The Strength In Numbers Podcast

Chuck Wachendorfer, founder of Decision Reflex, internationally recognized speaker, and co-author of Don’t Wait for Someone Else to Fix It, joins the show to unpack the question many high achievers eventually asks: is this it? Chuck has spent over 20 years as an executive coach after walking away from a million dollar per year job at American Express at age 41, and his most recent TED Talk was one of the five most viewed in the world in 2025.

We dive into the question that reframed his career, the difference between a human doer and a human being, his new definition of success, why living in fifth gear leaves you nowhere to go when things fall apart, and the “do you want your boss’s job” test for knowing whether you’re in the right place.

Chuck also breaks down his leadership logic chain, why decision-making impacts performance twice as much as talent and skill combined, the Freeze Exercise for catching yourself before you react, mapping your possible future instead of your probable future, making reversible decisions quickly and irreversible decisions slowly, and the acid test that separates a goal from a dream.

We finish with a conversation on parenting an elite athlete. Chuck’s son Ryan is a pro halfpipe snowboarder on the US team, and the advice Chuck got after Ryan won a national title at 13 changed how he approached parenting.

🔗Check out more from Chuck 👇

Instagram: @chuckwachendorfer

Website: decisionreflex.com

Chuck’s Book — Don’t Wait for Someone Else to Fix It: https://a.co/d/0h7Ka8A3

Chuck’s TED Talk: https://youtu.be/TKVAGxoU2AM

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Chapters

00:00 Intro

05:31 “Is This It?” The Emptiness After Achievement

06:33 Walking Away From a Million Dollar Job

07:51 Human Doer vs. Human Being

09:59 A New Definition of Success

12:51 Can You Have It All?

14:55 Living Your Life in Fifth Gear

16:44 Why Our Patterns Hold Us Back

20:58 The Leadership Logic Chain

23:42 Talent, Skills, and Decision Making

28:28 The Freeze Exercise

32:54 Probable Future vs. Possible Future

36:20 Do You Want Your Boss’s Job?

39:55 Reversible and Irreversible Decisions

42:58 Key Activities and the Acid Test

48:35 Skills That Transfer to Any Career

53:21 Parenting an Elite Athlete

1:04:38 The Goal Achievement Triangle

Brian Levenson, founder of Strong Skills and author of Shift Your Mind, joins the show to talk about quitting, curiosity, and the balance between being and becoming. Brian spent the first part of his career working with athletes on their mindset and now works primarily with business executives, sports front office leaders, and head coaches. He also hosted the Intentional Performers Podcast for 399 episodes, a show that was a major influence on the creation of this one.

We dive into why quitting is required for evolution, how stopping one thing usually leads to starting another, and how Brian’s career has moved in eight-year cycles. We also explore the pull between being and becoming and why curiosity is the starting point for creativity and collaboration. Brian breaks down how he uses constraints and forcing functions in his own life, how he built relationships with people like David Epstein and Dan Pink by adding value first, and what actually made him a better listener after years of thinking he wasn’t one.

Brian also shares why the next book he writes would be called “World Class Dad,” how he thinks about goodness versus greatness with his own kids, and why he wants them to fall in love with exercise. He closes with an honest look at showing up and doing your work when you are not at your best.

🔗Check out more from Brian 👇

Website: strongskills.co

LinkedIn: Brian Levenson

Brian’s Book, Shift Your Mind: [click here]

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Chapters

00:00 Intro

06:11 Getting Lost and Finding Sports Psychology

09:06 The Power of Quitting

13:18 Eight Year Runs and Loving the Build

16:00 Being vs. Becoming

21:15 Putting the Chip on the Other Shoulder

23:00 Prepare Like Work, Perform Like Play

25:15 Curiosity, Creativity, and Collaboration

28:44 Innovate or Go Extinct

32:35 Constraints and the David Epstein Story

38:07 Building Skills Faster

41:03 Developing the Ability to Listen

45:28 Goodness vs. Greatness as a Parent

48:16 World Class Dad

55:47 Building a Network by Adding Value

01:03:41 Finding Purpose in Helping Others

01:05:34 Showing Up When You’re Not at Your Best

Cody Hughes has been a performance coach for over ten years across the college, high school, and private sector levels, while also operating as an entrepreneur on the side. He joins the show from Nashville, where he’s now consulting with Lipscomb Academy, partnering with Jeremy Holt at Athlete Performance, working with Vitruve, and teaching coaches how to build their own software with AI.

We dive into the project he moved his family across the country for and the moment it fell apart, the conversation with his dad that reframed everything, and why he believes staying comfortable is the bigger risk. 

Cody walks step by step through how he’s built his skill set over the last ten years, from his first training card in a Google Sheet to Strength Sheets, the product that supported his family. He explains why AI only works for him because of the decade of building that came before it, the tools he thinks every coach and gym owner should build right now, how to connect your CRM so parent progress reports send themselves, and how he built an AI executive assistant named Fox to run his week.

