

(45:59):
we do the permanent finish on everything, we'll have like a permanent little platform
out there. And but what didthat come to the city the other day?
Yeah, So I came to theplunge event. Then I went at
night. They had me at thenight Oh cool. Yeah, and then
somebody's they were like, oh yeahwe had Don so you know here.
I said what I was like,he was here? Yeah, it's crazy.
So I went. So Heather Morris, who is part of the PR

(46:22):
company, she's one of the partnersthere. She she's the one who I
met through Zach Ziegler, who's theeditor in chief a muscle fitness and he's
a really good friend. He'd bea good did you did you speak to
Zach about strong? Okay? SoI'm on the phone with Zach every day
and I'll be at Olympia this show, right, yeah, but we try
to make it to Olympic. Ijust took my flight tonight. I'll be
there for I'll be there for twodays. Again, like this is great

(46:44):
networking. People were like, well, why would I go down? I
am the well hold on, likeyeah, he starts, you know,
hey don Zach, Oh my god. And the next thing, you know,
everyone's kind of doing something together.I thought he's gonna back in the
car. No, but you knowthat is it really is a lost art.
I think this networking piece and Iused to hate saying it because I

(47:05):
used to think of networking back inthe eighties is like you know, going
out to for drinks and you know, meeting and smoothing with clients. And
now it's like, no, inthe training world, you've got to be
successful. It's really like being init is really you know, I think
it's a really important thing. Yeah, I think it's I think in any
industry it's like so good to networkand people. I think, just like

(47:28):
you said, it's a lost art, like people don't communicate as much as
they used to, right, youknow. And plus trainers, Derek,
I think they get really in thehabit of going off doing their sessions or
I think the virtual world's even worsebecause most people in my situation would sit
in their facility and just work inthe computer all day. And you know,
then what happens, like you're notlike, I'm like, you know

(47:50):
what, you can tell your buddy, I still trained clients, like you
know, yeah, yeah, getJohn Avococo is in here the end of
the day, and I do thatfor free. Fortunately I'm able to do
some suff you know, on mytime. But you know, even like
I'll see Ryan and Blake tomorrow andI'll see you know, Kriszinski on Thursday,
and there's people I like to stayconnected with because it's still it's important.
I think it's I think people whoare online now are purely online,

(48:14):
I think they still have to Youstill got to keep your hand on the
pulse. You still got to go. Like I'm excited he was strong because
I'm excited to listen. Yeah,I'm excited to listen. Think about that.
It's like like I just I getgoosebumps just thinking about, like even
last year, just having you andGabrielle are there, I'm on stage with
Donner. Yeah, that was awesome. There's all these trainers and family members

(48:37):
and friends he stuff in the audience. I'm like, this is so cool.
There were there were probably when youguys spoke, there was probably two
hundred people in there. It wasit was it was special. It was
it was special to see. Butit was also pretty impressive how you pulled
it off because I knew, Iunderstand how hard it is to put together
something and to do it in NewYork City. Tom Plummer, I don't
know if you know Tom Plummer ishe was runs a public speaking school and

(49:00):
worked for perform Better for years.He was a consultant that helped me out
years ago when we were in atough time, and he said, listen,
running running the gym business is onething. Running the gym business in
New York City is something completely different. And he would come into the city
and be like rules on Apply.He used to say that, like everything
that he was teaching. I meanhe said, this is like rules on
Applate. It's New York City.It's a different animal. It's a different

(49:22):
animal. And there's so much competition. Real estate is so expensive landlords.
It's not not to knock anyone else, but if you're off in you know,
in an area in the country somewhereelse, and you're down some side
street and you have some you know, some warehouse that's crossing you five bucks
a foot, it's you know,rent of my space. The last year

(49:43):
was it was seven hundred and fiftythousand just for rent. I mean me
over had just two million bucks justthat year. That people like something.
I remember when I first walked inthere, when I can't mention it,
and I was like, holy yeah, fortune, fortune. It was,
but it was such an space,is a beautiful space, and like if
that was in let's say Miami,Like I mean not to take anything away

