Fitness, Nutrition, Mindset, everything is easier if you have a framework to go from.

That's why I developed the Relentless Success Pyramid to help the Relentless members frame their journeys and I'd like to share it with you. As you can see, there are four parts to the pyramid. In this podcast, I went over three of the first steps we take with almost all of our new clients to introduce them to the pyramid, get them making great progress, and build the foundation of their fitness journey.

Those four pieces are:

The Relentless Mindset We start with building the right mindset, because if the mind isn't in it, this whole fitness and life project you're on is starting from a weak foundation.

-I talk about the secret "bank account" you have with yourself, and if it's low, you'll struggle.

-We get into the mindset shift that has to happen to take you from "I'm X" to "how can I be Y"?

-I bring up the one question that I love to ask people when they're stuck on really nailing down their goals.

Supportive Nutrition Next I get into the basics of how we handle nutrition from a habit perspective, not micromanaging every gram of carbohydrate. That stuff has its place, but it's not the starting point for most.

-When it comes to nutrition, lots of people jump on a complicated diet... trying to run before they crawl. The result is the same as the metaphorical baby - They fall. Instead, here's where we start to help our family members avoid that stumble.

-Then we get into the BIG THREE that we address with pretty much everyone when it comes to nutrition. Controlling these three variables will have a greater effect on your physique and health than almost everything else combined.

-Next we get into the one missing link that many people seem to skip over that causes a lot of stumbling and back-sliding and how we avoid that.

Smart Training NOW, on a "fitness podcast" we get to training!

-Ok, so what's the foundation of training and where do most people screw it up? I get into it.

-Once you've built the foundation, what's the next layer? This is an often misunderstood one and I get into it here.

-Finally, I talk about the dial we turn to move the first two points up a notch.

Kaisen

-Aaaaand the last piece of the pyramid is the Kaisen principle: Making a small improvement every day and stacking those wins until you've created a masterpiece.

Interested in those points? Give it a listen!

One of my mentors regularly uses the phrase "Move the Chains" in our conversations and it's become a mantra that I've absorbed.

In the game of football, the idea is to keep moving the ball down the field to eventually score a touchdown. In a perfect world, you'd do it in one shot.

Just like in life, that rarely happens.

Instead, a football "drive", as it's called can often take eight, ten, or fifteen plays before there's a score. But you know what? It's still the same number of points on the board whether it's one play or fifteen.

Most people get the concept of driving down the field. Focusing on the small wins. Moving the marker chains with each play until eventually you score.

I think there's something else there, though. You see, every time you "move the chains" and get a new set of downs, that's four more chances to score or at least make a big play. That's four more chances for a big shot to open up for you. So moving the chains isn't just about keeping forward momentum, although that's a big deal.

Moving the chains is also about giving yourself more, and better, chances to make a big play. Instead of forcing an attempt at a big play, which often doesn't work, you're allowing the laws of progress to give you opportunities for the big play to open for you... so you can strike when your chances are better.

Whether you're playing football or talking about life, it's still the same: Move those chains.

A goal without a plan isn't really a goal, it's a wish. Most people spend too much time in the "wish" area and ultimately are unsatisfied because they never really nail down what they're trying to accomplish.

In this episode I'm going to fix that! This episode is the podcast version of the seminar I did for Relentless Members at the gym about Goal Setting, minus the pauses for writing time that we took throughout that workshop.

I'm going to share with you:

The old SMART Principle of Goal Setting, how it applies and where it doesn't.

The Three Big Exercises I have clients go over to work on their goals:

-The number one tool to take your current negative talk and turn it around.

-Your cue to be able to build better goal-setting sentences.

-Your number one exercise to clear the clutter from your brain and get your goals clear.

After that, I go into:

What do you do when you see a goal, but the way looks rocky?

How to anchor goals to achieve the greatest effect?

How to break up goals to turn them into daily wins that build up to a big one?

Ready to nail down your goals so you can start accomplishing them? Give it a listen!

"Keep the goal the goal"

-Dan John

Dan is one of my favorite fitness authors and he's well known for delivering simple but powerful messages. I am in agreement with him in that a lot of people get so caught up in their journey that they stray from the overall goal if they don't keep it in mind. However, I think a lot of that problem starts even before that: I think that they don't know how to measure their success because they never truly clarify what a Win is for them.

Not what the media says.

Not what the marketers say.

Not what Tammy down the street says.

Not what I say.

Not what your parents, spouse, (and almost certainly not) your kids say.

For you.

What is a Win and Success for you?