Cody is really honest about how he still struggles to constrain his creativity, the boundaries he and his wife have had to build around it, and what he’s still trying to figure out.

🔗Check out more from Cody 👇

Instagram: @clh_strength

Website: clhstrength.com

Build With AI: Fundamentals: click here

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Chapters

00:00 Intro

03:24 Cody’s Current Roles

06:41 Building a Tolerance for Uncertainty

09:41 Getting Fired and the Conversation With His Dad

11:51 Why Staying Comfortable Is the Bigger Risk

14:33 The Gifts That Came From Being Fired

18:47 Mentorship With Brian Kula

24:27 Plans Are Useless, But Planning Is Everything

27:23 Designing the Life You Want to Live

31:25 Building Skill Sets Over Ten Years

32:50 The Origin of Strength Sheets

37:50 Why AI Only Works Because of What Came Before It

41:59 Inside Build With AI Fundamentals

51:12 Tools Every Coach and Gym Owner Should Build

53:37 Connecting Your CRM and Automating Parent Reports

57:25 Fox: Building an AI Executive Assistant

01:02:42 The Strength That Costs Him at Home

01:06:43 Boundaries and Seasons of Life

Blake Burnard, founder of Grindhaus Gym in Bakersfield, California, joins the show to break down how he grew Grindhaus from a 400 square foot garage into a 6,500 square foot facility serving both athletes and adults. 

We dive into why his adult program stalled out as a large group model, the decision to shut it down completely for a year, and what he learned in that time off about what adults are actually buying. Blake breaks down the handful of things they truly care about, none of which have anything to do with X’s and O’s, and how addressing those turned the adult program into the flagship product that now brings in double the revenue of his athletes.

Blake also delivers a masterclass on launching a gym in a brand-new city with zero connections and getting it profitable in 90 days, something he’s charting out in real time right now. We get into how he forces community into every session, the three pillars behind a coaching product people won’t leave, and why starting out as a high school English teacher became one of the biggest drivers of his success.

We also talk about stewarding your schedule to create margins for what matters most, finding his purpose again inside his own gym, and the relationship he’s working to build between his kids and the business.

🔗Check out more from Blake 👇

Instagram: @grindhaus_sc @blakeburnardcoaching

Email: [email protected]

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Chapters

00:00 Intro

03:26 The Story Behind the Grindhaus Name

05:38 What Teaching English Taught Him About Coaching

10:01 Holding a High Standard With Empathy

12:03 Building Curriculum and Systems for Your Staff

13:44 Communicating in the Simplest Way Possible

16:14 The Creative Value of Limited Resources

18:45 Why the First Adult Program Failed

24:05 What Adults Actually Want From a Gym

26:55 Turning Adults Into the Flagship Program

28:36 Shifting the Marketing Message to 40+

33:33 Forcing Community in the Daily Session

39:01 Three Pillars of an Elite Coaching Product

41:45 Weekly Wins and the Power of Social Proof

48:07 Starting a New Gym With Zero Connections

56:02 Creating Margins and Stewarding Your Time

01:03:29 Integrating Family Into the Business

01:09:30 The Armory and Finding Purpose Again

Hunter Eisenhower, CEO of The Force System, co-creator of Force IQ, and co-host of the Move the Needle podcast, joins the show to talk about losing his dream job and what he had already built to absorb it. Hunter spent three years as the Associate Head Coach for Sports Performance with Men's Basketball at Arizona State before getting the call earlier this year that he wouldn't be returning.

Hunter is elite in all things sports performance, but this conversation goes almost nowhere near the X's and O's.

We dive into the day he found out, the perspective his three-year-old daughter gave him that same night, why he started building something outside the program at ASU, and the advice he has for coaches who want to build anti-fragility into their own careers before they need it. 

We also explore his learning process and why he describes it as obsession, the shift from hoarding information to creating with it, why he prioritizes refinement over new input, how he filters which opportunities to say yes to, and how he's intentionally approached social media.

Hunter also breaks down what he and Jared Wilson built with Force IQ and the athletic quality he's now convinced is the most important in sports performance.