(50:06):
from Mork, but his spaces arebeautiful down in Miami. I go,
but it's probably half the price ofwhat you were paying in Miami's getting expensive
though it's not expensive now, butlike back then, like when you first
opened up, Yeah, it waslike chandeliers and ship and there. I'm
like, those are done impressive jobstoo. I love I love listening to
his stories on how he was tellingthat story about how he was in the

(50:30):
parking lot with one of his investors, like begging them and I was like,
I'm listening to he's begging his investorto like keep the lights on.
And I remember listening to them talkand I was stick. I had like
acid reflux coming down my throat becauseI was like, oh my god,
I because I did the same thing. I had the same conversation. I

(50:51):
remember the tone, I remember thefeeling. I remember thinking that, you
know, how am I going togo on if I didn't have this spot?
And I remember what a sick feelingit was. But I had to
go through that. You had togo through it, and like even early
on, like when you went intoit, I remember looking at you being
my deep, go get it man, like it's not going to be easy,
but make it happen. To seeto what you've created. No storefront

(51:14):
either, No one knows you sixare eight four fitfour and you don't like
you're outside, you don't know thathis spot's in there. And it's an
incredible facility with an incredible culture.You've got a great team working for you.
You could see all the coaches thatyou're bringing in. They're all top
notch, and you could tell theseare not people who are like, oh

(51:37):
I want to They're in this becausethey want to be in fitness, and
I think that's important. Off,Yeah, I always say I don't.
I try not to hire anybody whomoonlights as a trainer rather trainer is not
like I'm an actor but a trainedside. Yeah, that's always That's always
been a good rule. Do youfind it hard to find good people,

(51:57):
especially in the city where like everyonethinks they're the best, right, and
it's in reality, right, howmany good trainers actually are there? Right?
And when I meet trainers who arelike, I don't like to work
at night, I don't want towork too early in the morning. I
want my weekends off, and you'relike, what the fuck are you talking?
Doesn't work. The good news isthat I think it's going to become

(52:21):
less competitive because all you have todo as a coach is coming in say
yes, yeah, yeah, Likethat was my line, like oh ten
pm, yes, yeah, Rickat three forty five in the morning,
yes, like I would just Iwouldn't say no because I believe every person
I got in front of was anopportunity. I say that to everybody,
and I was like, anybody whogets that or says that, like,

(52:44):
well, they're going to be successfulbecause the more people when the people are
like why are you doing this forfree? Or why are you doing that
for free? Because the more eyeballson in front of the yea, the
more I have an opportunity to grow. And if you're trying to build your
business, and let's say you gogive ten three sessions the way and you
get three sign ups, well yeahthat's seven people. You can look at,
well seven people. I just wastedseven hours. I'm like, no,

(53:05):
you just picked up three that mightbe multiplied in the three sessions a
week and think about it, right, Like, think about like the one
or two people who really like turnedyour career with or turned your life.
I had my space built from aclient that I worked with, Right,
what you got? And I'm sureyou've had investors, Oh my god,
people? What are two people wholike really like just changed the way I
operator helped me with. I hada guy who basically did all the tiling

(53:29):
in my gym, a guy likeworked with a couple of times and he's
like, Oh, don't worry,I sende all the title and it's like,
save me tens of thousands of dollars. God, that's incredible. Yeah,
so I'll never forget. A coachcame to me years ago when I
had drive Open, so it's probablylike twenty nineteen, and he's like,

(53:49):
I charged six hundred dollars and ahalf. He was like one of those
and I'm like, wow, that'sa lot of money. And I'm like,
how many sessions are you doing aweek at that? And it was
like four and I was like whatdo you do? And the other the
other you know, thirty six hoursor whatever it is in training worlds who
knows what you're working? And he'slike, you know, not much.
And I'm like, why did youcut your session down by like a third

(54:14):
that are like two hundred bucks anhour? Because why would I work more
and make less because of opportunity?Like you don't like how about referrals?
How about the fact that these foursessions that you're doing the week someone sprains
her ankle and you're down to twosessions. It's like, what are you
doing? Like I don't really understand, And it's just it is this mindset
nowadays. And I tell my kidsthis, I'm like, listen, there's

