Mind for Muscle

Last week was all about sales and how to make more sales by leveling up your own leadership, changing your mindset around the "sales call," and having a very clear message and offer. This week we're talking about your fulfillment/service delivery, i.e. your actual coaching! Improving your coaching is the quickest way to make more money, but it's also the biggest hit to your ego, which is exactly what we're talking about today.

With the end of the decade wrapping up, new levels are on the minds of lots of folk and in order to move into that new level, the dynamic duo of resistance and fear are popping up A LOT. Today, I want to walk you through what the opposite of fear is to serve you in showing up more powerfully as a leader going into the new year!

If you want to make more sales, you need to have a clear message that speaks to a clear offer that promises a clear result to your ideal client. If you're having trouble getting clear and figuring those 3 things out, the answer, of course, comes from some lack of clarity that you're having within you. That's what we dive into today. I'm currently looking for 3 more online coaches or aspiring online coaches to beta test my coaching program. If that's something you're interested, shoot me a DM on Instagram @nick_boleto or on Facebook at Nick Boleto.

For this week's Wisdom Wednesday, I want to share the secrets of sequential skill acquisition, a term that describes the idea that in order to achieve mastery and great results in anything, you have to learn all of the smaller skills within it. In the same way that you have to train properly to build a balanced, proportional physique, you have to master all areas of business in order to build a successful one.

You are the source of every result in your life - good and bad. You are source to your clients through your own personal development, growth, and healing. Want clients to invest in you? Invest in yourself. Want clients to do what they say they're going to do? Keep the promises you make yourself in your own life. Want a higher quality of client that you don't have to babysit? Level the f*ck up yourself.

Finding a niche is arguably step #1 in starting up your business and there's no better time to do so than December to set you up to get all of the clients come January! Everyone and their mother has thoughts and feelings about niching down and when I was getting started fitness coaching, I was led astray quite a bit and it caused me to really struggle starting my business. That's why I'm sharing these simple steps with you today!

To contrast the episode from earlier this week about Naded's successful Halo streaming career due to extreme clarity and commitment, I want to share with you my own story of failing to have faith, buying into my fears, and the pain it caused and success it cost. From this, however, a new direction for Mind for Muscle has been born, which I'm extremely excited to share with you today!

The extraordinary life you dream of, but don't let yourself "go there" because it's unattainable and unrealistic... yeah, that one. It's available to you through these 3 simple C's and I'm going to show you exactly how in today's episode!

You have to have the courage to fail. You get to sacrifice short-term gain and confidence for long-term results and mastery. I want to demonstrate this to you combining 3 of my favorite things: storytelling, growth, and Halo.

I have got a LOADED episode for you today where we'll be diving into what resistance in, the 6 forms of resistance, your upper and lower limits and how resistance comes into play with those concepts, and how this all works together to create your individual forms of self-sabotage, which keep you stuck!

Have a great holiday everyone! Wanted to come at you with a quick episode with some tips to eliminate the anxiety that this holiday often causes so many of us. I hope it serves you in having a wonderful day full of food, family, and all that you're grateful for.

There are some health and fitness coaches who are committed to giving you a workout program and a diet plan and help you lose the body fat and that's great; I'm not here to knock that. But I'm here to change your life, not just your body. And in my experience working with my clients, when you change your life for the better, your body follows suit. I wanted to exemplify this idea with a conversation I had with a client of mine the other day who has been struggling quite a bit and how we are working to get him out of his funk may surprise you!

An important lesson that we all need to learn from the wisest, most generous woman in my life, my grandmother.

I have a long and weird fitness journey. I consider the "start" to be the summer after I graduated high school, but I've been consistently working out since I was a freshman. Tune in today to hear my story of my fitness journey before my official "start," which includes my intense fear of setting foot in the gym. Know that you are not alone if you're nervous, whether you're new or yet to get started.

Are you plagued by a deep, inherent fear that you won't fulfill your potential? Join me today for my story of how this fear plagued me for years and my tips for moving through that fear, leaning into the resistance, and achieving results I've never had.

Today's episode we are diving really deep into why diets fail, more aptly, why diets fail YOU (not why you fail diets). Then we are discussing why other fitness coaches are letting people down and setting them up for failure, why you can't lose the weight at all or maybe you do but you can't keep it off, and the solution to that problem FOR GOOD!