🔗Check out more from Hunter👇

Instagram: @huntereis_tfs @mtn_perform

Website: Move The Needle / Hunter Eisenhower @ Force System 

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Chapters

00:00 Intro

04:33 The Call From the Athletic Director

05:46 How His Daughter Reframed His Mindset

07:53 Preparing for the Hot Seat Years in Advance

11:05 Getting Your Dream Job at 28

12:17 The Everest Problem and Moving the Goalpost

17:41 Building Anti-Fragility Into Your Career

20:06 Finding a Niche Beyond Selling Programs

24:00 Information Hoarding vs Creating

27:13 Why the Force System Was Born

29:35 Putting Your Own Ideas Out There

32:05 Inside Force IQ

42:45 Filtering New Opportunities

48:48 Refinement Over New Information

59:26 Nurturing vs Selling

01:03:52 Deceleration and What He's Obsessed With Now

Richard Burnett, Director of Athletic Development at Triple F Elite Sports Training in Knoxville, creator of the Plyomat, and founder of the Building Assessment Systems Coaches Cohort, returns to the show to break down how AI has completely rebuilt his player profiling system. Rich built the most elite profiling system in the country out of Google Sheets, and in a matter of months he rebuilt the entire thing into a live system with its own app, database, and automated reporting. 

We dive into the three phases of his system (intake, intel, and insight), how he now delivers a four page report to a parent's inbox before they leave the assessment, and how a system like this lets you get real value out of your data without drowning in the time it takes to process it.

Rich also breaks down what to think about when choosing your tests, why you need to think about the "chaseability" of a test, why he pulled force plate metrics out of his scoring system, and how to build standards and tiers with your data.

We also get into when to go deep versus when to stay shallow, building different assessments for different age groups, why you have to own the rubric instead of letting AI make those calls for you, and exactly where to start if you are feeling overwhelmed by all of it.

🔗Check out more from Rich 👇

Instagram: @richardburnett @triplefknoxville @plyomat_att

Building Assessment Systems Coaches Cohort (next cohort starts Friday, October 9): click here

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Chapters

00:00 Intro

02:58 Systems First, AI Second

05:45 Intake, Intel, and Insight

10:01 From Google Sheets to an AI Built System

13:41 Comparing Athletes Against Your Own Population

15:02 Delivering the Report Before They Leave the Building

19:52 Removing the Friction Between Data and Coaching

22:03 Assessment Data vs. Session Data

28:12 The Chaseability of a Test

30:59 Why Force Plate Metrics Left the Scoring System

36:03 When to Go Deep and When to Stay Shallow

39:42 Different Assessments for Different Ages

41:36 Building Standards With Limited Data

48:36 Owning the Rubric Instead of Handing It to AI

49:47 Where to Start If You Feel Overwhelmed

53:41 Athlete Data, Privacy, and Caution

56:08 Changes for the Next Cohort

Recorded live in Park City, Utah, our first ever in-person episode brings together Blair Orr (LEAD), Blake Burnard (Grindhaus), Chase Chapman (Grindhaus), and Brandon Corrasa (LEAD) right after the Business of Strength Gold Medal Standard Retreat.

We break down what was most impactful over the weekend, including how to create story-worthy moments for your clients, raising the standards you hold yourself, your staff, and your athletes to, knowing when to fire staff and how to hire to your values, and training your staff on communication standards.

We also dive into takeaways from Bobby Maximus's talk on social media and content, the inflection points that helped their gyms turn pro, the mindset it takes to weather the storm of entrepreneurship when everything feels like it's falling apart, and how to attract members who align with your culture and handle the ones who don't.

Stick around after the end credits for a good word we shared once the mics were off.

🔗Check out more from the crew 👇

Blair Orr: @lead.blair @leadperformance

Blake Bernard: @blakeburnardcoaching @grindhaus_sc

Chase Chapman: @chase_chapman15

Brandon Corrasa: @brandon_corrasa

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

00:00 Intro

02:55 Biggest Takeaways From the Retreat

05:44 Professionalism and Follow-Through

08:23 Training Staff on Communication Standards

11:58 Holding the Standard Every Time

21:11 Enforcing Standards and Knowing When to Fire

22:50 Attracting Members Who Fit Your Culture

28:37 Handling Members Who Don't Fit

35:11 Creating Story-Worthy Moments

41:59 Bobby Maximus on Social Media and Content

46:41 Inflection Points That Helped Them Turn Pro

53:51 Weathering the Storm of Entrepreneurship

01:05:55 Delegation and Leading With Clarity

01:17:23 Bonus: Faith and Business

Henry Barrera, Strength and Conditioning Coach for Men's Basketball at the University of Alabama, joins the show for a conversation on learning, communication, failure, and purpose. Henry has been part of multiple SEC championships, an Elite Eight run, and the program's first-ever trip to the Final Four, and before Alabama he spent seven years at Liberty winning three conference championships and the school's first NCAA Tournament victory.

But this conversation is less about training and more about how Henry thinks. He may be the most curious coach in the profession, and he takes the best notes and journals in the country.

We dive deep into his system for actionable learning, how he uses filters and frameworks to cut through information overload, his process for "journal diving" and returning to what he wrote, the power of sticky language, and how coaches develop the ability to command a room.

We also get into why creating opportunities for failure matters and how he builds that into the weight room, his vision for a Director of Learning and Development role on a staff, and the "Soul of Performance" idea he's writing about right now: why gifted athletes make it or don't, and what the rest of us can learn from them.

