Escape Your Limits & LIFTS

Bret Contreras, "The Glute Guy", has found a niche and developed business after business in a market where it's hard to be heard. His workouts, training, books, studies and experience have led him to become a gym-owning serial entrepreneur that's kicking ass on Instagram.

Whether it's finding your one rep max or performing reps to failure, this episode of the Escape Your Limits podcast is a lesson in how to dominate a niche in a crowded market.

Watch the full episode on YouTube

Bret Contreras' journey on becoming The Glute Guy began as he wanted to develop his own muscles, motivated by insecurity as a youth. He successfully built his body through strength training, but still needed to get his ass in shape.

He studied for a PhD in Sports Science from New Zealand to learn the differences between squats and hip thrusts, so that he can find out what works best. As his passion for posteriors grew, he started putting the time in through personal training, community building, blogging and engaging with countless industry professionals and fitness enthusiasts to be the man to go to for all things glutes.

Decades later, he's pioneering the benefits of butt-based and lower body workouts through inventions, insight and inspiration on social media. Bret Contreras has been mentioned in 50 published studies, authored multiple books, founded The Glute Lab gym, and continues to be a stand-out voice as the world's foremost expert on glute training.

Bret Contreras is responsible for the staple exercise of social media influencers around the world – the hip thrust. He's developed a portfolio of products and has intellectual property behind most of the glute builders on the market.

With a social media following of nearly one million, a PhD in Sports Science and as a certified strength and conditioning specialist, The Glute Guy has never stopped pushing to be the best he can be.

Founder, author and inventor, Bret knows his niche and has dominated the crowded market to create multiple income streams for a lifetime of success.

Episode highlights -

• Why nobody talked about glutes in bodybuilding circles of yesteryear, and how the tides changed when Bret learned the science.
• How Instagram raised the profile of glute workouts and why they're important for anyone, regardless of gender.
• Why women have the voice and men no longer have the same platform on social media when it comes to which exercises work which muscles.
• Ways that Instagram has rewarded people who interact and engage with their audiences, and why it's important to be accessible instead of putting up barriers of celebrity and charging big money for the smallest of insights.
• How the perception of personal trainers can be very different compared to their ability and knowledge. Muscle doesn't beat science when it comes to helping others.
• The vulnerabilities of different business models, as well as why traditional business approaches are very different to the social media
• How education and consistency is important in anything you do. Always be teaching, always get content out and try to get out of your comfort zone.
• The difference between your Instagram feed and your Instagram story. It's important to know what to post where.

Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Bret Contreras…

Six-figure income, some of the most successful guests in the world, education and teaching others lessons he's learned on his own journey… An incredibly successful entrepreneur in his own right, John Lee Dumas can often be found talking to other big names in business such as Tim Ferris, Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk as part of his Entrepreneurs On Fire podcast.

This episode is a lesson in inspiration, helping you to find your big idea and get better at it so you can scale through quality and communication. JLD can help you create the life you've always dreamed of.

Watch the full episode on YouTube

John Lee Dumas left the US army to start a career in real estate. However, it didn't take long before his passion for podcasts took over. This led the author, podcaster and host of Entrepreneurs On Fire to create an award-winning show with an audience of millions that generates six-figure sums with every episode.

Passion, enthusiasm and transparency are the name of the game with John Lee Dumas' podcast – Entrepreneurs On Fire.

Interviewing thousands of guests such as Tim Ferris, Lewis Howes, Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk, JLD unlocks the secrets of their success and shares it with a huge audience. On top of this, he also helps budding entrepreneurs find their big idea and unlock the lifestyle freedom that everyone seeks.

Episode highlights :

• Learn what someone earning six-figures a month would do differently in order to bring even more success after learning from previous mistakes.
• Why you need to niche down to find your passion before you create content and discover your audience.
• How much time should you spend on marketing and promotion, compared with other business duties?
• Hear how John Lee Dumas creates a month's worth of content in six hours to maximise time for other areas of the business.

Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with John Lee Dumas…

John Romeo has industry experience through 40 years in fitness. In this episode of the Escape Your Limits podcast, he talks about the importance of people, customers and employees alike, as well as giving insight on the birth of 24 Hour Fitness and the growth of the Crunch Fitness gym franchise.

Watch the full episode on YouTube

John Romeo got out of a rat race lifestyle as a Union worker in New York, even though he was having fun. He took up the offer of moving to California with just a week's notice, before heading to Seattle and continuing his journey in the fitness industry.

Starting out involved with Captain America's Family Fitness Center, the beginnings of what would evolve into the 24 Hour Fitness empire that we know today, John has seen every level of the industry as it's developed and his experience has increased.

Now operating partner for Crunch Fitness and co-owner of Capital Fitness, John Romeo has excelled growth for multiple fitness spaces. He's also worked closely with UFC GYM, driving franchises in San Diego, and he's been active in the rapid expansion of numerous dynamic brands.

With 40 years in the industry under his belt, there isn't much this man doesn't know about fitness and scaling a business. This episode of the Escape Your Limits podcast is a lesson in how to get more from any venture.

With four decades of experience in the fitness industry, John's insight is second to none. If you've liked the sharing of his knowledge in this episode of the Escape Your Limits podcast and would like to contact John for consultancy opportunities, email [email protected]

Consultancy aside, John's main focus is on Crunch Fitness. Some may call "no judgments" a tagline, but for Crunch, it's a way of life. It's the brand's Monday-thru-every-day mantra. An unfiltered philosophy that drives them to create a community and a gym for all.

No judgments means room for everyone, regardless of shape, size, age, race, gender or fitness level. No matter your workout of choice, Crunch wants you to feel good while reaching your goals. Join the fun at crunch.com.

Episode highlights -

• Hear about the evolution of 24 Hour Fitness and how the industry giant started out, born from mergers and acquisitions.
• What working with Mark Mastrov was like in the early days, and how his vision inspired the team and associated groups to take advantage of opportunities.
• Why it's important to recruit from within a company, and how training, coaching and supervision inspires a brand, culture and a work ethic that's unsurpassed in an employee achieving their potential.
• How you can prepare employees for future promotion by encouraging them to develop their own teams and pick potential candidates that could replace them.
• The importance of healthy competition, both in and out of your business, and why you should be talking to other companies in the same market as you.
• Why you need to spend time with your team and appreciate everything that everyone does. It's easy to forget some departments or positions, but showing appreciation to your employees is just as important as interacting with customers.

Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with John Romeo…

Jerzy Gregorek has overcome incredible odds to escape from political troubles and alcoholism before coming to America and dedicating his talent in pursuit of changing lives.

Through Olympic weightlifting success and implementing these fitness techniques in his own programme, he's improving the mindset of clients and increasing both their physical ability and their happiness.

Today, this approach has earned him the attention of the most successful people in the world from his home in Silicon Valley. He's also appeared on podcasts and in books by entrepreneur Tim Ferriss, and he's still going strong over 60 years old.

Watch the full episode on YouTube

In 1986, Jerzy Gregorek left Poland, together with his wife, as political refugees. Since then, they have both won numerous World Weightlifting Championships, founded the UCLA weightlifting team and coached and transformed hundreds of people. Developing The Happy Body programme in response to their clients wanting to remain youthful, Jerzy is in great shape at 64 years old.

This episode of the Escape Your Limits podcast is a history of weightlifting and bodybuilding, personal growth, rolled into improving your mindset regardless of what you're faced with.

The Happy Body programme was created by Jerzy and Aniela Gregorek. They explain its purpose below…

"The most potentially damaging myth about exercise is that its main purpose is to burn calories. This eliminates any joy associated with the activity, making it obsessive and stressful. In addition to discouraging people from actually exercising, this myth also stifles improvement.

"The Happy Body returns joy to the practice of exercise, helping to infuse your body with a sense of dignity. You cannot fall in love with burning calories but you CAN fall in love with exercise, the RIGHT KIND of exercise, properly executed.