Take it from Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Dwayne Wade... the key to leveling up in your leadership and physical fitness is your healing, personal development, mindset, and growth. If you're ready to discover your purpose, level up your leadership, and reclaim your health, it starts with your relationship with YOU!

Welcome back! I am committing to daily podcast episodes Monday through Friday (with intentions to move to daily EVERY SINGLE DAY in due time). The podcast is going to look quite a bit different than it did back in April and I figured what better way to demonstrate what it will look like than taking you through my journey of healing, personal development, and growth these last few months since the podcast disappeared. Can't wait to guide you to your next level in life!

Getting back to the essentials of exercise with Essential #4 - Train Muscles, Not Movements. Now, it's very important to take into consideration what your goal is here. Certain goals will require you to train movements, but if body composition or general health and fitness is your goal, you need to start doing this!

This episode is paying homage to one of the all-time greats, Dwayne Wade and the lessons that we can all learn about his work ethic, tenacity, and relentlessness.

Wanted to bring you guys a nutrition-based episode since that's the pillar of my coaching that I get asked about more than anything else. I think people are starting to see and understand how important nutrition is, but just don't know where to go to learn about it because there's so much bad and misinformation out there. Today I'm going to give you a really simple analogy to understanding the nutrition basics and some practical steps to take to start improving it!

What's your attitude like? Your attitude dictates your results and it can literally help you overcome life's biggest challenges. I had a crazy, amazing weekend and the number 1 reason it went so well is because I SHOWED UP. So how are you showing up? In support of others? In alignment with your purpose? Or not? And if not, why not?

Thanks to my friend Todd for the suggestion for this episode. Water is important, alright? It makes up 60% of our bodies and 75% of our muscles. You are definitely better off simply staying hydrated (it's not that hard) than risking not being dehydrated. BUT the effect of dehydration on our performance is smaller than you think, depending on what kind of results you're looking for!

Today's episode is a bit of a nerdier one, but I only nerd out to show you guys EXACTLY what the deal is with inflammation. A lot of the fitness industry is about fear-mongering, i.e. trying to scare you with big, intimidating words so that you buy into a certain coach's methods or programs. I don't want to scare you into believing me; I want you to buy into Mind for Muscle because you know I can get you the results you want! So today I will debunk inflammation - what it is, why we actually want it, what kind of inflammation we don't want, and how to avoid it (it's actually pretty simple).

Society has told us that the main difference is professionals get paid for their work and amateurs don't. You may immediately think of college student-athletes and pro athletes, but what REALLY is the difference. WHY do the pros get paid and the amateurs don't? All "pros" have this one thing in common (whether or not they get paid for it). If this episode resonated with you, shoot me a DM on Facebook or Instagram!

This episode was spurred on by some conversations I had the other day after posting a video of me training to failure in the context I think everyone should. Could I have done more reps? Yes, but my execution of the exercise would have had to change in order to do it. So why does it matter? What's the point in having the execution we have? Today's episode will explain all of that!

Exercise Essential #3 is to emphasize tension where exercises are hardest. All of the essentials build off of one another, but this episode really builds off of Essential #2 so make sure you go back and listen to that episode! We can accomplish this essential through manipulating 1) exercise tempo and 2) the resistance profile of an exercise. Once we learn how to do that, we have to OWN IT; hence the episode name for today :)

You spend 1/3 of your life doing it (or at least you should be), so let's talk about it. That's right; we're talking about sleep! Here at Mind for Muscle, we focus on lifestyle design to help manage our stress and optimize our sleep. But what is sleep? Why is it important? What does it affect? How can you get more of it? Tune in to today's episode to find out.

I'm sure you've heard the phrase "how we do anything is how we do everything" and this especially rings true in regards to your self-limiting beliefs. So many of us don't think we're worthy of transformation and of great things and of course, this is true in fitness. But today, I wanted to provide an example of how this is true in regards to your mindset around money with a story about me making my first big boy material purchase of a NICE office chair. Sounds silly, but this episode has game-changing mindset golden nuggets, so be sure to tune in!