🔗Check out more from Henry👇

Instagram: @HoopDiaries

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Chapters

00:00 Intro

03:51 Born Curious: What Drives His Learning

05:08 Serving Athletes as the Engine for Curiosity

07:06 Filters, Frameworks, and Information Overload

08:27 Journal Diving and the Analog-Digital System

12:48 Learning to Love Reading

16:17 The Director of Learning and Development Role

19:17 Communication as the Biggest Limiter

20:25 What Teaching Taught Him About Coaching

22:35 Sticky Language and the Deaf Man and the Blind Man

24:21 Building the Ability to Command a Room

28:48 Bandwidth, Drip Feed, and When to Use Your Voice

29:43 Creating Opportunities for Failure

37:11 Data, Feedback, and Pushing Into AI

40:29 Perspective Through Loss

42:55 Lessons From Fatherhood

47:58 What His Own Playing Career Taught Him

49:52 The Soul of Performance

Sean Hayes, Director of Athletic Performance for Volleyball, Men’s Tennis, and Men’s Swimming at the University of Georgia, joins the show in his 17th season with the Bulldogs. Coach Hayes spent more than a decade with Men’s Basketball at Georgia, and his path also includes stops with the Buffalo Bills, Clemson, Harvard, and Tulsa.

We dive into what he learned running 41 teams by himself as the first Director at Harvard, the wake-up call Mike Boyle delivered to him as an intern, how he kickstarts his own self-discipline after 30 years in the field, and why he set a goal to back squat 315 before his daughter graduated.

Coach Hayes also breaks down how he has stayed at Georgia for seventeen years and why he has chosen to stay, what he learned adapting to a coaching change, the importance of letting career progression happen organically, and why you should work to make yourself irreplaceable wherever you are.

We also get into laser focused prioritization, why he leans on his staff instead of trying to have all the answers, the changes he has made to his volleyball team's training this season with post-practice lifting, and the honest reflection on what he sacrificed with his oldest daughter along the way.

🔗Check out more from Coach Hayes👇

Instagram: @coachshayes

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Chapters

00:00 Intro

02:57 Seventeen Years at Georgia and the Path There

04:20 Running 41 Sports Solo at Harvard

09:38 Building a Program From Scratch

12:32 What Hard Early Years Teach You

13:53 The Mike Boyle Wake-Up Call

16:54 Kickstarting Your Own Self-Discipline

18:45 Setting a Back Squat Goal at 52

20:41 Finding a Second Mountain

23:59 Why He Has Stayed at Georgia

25:34 Not Tying Your Identity to the Sport You Work With

26:50 Ingraining Yourself in the Department

28:52 Keeping Ego Out of Career Decisions

31:23 Adapting to a Coaching Change

36:24 Turning Defensiveness Into Growth

39:18 Career Advice for Young Coaches in Today's Landscape

44:42 Make Yourself Irreplaceable

46:09 Goal Setting and Laser Focused Prioritization

49:18 Changing Volleyball Training to Post-Practice Lifting

52:02 Reflection, Vulnerability, and Leaning on Staff

54:41 Isometrics, Plyos, and Getting Uncomfortable

59:59 What Helped His Career but Cost Him at Home

01:03:52 When He Is Closest to His Purpose

Tony Rossi, Assistant AD of Health, Wellness, and Performance at Oral Roberts University, joins the show to break down his move into an admin role after serving as the Director of Sports Medicine.

We dive into how he elevated into the admin role, the biggest adjustments and new skills he's had to learn, and how he manages and leads a staff in a setting that carries a high turnover rate at the low major level. Tony also explains how he approached the initial conversations with the sports performance staff and why one of his goals is to detach performance coaches from their sport coaches when it comes to job security.

We also get into Tony's own training, including how he started competing in marathons and triathlons, the mental performance benefits that come from truly committing to training for something rather than just training to train, and why every coach needs a second mountain to climb beyond their career.

🔗Check out more from Tony👇

Instagram: @tonyjrossi 

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Chapters

05:47 Elevating Into the Assistant AD Role

07:55 The Athletics Healthcare Administrator Role

10:46 Leading a Staff With High Turnover

13:01 Detaching Strength Coaches From Sport Coaches

15:22 When a New Head Coach Wants Their Own Guy

19:04 Earning Buy-In From the Sports Performance Staff

24:25 Biggest Adjustments and Skills to Build

26:23 SOPs, Roles, and Needs Assessments

29:43 Hiring and Evaluating the Right Fit

34:16 A Game Plan for Getting Into Administration

37:28 From Two-Mile Runs to Triathlons

41:52 Why You Need a Second Mountain

45:12 Treating Your Own Body Like an Experiment

49:24 Not Every Ache Is a Red Flag