"Exercise should relieve the stress that is accumulated on a daily basis, rather than add to it. The approach is one of mindfulness, so the mind is focused at any given moment on what the body is doing."

Episode highlights -

• The importance of having a space to get away from your day-to-day stresses.
• How your mindset is key to weight loss or life changes. You have to enjoy living the life of someone that weighs 120lbs if you want to weigh 120lbs. If you lose weight but still have the mindset of someone that weighs 160lbs, you'll be unhappy and revert back.
• Why you need to find ways of bringing joy to exercise and stop it being all about calorie burn, whether that's for yourself, clients or members.
• How business can build from simple working relationships and favours through microprogressions and developments.
• Why you shouldn't ever hire a trainer that's younger than you, as they won't understand what you're going through.
• How recovery is made up of transitions built up over years, and why it's never a straightforward story whether it's weight loss, personal growth, alcoholism or anything else.
• How to master self control and your own reward system, and why your need for instant gratification can affect so many other aspects of your life.
• Why delayed gratification is the gift of life, and how that's different from purely concentrating on future success.

Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Jerzy Gregorek…

Humble despite his achievements, the guest on this episode of the Escape Your Limits podcast has a passion for performance not only in business, but in sport, community spirit and improving health across the nation.

Malcolm McPhail has taken turnover from £3.5 million to a staggering £12 million as group CEO at Life Leisure. Living fitness, he's also competed at an international level in athletics and the award-winning business is changing people's lives for the better time after time.

Malcolm McPhail was a PE teacher before immersing himself in the fitness industry on another level. In his own words he's embraced opportunities where, despite not being au fait with how to do a job in the early days, said yes and excelled when faced with any responsibility.

His paralleled athletics career saw him become Scottish 400m hurdles champion, and professionally in both the public and private sector he's driven business, playing a key role in the growth of Next Generation Clubs, now merged with David Lloyd Leisure.

Winning honors for his physical and professional success, Life Leisure has most recently received the ukactive Uprising Transformational Leadership Award, commending efforts in staff development across the business.

Life Leisure runs an extensive mix of sports and leisure facilities, ranging from small community recreation centres to large multi-use state of the art sport and leisure facilities. In addition Life Leisure delivers sporting activities and health programmes of the highest quality to those people who for one reason or another cannot access a local facility.

Working to change the lives of the local community through a leisure trust, CEO Malcolm McPhail is increasing activity across the region, making it accessible for anyone to improve their health and fitness.

Episode Highlights -

• Understanding leisure trusts and their relationship with local authorities, and how they're a more financially efficient way of delivering health and fitness in many communities.
• Why the former days of giving the customers everything whether they wanted it or not can teach us a lot about business approaches today.
• The difference between motivation and determination, and why one can lead you to disappointment while the other always keeps you on the road to success.
• Mindset and grit, and how being mentally able to beat the competition no matter what the cost can give you strength in anything from business to athletic performance.
• How we can work together to get children moving and overcome the obesity epidemic, even through simply using research that has been available since the '80s.

Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Malcolm McPhail…

Paul Lubicz is a Hollywood trainer that has a passion and purpose to unlock positive personal growth.

For the motivation to find faith and trust in yourself, this episode of the Escape Your Limits podcast will enable you to flip your mindset to embrace and overcome fear, weakness, and vulnerabilities and learn how to move forward in a powerful and positive way.

Paul's client list has included CEOs and celebrities such as Emilia Clarke, Natalie Portman, Rupert Murdoch, as he improves not just anyone's fitness, but their wellbeing and mindset, too.

Watch the full episode on YouTube – https://youtu.be/xpRztw0vd5U

Paul Lubicz grew up in Perth, western Australia. However, around high school he was still uncertain what he wanted to do in life.

Adopted by parents that loved and cared for him, he met his biological family, aged 19. Their success influenced him to go into the medical world. Paul started as a manufacturing chemist but was a gym junkie at heart, played Aussie rules football and trained martial arts. It didn't take long before he was studying personal training to embrace his true calling – he graduated top of his class.

