Struggle To Strength Podcast

EPISODE 78: "You're training your brain to just jump and go in and do the hard thing, and you're going to see yourself push past whatever you thought you were capable of."

No matter the conditions, rain, wind, or extreme cold, Paul Koepnick has been starting his morning in the waters off Lake Michigan. He's formed this habit over the course of more than 700 consecutive days.

Paul joins the boys on the podcast this week to talk about motivation, developing a powerful sense of accomplishment, and overcoming anxiety & depression.

Koepnick has launched a 30-day "Cold Water Challenge." He's inviting others to try this out. And you don't have to get into the lake — it can be as simple as taking a cold shower. His intention is that the challenge creates conversation around mental health. Koepnick said the cold water was the catalyst that pulled him out of depression and anxiety and pushed him toward success in his personal life and career.

Episode links:

Where to find us:

Show Hosts: @joshlevinefitness & @travishawkesmedia  - CONTACT FOR COACHING & MEDIA! 

Podcast Producer: @james_lohan - CONTACT FOR PODCAST PRODUCTION!

Help us grow the show - Sub, Rate, and Review on Apple Podcasts!

Watch The Video Pod On Youtube! - Struggle To Strength Youtube Channel

Follow the Podcast on social for even more content! - Struggle To Strength Instagram

EPISODE 77: Justin “The Big Pygmy” Wren is a former UFC and current Bellator MMA fighter, podcast host of Overcome with Justin Wren, and founder of the charity Fight for the Forgotten.

Stopping by the podcast this week, Justin sits down with the boys to discuss turning pain into purpose, why he has dedicated his life to serving clean water to the Pygmy people in the Congo, and his approach to creating lasting change amidst immense hatred.

Fight for the Forgotten exists to empower the most bullied people in the world. They serve displaced indigenous peoples groups in west Africa to help ensure their health and human rights, and work to address the mental and emotional health needs of at-risk youth in the US through bullying prevention and character development programs.

Episode links:

Where to find us:

Show Hosts: @joshlevinefitness & @travishawkesmedia  - CONTACT FOR COACHING & MEDIA!

Podcast Producer: @james_lohan - CONTACT FOR PODCAST PRODUCTION!

Help us grow the show - Sub, Rate, and Review on Apple Podcasts!

Watch The Video Pod On Youtube! - Struggle To Strength Youtube Channel

Follow the Podcast on social for even more content! - Struggle To Strength Instagram

EPISODE 76: We all have needs, not just for basic survival, but profound needs that must be fulfilled for a life of quality.

MasterMetabolic founder Tommy Snider joins the boys on the podcast this week to share 6 pillars for success, self-care tips, and the basic needs every human should be fulfilling.

After rocketing to the top as a national trainer for 24 Hour Fitness, Tommy realized he wasn't creating the lasting, holistic change he knew was possible for his clients  He ventured out on his own with a focus on mindset and learning to enjoy our relationship with food & exercise.

Tommy has helped transform his clients, including CEOs, stay-at-home moms, entrepreneurs, doctors, and pro-athletes. His goal is to cure metabolic and nutrition-related diseases while putting the power back in his client's hands.

With 18+ years of experience in the fitness industry, Tommy is ranked as a top-grossing fitness coach in the nation for 24 Hour Fitness and serves as ABC Utah News Official Health Expert.

Episode links:

Where to find us:

Show Hosts: @joshlevinefitness & @travishawkesmedia  - CONTACT FOR COACHING & MEDIA!

Podcast Producer: @james_lohan - CONTACT FOR PODCAST PRODUCTION!

Help us grow the show - Sub, Rate, and Review on Apple Podcasts!

Watch The Video Pod On Youtube! - Struggle To Strength Youtube Channel

Follow the Podcast on social for even more content! - Struggle To Strength Instagram

EPISODE 75: As entrepreneurs, most of us definitely feel like we work too much—and let’s face it, working your ass off is ingrained in American culture to a toxic level.

So how do you achieve a healthy work-life balance?  For entrepreneurs, is there even such a thing as a work-life balance?

Entrepreneur, speaker, and executive life coach Jan Broders is joining the boys on the podcast this week to discuss 5 tips on managing work-life balance & stress management, ways to avoid burnout, and how you can redefine success to find your calling.

Jan is a burnout survivor forced to recreate his life at only 27. He explains how his job had overtaken his life with so many work hours and how it finally had an extreme effect on his health. Through Jan's recovery, he learned how to deal with stress and become consciously mindful.

Through his coaching business, Jan assists high-performing individuals and corporations with positive ways to deal with work burnout and helps to create practices for people to become mindful, happy, and successful in their work and life combined.