Lots of people ask me whether or not they should gain or lose weight, to which I usually say "which do you want to do?" but a much better question is how slowly or quickly you should gain or lose weight because there are options! Based on your energy balance, you will gain fat and muscle or lose fat and muscle in different ratios. In today's episode, I explain the 7 different options you have to answer this question and the pros and cons of each.

Exercise Essential #2 revolves around answering this question. It's not a trick either! Of course you like when things are easy and your body does too. The problem? Building muscle and developing your dream physique is hard. If it wasn't you wouldn't be listening to this podcast, right? Essential #2 is "initiate with the working muscle" and this will help you make things harder in the gym, which will make it easier to build muscle.

Today's episode is going to lay the foundation for Pillar number 4 of Mind for Muscle and that is Lifestyle Design, which sounds big and fancy and over-the-top, but it really comes down to a few simple things. We KNOW how important sleep and stress management are for our overall success and happiness and that is especially true when it comes to our fitness goals. Instead of giving you a few "sleep hacks" or talking about some meditation techniques, which don't get me wrong we will eventually, I think it's best to start with a broader approach. We can significantly improve sleep and lower stress with proper lifestyle design, which I lay out for you in this episode.

Pillar number 3 in the Mind for Muscle program is mindset training and while this is pillar number 3, this is probably the most important of the 4 and what really separates my coaching from most others. This is the one that really changes your life and causes the biggest breakthroughs in your fitness journey and outside of it as well. Mindset all starts with a fundamental understanding of WHY you're going about this transformation, what your current pains and problems are, and the prices you're paying for these problems.

Pillar number 2 of the Mind for Muscle program is nutrition - the fuel for performance during training and the building blocks for recovery after. The foundation of proper nutrition is something you probably don't want to hear, but I'm going to give it to you straight in today's episode. Along with the diet tips, I share a brief story of my own to drive the point home that nothing else matters above THIS core principle.

The first of the 4 pillars of the Mind for Muscle program is, of course, training - the stimulus for all results you want in your fitness transformation. The foundation of training within this program are the 5 Essentials of Exercise, which are meant to provide the framework for you to maximize your workouts. This episode will also introduce the first essential and arguably the most important one!

The Mind for Muscle podcast is BACK with a renewed purpose and landscape. Episodes will be more frequent, but shorter with quick actionable steps each day. They will build on each other based on the pillars of the Mind for Muscle program. Those 4 pillars are: training, nutrition, mindset, and lifestyle design. Tune in every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at 6AM!

As I discussed in the recent episode about developing a growth mindset, nothing in life will come to you until you invite it in. But maybe you're having a hard time convincing yourself of why you want muscle. There are lots of reasons! In this episode, I'll tell you guys about my painful, embarrassing story about how I got started on my muscle-building journey, and then talk about some different reasons for wanting to build muscle including improved quality of life, enhanced confidence, and better sex! Connect with me on Instagram (@nick_boleto) or Facebook (Nick Boleto).

Today's episode features my (painful and somewhat pathetic) story of getting scammed by supplement companies - a story that I think many of us can relate to. Supplements are the sexy thing in the industry and the marketing and advertising can be a little too convincing of their "efficacy", but the fact is that supplements are just that. Supplemental. They supply what your diet lacks and therefore should be minimum at most, and none in a lot of cases. Nonetheless, supplements are what I get the most questions about and I want to make sure you guys are getting the RIGHT, unbiased information instead of what the industry will tell you. So this episode will tell you what supplements to take and in what quantities, what ingredients to look for in a pre-workout, and my 3-step process to buying high quality supplements because if you're going to spend money on them, you might as well get ones that will actually work. Have supplement questions for me? Connect on Facebook (Nick Boleto) or Instagram (@nick_boleto) and shoot me a message!

My good friend and fellow online strength and nutrition coach Colin DeWaay joins me for an extremely insightful conversation about: -Overcoming pain physically and psychologically -How bodybuilding training is different from powerlifting from a programming and mindset standpoint -What Colin learned from his training partners over the years (Paul Revelia, Layne Norton, and more!) -Accepting reality because you'll lose to reality 100% of the time if you fight it -Why Colin has a fitness coach as a fitness coach and what to look for if you're shopping for one And so much more! Connect with Colin further on Facebook (Colin DeWaay Training), Instagram or YouTube (Colin DeWaay), or at his website: http://colindewaaytraining.com/

I've suffered from a lack of confidence and self-efficacy for most of my life, but all of my career and fitness gains have come from developing a growth mindset. I'm a strong believer that what you believe you manifest, so in this episode I'll explain the Law of Attraction and how you can use it (and how people misuse it). I also do a deep dive into the importance of getting yourself into alignment; it sounds woo-hooey, but it's something you need to hear. Your thoughts become feelings; feelings become actions; actions become habits; habits become results. So if your actions aren't driving the results you want, it's probably because you're out of alignment. Like this episode? Leave a review and 5-star rating! Connect with me on Facebook (Nick Boleto) and Instagram (@nick_boleto).