Paul still worked as a chemist but almost blew himself up in an accident at work, which lead to his a-ha moment to quit and work full time as a personal trainer. After learning his craft, Paul went on a working holiday to London for six months, which turned into 10 years!

He got a leg up through training celebrities at Working Title Films before becoming their in-house trainer. He also started writing articles for the Sunday Times, writing books, and making games with Sony PlayStation and Nike – becoming better known in fitness but also getting frustrated, as these jobs weren't teaching people about the things that restrict them in wellbeing.

Paul decided to pivot his career into following his passion for promoting how anyone can achieve anything they put their mind to.

Today, Paul Lubicz is a Hollywood trainer who has worked on movies such as Marvel's Captain America and The Pirates of the Caribbean series as a consultant for health and wellbeing.

For over two decades, his articles, books and insights have been bringing balance to the lives of CEOs and celebrities such as Emilia Clarke, Natalie Portman, Rupert Murdoch, international royalty, and entertainment giants Sony PlayStation.

He knows how to get extraordinary results for extraordinary people. All about mindset, spirituality, attitude, Paul wants to find connection with as many people as possible through authenticity and passion, to enable them to go on their own journey and achieve anything.

For more information, follow @thewellbeingmanager on Instagram, email [email protected] for private sessions of visit his new website coming soon at www.thewellbeingmanager.com

Episode highlights -

• How to rise to your potential by embracing the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.
• Why your perception, of someone or even yourself, can be very different to the person inside. Ways in which you can be strong enough to also be weak and vulnerable.
• Why happiness over confidence will bring you more success. How you can split your life into having, doing, and being.
• Passion and purpose will always lead to better performance. Stop concentrating on what other people are doing and do what you enjoy doing the most.
• The importance of learning your craft and listening to everyone around you when it comes to gaining new skills and contributing your own knowledge.
• Why it's a positive action saying yes to everything when you're hungry to learn and grow your experience as an entrepreneur.
• Why branding can drive consumerism through guilt, or it can inspire and embrace the possibility of people achieving their biggest potential.
• How a pilgrimage, in any form, will prepare you to change your mindset and find your own revelations by being open to change.

Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Paul Lubicz…

Over 900 episodes and one million downloads per month are impressive figures by anyone's standards. If that wasn't enough, with over 20 million views on YouTube, Mind Pump is a broadcast that's changing the fitness industry and bridging the gap between education and entertainment.

Meet Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer, Justin Andrews, Doug Egge of Mind Pump Media.

Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer, Justin Andrews and Doug Egge have decades of combined fitness experience as personal trainers, club managers, IFBB competitors and fitness thought leaders.

They started as PTs in 24 Hour Fitness under Mark Mastrov, instilling successful business ideals and the mindset needed to make it as an entrepreneur. Their podcast is a seamless blend of education and entertainment, with combined experience of the trio of hosts.

Mind Pump started in the days where podcasts weren't known by the masses. Today, the market has become more competitive and they're standing out above the rest with a first class studio and an authenticity that's rarely matched in fitness.

With over 900 episodes and one million downloads per month, the Mind Pump team is leading the way with one of the fitness industry's most provocative podcasts.

Mind Pump is an online radio show/podcast that has been described as Howard Stern meets fitness. It is sometimes raw, sometimes shocking and is always entertaining and informative.

The hosts, Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer and Justin Andrews have over 40 years of combined fitness experience as personal trainers, club managers, IFBB competitors and fitness thought leaders.

Episode highlights -

• How education combined with entertainment will continue to stand out above many other marketing efforts and business models, so long as it's backed by authenticity.
• The importance of communication – why there are so many people who can communicate well but have terrible information, or those that know great insights but can't share the knowledge effectively.
• Investment and how collaboration will do much better than the results of anyone going it alone in most cases.
• How your business venture needs a very definitive "why" in order to be successful.
• Which fitness industry business strategies are 'right' or 'wrong' and what marketing is best for whether it's aimed at members, personal training clients, or fitpros.
• When is the right time to sell once you've built up trust and support for any venture before it becomes a true business.
• Why flash-in-the-pan marketing isn't working for the fitness industry and why gyms are essentially just trading members instead of bringing new people in.

Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with the Mind Pump podcast team…

Harley Pasternak has an expansive education in wellbeing and nutrition, with a hunger to know more than anyone else about the science of fitness, movement and more.

His dedication and understanding has seen him work with more celebrities in Hollywood than anyone else, with a client list including Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Halle Berry, Katy Perry, Megan Fox, Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and more.

Watch the full episode on YouTube

Harley grew up in Canada as an avid hockey player; that's where his life in fitness began.

He started reading muscle magazines and looking up to bodybuilders as having the ideal physique, especially in Hollywood with Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Van Damme all regularly featuring in starring roles.

It didn't take him long before he began bodybuilding himself and studying the science behind it through degrees in kinesiology, exercise physiology, nutrition, a Master's in exercise physiology and started working on a PhD.

Following his education, Harley got recruited by the military and worked under one of the most respected in his field, Dr Ira Jacobs, on how different drugs can benefit special forces teams and their work.

It was then he got a call to work for free on a film shoot training Halle Berry, Robert Downey Jr and Penélope Cruz. Harley left his booming business in Toronto for the opportunity he couldn't afford to miss.

Harley Pasternak is a fitness and nutrition specialist, boasting the largest roster of celebrity clients in the industry. He's worked with the likes of Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Halle Berry, Katy Perry, Megan Fox, Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and more!

A best-selling author, Harley has also starred on Revenge Body with Khloé Kardashian and is a regular contributor on Good Morning America.

Episode highlights -

• The five factors of fitness that will change your life for the better – you may already be doing some of them.
• What's the point in having so much knowledge if you can't share it in a way that people understand?
• Why you can't be good at everything, so it's important to know what you're not good at. If you don't enjoy something then it's not for you.
• How you can find motivation for what you do from those that you're working for. Inspiration can come from any direction.
• Opportunities that will benefit you long term may not make sense to start with, but building on that potential will bring bigger benefits down the line.
• How you can be thankful for your failures, as they're the best way to learn in the long term.
• Why catering to the masses will bring you more money, but you've got to get good at the one thing you want to specialise in.
• How people will pay four times as much for something packaged to suit their needs and perceptions.

Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Harley Pasternak…

Dave Hancock is a high performance coach with an impressive track record. Through an exhaustive knowledge of the human body and movement, he's worked with some of the most successful athletes, celebrities and businesspeople, such as U2, Daniel Craig, David Beckham, Odell Beckham Jr, England national football team, the New York Knicks, Washington Nationals, Chelsea FC, and more.

This episode is a lesson in high performance living.

Watch the full episode on YouTube – YouTube

Hard work has been instilled in Dave Hancock from his parents. Through paper rounds, washing cars and working behind bars, effort brought Dave respect for the money that he'd earned.

Dave has always into fitness and sport. He was injured playing rugby to a high standard. From this, he saw a physio at a club and began taking an interest in helping others.

For work experience after school, Dave attended an RAF rehabilitation centre and saw how they rehabilitated soldiers coming back from serious injuries – he was hooked. He studied hard for his qualifications, earned his stripes working in hospitals and perused a career working in sport.

After building on his skills, he went for a successful four-day interview with Wolverhampton Wanderers football / soccer club, and started his professional career. Further success followed as he ventured Leeds United, and Chelsea, where his success story really took off before he travelled to America to be the performance director for New York Knicks basketball team.

In everything he's done, the focus has been on health, fitness, nutrition, performance and development, even when designing the training facilities themselves.

As a high performance coach, Dave Hancock specialises in rehabilitation, manual therapy, sports analysis of both training sessions and matches, injury prevention and more.

Whether managing director of a physio/rehab centre chain or consultant for the top sports teams, Dave knows when to advise and when to recommend someone in another area of expertise.