(54:34):
two things I want you to thinkabout. They're now sixteen and soon to
be fifteen. I said, you'reboth good people. Continue to be good
people. Always be good people,and treat people the way you want to
be treated. Work your ass off, I say, if you can do
that, like, you're going tobe ninety percent of the way there.
And you know, I heard thisTikTok so many sent its me like and
it was these younger kids just allgreen hundred. They're like, no longer

(54:58):
is it your parent talking about peopleour age? No longer is are your
parents' idea of like work harder becauseyou're never going to get hit and I'm
like, that's the exact opposite,because anybody who's successful has to bust there.
They're saying, like that idea oflike grind, grind, grind,
work your asshole, don't do it. They're saying, don't do that and

(55:19):
try to find this like angle,Yeah, that's easy, and think about
what that works. What's that goingto juditive people who actually work hard now?
So so now, like back inlike my my family, like my
they were immigrants. My great grandparentscame from Italy. It's like my grandparents
their first language was Greek and Italian. It's their whole. My grandfather was
going to a fruit stand working forhis father at three thirty in the morning

(55:44):
before school, falling asleep in school. The teacher were involved because he knew
he was working. Then how togo after and work in the evening and
then do homework. And it waslike back then, I felt like everyone
who's that American dream was like workyour ass out, work your ass out.
Now I'm hearing this and I'm sad, but I'm also like, wait
a second, does that mean there'smore opportunity for my kids if they come

(56:05):
in with a good mindset, oris there more opportunity now for you because
you're like, yeah, f bat, I'm going to open an hour early
because this person wants to train fivedays a week. Well, it's it's
so simple. It's like I haven'theard one success story where somebody's like it
wasn't really that hard. It justdid this. Like have you ever heard
that story? Like, oh,it's easy. I just don't. But
like they see these like the oneperson or the two people that put up

(56:30):
an only fans or something. Itmade a bunch of money, but it's
like those people are miserable, theyhate themselves, they stop doing it right.
You know. It's the people whoare like, hey, I busted
my ass to get here and nowI can enjoy it. And even still
like there's I don't know too manypeople that I've worked with who are young
because of you, I've got verywealthy clients, and I have a couple
of wealthy clients who are like,I'm still brianded. I'm still Even the

(56:53):
people who are super successful, itdoesn't stop there. You know, you
got to keep working. That's whatwe tear it off. Yeah, yeah,
is there is there in the StrongNew York Expo? Is there an
aspect of business where you can tellthese stories and you know somebody had reached
out to me about that would befun. By the way, you have
a little panel of like questions orlike talk about it right now. I

(57:15):
think having to have fireside chat withyou and yeah, just work ethic and
you know business. Gunner's so realabout that. Gunners also, like Gunner's
about as successful as they come whenit comes down to how what a diverse
group of people he's worked with.And I also think, like, excuse
my language, but like the setof balls he had to have just be

(57:37):
like, oh, I'm going toleave La and everything I've known for the
last thirty years and just move mywhole business to Tennessee. And what is
he sixty? Yeah? Yeah,and his facility is sick and he's developing.
He's developing a new business now.Like he has that level of confidence
where he's like, all right,I'm going to do this. So he's
the perfect example of someone who's like, all right, I can start over

(57:58):
at any point, and I'm goingto be fun And think about how many
people at thirty or thirty five,forty years old would be like, oh
my god, I got to startover again. Here he is like,
they're panicked. Yeah, how manytimes? I mean even when you've had
a when you left facilities that youworked at and you went to a new
facility, you had to start anew book or I had anytime I had
a new trainer that came in,I end up passing off three quarters of

(58:19):
my book to them because I waslike, I want them busy, and
then I'm rebuilding. And it's like, you got to trust your ability that
you're good even even during COVID.It's like, I opened string Club what
two years ago now two years Octoberfirst, and I had to was that
twenty twenty one? Yeah? Wow, yeah, and that's a gutsy time
to do it. Yeah. Istarted twenty in March of twenty twenty one,
and people are like, are youimmediate a year after Tins were forced