Stress. It's a word we here from all of the media around us. Clamoring. Shouting. Warning. Quite frankly, half the time we're stressed about stress. . The thing is, as humans we're really good at handling stressors. That's why we still exist, from a biology perspective. We have very good systems for handling stress, learning from it, and overcoming it. Stress makes us who we are. There are, though, limits to the stress that we can absorb and build from. We can basically be in some percentage of protection from stress and growth. It's kind of a percentage thing. . Just a little stress gives us stimulus and opens us up to lots of growth. Too much stress and we clamp down, afraid or unable to grow. From an evolutionary perspective, this heavy stress was brief, focused, and infrequent, so it gave lots of opportunity between bouts to grow. Now, though, we have lots of low-level, chronic stress: Mortgages, pollution, advertisements, screens, reports at work, etc. So we're always running around 30-40% (I am making that up, but you get the point) stressed. So when we do get a big stressor, we overload and don't grow. Instead we get fat, weak, and sick. Want to make the most progress? Reduce your low-level, chronic stress. Clear the clutter. Hydrate. Meditate. Get outside. Listen to or play music. Do cardio. Sleep more. My most successful clients are always the ones who manage their life stress the best.

This past weekend I was at a business conference. In a lot of ways, business and fitness run parallel. Both require hard work, consistent discipline, and while there's a lot of flashy stuff out there, there's also a lot of pretty proven paths to success.

Of course, when you get a bunch of fitness or business people in a room, in this case, fitness business people, you here a lot of talk about "what's working". There's always new ideas being thrown around. It's easy to get caught up in the hype and want to shake everything up or jump onto a new, shiny program.

Is that really what you need, though? Maybe yes, maybe not.

Should you change your path?

WHEN should you change your path?

What's the biggest secret to success that nobody seems to talk about?

I picked up some really great lessons and reminders about those questions this past weekend, and they were definitely not the ones that I expected.

One of the biggest keys to success in a fitness/health transformation, especially over the long term, isn't just the will to succeed. It's not just the vision. It's not even just the knowledge.

I've been fortunate to have been part of a lot of fitness transformations, and time and time again the successful have SUPPORT. As a matter of fact, a big box gym I used to work at used to say that 80% of people who didn't have a personal trainer, workout buddy, or supportive spouse would fail to reach their workout goals. Now, I don't know if that number is accurate, but it's not outside the realm of reason.

So, how do you get support? What if your spouse is always "sabotaging" you? What if your friends are always trying to pull you out to Margarita Night, even though they know you're on a diet? Getting the help you need can be way harder than most people feel it should be.

So with that in mind, in this podcast I go over the Five Step Process to help your support team stop sabotaging you and start lifting you up. You'll learn:

-The fundamental mindset difference that can totally change your conversation about support.

-How that conversation can go wrong and how to help smooth it out.

-The way you look at things might not be the same as the other person, and how to work with it.

-The way to build a support team without going out and trying to drag them along, kicking and screaming!

LUCK

How often do you hear someone say "So and So is lucky!" or "That was a lucky break for you!"? Now, there's definitely some examples of luck or good coincidence, but when it comes from people being "lucky" in fitness, business, and many other facets of life, I've found that there's usually something a lot more to it than a simple alignment of stars and planets, or whatever.

I was listening to a Real Estate Podcast (BiggerPockets) and one of the guests had an acronym for LUCK that I had never heard before. It really hit home and I think it sums it up. Here's my hot take on it.

"Good times, bad times You know I had my share..."

-Led Zeppelin, "Good Times, Bad Times"

It's funny. When I get the chance to talk to people who've had some success in their life and I ask them about the best (or at least most valuable experience) in their life they almost always point to something that you could consider the "worst" time of their life.

Maybe they hit rock bottom.

Maybe their world fell apart.

Which is terrible.

But it's also where they learned how to grow, build, and overcome. It turned into a valuable part of shaping them into who they are today.

It's no different for me. In today's podcast I go over some aspects of a period of time where I stood in my own way, allowed others to keep me down, and just plain didn't hold up my end of bargains... and four of the (many) lessons that I learned from that time that have shaped my life since:

-How my Fixed Mindset had resulted in a "ducking" behavior that eventually came to bite me.

-The error that I, and many people make, when it comes to their planning and execution.

-The discomfort that my boss put me through that changed my trajectory.

-The hard truth about success and that it's usually not the same as what the books say.

-My tip for getting out of that rut and moving in the direction you're searching for.

Give it a listen!

Let's be honest. The vast majority of people don't hit their goals, whether it's in fitness, business, or life in general. They end up settling for less.

Now, is it because they're not smart enough to get to their goals and dreams? Usually not.

Is it because their goals and dreams aren't rooted in reality? Sometimes, but generally not, as most people actually dream pretty small once you boil away the extra.

No, most people fail because the way to their dreams is HARD. And when it's hard, they give up.

Why do they give up?

Is it because they've hit a threshold of suffering that they just can't manage?

Again, maybe, but often times that isn't the case at all. They give up because the struggle and suffering that comes with chasing big dreams outmatches their EXPECTATION of what it would be.

So, what's the answer? Listen and find out!