Most recently, Dave has taken up the role of CEO of Apollo, a complete sports data management system that's fully adaptable by the user. Schedules, rehab, workouts, game video, drawings and more can be sent directly to athletes via an interactive platform for both Apple and Android. Apollo is changing the way that people look at data and how it can support a team's performance.

Episode highlights -

• Why you need to think laterally and learn from sources that may not be traditionally accepted in your industry or profession.
• Why you have to change the landscape of where you are to stay at the top of what you do.
• What the work ethic is like for top-level celebrities that want to stay the biggest names in their respective fields. Tips on mindset and how to overcome any challenge when it comes to your competition.
• The difference between perceptions of being gifted compared to the hard work and the foundations that people put in to being as good as they can be.
• How talent and hard work from individuals contributes towards successful and effective teamwork, and what leaders can do to bring the best out of their people.
• Why mindset is so important and influential in everything you do when it comes to interaction, respect and results.
• The psychology of sport and how the same approach can be implemented in business.
• Why love, praise and support is so important to get the best out of people, especially when they fail.
• How Lady Gaga is the perfect model for diversifying talent, using it in different ways and maintaining success.
• Why you have to keep a lighthearted approach with everything you do, especially when dealing with the dynamics of a team in business. There has to be a release valve to the pressure of a hard working environment.
• What's the difference between a survivor and an innovator in business, and which one is more valuable to long-term progress?

Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Dave Hancock…

Positivity is paramount when it comes to defeating self-doubt and fear. Our guest knows how to bring out the best in anyone.

In this episode of the Escape Your Limits podcast, founder CEO of Mi365 and motivational speaker, Pete Cohen, delivers truth after truth to not only change the fitness industry, but change the world and create a revolution that will better the lives of us all.

Watch the full episode on YouTube

Pete Cohen started out in the fitness industry as a fitness instructor, aerobics instructor and personal trainer. He then became manager of the largest gym in Europe at the time. Pete loved fitness but became disillusioned with the industry because people sign up to gyms despite not enjoying exercise.

To find a way of understanding members, Pete ventured into studying psychology in order to better influence behavioural change, confidence, believe and will power, but found that the industry wasn't as open to evolution. Instead he concentrated on making change where he could.

Sadly, his wife got diagnosed with a very aggressive brain tumour. Although she was given 18 months to live, Pete used their collective persistence and connections to find a solution – a treatment in America that cost $200,000 and nutritional support that followed – that worked. Today he speaks of how we can all achieve greatness when faced with adversity.

Now, his goal is to help people take the lead with their lives, their relationships and their work, removing blame culture and create a revolution of wellness.

Pete Cohen is one of the world's leading keynote speakers. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world have been motivated and inspired by Pete's presentations. He's also authored books around the world, made countless television appearances and motivated sports teams such as Arsenal football club to reach peak performance.

Coaching business leaders, executives, corporate teams and sporting stars to achieve their best, Pete also excels at keynote presentations and inspires his audiences to think outside the box, believe in themselves and get motivated to take positive actions. He has worked with companies such as IBM, Boots, Pfizer, Robert Half International, BAA, Royal Bank of Scotland, Boehringer Ingelheim and Thomas Cook. Pete's interactive style is fun, thought provoking and leaves a lasting impression.

Episode highlights:

• Who is the fitness industry benefitting? Is it only interested in people that like to exercise, and how can it facilitate the needs of people who don't exercise?
• Why we need to treat people in fitness like the health industry treats people that need medicine.
• Ways in which the fitness experience is more about feeling that someone cares, rather than just about the lights, the music and the equipment.
• How humans share a similar DNA structure to mushrooms and why you'll be hearing a lot more about adaptogens in the near future.
• Why facing the worst news only brings out the best in you and helps you to realise how much you can achieve.
• Why vision boards don't work, and how you can be motivated to act instead of just looking.
• How you can plan based on a WOOP – wish, outcome, obstacles, plan.

Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Pete Cohen…