(58:44):
to close. Yeah, gyms aredead and you're opening up the business in
the middle of COVID. Nobody's comingback. And were you able to get
a favorable lease on that? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, it's about to
say yeaheah. And it's still it'sstill high and I got a pretty good
deal on it. But so manypeople were like that's the worst idea.
I'm like, you know, I'mjust going to double down on New York,
you know, and see what happens. But it took me two years

(59:05):
to get it to this point whereI'm like, Okay, things are cruising.
But it wasn't because I took Ispent my weekends in the fucking Hamptons.
It wasn't because I, you know, was traveling all the time.
No, but if you were init, if you were and they you
were with a client, or youwere doing some type of event, or
he was doing some vodka pop upwith them, and I go to two
coaches at the gym, right likeI had Chrissy there, you know,

(59:29):
she's gie. Yeah, I hadbusting their ass at the gym while I
was out in the Hamptons. Andit was like I would leave to go
to Hampton's at five am, trainthree people in the morning, you know,
do an event in the afternoon,and then come back and then drive
back to the city so I couldtrain clients on something. But that's what
it takes. And people will understandthat's what it takes. It A lot
of them would say, well,three hour ride too, or two hour

(59:51):
ride whatever, it is to trainthree hours? Is it really worth it?
And yeah, it's opportunity And he'sgetting himself in the mix. And
where is he going to be betteroff sitting home, relaxing on the couch
watching TV or getting himself in frontof people. You never know when that
person's going to walk in to yourfacility. You never know when out of
nowhere a client's going to show upwith the guests that out of nowhere is

(01:00:14):
just gonna I cannot begin to telleveryone how many times a client has introduced
me to someone that has literally changedmy life, you know, at in
that moment and you never expected.But like the line should be like opportunity.
Can you give yourself more opportunities?Think this year? It's funny because

(01:00:35):
you never know who's paying attention onyou. No, So recently, I
just got an opportunity that you know, somebody wanted to buy everything that I
had and offered me at a positionat their you know, business and stuff.
And I was like, holy shit. I was like, how do
you find out about them? Theywere like, I've been watching you for
a while. I'm like, it'sfucking crazy. Yeah, they were like,

(01:00:55):
it seems like you never stop,I'm like shit, So you just
do what you do really well continuouslyall the time, and like people will
take notes, be so good theycan't ignore it. Right, and treat
treat people good, treat eat them, treat them well, treat them well.
Everyone Like Derek, you two likeDerek, how many hours have you
put into coaching people where you allyou had in return was just to see

(01:01:19):
them do well? Or your wholeagenda was just to help. My whole
development as a track coach was coachingfor free because track people can't afford to
pay, right, So I learnedessentially volunteering. My primary professional development is
volunteering. Well, I had strengthcoach job and I go coach track and
and now I was talking to somebodywho he says, oh, I make

(01:01:43):
all of my money online, anduh, you know, I'm doing really
well. I said, why don'tyou go volunteer at the high school,
the local high school and just coachright, because you don't know when you're
gonna not have that and you wantto have this skill developed or you want
and just having that humor, humaninteractions. So I'm a huge fan of
getting people to volunteer, Like whynot you know, It's a good question

(01:02:06):
to ask a lot of coaches,like early on in their career, if
you had a client, I wouldask coaches this, If you had a
client that didn't show and you weregetting paid for that session, are you
gonna go on the floor and tryand you know, maybe give away an
average time to someone that you couldpotentially land in the future, or you
getting coffee? And it's like,it's it's it's a really good question to

(01:02:29):
ask because a lot of time they'relike, well, I'm getting paid.
I'm getting paid to have coffee,and I would be like, I'm getting
paid for the hours, So whydon't I help this person out? Because
maybe I can double down like youjust said, and maybe you know,
I trust in my ability that ifI'm in front of them in an hour,
they're gonna look at me as anecessity not a luxury. It's so
true. And it's like that mentality, you know, that's why I fucking

(01:02:52):
worship with saying I'm still proud ofevents. It's still impressive because I tell
people all the time, you're goingto meet people at an event like this,
in any event you know, I'vebeen to Tony Robbins I've been to
and you listen to hear what peoplesay and you're like, oh my god,
you're drawn to it because it's almostthe way you feel right just somebody