Episode links:

Where to find us:

Show Hosts: @joshlevinefitness & @travishawkesmedia  - CONTACT FOR COACHING & MEDIA!

Podcast Producer: @james_lohan - CONTACT FOR PODCAST PRODUCTION!

Help us grow the show - Sub, Rate, and Review on Apple Podcasts!

Watch The Video Pod On Youtube! - Struggle To Strength Youtube Channel

Follow the Podcast on social for even more content! - Struggle To Strength Instagram

EPISODE 74: How do we get through all the hard times, transform setbacks into superpowers, and create an impactful story and message to share with the world?

Joining the boys on the podcast this week is Matt Ode, an incredible guy that has taken a difficult situation, stage 3C testicular cancer, and turned his battle into a positive experience for educating and empowering men.

At the age of 24, Matt Ode was diagnosed with Stage 3C Testicular Cancer, by the age of 25, he was in a 2-week non-induced coma, where he faced multiple near-death experiences having to relearn to live his entire life again.

Through years of perseverance and hard work, Matt is now a Keynote Inspirational Speaker & Cancer Advocate/ Mentor sharing his message and story to help individuals transform their setbacks into their superpowers while teaching them how to create an impactful story and message to share with the world.

Episode links:

Where to find us:

Show Hosts: @joshlevinefitness & @travishawkesmedia  - CONTACT FOR COACHING & MEDIA!​

Podcast Producer: @james_lohan - CONTACT FOR PODCAST PRODUCTION!

Help us grow the show - Sub, Rate, and Review on Apple Podcasts!

Watch The Video Pod On Youtube! - Struggle To Strength Youtube Channel

Follow the Podcast on social for even more content! - Struggle To Strength Instagram

EPISODE 73: 4x Ninja Warrior, ex-biochemist, and founder of Pull-Up Revolution & Strong Feels Good, Angela Gargano joins the boys on the podcast this week to talk about her approach to training explosiveness, overcoming injury on national TV, and the power of mindset.

Both a fierce athlete and coach, Angela utilizes her knowledge of the human body to help others reach their fitness, health, and wellness goals.

Before becoming a full-time multi-passionate entrepreneur, Angela worked as a biochemist at Brown University. Since throwing in the lab coat and goggles in 2013 to open her own gym in Cranston, Rhode Island, Angela has truly lived multiple lives in the athletic and entrepreneurial space, defying odds and setbacks to become an authentic and relatable voice to the public eye.

Angela has now competed on American Ninja Warrior four times, won the title of Miss Fitness America 2016, and created an online fitness empire for women called Strong Feels Good, where she teaches women to ditch the scale and focus on strength and feeling as a way to measure progress. She has also helped over 500 women conquer their pull-ups with her online program, Pull-up Revolution.

In summer 2021, Angela appeared all over the world as the Oxygen Magazine Covergirl, where she spoke about tearing her ACL on the Ninja Warrior course and coming back 11 months later stronger than ever.

Angela is a huge advocate for speaking about body image, as she was made fun of growing up for her “manly” arms and build. She would hide in a sweatshirt daily at school to avoid being made fun of, and was rejected by many fitness modeling agencies. But this didn't stop Angela from now having 3 magazine covers and becoming an international fitness model in some of the world's biggest publications: Women’s Health, Shape, Strong Fitness Magazine, and Popsugar Fitness.

Episode links:

Where to find us:

Show Hosts: @joshlevinefitness & @travishawkesmedia  - CONTACT FOR COACHING & MEDIA!

Podcast Producer: @james_lohan - CONTACT FOR PODCAST PRODUCTION!

Help us grow the show - Sub, Rate, and Review on Apple Podcasts!

Watch The Video Pod On Youtube! - Struggle To Strength Youtube Channel

Follow the Podcast on social for even more content! - Struggle To Strength Instagram

EPISODE 72: In any application, identifying areas for improvement is a critical component of success.

The more variables we can improve upon, the better we become.  Especially when it comes to health, fitness, and the competitive environment.

Joining the boys on the podcast this week is Jacob Tober of Metric VBT.

Jacob is the Head of Research and Education at Metric VBT, a revolutionary Velocity Based Training (VBT) app. Metric enables lifters and coaches to accurately track Velocity, ROM, Power, and Fatigue with just their smartphone camera. No additional hardware is required.

Among being a leader, practitioner, and educator in the Velocity Based Training space, Jacob is also an ASCA certified coach, and an ESSA accredited Sports scientist. Working with a world-leading sports science school, Deakin University, Jacob consults on research studies focused on velocity-based training and power development.

Episode links:

Where to find us:

Show Hosts: @joshlevinefitness & @travishawkesmedia  - CONTACT FOR COACHING & MEDIA!