Are you a college student going on Spring Break? Or someone escaping the cold winter for a warm getaway? Want to lose a few pounds before your trip? I've got the 7-Day Challenge for you! Starting January 21st, I'll be hosting a challenge on Facebook for people that want to shed some fat for spring using the techniques that I talk about in this episode, but diving much deeper into your habits, environment, and mindset around nutrition and training. If you're interested, send me a message on Facebook (Nick Boleto) or Instagram (nick_boleto) and I'll add you to the group! In this episode I'll cover: -My dieting "fails" and why I'm so confident about my current approach -The difference between Flexible Dieting and IIFYM (if it fits your macros) -"Staple Meals" vs. Meal Plans (the problem with flexible dieting) -The 80:20 rule and the importance of discretionary calories for long-term diet adherence -How to determine your calories and macros for sustainable fat loss

Hussein Kasim, former strength and conditioning coach for West Ham United FC's academy team and owner of Force: Elite Athletic Performance, joins me to discuss a myriad of topics including: -The funny story behind how we became "acquainted" (hint: it was not under the friendliest of terms) -The state of YouTube fitness, how it brought us together, and why neither of us create content or follow anyone on that platform anymore -Hussein's transition from a career in graphic design to architecture to strength and conditioning -How to overcome injuries with a psychological and physical approach -Long-term athlete development and Hussein's tenets to youth strength and conditioning -Training and nutrition considerations during the month of Ramadan (or anyone that is following a strict fasting protocol) Connect with Hussein on Instagram @coach_kasim for his professional account or @lebanese_papi where you'll find pictures of his daughter and his amazing shoe collection.

My highest engaging Instagram post of all of 2018 was one in which I talked about "my code" and how it had helped me overcome anxiety and optimize my fitness and my business. I got so many comments and DMs about it that I decided to make this episode where I dive deep into each rule and explain exactly how it helps me in hopes that you create your own code to help you dominate your fitness and your life. If you enjoy this episode and want to take things to the next level and develop your own "code" to live by, shoot me a DM on Facebook (Nick Boleto) or Instagram (@nick_boleto).

Your prayers: answered! For millennia, experts and gurus have argued what the best rep range for building muscle is and it has DIVIDED the fitness industry. There are the "gym bros" who insist on the 8-12 rep range as the "golden zone" and if you DARE leave it, you'll stay small forever. Then there's the new school, evidence-based community that start every sentence with "well the research states that..." who say ANY rep range will work. In this episode, I'll explain why both parties are right, but why I ultimately agree with one - backed by science and long-term anecdote. I'll also discuss the direction of correlation between muscle and strength - does more muscle cause more strength or does the strength comes first and THEN the muscle. I talk about "hard sets," what they are, why they're important, and how you can start using fatigue to your advantage in your training. In this discussion, I'll talk about some of the limitations of research and why not all of the conclusions drawn can be applied to you. Enjoy and feel free to connect with me on Instagram (@nick_boleto) and Facebook as well (Nick Boleto).

I am joined by Katie Feeley, the co-owner of Power Plant Gym in Aston, PA and we talk all things related to women and fitness. Katie shares her journey of navigating the fitness industry, not only as a woman, but as someone who studied Political Communication of all things while in school. She discusses in great detail what kind of obstacles she feels women need to overcome to establish themselves as an authority in the field and what specific steps she has taken herself. We then dive into training considerations for women and how, despite all of the articles you may have read that state otherwise, it's not all that different from training men. Generally, women can tolerate a bit more volume and a bit more frequency, and, especially when it comes to Strongman (Katie's sport of choice), their technique may need to be a bit different. But that's about it. We also go into the psychology of training athletes and how the stereotypes of training women and how they are motivated just aren't good enough. Connect with Katie on Instagram @katiefeeleystrength, on Facebook (Katie Majewski Feeley), and check out Power Plant Gym @powerplantgym on Instagram and Power Plant Gym on Facebook as well!