(01:03:13):
said it out loud to you,and now you're like, I love this
person because they're saying the things thatyou agree with. You know, no
one ever says anything you don't agreewith you, and you're like, oh,
I love that guy right now.It's always somebody you kind of gravitate
towards those people where you're like,oh, I believe this, and now
this guy's just reinforcing what I believe. And it becomes inspiring guys, right,
it really does. Like as longas you've been in the industry,

(01:03:36):
you can't tell me you haven't satthere after being in this twenty plus years,
Derek and have been inspired by hearingsomeone talk or hearing their story or
saying to yourself, you know what, I went through the same thing,
and you know what, it actuallymakes me feel good to hear that they're
okay, because then I got tokeep pushing, you know, And that's
what I think. It's what it'sall about. So what are the dates
of the event? Can you readit? So November eighteenth is Strong New

(01:03:59):
York. Right. We'll start theday with a free workout outside. I
wanted to do something where it's likeif people couldn't afford the ticket and come
in, we're offering workouts and fitnessto anybody and everybody who wants to come.
A couple of our partners will begiven away, like free drinks and
flood and stuff outside. So ifyou can't make it to the event or
you don't want to pay for aticket, we still have free stuff for

(01:04:23):
you. And then when you getinto the event, it's just all on.
Every hour, on the hour,we'll have different workouts, talks going
on. There's a full expo,so many different things. I have everything
from a tattoo artist to hair braidingto a guy doing haircuts, to food
and drinks and everything in between.Well, well, last year was fun,

(01:04:44):
even from the vendor standpoint of beingable to top around in a way
kind of window shop a bit andsee what products are out there and see
the meal delivery services that come in. As a coach, it's an opportunity
for me to see, all right, what's new, and you reading label
and you're talking to people and you'reyou know, it's always I always admire
a lot of these vendors who comein and they donate their time for a

(01:05:05):
full day because you know they're grindand you know they're working hard, and
you know, sometimes good things cancome of that. And I tell people,
I've been a vendor now this summerat like four maybe five different events.
So Bet Francis does his Body Goingshow in Jersey, so I was
a vendor there, as a vendorat my buddy's Jim. Just this past

(01:05:26):
weekend, another friend of mine didthis huge CrossFit event, So I was
a vendor there. And I alwayslook at it from a vendor standpoint,
from a spectator standpoint, and fromrunning the event, you know. So
I try to deliver. I'm like, all right, what would I want
if I was one of these people, and I try to deliver the best
possible product. I'm like, howcould I get you in front of as
many people as possible? Because that'swhat I want, Right, whether I'm

(01:05:48):
selling shirts or I'm trying to getpeople to the event, I'm like,
all right, how could they putme on? How what would that look
like? And how could I buildsomebody's business? Because I want people to
be like, oh, I wentStruggling you class year and sold ten thousand
copies of my book, or Iwent to Strong New Work and I got
five new clients. I've went likeI want that. Why would I not

(01:06:08):
want people to have the best possiblepercent? And that's even today, like
I'm sorry you got stuck in thatmuch traffic, But that's guys, that's
really a testament to Kenny and thetype of person he is, because the
fact that he was willing to rideand jump in a car two two and
a half hours to be out herewhere honestly, most people thirty minutes in
would be like this is too much. He came out here for one hour

(01:06:29):
to just what are we trying todo here? We're trying to educate people,
We're trying to help them, andyou know, hopefully I'm hoping anyone
who hears this. And Derek,we got to get this up before the
event right away. I'm getting onit right away, guys. Hey,
but it's like, come meet usdown there, Come have a conversation with
me. If I'm on the floorand I'm there hanging out, come over.
Pick my brain about fitness, pickmy brain about business, talk to

(01:06:49):
me about what you're going through.If if you are a coach, is
there any way that we can helpout or we can give you some insts.
You're going to find that the peoplein Derek, I know you're the
same way Kenny. I know.As busy as Kenny is, you can
go grab him on the floor.He could be running over to handle something.
You said, Nny, I gottatalk to you. I gotta ask
you something. He's going to putthe brakes on, He's gonna talk to
you. These are the environments thatyou want to be in. So the