Podcast Producer: @james_lohan - CONTACT FOR PODCAST PRODUCTION!

Help us grow the show - Sub, Rate, and Review on Apple Podcasts!

Watch The Video Pod On Youtube! - Struggle To Strength Youtube Channel

Follow the Podcast on social for even more content! - Struggle To Strength Instagram

EPISODE 71: Do you ever feel like shit? Do you ever feel like a steaming pile of hot garbage?

We have a real problem in the world today where people just don’t feel good, physically, mentally, financially, spiritually, in our relationships—all across the board many of us just don’t feel as good as we’d like.

Speaker, coach, and creator of The Practice of Feeling Good in Business and Life Fletcher Ellingson joins the boys on the podcast this week to share his experience himself through a rejection experiment to figure out why he felt stuck and how to break free from financial overwhelm.

In addition to over 25 years of speaking, coaching, and performing for audiences across the United States, Fletcher helps people evolve their thinking in order to solve their biggest challenges around time, money, and people allowing them to powerfully fulfill their mission.

Episode links:

Where to find us:

Show Hosts: @joshlevinefitness & @travishawkesmedia  - CONTACT FOR COACHING & MEDIA!

Podcast Producer: @james_lohan - CONTACT FOR PODCAST PRODUCTION!

Help us grow the show - Sub, Rate, and Review on Apple Podcasts!

Watch The Video Pod On Youtube! - Struggle To Strength Youtube Channel

Follow the Podcast on social for even more content! - Struggle To Strength Instagram

EPISODE 70: As entrepreneurs and small business owners we all want to succeed, but what exactly does that look like?

Business coach, national speaker, and dynamic entrepreneur Micah Logan joins the boys on the podcast this week to share his journey of franchising his gym, tips for scaling your own business, and the reasons that most businesses fail.

The founder/CEO of MELD Fitness & Wellness and the CEO of HushFrame, Micah started his 20-year fitness career sitting in the crowd at seminars. With years of passion, dedication, failures, and eventually mentorship, he was able to build an award-winning, profitable health and fitness enterprise that he then modeled into a franchise.

MELD Fitness + Wellness is a community-based fitness concept that focuses on delivering high-value, high-ticket personal training to members in small groups. In 2021 Micah started franchising his fitness concept with his eyes on national expansion.

HushFrame is the manufacturer of HushFrame rafts, simple soundproofing decoupling devices which leverage Vi-Bridge™ technology to deliver high-performance results for builders.

Micah is also the host of The Common Cents Show, an internationally downloaded, small business podcast focused on helping entrepreneurs and small business owners refine their marketing plans, growth strategies, mindset, and business systems to grow past $200k in annual revenue.

Episode links:

Where to find us:

Show Hosts: @joshlevinefitness & @travishawkesmedia  - CONTACT FOR COACHING & MEDIA!

Podcast Producer: @james_lohan - CONTACT FOR PODCAST PRODUCTION!

Help us grow the show - Sub, Rate, and Review on Apple Podcasts!

Watch The Video Pod On Youtube! - Struggle To Strength Youtube Channel

Follow the Podcast on social for even more content! - Struggle To Strength Instagram

EPISODE 69: Originating about 3,000 years, Traditional Chinese Medicine sees the body as an integrated whole and it focuses on helping people live in balance with themselves and with nature.

Certified strength and conditioning specialist, educator, and author Andy Tsz Chiu Chan joins the podcast this week, sitting down with the boys to discuss eastern medicine vs western medicine, the link between diet and health, and the benefits of traditional Chinese medicine.

With a master’s degree in exercise science, Andy has a genuine passion for making a positive impact in the fitness industry through learning and sharing different unique methodologies. Integrated into his training philosophy, you’ll find hints of traditional Chinese medicine where harmony between all aspects of life is a prerequisite to optimal health and human performance. Read more on this concept in Andy’s co-authored book Dynamic Balance.

He currently teaches education courses on behalf of companies such as the National Academy of Sports Medicine, TRX, TriggerPoint Performance, and Power Plate. As a presenter, Andy has made guest appearances on Hong Kong television shows and presented at different public fitness events.

Episode links:

Where to find us:

Show Hosts: @joshlevinefitness & @travishawkesmedia  - CONTACT FOR COACHING & MEDIA!

Podcast Producer: @james_lohan - CONTACT FOR PODCAST PRODUCTION!

Help us grow the show - Sub, Rate, and Review on Apple Podcasts!

Watch The Video Pod On Youtube! - Struggle To Strength Youtube Channel

Follow the Podcast on social for even more content! - Struggle To Strength Instagram