Last week, I put up a poll on Facebook and Instagram asking you guys what your primary goal for the start of 2019 was and the overwhelming majority of you want to get stronger! I want to help you put together a plan to do exactly that, so go grab a pen and paper, pour yourself some water, maybe a nice cup of coffee, and get ready to put some work in to ensure you do just that. In the next 30 minutes, I am going to help you: Get extremely clear on what your definition of “stronger” is, what your goals are, and create a vision for yourself Understand exactly who you have to become in order to accomplish these big goals you lay out for yourself, both in the day-to-day and in the long-term with a couple of brief, simple exercises Challenge your thinking about your environment because so many people think they are trapped where they’re at, but I guarantee there are small changes you can make TODAY Enhance your circle of influence. This includes who you need to invite into your life to raise you up, but also figuring out who you need to cut out of your life as well; those that pull you down are often MORE powerful than those that pick you up Create a list of rules of things you WILL NOT under ANY circumstance do as well as a moral code that will guide your daily habits Devise a plan to actually get you stronger. What should and shouldn’t you be focusing on in your training? Take MASSIVE action in not just your plan and all of these items, but taking it all a step further and getting the accountability and support you need to get it all done. Connect with me on Instagram: nick_boleto Add me as a friend on Facebook!

Today I'm getting back to my roots and discussing how I recommend training for athletic performance and how it differs from the training and nutrition of a strength athlete. For much of my schooling and practically all of my professional experience, this was my life, so it was great to provide you all with my prospective. In this episode, I discuss: -Nutrition protocols for athletic performance, particularly for collegiate athletes and how to adjust them for the sport and goal of the individual as well as the time of year -What to focus and, just as importantly, NOT focus on in the weight room: what movements are "essential," which I may or may not use and why not, and accessories I think damn near every athlete should have in a program as well as a brief discussion on periodization -Finally I get into the non-weight room training that you'll do including plyometrics, high-intensity running, moderate-intensity running, agility, and technique work Connect with me on Instagram after the episode @nick_boleto

Today I am bringing you an interview with my friend and client Mike White. He is an elite powerlifter in the USPA with a 1,694lb total at 21 years old. He is the current intern coordinator over Olympic Sports at James Madison University and will be pursuing a Master's in Nutrition and Physical Activity starting in the fall of 2019 in hopes of becoming a Registered Dietician. He has contributed to published, peer-reviewed research and is starting to work for USAW doing data analytics in January. Mike is arguably the most qualified person in the field of exercise science that you have never heard of and he brings amazing insight in this episode. Mike was not always on the fast track to success and was not a natural at powerlifting. He's been training since he was 14, competing since he was 16 and has worked hard to get to where he is in powerlifting. He also was a straight C and D student for much of college, but he has turned it around big time. In this episode, we discuss how to balance training and social life, especially as someone in their early 20's, how to choose your friends, find proper mentors, and develop a proper mindset to overcome mediocrity. If you want to connect with Mike further, follow him on Instagram @powerliftah as he preps for his next competition coming up in April 2019!

How do you get yourself going on the days you simply can't get out of bed? In this episode we discuss three different approach: 1) Be patient and accept the bad days, 2) Accumulate small wins, and 3) Do something completely new and off the wall. I dive deep into specific strategies for each for lifting and life and how much overlap there really is between the two.

In today's episode, I'm going to challenge you on whether or not you should even TRY to train for maximal strength while dieting because I'm a firm believer that if you can avoid it, you should. I also go into a deep dive into "keeping the main thing the main thing," when you SHOULD diet, how to pair your nutrition and training with long-term periodization, whether or not body recomposition is possible, and how your training has to change to reflect being in a calorie deficit.

In this episode, I'll tell you a bit about what I do, how I can help you, but more importantly, who I am. The fitness industry is full of great information, and this podcast is going to bring you some incredible knowledge, but it's missing a lot of substance. This podcast is going to have episodes that challenge the way you think, who you are as a person, and bring you physical and life transformation.