(01:07:11):
dates again, you said November Eighteenbereight teams, so the night before and
I'm going to try to put togetherwhat we're going to have a dinner for
all the presenters and the you know, the different brands that will be there.
So I'm figuring that out right now. And we're going to have it.
So our partner where he partnered withthe City Harvest, so they're going
to be our charity partners. Weregoing to get a celebrity chef to cook
a whole meals. Oh my god, howdible is that? It's going to

(01:07:31):
be sick? Yeah, and waitfor that. We're just getting putting the
pieces together with the venue. Sothat'll be fun. So you could buy
an ultra VIP ticket to that dinner. It's going to be all the but
you guys all get it. Yeah, but what a what a good idea
too. I mean if I wasif I was in the crowd, I'd
want to show up and I'd wantto just pick just to have the ability
to ask questions. Yeah, justyeah, I think. But I tell

(01:07:56):
people, even if you're not inthe health and on this industry, just
no you and like knowing how passionateboth of you guys are about what you
do and how well you've done it. Anybody can learn from me. And
if you work in real estate,if you work in sales, whatever you're
doing, like to know the twoof you guys and the level of people
that you should work with, appreciateit. You'd be an idiot not to

(01:08:17):
want to pick your brain. Well, listen, let us know any other
way that we can help out,and make sure make sure you pick up
some strong New York gear because likeyou and he hook me up. It
doesn't matter where I go, peopleare like, where'd you get that?
Oh? Oh right, I've beenI'll be in Arizona. I'll be in
Toronto, and they're like, wheredo I get that? Right? So,

(01:08:39):
yeah, one of my things thatI love more than the event is
like art, Like I love puttingyou know, artwork on T shirts and
stuff. It's just a billboard forthe event, and I've probably given a
way more than I've sold just becauseI love it. I enjoy doing it.
So all right, So November eighteenth, you can purchase VIP tickets if
they want to join us for enterthat Friday night, which hopefully anyone listening

(01:09:01):
to this please do that and comehang out with us, have dinner,
and I mean it's gonna be agreat it's a three days. Well yeah,
I mean you guys will be infor the weekend. I'm sure.
I was actually talking to a coupleof trainers about that Sunday after it,
Like I have the gym open.I know you're doing Derek's doing an event
that Sunday. We're done at SohoStrength five, right, Yeah, yeah,
we'll just do a deep dive intosome sprint stuff and all that.

(01:09:24):
If people want to go to that, you know, you know, that'd
be great too. But yeah,but I want I want if you guys
can come by too, that'd begreat. Oh, definitely, I'm definitely
coming by. But I've been tellinga bunch of people I'm like, hey,
listen, if you were coming infor the weekend, if you're from
Chicago, La, wherever you're comingin from, make the weekend of it,
come to dinner, go to yourevent, you know, and get

(01:09:46):
as much out of that as youpossibly can. If you're spending a couple
hundred bucks, you know. Andon our website and stuff, we have
the hotels that you be at adiscount of rate. Opp if you're at
Strong New York, awesome. Butit's a great opportunity to just deep dive
into the world, especially if you'rein the industry. It's it's so we're
gonna put a link up obviously withthe with the podcast on that or your

(01:10:06):
social handles, uh Santuccine at StrongNew York. Yeah, and obviously if
you don't want to know how tospell that because where balls, just go
to my Instagram type of Kenny Santucci. It'll it'll pop up. But listen,
man, every time I'm together withyou, it's always it's always awesome
to come act and anything you needout of Derek and I you let us
know, Arise, have already donetoo much. Get it, No,

(01:10:30):
not at all, Just keep doingyou. I one of the things when
I went to Derek's the first time. The second time Derek came around,
it was like a year later.I told Christy. I was like,
you have to go see this guy. Then he then he took us out
to dinner a couple of times,and it's like, whoa, look at
this place. I mean, hejust knows where to go too, right,
So I love it all right,guys, listen, Derek, thank
you. Great day. Pati

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Episode 156 - Kenny Santucci: Strong New York Fitness & Wellness Expo 2023

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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;}Episode 156 - Kenny Santucci: Strong New York Fitness & Wellness Expo 2023